Max Lucado Daily: A NEW SONG
What do we say about someone who claims to be a Christian yet behaves like anything but one. God places a song in the hearts of his saved children. Some sing this song loud and long every single day of their lives. In other cases the song falls silent. Life’s hurts and happenings mute the music within. Long seasons pass in which God’s song is not sung.
The truth is, we don’t always know if someone has trusted God’s grace. A person may have feigned belief but not meant it. Whether or not someone’s faith is real isn’t ours to know. But we do know this: where there is genuine conversion, there is eternal salvation. Our task is to trust God’s ability to call his children home. We join God as he walks among his wayward and wounded children, singing. Eventually his own will hear his voice, and something within them will awaken. And when it does, they will begin to sing again.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 85[a]
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.[b]
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
4 Restore us again, God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.
Footnotes:
Psalm 85:1 In Hebrew texts 85:1-13 is numbered 85:2-14.
Psalm 85:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 10, 2016
Read: Revelation 2:12–17
The Message to the Church in Pergamum
12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.
14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
INSIGHT:
In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus is referred to as having a “sharp, double-edged sword” (1:16; 2:12). In chapter one, John described this sword as coming out of Jesus’s mouth (v. 16). In today’s passage, Jesus is seen using this sword to fight against and slay His enemies (2:16). In a later vision, John saw Jesus as the “Faithful and True” rider of a white horse (19:11), whose name is “the Word of God,” using the “sharp sword” to conquer the nations (vv. 13–15). Christ, the Word of God (John 1:1–4), will come again to judge this world and will rule it “with an iron scepter” (Rev. 19:11–15).
Our New Name
By Amy Boucher Pye
I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it. Revelation 2:17
She called herself a worrier, but when her child was hurt in an accident, she learned how to escape that restricting label. As her child was recovering, she met each week with friends to talk and pray, asking God for help and healing. Through the months as she turned her fears and concerns into prayer, she realized that she was changing from being a worrier to a prayer warrior. She sensed that the Lord was giving her a new name. Her identity in Christ was deepening through the struggle of unwanted heartache.
In Jesus’s letter to the church at Pergamum, the Lord promises to give to the faithful a white stone with a new name on it (Rev. 2:17). Biblical commentators have debated over the meaning, but most agree that this white stone points to our freedom in Christ. In biblical times, juries in a court of law used a white stone for a not-guilty verdict and a black stone for guilty. A white stone also gained the bearer entrance into such events as banquets; likewise, those who receive God’s white stone are welcomed to the heavenly feast. Jesus’s death brings us freedom and new life—and a new name.
Followers of Christ have a brand-new identity.
What new name do you think God might give to you?
May I live out my new identity, sharing Your love and joy. Show me how You have made me into a new creation.
Share your story on odb.org
Followers of Christ have a brand-new identity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 10, 2016
And After That What’s Next To Do?
…seek, and you will find… —Luke 11:9
Seek if you have not found. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss…” (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, “you ask amiss”; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. “…seek, and you will find….” Get to work— narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? “…seek, [focus,] and you will find….”
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or complacent and indifferent— so satisfied with your own experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. Beware of building your faith on experience, or your life will not ring true and will only sound the note of a critical spirit. Remember that you can never give another person what you have found, but you can cause him to have a desire for it.
“…knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). “Draw near to God…” (James 4:8). Knock— the door is closed, and your heartbeat races as you knock. “Cleanse your hands…” (James 4:8). Knock a bit louder— you begin to find that you are dirty. “…purify your hearts…” (James 4:8). It is becoming even more personal— you are desperate and serious now— you will do anything. “Lament…” (James 4:9). Have you ever lamented, expressing your sorrow before God for the condition of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, only the heart-rending difficulty and amazement which comes from seeing what kind of person you really are. “Humble yourselves…” (James 4:10). It is a humbling experience to knock at God’s door— you have to knock with the crucified thief. “…to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
When You're Marching Off the Map - #7675
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 10, 2016
Maybe you've seen those old world maps that were created when a lot of the world was still unexplored. When they reached the edge of what had been explored, they drew a line and then they showed dragons and monsters beyond it - which didn't exactly encourage exploration. The story is told of this first century Roman commander who had to lead his troops beyond the line on the map and into "dragon" territory. He sent a courier back to Rome with a straightforward message – "We have just marched off the map! Please send new orders!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Marching Off the Map".
That describes how a whole lot of us are feeling since things changed so dramatically back on September 11, 2001 and all of the cataclysmic, unpredictable, unimaginable events that have come since then. We have marched off the map! Things are up for grabs with the economy; a lot of people feel their jobs are insecure. Our personal sense of safety and security has turned to a sense of vulnerability. There are prospects of bioterrorism and cyber terrorism. USA Today talked about DEFCON 1, the military's phrase for their highest state of alert-and they said suddenly a lot of us feel like we're living at DEFCON 1.
We need some certainty; we need some leadership. We want to hear from our national leaders, from our military leaders, from our financial leaders, but none of them can give us that sense of peace and security that we're needing in this "new world" that's off the map. What we're looking for can ultimately only be found in the leader. That would be the One who created us. The issues of our day and the questions of our heart are just too big to be answered by anyone other than God Himself.
In times like these, I am so glad Jesus described His relationship with those who belong to Him as one of a shepherd. Because with no clear direction these days, we're feeling a little like sheep. Here's what Jesus offered to people like us in times like these - it's in our word for today from the Word of God in John 10, beginning in verse 3, "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out - He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him." Later, Jesus said, "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand."
There is someone who knows the way to go when there is no map and He's the Lord of this universe! And Jesus leads those who belong to Him, giving them daily direction and daily provision, no matter what's happening in the headlines. And He never loses anyone that's His - because, in the words of John 10, He "laid down His life for the sheep". Jesus died for every wrong thing you've ever done so you could belong to Him forever. He's not about to lose you after paying that price for you!
The Bible tells us that Jesus weeps for those who are, as He says, "sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). That might be you today. But it doesn't have to be you for one more day. He's reaching out to you right now. He's ready to be your Shepherd in these confusing times; your anchor in the stormy times we live in and the storms of our own personal lives.
Your relationship with Him begins when you tell Him you're done trying to be your own shepherd, running your own life and that you want to put your total trust in Him to forgive every sin you've ever committed, to direct your life from this day on, and to get you to heaven when you die.
That's what He's waiting to give you. He's waiting for you to say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You are my only hope. Your death on the cross, your resurrection from the dead...I want to belong to you, beginning today." Our website is all about helping you get that relationship started. I would invite you to go there. It is ANewStory.com.
We have marched off the map. But Jesus knows exactly where we are-and what the future holds. And He can take you there safely...but, you have to grab His hand.
Friday, June 10, 2016
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Psalm 73, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOUR LIFE A CRAFTED NARRATIVE
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
You are in the hands of living, loving God! Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, working toward your supreme good. God is not making up a plan as he goes along. Nor did he wind up the clock and walk away.
Daniel 5:21 says, “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.” And Jeremiah 30:24 says, “The LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.”
Look at those verbs: God rules, sets, executes, accomplishes. These texts confirm the heavenly blueprints and plans. And those plans include you!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 73
BOOK III
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Footnotes:
Psalm 73:4 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text struggles at their death; / their bodies are healthy
Psalm 73:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew Their eyes bulge with fat
Psalm 73:10 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Read: Philippians 2:1–11
Have the Attitude of Christ
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Footnotes:
2:6 Or Being in the form of God.
2:7a Greek he emptied himself.
2:7b Or the form of a slave.
2:7c Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage has remarkable insights into the incarnation. The Son of God willingly took on human form and came to earth to redeem fallen sinners. But that was just the beginning of Christ’s self-humbling. He took upon Himself the form of a servant and then died on a cross of shame. But once the price of sin had been paid through His death, Christ was gloriously raised from the dead and given a name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (v. 10).
What Really Matters
By Bill Crowder
In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3–4
Two men sat down to review their business trip and its results. One said he thought the trip had been worthwhile because some meaningful new relationships had begun through their business contacts. The other said, “Relationships are fine, but selling is what matters most.” Obviously they had very different agendas.
It is all too easy—whether in business, family, or church—to view others from the perspective of how they can benefit us. We value them for what we can get from them, rather than focusing on how we can serve them in Jesus’s name. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3–4).
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
People are not to be used for our own benefit. Because they are loved by God and we are loved by Him, we love one another. His love is the greatest love of all.
Teach me, Lord, to see people as You do—bearing Your image, being worthy of Your love, and needing Your care. May Your great love find in my heart a vessel through which that love can be displayed.
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Then What’s Next To Do?
Everyone who asks receives… —Luke 11:10
Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.
“Everyone who asks receives….” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (seeMatthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.
“If any of you lacks wisdom….” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan - #7674
It was during the Gulf War, shortly before the ground troops attacked Saddam Hussein's forces in Desert Storm. Everyone knew he had large stores of chemical weapons and that the Allied soldiers were in danger of those weapons being unleashed on them. I saw this interview on television back then. It was with an American soldier who talked about the training the troops were receiving in chemical warfare. Here's what she said, "You know, it's funny. They taught us about chemical warfare in basic training, but no one paid any attention. But now, well, everyone's really paying attention, taking notes, asking questions."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan."
Those soldiers were suddenly motivated to learn what they had been taught because now they needed it. Now they were about to use it. You can see that dynamic when you take young people on a missions trip. Kids who seldom read their Bible or pray or pay attention are suddenly on a rock early in the morning reading their Bible. They're praying out loud. They're asking questions! Why? Because they're in a situation, like those Gulf War soldiers, where they're going to need what they know - where they're going to use it!
Jesus knew that. He trained His future leaders that way, and, in the process, He showed us a process for getting people to really learn what we're teaching them and to do what they learned. That's discipling. If you're a parent, a teacher, a spiritual coach, a pastor, a youth leader, you need to build your ministry on this powerful pattern for life-changing teaching.
Our word for today from the Word of God gives it to us in Luke 9 beginning at verse 1. "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases (which, by the way, they had watched Him do in the previous chapter), and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God (there are three things, by the way that they had a chance to watch Him do-watch Him, and then do it). So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. "
Well, you just saw Jesus' method of shaping a life. First, you teach the truth to people by word and by example. We generally do that part pretty well, but we stop there. So it never makes it past the person's head. That's why we need to do what Jesus did here: He had them immediately go out and do a little of what they just learned. That immediately connects their belief to their behavior, instead of what they believe being just a compartment. That's really important in a world where too many Christians just believe their beliefs, but they don't behave them. The final step in the life-changing process is to bring them back to talk about what happened when they did what they were taught.
You really could compress this into just a few words: learn it, do it, talk about it. That is a practical, workable definition of what it truly means to disciple a person. Discipling is getting them to connect their beliefs to their behavior. And if they learn it and they do some of what they just learned, and they come back and they talk about how it went - that's life changing.
For those soldiers in the Gulf War, the teaching didn't come alive until they had an immediate need for it, an immediate opportunity to put it into practice. So we need to give our children, our students, our congregation, our youth group the truth with projects - an immediate short-term assignment say, the next week, in which they do something that puts that teaching into practice. Your teaching is incomplete until you've given them something to do as a result of it. And then give them an opportunity to come back and talk about what happened.
Learn it, do it, talk about it. That's teaching that goes way beyond filling a head with spiritual facts. It changes lives!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
You are in the hands of living, loving God! Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, working toward your supreme good. God is not making up a plan as he goes along. Nor did he wind up the clock and walk away.
Daniel 5:21 says, “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.” And Jeremiah 30:24 says, “The LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.”
Look at those verbs: God rules, sets, executes, accomplishes. These texts confirm the heavenly blueprints and plans. And those plans include you!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 73
BOOK III
Psalms 73–89
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Footnotes:
Psalm 73:4 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text struggles at their death; / their bodies are healthy
Psalm 73:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew Their eyes bulge with fat
Psalm 73:10 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Read: Philippians 2:1–11
Have the Attitude of Christ
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Footnotes:
2:6 Or Being in the form of God.
2:7a Greek he emptied himself.
2:7b Or the form of a slave.
2:7c Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage has remarkable insights into the incarnation. The Son of God willingly took on human form and came to earth to redeem fallen sinners. But that was just the beginning of Christ’s self-humbling. He took upon Himself the form of a servant and then died on a cross of shame. But once the price of sin had been paid through His death, Christ was gloriously raised from the dead and given a name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (v. 10).
What Really Matters
By Bill Crowder
In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3–4
Two men sat down to review their business trip and its results. One said he thought the trip had been worthwhile because some meaningful new relationships had begun through their business contacts. The other said, “Relationships are fine, but selling is what matters most.” Obviously they had very different agendas.
It is all too easy—whether in business, family, or church—to view others from the perspective of how they can benefit us. We value them for what we can get from them, rather than focusing on how we can serve them in Jesus’s name. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3–4).
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
People are not to be used for our own benefit. Because they are loved by God and we are loved by Him, we love one another. His love is the greatest love of all.
Teach me, Lord, to see people as You do—bearing Your image, being worthy of Your love, and needing Your care. May Your great love find in my heart a vessel through which that love can be displayed.
Joy comes from putting another’s needs ahead of our own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Then What’s Next To Do?
Everyone who asks receives… —Luke 11:10
Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.
“Everyone who asks receives….” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (seeMatthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.
“If any of you lacks wisdom….” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan - #7674
It was during the Gulf War, shortly before the ground troops attacked Saddam Hussein's forces in Desert Storm. Everyone knew he had large stores of chemical weapons and that the Allied soldiers were in danger of those weapons being unleashed on them. I saw this interview on television back then. It was with an American soldier who talked about the training the troops were receiving in chemical warfare. Here's what she said, "You know, it's funny. They taught us about chemical warfare in basic training, but no one paid any attention. But now, well, everyone's really paying attention, taking notes, asking questions."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Shaping Lives – The Jesus Plan."
Those soldiers were suddenly motivated to learn what they had been taught because now they needed it. Now they were about to use it. You can see that dynamic when you take young people on a missions trip. Kids who seldom read their Bible or pray or pay attention are suddenly on a rock early in the morning reading their Bible. They're praying out loud. They're asking questions! Why? Because they're in a situation, like those Gulf War soldiers, where they're going to need what they know - where they're going to use it!
Jesus knew that. He trained His future leaders that way, and, in the process, He showed us a process for getting people to really learn what we're teaching them and to do what they learned. That's discipling. If you're a parent, a teacher, a spiritual coach, a pastor, a youth leader, you need to build your ministry on this powerful pattern for life-changing teaching.
Our word for today from the Word of God gives it to us in Luke 9 beginning at verse 1. "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases (which, by the way, they had watched Him do in the previous chapter), and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God (there are three things, by the way that they had a chance to watch Him do-watch Him, and then do it). So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. "
Well, you just saw Jesus' method of shaping a life. First, you teach the truth to people by word and by example. We generally do that part pretty well, but we stop there. So it never makes it past the person's head. That's why we need to do what Jesus did here: He had them immediately go out and do a little of what they just learned. That immediately connects their belief to their behavior, instead of what they believe being just a compartment. That's really important in a world where too many Christians just believe their beliefs, but they don't behave them. The final step in the life-changing process is to bring them back to talk about what happened when they did what they were taught.
You really could compress this into just a few words: learn it, do it, talk about it. That is a practical, workable definition of what it truly means to disciple a person. Discipling is getting them to connect their beliefs to their behavior. And if they learn it and they do some of what they just learned, and they come back and they talk about how it went - that's life changing.
For those soldiers in the Gulf War, the teaching didn't come alive until they had an immediate need for it, an immediate opportunity to put it into practice. So we need to give our children, our students, our congregation, our youth group the truth with projects - an immediate short-term assignment say, the next week, in which they do something that puts that teaching into practice. Your teaching is incomplete until you've given them something to do as a result of it. And then give them an opportunity to come back and talk about what happened.
Learn it, do it, talk about it. That's teaching that goes way beyond filling a head with spiritual facts. It changes lives!
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
1 Corinthians 11:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: BE PATIENT AND KIND
Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed? Any impediment to the impressions of God’s Spirit? Scripture reminds us that we can grieve the Spirit with our angry words. We can even quench the Spirit by having no regard for God’s teachings. (Ephesians 4:29-30)
Here is something that helps me stay in step with the Spirit. We know from Galatians 5:22-23 that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” God’s Spirit creates and distributes these characteristics. They are indicators on my spiritual dashboard. So whenever I sense them, I know I’m walking in the Spirit.
Don’t sense any nudging? Just be patient and wait. God instills seasons of silence in his plan. Time is needed for the development of a crop. Wait for him to nudge and direct you.
From God is With You Every Day
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
Instructions for Public Worship
2 I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. 3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.[a] 4 A man dishonors his head[b] if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 5 But a woman dishonors her head[c] if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering.[d]
7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.[e]
11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.
Footnotes:
11:3 Or to know: The source of every man is Christ, the source of woman is man, and the source of Christ is God. Or to know: Every man is responsible to Christ, a woman is responsible to her husband, and Christ is responsible to God.
11:4 Or dishonors Christ.
11:5 Or dishonors her husband.
11:6 Or should have long hair.
11:10 Greek should have an authority on her head.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Paul’s Joy That Christ Is Preached
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters,[a] that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard,[b] knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers[c] here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message[d] without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Paul’s Life for Christ
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Footnotes:
1:12 Greek brothers.
1:13 Greek including all the Praetorium.
1:14a Greek brothers in the Lord.
1:14b Some manuscripts read speak the message.
Better By Far
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. Philippians 1:23
A siren wailed outside a little boy’s house. Unfamiliar with the sound, he asked his mother what it was. She explained that it was meant to alert people of a dangerous storm. She said that if people did not take cover, they might die as a result of the tornado. The boy replied, “Mommy, why is that a bad thing? If we die, don’t we meet Jesus?”
Little children don’t always understand what it means to die. But Paul, who had a lifetime of experience, wrote something similar: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:23). The apostle was under house arrest at the time, but his statement wasn’t fueled by despair. He was rejoicing because his suffering was causing the gospel to spread (vv. 12–14).
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
So why would Paul be torn between a desire for life and death? Because to go on living would mean “fruitful labor.” But if he died he knew he would enjoy a special kind of closeness with Christ. To be absent from our bodies is to be home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6–8).
People who believe in the saving power of Jesus’s death and resurrection will be with Him forever. It’s been said, “All’s well that ends in heaven.” Whether we live or die, we win. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
Dear Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You, whether I face difficulty in life or death. Let me find security and peace in You.
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
What’s Next To Do?
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. —John 13:17
Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…” (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know…” (John 7:17).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Fighting For That Person You Love - #7673
Anne had ridden her mountain bike through a California wilderness park a lot of times before, but the ride this day would change her life. She was attacked by a mountain lion that hours earlier had killed another biker. As the cat literally held her in his jaws by the back of her neck, all she could do was pray. Humanly speaking, her friend Debbie was her only hope. Debbie jumped off her bike, grabbed Anne's leg, and screamed for help just kicking at the mountain lion. Thankfully, Debbie's screams finally brought the help of some men who had been biking with them. Debbie continued to hang on as the men pelted that lion with rocks. Suddenly the animal released his victim, and Anne's life was saved. Debbie just gave everything she had to keep the promise she had made to her friend in the middle of that struggle. She just screamed, "I'll never let go of you!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fighting for That Person You Love."
There are people you know whose lives depend on you being a friend like that - a friend who loves them enough to fight the lion for them - whatever it takes. In the Bible, God calls the devil "a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The lion's ultimate goal is to take people you work with, people you go to school with, people in your personal world, to hell with him. If he can just keep them from ever putting their trust in the Savior who died to save them. If he can just keep them from ever really understanding what Jesus did for them. If he can just keep you from telling them. Humanly speaking, their only hope may be someone who will fight for their life, and since you know Jesus and you know them, that someone is probably you.
The command of Proverbs 24:11 is our very important word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it...Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" The Bible makes it plain. It says, "He that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). I'm sure you know some folks who probably don't have the Son of God in their heart. Which means no real life here and no eternal life when they die.
Don't just let the lion have them right before your very eyes. Fight for them! Jude 23 commands us, "Snatch others from the fire and save them." Put the name of someone you know in that verse, "Snatch (there's the name) from the fire and save that person." Someone you want to have in Heaven with you who probably isn't headed there right now.
How can you fight for their eternal soul? First, you show love to them in ways that will mean something to them, that displays God's love but in a way that communicates it in their language of love. Show them the difference Jesus makes by being like Jesus in ways that will stand out to them in contrast to the other people that they know in that same environment. The real fight for them, though, is in the Throne Room of Almighty God. Keep storming heaven, praying for their rescue every day. Pray for them by name. Don't let them go.
Ask God to open a door, a natural opportunity for you to explain your relationship with Jesus and the difference He makes. Pray that He will open their heart to Him and to you, and He'll open your mouth to tell them about Him. I call it the 3-open prayer. "Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Lord, open my mouth."
Saving them is going to take a friend who will take the risks, pay the price, and make the changes necessary to rescue them, and to never, never let go. As long as there's breath, there is hope! And for your friend, this fight is life or death!
Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed? Any impediment to the impressions of God’s Spirit? Scripture reminds us that we can grieve the Spirit with our angry words. We can even quench the Spirit by having no regard for God’s teachings. (Ephesians 4:29-30)
Here is something that helps me stay in step with the Spirit. We know from Galatians 5:22-23 that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” God’s Spirit creates and distributes these characteristics. They are indicators on my spiritual dashboard. So whenever I sense them, I know I’m walking in the Spirit.
Don’t sense any nudging? Just be patient and wait. God instills seasons of silence in his plan. Time is needed for the development of a crop. Wait for him to nudge and direct you.
From God is With You Every Day
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
Instructions for Public Worship
2 I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. 3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.[a] 4 A man dishonors his head[b] if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 5 But a woman dishonors her head[c] if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering.[d]
7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.[e]
11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.
Footnotes:
11:3 Or to know: The source of every man is Christ, the source of woman is man, and the source of Christ is God. Or to know: Every man is responsible to Christ, a woman is responsible to her husband, and Christ is responsible to God.
11:4 Or dishonors Christ.
11:5 Or dishonors her husband.
11:6 Or should have long hair.
11:10 Greek should have an authority on her head.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Paul’s Joy That Christ Is Preached
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters,[a] that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including the whole palace guard,[b] knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers[c] here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message[d] without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Paul’s Life for Christ
20 For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Footnotes:
1:12 Greek brothers.
1:13 Greek including all the Praetorium.
1:14a Greek brothers in the Lord.
1:14b Some manuscripts read speak the message.
Better By Far
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. Philippians 1:23
A siren wailed outside a little boy’s house. Unfamiliar with the sound, he asked his mother what it was. She explained that it was meant to alert people of a dangerous storm. She said that if people did not take cover, they might die as a result of the tornado. The boy replied, “Mommy, why is that a bad thing? If we die, don’t we meet Jesus?”
Little children don’t always understand what it means to die. But Paul, who had a lifetime of experience, wrote something similar: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:23). The apostle was under house arrest at the time, but his statement wasn’t fueled by despair. He was rejoicing because his suffering was causing the gospel to spread (vv. 12–14).
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
So why would Paul be torn between a desire for life and death? Because to go on living would mean “fruitful labor.” But if he died he knew he would enjoy a special kind of closeness with Christ. To be absent from our bodies is to be home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6–8).
People who believe in the saving power of Jesus’s death and resurrection will be with Him forever. It’s been said, “All’s well that ends in heaven.” Whether we live or die, we win. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
Dear Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You, whether I face difficulty in life or death. Let me find security and peace in You.
Belief in Jesus's death and resurrection brings the assurance of life with Him forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
What’s Next To Do?
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. —John 13:17
Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…” (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know…” (John 7:17).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Fighting For That Person You Love - #7673
Anne had ridden her mountain bike through a California wilderness park a lot of times before, but the ride this day would change her life. She was attacked by a mountain lion that hours earlier had killed another biker. As the cat literally held her in his jaws by the back of her neck, all she could do was pray. Humanly speaking, her friend Debbie was her only hope. Debbie jumped off her bike, grabbed Anne's leg, and screamed for help just kicking at the mountain lion. Thankfully, Debbie's screams finally brought the help of some men who had been biking with them. Debbie continued to hang on as the men pelted that lion with rocks. Suddenly the animal released his victim, and Anne's life was saved. Debbie just gave everything she had to keep the promise she had made to her friend in the middle of that struggle. She just screamed, "I'll never let go of you!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fighting for That Person You Love."
There are people you know whose lives depend on you being a friend like that - a friend who loves them enough to fight the lion for them - whatever it takes. In the Bible, God calls the devil "a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The lion's ultimate goal is to take people you work with, people you go to school with, people in your personal world, to hell with him. If he can just keep them from ever putting their trust in the Savior who died to save them. If he can just keep them from ever really understanding what Jesus did for them. If he can just keep you from telling them. Humanly speaking, their only hope may be someone who will fight for their life, and since you know Jesus and you know them, that someone is probably you.
The command of Proverbs 24:11 is our very important word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it...Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" The Bible makes it plain. It says, "He that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). I'm sure you know some folks who probably don't have the Son of God in their heart. Which means no real life here and no eternal life when they die.
Don't just let the lion have them right before your very eyes. Fight for them! Jude 23 commands us, "Snatch others from the fire and save them." Put the name of someone you know in that verse, "Snatch (there's the name) from the fire and save that person." Someone you want to have in Heaven with you who probably isn't headed there right now.
How can you fight for their eternal soul? First, you show love to them in ways that will mean something to them, that displays God's love but in a way that communicates it in their language of love. Show them the difference Jesus makes by being like Jesus in ways that will stand out to them in contrast to the other people that they know in that same environment. The real fight for them, though, is in the Throne Room of Almighty God. Keep storming heaven, praying for their rescue every day. Pray for them by name. Don't let them go.
Ask God to open a door, a natural opportunity for you to explain your relationship with Jesus and the difference He makes. Pray that He will open their heart to Him and to you, and He'll open your mouth to tell them about Him. I call it the 3-open prayer. "Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Lord, open my mouth."
Saving them is going to take a friend who will take the risks, pay the price, and make the changes necessary to rescue them, and to never, never let go. As long as there's breath, there is hope! And for your friend, this fight is life or death!
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Psalm 50 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LIVE A STIRRING LIFE
Let us each lead a life stirring enough to cause a movement! Let’s love unquenchably, dream unfalteringly, and work unceasingly. Let us close our ears to the manifold voices of compromise and perch ourselves on the branch of truth. Let’s champion the value of people, proclaim the forgiveness of God, and claim the promise of heaven.
Let’s start a movement of hope! A movement comes of age when one life harvests the seeds planted by countless lives in previous generations. A movement occurs when one person, no greater or lesser than those who’ve gone before, lives a forceful life in the fullness of time.
Let’s live lives stirring and forceful enough to cause a movement. Will the movement come in our generation? I hope so. But even if it doesn’t, even if we never see it, it will occur. And we will be part of it.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 50
A psalm of Asaph.
The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.[h][i]
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked person, God says:
“What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly[j] like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.
22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
and to the blameless[k] I will show my salvation.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 50:6 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text for God himself is judge
Psalm 50:6 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 50:21 Or thought the ‘I am’ was
Psalm 50:23 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; the meaning of the Masoretic Text for this phrase is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Read: Mark 5:1–20
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil[b] spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns[c] of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
5:2 Greek unclean; also in 5:8, 13.
5:20 Greek Decapolis.
Tell It!
By Lawrence Darmani
The man went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him. Mark 5:20
The year was 1975 and something significant had just happened to me. I needed to find my friend Francis, with whom I shared a lot of personal matters, and tell him about it. I found him in his apartment hurriedly preparing to go out, but I slowed him down. The way he stared at me, he must have sensed that I had something important to tell him. “What is it?” he asked. So I told him simply, “Yesterday I surrendered my life to Jesus!”
Francis looked at me, sighed heavily, and said, “I’ve felt like doing the same for a long time now.” He asked me to share what happened, and I told him how the previous day someone had explained the gospel to me and how I asked Jesus to come into my life. I still remember the tears in his eyes as he too prayed to receive Jesus’s forgiveness. No longer in a hurry, he and I talked and talked about our new relationship with Christ.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
After Jesus healed the man with an evil spirit, He told him, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). The man didn’t need to preach a powerful sermon; he simply needed to share his story.
No matter what our conversion experience is, we can do what that man did: “[He] went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him.”
What has Jesus done for you? Tell it!
Share your story on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
The Greatest Source of Power
Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do… —John 14:13
Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point— the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him.
However, I must take the time to realize what this central point of power is. Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? “If you abide in Me…”— that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point— “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). Am I abiding? Am I taking the time to abide? What is the greatest source of power in my life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work for God? It should be none of these— what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our desires and interests on the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
“Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do….” The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Lifetime Companion - #7672
I guess after you've lived 94 years, you have a right to forget some things. And a lot of elderly people do. And some of us not so elderly. My wife's grandfather was 94 and had reached the point of not even recognizing some of his family. It's a small family-just one son and two granddaughters, including my wife. My wife called her Granddad one day and she spoke loudly so he could hear, and she said, "Hi, Granddad. I love you." And she identified who was calling. There was no response for a moment-then almost irritated; he said "Who is this?" And she identified herself again, and she said, "You know, you have one son who had two daughters. I'm the oldest daughter. I love you, Granddad." Well, this time he just chuckled. He had no idea who this strange woman was saying she loved him. I just love my wife's response, "Well, Granddad, the most important thing is this-Jesus loves you." To which Granddad responded-"Now Him I know!" I love it!
This is Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lifetime Companion."
Remembering that precious conversation with my wife's grandfather always touches me. His lifetime companion, my wife's Grandma of course, was gone. He didn't always recognize his son or his granddaughters. But there was one companion that had walked with him through it all and who he knew was still there by his side every step of the way... Jesus.
The sad thing is that so many of us are trying to make it without that unloseable lifetime companion. Maybe you are. Well, you don't have to go it alone any farther. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from Hebrews 13:5, "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" What a promise-"never leave you"-the best kind of love you could imagine. The kind you may have looked for in relationship after relationship and never found. That search ends when you finally give your life to Jesus Christ.
Some people leave you by choice-either you change or they change and they're gone. That will never happen with Jesus. He'll never change. Three verses later it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." That's what my wife's grandfather found out. Jesus was there for Him when he was a young man starting out teaching...when he started a family...when he built a home...when he was sick...when he lost his wife...when he couldn't comprehend very much at the end...and when he walked into eternity one morning. Jesus loves you-and nothing you do can change that.
Some people would never choose to leave you-but one day they can't be there anymore. I've buried my father, my mother. I've lost others very, very close to me. Some who don't want to leave us do, but because Jesus has conquered death, you can't lose Him. Your Savior will never die on you, never divorce you, and never change His mind about you.
The proof: His cross. He went there to die for you running your own life...to pay that eternal death penalty that your sin carries. How bad is that death penalty? Look at Jesus dying on the cross. If He was ever going to abandon you, it would have been when His love for you meant taking your hell on that cross. But He died for you-so that if you would put your trust in Him to be your Rescuer from your sin, you would have His love forever.
So much of your life may have been unnecessary loneliness. Because you have never really begun a personal relationship with the One who will never leave you. Haven't there been enough days without Him? Let this be your first Jesus-day. Just tell Him right where you are that you are putting all your trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you.
There's some wonderful information at our website that I would love to share with you so you can be sure you are anchored to this unloseable love of Jesus. The website is ANewStory.com. Please meet me there.
For a long time, your heart has been aching for that lifetime companion-the one who will walk with you through it all-right into eternity. His name is Jesus. He's waiting for you now.
Let us each lead a life stirring enough to cause a movement! Let’s love unquenchably, dream unfalteringly, and work unceasingly. Let us close our ears to the manifold voices of compromise and perch ourselves on the branch of truth. Let’s champion the value of people, proclaim the forgiveness of God, and claim the promise of heaven.
Let’s start a movement of hope! A movement comes of age when one life harvests the seeds planted by countless lives in previous generations. A movement occurs when one person, no greater or lesser than those who’ve gone before, lives a forceful life in the fullness of time.
Let’s live lives stirring and forceful enough to cause a movement. Will the movement come in our generation? I hope so. But even if it doesn’t, even if we never see it, it will occur. And we will be part of it.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 50
A psalm of Asaph.
The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.[h][i]
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked person, God says:
“What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly[j] like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.
22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
and to the blameless[k] I will show my salvation.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 50:6 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text for God himself is judge
Psalm 50:6 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 50:21 Or thought the ‘I am’ was
Psalm 50:23 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; the meaning of the Masoretic Text for this phrase is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Read: Mark 5:1–20
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil[b] spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns[c] of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
5:2 Greek unclean; also in 5:8, 13.
5:20 Greek Decapolis.
Tell It!
By Lawrence Darmani
The man went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him. Mark 5:20
The year was 1975 and something significant had just happened to me. I needed to find my friend Francis, with whom I shared a lot of personal matters, and tell him about it. I found him in his apartment hurriedly preparing to go out, but I slowed him down. The way he stared at me, he must have sensed that I had something important to tell him. “What is it?” he asked. So I told him simply, “Yesterday I surrendered my life to Jesus!”
Francis looked at me, sighed heavily, and said, “I’ve felt like doing the same for a long time now.” He asked me to share what happened, and I told him how the previous day someone had explained the gospel to me and how I asked Jesus to come into my life. I still remember the tears in his eyes as he too prayed to receive Jesus’s forgiveness. No longer in a hurry, he and I talked and talked about our new relationship with Christ.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
After Jesus healed the man with an evil spirit, He told him, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). The man didn’t need to preach a powerful sermon; he simply needed to share his story.
No matter what our conversion experience is, we can do what that man did: “[He] went away and began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him.”
What has Jesus done for you? Tell it!
Share your story on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
The Greatest Source of Power
Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do… —John 14:13
Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point— the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him.
However, I must take the time to realize what this central point of power is. Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? “If you abide in Me…”— that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point— “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). Am I abiding? Am I taking the time to abide? What is the greatest source of power in my life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work for God? It should be none of these— what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our desires and interests on the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
“Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do….” The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Lifetime Companion - #7672
I guess after you've lived 94 years, you have a right to forget some things. And a lot of elderly people do. And some of us not so elderly. My wife's grandfather was 94 and had reached the point of not even recognizing some of his family. It's a small family-just one son and two granddaughters, including my wife. My wife called her Granddad one day and she spoke loudly so he could hear, and she said, "Hi, Granddad. I love you." And she identified who was calling. There was no response for a moment-then almost irritated; he said "Who is this?" And she identified herself again, and she said, "You know, you have one son who had two daughters. I'm the oldest daughter. I love you, Granddad." Well, this time he just chuckled. He had no idea who this strange woman was saying she loved him. I just love my wife's response, "Well, Granddad, the most important thing is this-Jesus loves you." To which Granddad responded-"Now Him I know!" I love it!
This is Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lifetime Companion."
Remembering that precious conversation with my wife's grandfather always touches me. His lifetime companion, my wife's Grandma of course, was gone. He didn't always recognize his son or his granddaughters. But there was one companion that had walked with him through it all and who he knew was still there by his side every step of the way... Jesus.
The sad thing is that so many of us are trying to make it without that unloseable lifetime companion. Maybe you are. Well, you don't have to go it alone any farther. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from Hebrews 13:5, "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" What a promise-"never leave you"-the best kind of love you could imagine. The kind you may have looked for in relationship after relationship and never found. That search ends when you finally give your life to Jesus Christ.
Some people leave you by choice-either you change or they change and they're gone. That will never happen with Jesus. He'll never change. Three verses later it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." That's what my wife's grandfather found out. Jesus was there for Him when he was a young man starting out teaching...when he started a family...when he built a home...when he was sick...when he lost his wife...when he couldn't comprehend very much at the end...and when he walked into eternity one morning. Jesus loves you-and nothing you do can change that.
Some people would never choose to leave you-but one day they can't be there anymore. I've buried my father, my mother. I've lost others very, very close to me. Some who don't want to leave us do, but because Jesus has conquered death, you can't lose Him. Your Savior will never die on you, never divorce you, and never change His mind about you.
The proof: His cross. He went there to die for you running your own life...to pay that eternal death penalty that your sin carries. How bad is that death penalty? Look at Jesus dying on the cross. If He was ever going to abandon you, it would have been when His love for you meant taking your hell on that cross. But He died for you-so that if you would put your trust in Him to be your Rescuer from your sin, you would have His love forever.
So much of your life may have been unnecessary loneliness. Because you have never really begun a personal relationship with the One who will never leave you. Haven't there been enough days without Him? Let this be your first Jesus-day. Just tell Him right where you are that you are putting all your trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you.
There's some wonderful information at our website that I would love to share with you so you can be sure you are anchored to this unloseable love of Jesus. The website is ANewStory.com. Please meet me there.
For a long time, your heart has been aching for that lifetime companion-the one who will walk with you through it all-right into eternity. His name is Jesus. He's waiting for you now.
Monday, June 6, 2016
Psalm 49, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS HAS UNIMPEACHABLE AUTHORITY
The Scriptures say “Jesus sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus has unimpeachable authority. The Roman government tried to intimidate him. False religion tried to silence him. The Devil tried to kill him. All failed!
Jesus is the command center of the galaxies. He occupies the Oval Office. He stopped the waves with a word. He spoke and a tree withered. He spoke again and a basket became a banquet. Jesus said in Matthew 11:27, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.”
All things includes Satan. Jesus outranks him in every situation. He must obey Jesus, and he knows it. The Bible says that prayers offered in the name of Jesus have “divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Is Satan setting up a stronghold in your life? Lift up a prayer and unleash the demolition power of Jesus!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 49
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all who live in this world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
5 Why should I fear when evil days come,
when wicked deceivers surround me—
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of their great riches?
7 No one can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for them—
8 the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough—
9 so that they should live on forever
and not see decay.
10 For all can see that the wise die,
that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
leaving their wealth to others.
11 Their tombs will remain their houses[e] forever,
their dwellings for endless generations,
though they had[f] named lands after themselves.
12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;
they are like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.[g]
14 They are like sheep and are destined to die;
death will be their shepherd
(but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).
Their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
he will surely take me to himself.
16 Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
when the splendor of their houses increases;
17 for they will take nothing with them when they die,
their splendor will not descend with them.
18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed—
and people praise you when you prosper—
19 they will join those who have gone before them,
who will never again see the light of life.
20 People who have wealth but lack understanding
are like the beasts that perish.
Footnotes:
Psalm 49:1 In Hebrew texts 49:1-20 is numbered 49:2-21.
Psalm 49:11 Septuagint and Syriac; Hebrew In their thoughts their houses will remain
Psalm 49:11 Or generations, / for they have
Psalm 49:13 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 15.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 06, 2016
Read: Psalm 119:71–75
My suffering was good for me,
for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
72 Your instructions are more valuable to me
than millions in gold and silver.
Yodh
73 You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
74 May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word.
75 I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair;
you disciplined me because I needed it.
INSIGHT:
A commonly understood characteristic of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is that it celebrates the goodness and usefulness of God’s commandments. Referring to these laws by various names, the author suggests that God’s commands are the very core of how life is meant to be lived. The thought is simple yet intriguing—God’s laws help us to live in the way that we were created and intended to live. They are not restrictive; they are freeing. That helps us understand why the psalmist had such a high regard of God’s laws.
New
By Dennis Fisher
I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Psalm 119:75
During World War II my dad served with the US Army in the South Pacific. During that time Dad rejected any idea of religion, saying, “I don’t need a crutch.” Yet the day came when his attitude toward spiritual things would change forever. Mom had gone into labor with their third child, and my brother and I went to bed with the excitement of soon seeing our new brother or sister. When I got out of bed the next morning, I excitedly asked Dad, “Is it a boy or a girl?” He replied, “It was a little girl but she was born dead.” We began to weep together at our loss.
For the first time, Dad took his broken heart to Jesus in prayer. At that moment he felt an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort from God, though his daughter would always be irreplaceable. Soon he began to take an interest in the Bible and continued to pray to the One who was healing his broken heart. His faith grew through the years. He became a strong follower of Jesus—serving Him as a Bible-study teacher and a leader in his church.
Brokenness can lead to wholeness.
Jesus is not a crutch for the weak. He is the source of new spiritual life! When we’re broken, He can make us new and whole (Ps. 119:75).
What is on your heart that you need to talk with God about? Bring Him your brokenness and ask Him to make you whole.
Brokenness can lead to wholeness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 06, 2016
“Work Out” What God “Works in” You
…work out your own salvation…for it is God who works in you… —Philippians 2:12-13
Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the Lord initially comes in contact with our conscience, the first thing our conscience does is awaken our will, and our will always agrees with God. Yet you say, “But I don’t know if my will is in agreement with God.” Look to Jesus and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. What causes you to say “I will not obey” is something less deep and penetrating than your will. It is perversity or stubbornness, and they are never in agreement with God. The most profound thing in a person is his will, not sin.
The will is the essential element in God’s creation of human beings— sin is a perverse nature which entered into people. In someone who has been born again, the source of the will is Almighty God. “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” With focused attention and great care, you have to “work out” what God “works in” you— not work to accomplish or earn “your own salvation,” but work it out so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith on the complete and perfect redemption of the Lord. As you do this, you do not bring an opposing will up against God’s will— God’s will is your will. Your natural choices will be in accordance with God’s will, and living this life will be as natural as breathing. Stubbornness is an unintelligent barrier, refusing enlightenment and blocking its flow. The only thing to do with this barrier of stubbornness is to blow it up with “dynamite,” and the “dynamite” is obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Do I believe that Almighty God is the Source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 06, 2016
An Empty Tomb and a Death Valley Bloom - #7671
If I wanted a picture that screams "Resurrection!", "Life!", "Easter!" - I'd go to Death Valley. Well, this year at least, because all of a sudden it began to look like "Life Valley."
Because of what they call the "super bloom"! Millions of super-sized, glorious flowers exploded this spring in one of the driest places on earth. It's the lowest point in the U.S. They get an average of two inches of rain a year.
But this year: a sea of purple and pink blossoms. And this blazing yellow of what they call "desert gold."
Thank you, El Niño! Three times the normal rainfall, plus warmth and mild winds. And, as one headline says - "Death Valley is alive."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "An Empty Tomb and a Death Valley Bloom."
Well you could say "Hello, Easter!", because the day the crucified Jesus blasted out of His grave, He left death quivering on the ground. The enemy that had conquered every human who ever lived - Dethroned.
And the long dark valley we call death was suddenly alive.
And a billion funerals have never been the same. Because this death-beating Savior promised, "Because I live, you will live also" (John 14:19). Those who follow the risen Christ follow Him right through "death valley" into the glories of His heaven.
So the super-blooming glory of Death Valley becomes, for me, a picture of the deeply personal meaning of what Jesus did on the cross and on that Easter morning, that resurrection day.
First of all, there is no place so dead that life cannot bloom. A broken family. A broken heart. A "hopeless" situation. When Jesus walked out of His grave, He conquered the greatest "hopeless" of all. So when we invite Jesus into our "valley of death," He brings with Him the power that crushed death. Miracle-working power. The resurrected Christ said, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). Hopeless is not in His vocabulary.
Secondly, a million seeds are waiting to bloom. Seeds deposited in someone's heart when they heard about Jesus. Maybe as a child. From a friend. In church. They've heard the good news that the sins we deserve to pay for were paid for by Jesus when He "carried our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). They've just never made this Savior their personal Savior. But then the storm comes. We see how much we need Him. The storm awakens the slumbering seed. And the Jesus we knew about becomes the Jesus we know!
And thirdly, life will win. One park official said, "Death Valley goes from the valley of death to the valley of life." That's what Easter has done! That's what the resurrection has done! That's my future! And the future of everyone who belongs to Jesus.
Because Jesus said in our word for today from the Word of God, in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies". So, as David said in the 23rd Psalm, "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4). Because Jesus is alive, my last breath on earth will give way to my first glimpse of heaven.
To paraphrase D.L. Moody, a great preacher of another generation - "When you read some day that I am dead, don't you believe it! Because at that moment, I'll be more alive than I've ever been before!"
I wonder if you have that assurance. That you know for sure you are going to Heaven, because the sin that would keep you from going to God's Heaven has been forgiven because you put your trust in the only One who could forgive it. That would be the One who dies for it, Jesus. And you are believing in eternal life because you believe in the One who's the only One who can give it to you. He's the only One who has it. He walked out of His grave.
If you've never begun your relationship with Him, would you do that today? Let me help you with that. Please, go to our website – ANewStory.com, and let me walk you through how to be sure you belong to Jesus.
Jesus is alive. Death has lost. Life will win.
The Scriptures say “Jesus sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus has unimpeachable authority. The Roman government tried to intimidate him. False religion tried to silence him. The Devil tried to kill him. All failed!
Jesus is the command center of the galaxies. He occupies the Oval Office. He stopped the waves with a word. He spoke and a tree withered. He spoke again and a basket became a banquet. Jesus said in Matthew 11:27, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.”
All things includes Satan. Jesus outranks him in every situation. He must obey Jesus, and he knows it. The Bible says that prayers offered in the name of Jesus have “divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Is Satan setting up a stronghold in your life? Lift up a prayer and unleash the demolition power of Jesus!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 49
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all who live in this world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
5 Why should I fear when evil days come,
when wicked deceivers surround me—
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of their great riches?
7 No one can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for them—
8 the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough—
9 so that they should live on forever
and not see decay.
10 For all can see that the wise die,
that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
leaving their wealth to others.
11 Their tombs will remain their houses[e] forever,
their dwellings for endless generations,
though they had[f] named lands after themselves.
12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;
they are like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.[g]
14 They are like sheep and are destined to die;
death will be their shepherd
(but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).
Their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
he will surely take me to himself.
16 Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
when the splendor of their houses increases;
17 for they will take nothing with them when they die,
their splendor will not descend with them.
18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed—
and people praise you when you prosper—
19 they will join those who have gone before them,
who will never again see the light of life.
20 People who have wealth but lack understanding
are like the beasts that perish.
Footnotes:
Psalm 49:1 In Hebrew texts 49:1-20 is numbered 49:2-21.
Psalm 49:11 Septuagint and Syriac; Hebrew In their thoughts their houses will remain
Psalm 49:11 Or generations, / for they have
Psalm 49:13 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 15.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 06, 2016
Read: Psalm 119:71–75
My suffering was good for me,
for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
72 Your instructions are more valuable to me
than millions in gold and silver.
Yodh
73 You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
74 May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word.
75 I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair;
you disciplined me because I needed it.
INSIGHT:
A commonly understood characteristic of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is that it celebrates the goodness and usefulness of God’s commandments. Referring to these laws by various names, the author suggests that God’s commands are the very core of how life is meant to be lived. The thought is simple yet intriguing—God’s laws help us to live in the way that we were created and intended to live. They are not restrictive; they are freeing. That helps us understand why the psalmist had such a high regard of God’s laws.
New
By Dennis Fisher
I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Psalm 119:75
During World War II my dad served with the US Army in the South Pacific. During that time Dad rejected any idea of religion, saying, “I don’t need a crutch.” Yet the day came when his attitude toward spiritual things would change forever. Mom had gone into labor with their third child, and my brother and I went to bed with the excitement of soon seeing our new brother or sister. When I got out of bed the next morning, I excitedly asked Dad, “Is it a boy or a girl?” He replied, “It was a little girl but she was born dead.” We began to weep together at our loss.
For the first time, Dad took his broken heart to Jesus in prayer. At that moment he felt an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort from God, though his daughter would always be irreplaceable. Soon he began to take an interest in the Bible and continued to pray to the One who was healing his broken heart. His faith grew through the years. He became a strong follower of Jesus—serving Him as a Bible-study teacher and a leader in his church.
Brokenness can lead to wholeness.
Jesus is not a crutch for the weak. He is the source of new spiritual life! When we’re broken, He can make us new and whole (Ps. 119:75).
What is on your heart that you need to talk with God about? Bring Him your brokenness and ask Him to make you whole.
Brokenness can lead to wholeness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 06, 2016
“Work Out” What God “Works in” You
…work out your own salvation…for it is God who works in you… —Philippians 2:12-13
Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the Lord initially comes in contact with our conscience, the first thing our conscience does is awaken our will, and our will always agrees with God. Yet you say, “But I don’t know if my will is in agreement with God.” Look to Jesus and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. What causes you to say “I will not obey” is something less deep and penetrating than your will. It is perversity or stubbornness, and they are never in agreement with God. The most profound thing in a person is his will, not sin.
The will is the essential element in God’s creation of human beings— sin is a perverse nature which entered into people. In someone who has been born again, the source of the will is Almighty God. “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” With focused attention and great care, you have to “work out” what God “works in” you— not work to accomplish or earn “your own salvation,” but work it out so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith on the complete and perfect redemption of the Lord. As you do this, you do not bring an opposing will up against God’s will— God’s will is your will. Your natural choices will be in accordance with God’s will, and living this life will be as natural as breathing. Stubbornness is an unintelligent barrier, refusing enlightenment and blocking its flow. The only thing to do with this barrier of stubbornness is to blow it up with “dynamite,” and the “dynamite” is obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Do I believe that Almighty God is the Source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 06, 2016
An Empty Tomb and a Death Valley Bloom - #7671
If I wanted a picture that screams "Resurrection!", "Life!", "Easter!" - I'd go to Death Valley. Well, this year at least, because all of a sudden it began to look like "Life Valley."
Because of what they call the "super bloom"! Millions of super-sized, glorious flowers exploded this spring in one of the driest places on earth. It's the lowest point in the U.S. They get an average of two inches of rain a year.
But this year: a sea of purple and pink blossoms. And this blazing yellow of what they call "desert gold."
Thank you, El Niño! Three times the normal rainfall, plus warmth and mild winds. And, as one headline says - "Death Valley is alive."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "An Empty Tomb and a Death Valley Bloom."
Well you could say "Hello, Easter!", because the day the crucified Jesus blasted out of His grave, He left death quivering on the ground. The enemy that had conquered every human who ever lived - Dethroned.
And the long dark valley we call death was suddenly alive.
And a billion funerals have never been the same. Because this death-beating Savior promised, "Because I live, you will live also" (John 14:19). Those who follow the risen Christ follow Him right through "death valley" into the glories of His heaven.
So the super-blooming glory of Death Valley becomes, for me, a picture of the deeply personal meaning of what Jesus did on the cross and on that Easter morning, that resurrection day.
First of all, there is no place so dead that life cannot bloom. A broken family. A broken heart. A "hopeless" situation. When Jesus walked out of His grave, He conquered the greatest "hopeless" of all. So when we invite Jesus into our "valley of death," He brings with Him the power that crushed death. Miracle-working power. The resurrected Christ said, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). Hopeless is not in His vocabulary.
Secondly, a million seeds are waiting to bloom. Seeds deposited in someone's heart when they heard about Jesus. Maybe as a child. From a friend. In church. They've heard the good news that the sins we deserve to pay for were paid for by Jesus when He "carried our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). They've just never made this Savior their personal Savior. But then the storm comes. We see how much we need Him. The storm awakens the slumbering seed. And the Jesus we knew about becomes the Jesus we know!
And thirdly, life will win. One park official said, "Death Valley goes from the valley of death to the valley of life." That's what Easter has done! That's what the resurrection has done! That's my future! And the future of everyone who belongs to Jesus.
Because Jesus said in our word for today from the Word of God, in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies". So, as David said in the 23rd Psalm, "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4). Because Jesus is alive, my last breath on earth will give way to my first glimpse of heaven.
To paraphrase D.L. Moody, a great preacher of another generation - "When you read some day that I am dead, don't you believe it! Because at that moment, I'll be more alive than I've ever been before!"
I wonder if you have that assurance. That you know for sure you are going to Heaven, because the sin that would keep you from going to God's Heaven has been forgiven because you put your trust in the only One who could forgive it. That would be the One who dies for it, Jesus. And you are believing in eternal life because you believe in the One who's the only One who can give it to you. He's the only One who has it. He walked out of His grave.
If you've never begun your relationship with Him, would you do that today? Let me help you with that. Please, go to our website – ANewStory.com, and let me walk you through how to be sure you belong to Jesus.
Jesus is alive. Death has lost. Life will win.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Psalm 48 Bible, Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Master Builder
Several years ago the state was rebuilding an overpass near my house. Three lanes reduced to one, transforming a morning commute into a daily stew. The project, like human history, had been in development since before time began. My next-door neighbors at the time were highway engineers, consultants to the department of transportation. “It’ll take time,” they responded to my grumbles, “but it will all get finished.” They had seen the plans.
In the Old Testament story of Joseph, God allows us to study His plans. Brothers dumping brother. But watch the Master Builder at work. He cleared debris, stabilized the structure. And the chaos of Genesis 37:24…They cast him into the pit..became the triumph of Genesis 50:20— life for many people. God redeemed the story of Joseph. Can’t He redeem your story as well?
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 48
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon[b] is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were astounded;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
shattered by an east wind.
8 As we have heard,
so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
forever.[c]
9 Within your temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love.
10 Like your name, O God,
your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices,
the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
view her citadels,
that you may tell of them
to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;
he will be our guide even to the end.
Footnotes:
Psalm 48:1 In Hebrew texts 48:1-14 is numbered 48:2-15.
Psalm 48:2 Zaphon was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites.
Psalm 48:8 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Read: John 17:1–5
The Prayer of Jesus
After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. 2 For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’s model for prayer in Matthew 6:9–13 is often referred to as “the Lord’s prayer.” However, these words form a pattern for our prayers. Jesus’s prayer in John 17 might better be called “the Lord’s prayer” because it is an expression of His heart to the Father about His mission (vv. 1–10), His followers (vv. 11–16), and His longing for His people to be one with Him and with each other (vv. 17–26). This prayer reaches its conclusion with the desire that we know the wonder of His love: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (v. 26).
The Beauty of Rome
By Mart DeHaan
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God. John 17:3
The glory of the Roman Empire offered an expansive backdrop for the birth of Jesus. In 27 bc Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus, ended 200 years of civil war and began to replace rundown neighborhoods with monuments, temples, arenas, and government complexes. According to Roman historian Pliny the Elder, they were “the most beautiful buildings the world has ever seen.”
Yet even with her beauty, the Eternal City and its empire had a history of brutality that continued until Rome fell. Thousands of slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and army deserters were crucified on roadside poles as a warning to anyone who dared to defy the power of Rome.
The Lamb who died is the Lord who lives!
What irony that Jesus’s death on a Roman cross turned out to reveal an eternal glory that made the pride of Rome look like the momentary beauty of a sunset!
Who could have imagined that in the public curse and agony of the cross we would find the eternal glory of the love, presence, and kingdom of our God?
Who could have foreseen that all heaven and earth would one day sing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev. 5:12).
Father in heaven, please help us to reflect the heart of Your sacrifice for the world. May Your love become our love, Your life our life, and Your glory our never-ending joy.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ourdailybread
The Lamb who died is the Lord who lives!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 05, 2016
God’s Assurance
He Himself has said….So we may boldly say… —Hebrews 13:5-6
My assurance is to be built upon God’s assurance to me. God says, “I will never leave you,” so that then I “may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6). In other words, I will not be obsessed with apprehension. This does not mean that I will not be tempted to fear, but I will remember God’s words of assurance. I will be full of courage, like a child who strives to reach the standard his father has set for him. The faith of many people begins to falter when apprehensions enter their thinking, and they forget the meaning of God’s assurance— they forget to take a deep spiritual breath. The only way to remove the fear from our lives is to listen to God’s assurance to us.
What are you fearing? Whatever it may be, you are not a coward about it— you are determined to face it, yet you still have a feeling of fear. When it seems that there is nothing and no one to help you, say to yourself, “But ‘The Lord is my helper’ this very moment, even in my present circumstance.” Are you learning to listen to God before you speak, or are you saying things and then trying to make God’s Word fit what you have said? Take hold of the Father’s assurance, and then say with strong courage, “I will not fear.” It does not matter what evil or wrong may be in our way, because “He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you….’ ”
Human frailty is another thing that gets between God’s words of assurance and our own words and thoughts. When we realize how feeble we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God seems to be nonexistent. But remember God’s assurance to us— “I will never…forsake you.” Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s keynote? Are we continually filled with enough courage to say, “The Lord is my helper,” or are we yielding to fear?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
Several years ago the state was rebuilding an overpass near my house. Three lanes reduced to one, transforming a morning commute into a daily stew. The project, like human history, had been in development since before time began. My next-door neighbors at the time were highway engineers, consultants to the department of transportation. “It’ll take time,” they responded to my grumbles, “but it will all get finished.” They had seen the plans.
In the Old Testament story of Joseph, God allows us to study His plans. Brothers dumping brother. But watch the Master Builder at work. He cleared debris, stabilized the structure. And the chaos of Genesis 37:24…They cast him into the pit..became the triumph of Genesis 50:20— life for many people. God redeemed the story of Joseph. Can’t He redeem your story as well?
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 48
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon[b] is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were astounded;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
shattered by an east wind.
8 As we have heard,
so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
forever.[c]
9 Within your temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love.
10 Like your name, O God,
your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices,
the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
view her citadels,
that you may tell of them
to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;
he will be our guide even to the end.
Footnotes:
Psalm 48:1 In Hebrew texts 48:1-14 is numbered 48:2-15.
Psalm 48:2 Zaphon was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites.
Psalm 48:8 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Read: John 17:1–5
The Prayer of Jesus
After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. 2 For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’s model for prayer in Matthew 6:9–13 is often referred to as “the Lord’s prayer.” However, these words form a pattern for our prayers. Jesus’s prayer in John 17 might better be called “the Lord’s prayer” because it is an expression of His heart to the Father about His mission (vv. 1–10), His followers (vv. 11–16), and His longing for His people to be one with Him and with each other (vv. 17–26). This prayer reaches its conclusion with the desire that we know the wonder of His love: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (v. 26).
The Beauty of Rome
By Mart DeHaan
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God. John 17:3
The glory of the Roman Empire offered an expansive backdrop for the birth of Jesus. In 27 bc Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus, ended 200 years of civil war and began to replace rundown neighborhoods with monuments, temples, arenas, and government complexes. According to Roman historian Pliny the Elder, they were “the most beautiful buildings the world has ever seen.”
Yet even with her beauty, the Eternal City and its empire had a history of brutality that continued until Rome fell. Thousands of slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and army deserters were crucified on roadside poles as a warning to anyone who dared to defy the power of Rome.
The Lamb who died is the Lord who lives!
What irony that Jesus’s death on a Roman cross turned out to reveal an eternal glory that made the pride of Rome look like the momentary beauty of a sunset!
Who could have imagined that in the public curse and agony of the cross we would find the eternal glory of the love, presence, and kingdom of our God?
Who could have foreseen that all heaven and earth would one day sing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev. 5:12).
Father in heaven, please help us to reflect the heart of Your sacrifice for the world. May Your love become our love, Your life our life, and Your glory our never-ending joy.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ourdailybread
The Lamb who died is the Lord who lives!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 05, 2016
God’s Assurance
He Himself has said….So we may boldly say… —Hebrews 13:5-6
My assurance is to be built upon God’s assurance to me. God says, “I will never leave you,” so that then I “may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6). In other words, I will not be obsessed with apprehension. This does not mean that I will not be tempted to fear, but I will remember God’s words of assurance. I will be full of courage, like a child who strives to reach the standard his father has set for him. The faith of many people begins to falter when apprehensions enter their thinking, and they forget the meaning of God’s assurance— they forget to take a deep spiritual breath. The only way to remove the fear from our lives is to listen to God’s assurance to us.
What are you fearing? Whatever it may be, you are not a coward about it— you are determined to face it, yet you still have a feeling of fear. When it seems that there is nothing and no one to help you, say to yourself, “But ‘The Lord is my helper’ this very moment, even in my present circumstance.” Are you learning to listen to God before you speak, or are you saying things and then trying to make God’s Word fit what you have said? Take hold of the Father’s assurance, and then say with strong courage, “I will not fear.” It does not matter what evil or wrong may be in our way, because “He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you….’ ”
Human frailty is another thing that gets between God’s words of assurance and our own words and thoughts. When we realize how feeble we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God seems to be nonexistent. But remember God’s assurance to us— “I will never…forsake you.” Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s keynote? Are we continually filled with enough courage to say, “The Lord is my helper,” or are we yielding to fear?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Psalm 47 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Master Weaver
In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good! Nothing in the Old Testament story of Joseph glosses over the presence of evil. Bloodstains and tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.
“You meant evil against me,” Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that means to weave. You wove evil, he was saying, but God re-wove it together for good. God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn, intertwines the colors. Nothing escapes His reach!
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 47
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,
the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.[j]
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings[k] of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
Footnotes:
Psalm 47:1 In Hebrew texts 47:1-9 is numbered 47:2-10.
Psalm 47:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 47:9 Or shields
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 04, 2016
Read: 1 Peter 4:7–11
The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
INSIGHT:
The words translated “be alert” and “of sober mind” in verse seven of today’s passage are both imperatives. The verb tense indicates a time-specific action with ongoing effects. This means Peter is not asking his readers if they will be alert and sober-minded; he is commanding that they be (and continue to be) alert (use sensible judgment) and be sober-minded (have clear and rational thinking). They are to do this for a specific purpose—so that they can pray. Obeying this command to alertness and self-control can and will have a lasting effect because it empowers our prayers.
You Have Purpose
By Cindy Hess Kasper
If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4:11
On a hot day in western Texas, my niece Vania saw a woman standing by a stoplight and holding up a sign. As she drove closer, she tried to read what the sign said, assuming it was a request for food or money. Instead, she was surprised to see these three words:
“You Have Purpose”
We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” to bring glory to our Creator (Psalm 139:14).
God has created each of us for a specific purpose. Primarily that purpose is to bring honor to Him, and one way we do that is by meeting the needs of others (1 Peter 4:10–11).
A mother of young children may find purpose in wiping runny noses and telling her kids about Jesus. An employee in an unsatisfying job might find his purpose in doing his work conscientiously, remembering it is the Lord he is serving (Col. 3:23–24). A woman who has lost her sight still finds purpose in praying for her children and grandchildren and influencing them to trust God.
Psalm 139 says that before we were born “all the days ordained for [us] were written in [His] book" (v. 16). We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” to bring glory to our Creator (v. 14).
Never forget: You have purpose!
Lord, it often seems that our lives swing from drudgery to challenges we don’t want. Today help us to see You in the midst of whatever faces us. Show us a small glimpse of the purpose and meaning You bring to everything.
Even when everything seems meaningless, God still has a purpose for your life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 04, 2016
The Never-forsaking God
He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." —Hebrews 13:5
What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
“I will never leave you…”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.
“I will never…forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?
We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R
In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good! Nothing in the Old Testament story of Joseph glosses over the presence of evil. Bloodstains and tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.
“You meant evil against me,” Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that means to weave. You wove evil, he was saying, but God re-wove it together for good. God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn, intertwines the colors. Nothing escapes His reach!
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 47
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,
the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.[j]
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings[k] of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
Footnotes:
Psalm 47:1 In Hebrew texts 47:1-9 is numbered 47:2-10.
Psalm 47:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 47:9 Or shields
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 04, 2016
Read: 1 Peter 4:7–11
The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
INSIGHT:
The words translated “be alert” and “of sober mind” in verse seven of today’s passage are both imperatives. The verb tense indicates a time-specific action with ongoing effects. This means Peter is not asking his readers if they will be alert and sober-minded; he is commanding that they be (and continue to be) alert (use sensible judgment) and be sober-minded (have clear and rational thinking). They are to do this for a specific purpose—so that they can pray. Obeying this command to alertness and self-control can and will have a lasting effect because it empowers our prayers.
You Have Purpose
By Cindy Hess Kasper
If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4:11
On a hot day in western Texas, my niece Vania saw a woman standing by a stoplight and holding up a sign. As she drove closer, she tried to read what the sign said, assuming it was a request for food or money. Instead, she was surprised to see these three words:
“You Have Purpose”
We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” to bring glory to our Creator (Psalm 139:14).
God has created each of us for a specific purpose. Primarily that purpose is to bring honor to Him, and one way we do that is by meeting the needs of others (1 Peter 4:10–11).
A mother of young children may find purpose in wiping runny noses and telling her kids about Jesus. An employee in an unsatisfying job might find his purpose in doing his work conscientiously, remembering it is the Lord he is serving (Col. 3:23–24). A woman who has lost her sight still finds purpose in praying for her children and grandchildren and influencing them to trust God.
Psalm 139 says that before we were born “all the days ordained for [us] were written in [His] book" (v. 16). We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” to bring glory to our Creator (v. 14).
Never forget: You have purpose!
Lord, it often seems that our lives swing from drudgery to challenges we don’t want. Today help us to see You in the midst of whatever faces us. Show us a small glimpse of the purpose and meaning You bring to everything.
Even when everything seems meaningless, God still has a purpose for your life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 04, 2016
The Never-forsaking God
He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." —Hebrews 13:5
What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
“I will never leave you…”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.
“I will never…forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?
We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R
Friday, June 3, 2016
Psalm 46 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOU BE YOU
You be you! Don’t be your parents or grandparents. You can admire them, appreciate them, and learn from them. But you cannot be them. Don’t compare yourself with others.
The apostle Paul said “…each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life (Galatians 6:4-5).”
Jesus was insistent upon this. After the resurrection he appeared to some of his followers. He gave Peter a specific pastoral assignment; one that included great sacrifice. The apostle Peter responded in John 21:21-22 by pointing at John and saying, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me.”
Don’t occupy yourself with another person’s assignment. You be you..stay focused on your own!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 46
For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.[d]
God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude
4 A river brings joy to the city of our God,
the sacred home of the Most High.
5 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed.
From the very break of day, God will protect it.
6 The nations are in chaos,
and their kingdoms crumble!
God’s voice thunders,
and the earth melts!
7 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel[e] is our fortress. Interlude
8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
See how he brings destruction upon the world.
9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”
11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude
Footnotes:
46:Title Hebrew according to alamoth.
46:7 Hebrew of Jacob; also in 46:11. See note on 44:4.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 03, 2016
Read: Isaiah 40:27–31
O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
INSIGHT:
After prophesying that God would use the Assyrians (Isa. 1–38) and Babylonians (Isa. 39) to punish Judah, Isaiah comforts Judah with the hope of future deliverance and restoration (Isa. 40–66). In chapter 40, Isaiah speaks of God’s sovereignty, majesty, and loving providential care. Addressing the Jews’ sense of abandonment (v. 27), Isaiah assures them that God has the power to restore them and will indeed do so. Isaiah reminds them that the everlasting, omnipotent, Creator God is the source of their strength (vv. 28–29) and calls on these despondent Jews to persevere in their faith, to rise to a new level of commitment, and to wait for God to bring His promises to fulfillment (vv. 30–31).
Strength for the Weary
By David McCasland
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31
On a beautiful, sunny day, I was walking in a park and feeling very weary in spirit. It wasn’t just one thing weighing me down—it seemed to be everything. When I stopped to sit on a bench, I noticed a small plaque placed there in loving memory of a “devoted husband, father, brother, and friend.” Also on the plaque were these words, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31 esv).
Those familiar words came to me as a personal touch from the Lord. Weariness—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—comes to us all. Isaiah reminds us that although we become tired, the Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth “will not grow tired or weary” (v. 28). How easily I had forgotten that in every situation “[the Lord] gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (v. 29).
When life's struggles make you weary, find strength in the Lord.
What’s it like on your journey today? If fatigue has caused you to forget God’s presence and power, why not pause and recall His promise. “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (v. 31). Here. Now. Right where we are.
Lord, thank You that You do not grow weary. Give me the strength to face whatever situation I am in today.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ourdailybread
When life's struggles make you weary, find strength in the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 03, 2016
“The Secret of the Lord”
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him… —Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.
“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 03, 2016
Seeing the Bad, Missing the Good - #7670
Several of our team members were driving together to ministry events in a nearby state. We were in two cars, but we stayed in touch by means of walkie-talkies. At a couple of points, one of the men in the car behind me pointed out a hawk that he spotted soaring gracefully over us. We saw several of them, actually, on this trip. Now, when you see a hawk or an eagle, it is kind of always an event for a city boy like me. But as my friend – who was not driving at the time - pointed out one of those hawks, the man who was driving said, "Well, I just saw a dead coyote on the shoulder." As our walkie-talkie conversations went on during that trip, that wasn't the last hawk the one man saw – or the last road kill that the driver saw.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing the Bad, Missing the Good."
I guess whether you see soaring hawks or dead coyotes depends on where you're looking. And some of us have this amazing ability to miss most of the beautiful things going on around us and to only see the ugly things. Some folks see mostly what's right with people and with their situation – others just can't help focusing on what's wrong...the dead coyotes. And it really does depend on where you choose to look – up or down. Because if you're walking through your day close to your Lord, there are always goodnesses to see!
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah knew what it was to see the dead coyotes – until he chose to look up and see those soaring hawks. Both perspectives are evident in our word for today from the Word of God in Lamentations 3, beginning in verse 19. First, the dead coyotes – "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." When you focus on your frustrations and your failures, the bad news and the negative feelings, yeah, you're going to be discouraged, you're going to be depressed, your souls going to be downcast within you.
Alright, prepare for the soaring hawks. "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him." When you focus on all the evidences of God's love and God's care in your life...when you look for the blessings that He has sown into this day, your load gets lighter and your heaviness turns to hope. Same situation - two different outlooks. You choose.
Could it be that maybe you've allowed too much negativity to blind you to God's blessings that are all around you? You've allowed your frustrations and hurts and stresses to dominate your view. Maybe people can tell because you seem to be kind of cynical, sarcastic, accumulating negatives, or looking for things to criticize. You've allowed yourself to get stuck in a negative rut – and the trip gets to be drudgery when all you're looking at is the dead coyotes.
Maybe it's time to say, "Lord, would you forgive me for letting the negative take over - for missing so many of the beautiful things that You put into every one of my days. I've been looking the wrong direction." Would you help me see the positive? Would You help me see Your new mercies every morning? Would you help me see Your love in action?" Then you can make this a day fill of God sightings – of the good stuff.
Out the same window, you can see the majesty of the soaring hawks or you could see the mess of the dead coyotes. What you choose to focus on is actually going to determine the kind of journey you have.
You be you! Don’t be your parents or grandparents. You can admire them, appreciate them, and learn from them. But you cannot be them. Don’t compare yourself with others.
The apostle Paul said “…each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life (Galatians 6:4-5).”
Jesus was insistent upon this. After the resurrection he appeared to some of his followers. He gave Peter a specific pastoral assignment; one that included great sacrifice. The apostle Peter responded in John 21:21-22 by pointing at John and saying, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me.”
Don’t occupy yourself with another person’s assignment. You be you..stay focused on your own!
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 46
For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.[d]
God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude
4 A river brings joy to the city of our God,
the sacred home of the Most High.
5 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed.
From the very break of day, God will protect it.
6 The nations are in chaos,
and their kingdoms crumble!
God’s voice thunders,
and the earth melts!
7 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel[e] is our fortress. Interlude
8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
See how he brings destruction upon the world.
9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”
11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude
Footnotes:
46:Title Hebrew according to alamoth.
46:7 Hebrew of Jacob; also in 46:11. See note on 44:4.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 03, 2016
Read: Isaiah 40:27–31
O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
INSIGHT:
After prophesying that God would use the Assyrians (Isa. 1–38) and Babylonians (Isa. 39) to punish Judah, Isaiah comforts Judah with the hope of future deliverance and restoration (Isa. 40–66). In chapter 40, Isaiah speaks of God’s sovereignty, majesty, and loving providential care. Addressing the Jews’ sense of abandonment (v. 27), Isaiah assures them that God has the power to restore them and will indeed do so. Isaiah reminds them that the everlasting, omnipotent, Creator God is the source of their strength (vv. 28–29) and calls on these despondent Jews to persevere in their faith, to rise to a new level of commitment, and to wait for God to bring His promises to fulfillment (vv. 30–31).
Strength for the Weary
By David McCasland
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31
On a beautiful, sunny day, I was walking in a park and feeling very weary in spirit. It wasn’t just one thing weighing me down—it seemed to be everything. When I stopped to sit on a bench, I noticed a small plaque placed there in loving memory of a “devoted husband, father, brother, and friend.” Also on the plaque were these words, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31 esv).
Those familiar words came to me as a personal touch from the Lord. Weariness—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—comes to us all. Isaiah reminds us that although we become tired, the Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth “will not grow tired or weary” (v. 28). How easily I had forgotten that in every situation “[the Lord] gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (v. 29).
When life's struggles make you weary, find strength in the Lord.
What’s it like on your journey today? If fatigue has caused you to forget God’s presence and power, why not pause and recall His promise. “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (v. 31). Here. Now. Right where we are.
Lord, thank You that You do not grow weary. Give me the strength to face whatever situation I am in today.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ourdailybread
When life's struggles make you weary, find strength in the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 03, 2016
“The Secret of the Lord”
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him… —Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.
“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 03, 2016
Seeing the Bad, Missing the Good - #7670
Several of our team members were driving together to ministry events in a nearby state. We were in two cars, but we stayed in touch by means of walkie-talkies. At a couple of points, one of the men in the car behind me pointed out a hawk that he spotted soaring gracefully over us. We saw several of them, actually, on this trip. Now, when you see a hawk or an eagle, it is kind of always an event for a city boy like me. But as my friend – who was not driving at the time - pointed out one of those hawks, the man who was driving said, "Well, I just saw a dead coyote on the shoulder." As our walkie-talkie conversations went on during that trip, that wasn't the last hawk the one man saw – or the last road kill that the driver saw.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing the Bad, Missing the Good."
I guess whether you see soaring hawks or dead coyotes depends on where you're looking. And some of us have this amazing ability to miss most of the beautiful things going on around us and to only see the ugly things. Some folks see mostly what's right with people and with their situation – others just can't help focusing on what's wrong...the dead coyotes. And it really does depend on where you choose to look – up or down. Because if you're walking through your day close to your Lord, there are always goodnesses to see!
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah knew what it was to see the dead coyotes – until he chose to look up and see those soaring hawks. Both perspectives are evident in our word for today from the Word of God in Lamentations 3, beginning in verse 19. First, the dead coyotes – "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." When you focus on your frustrations and your failures, the bad news and the negative feelings, yeah, you're going to be discouraged, you're going to be depressed, your souls going to be downcast within you.
Alright, prepare for the soaring hawks. "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him." When you focus on all the evidences of God's love and God's care in your life...when you look for the blessings that He has sown into this day, your load gets lighter and your heaviness turns to hope. Same situation - two different outlooks. You choose.
Could it be that maybe you've allowed too much negativity to blind you to God's blessings that are all around you? You've allowed your frustrations and hurts and stresses to dominate your view. Maybe people can tell because you seem to be kind of cynical, sarcastic, accumulating negatives, or looking for things to criticize. You've allowed yourself to get stuck in a negative rut – and the trip gets to be drudgery when all you're looking at is the dead coyotes.
Maybe it's time to say, "Lord, would you forgive me for letting the negative take over - for missing so many of the beautiful things that You put into every one of my days. I've been looking the wrong direction." Would you help me see the positive? Would You help me see Your new mercies every morning? Would you help me see Your love in action?" Then you can make this a day fill of God sightings – of the good stuff.
Out the same window, you can see the majesty of the soaring hawks or you could see the mess of the dead coyotes. What you choose to focus on is actually going to determine the kind of journey you have.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Psalm 45 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: STAY IN YOUR OWN LANE
A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like Danny. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam. So Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam! Turns out, all Adam had to do was be himself.
Stay in your own lane. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete. God doesn’t judge you according to the talents of others. He judges you according to yours! His yardstick for measuring faithfulness is how faithful you are with your own gifts.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 45
For the choir director: A love song to be sung to the tune “Lilies.” A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
1 Beautiful words stir my heart.
I will recite a lovely poem about the king,
for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.
2 You are the most handsome of all.
Gracious words stream from your lips.
God himself has blessed you forever.
3 Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!
You are so glorious, so majestic!
4 In your majesty, ride out to victory,
defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!
5 Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies’ hearts.
The nations fall beneath your feet.
6 Your throne, O God,[b] endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
7 You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume your robes.
In ivory palaces the music of strings entertains you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble women.
At your right side stands the queen,
wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir!
10 Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say.
Forget your people and your family far away.
11 For your royal husband delights in your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.
12 The princess of Tyre[c] will shower you with gifts.
The wealthy will beg your favor.
13 The bride, a princess, looks glorious
in her golden gown.
14 In her beautiful robes, she is led to the king,
accompanied by her bridesmaids.
15 What a joyful and enthusiastic procession
as they enter the king’s palace!
16 Your sons will become kings like their father.
You will make them rulers over many lands.
17 I will bring honor to your name in every generation.
Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever.
Footnotes:
45:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
45:6 Or Your divine throne.
45:12 Hebrew The daughter of Tyre.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Read: Hebrews 4:14–16
Christ Is Our High Priest
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
INSIGHT:
The writer of Hebrews refers to Jesus as our Great High Priest. This concept can be difficult to understand when we are so distanced from the religion of ancient Israel. The high priest was the single representative who could enter the Holy of Holies and the presence of God to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Even though the Word of God exposes our sin (Heb. 4:12–13), we can still confidently come to God because Jesus, our High Priest, has offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. The mercy and grace we receive (v. 16) is the forgiveness of our sins.
Lord, Help!
By Poh Fang Chia
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
I was so happy for my friend when she told me she was going to be a mum! Together we counted the days until the birth. But when the baby suffered a brain injury during delivery, my heart broke and I didn’t know how to pray. All I knew was who I should pray to—God. He is our Father, and He hears us when we call.
I knew that God was capable of miracles. He brought Jairus’s daughter back to life (Luke 8:49-55) and in so doing also healed the girl of whatever disease had robbed her of life. So I asked Him to bring healing for my friend’s baby too.
God calls us to Him in the details of our lives.
But what if God doesn’t heal? I wondered. Surely He doesn’t lack the power. Could it be He doesn’t care? I thought of Jesus’s suffering on the cross and the explanation that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Then I remembered the questions of Job and how he learned to see the wisdom of God as shown in the creation around him (Job 38–39).
Slowly I saw how God calls us to Him in the details of our lives. In God’s grace, my friend and I learned together what it means to call on the Lord and to trust Him—whatever the outcome.
Lord, to whom can I go but You! I trust You with my life and the lives of my loved ones. I’m grateful You always hear my cry.
When life knocks you down, you’re in the perfect position to pray!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Are You Obsessed by Something?
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
“He himself shall dwell in prosperity…” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge…” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Undervalued Treasure - #7669
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Our son, over the years, was a dedicated baseball card collector. I mean dedicated. He was even dealing for baseball cards on his honeymoon! Hello. But it was worth it. He met a man who was selling his entire collection. So our son bought it for about $300 and when he started going through those cards, he started to get really excited - not that those cards were any match for his beautiful bride, of course. But he began to find single cards that were worth more than the price he had paid for the entire collection! Later, when he needed some money for equipment for a Christian band, he sold a lot of those cards - for 10 times the amount that man had sold it to him for! That man had no idea how much what he had was worth! So he let it go like it wasn't worth, really, much at all!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Undervalued Treasure."
Tragically, a lot of people are like that. They don't realize how much they're worth - including even the beautiful people, people who seem to have it all together. During Princess Diana's funeral service years ago, her brother, Earl Spencer, gave an unforgettable eulogy - one which I have not forgotten. And it was an honest tribute to his sister. I was touched by a glimpse that he offered into the pain of the most famous woman in the world at that time.
He said, "For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness, of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom." Deep feelings of unworthiness, Princess Diana - she wasn't alone. Those might be feelings you know all too well. And no amount of achievement or relationship has really removed that gnawing sense that you're not worth very much.
That man who sold his baseball card collection didn't realize how valuable they were - and he sold them way too cheap. Maybe that's a mistake you've made. Because you don't realize how much you're really worth, you've gone for too cheap - to get a little approval, a little love, a little significance. But today some of those choices may actually be making you feel even more worthless.
Why do we feel so worthless sometimes? It comes from things you've been called ...the things you've done that you're ashamed of...the things that have been done to you...the hugs you've never had. We have accepted the price tag put on us by people who don't know our value.
It's time we got the truth about how much you're worth - from the only One who knows - the Person who created you! How much was He willing to spend on you? Our word for today from the Word of God, Revelation 5:9 – says this about Jesus - "With your blood, You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation" That's it - that's what God thinks you're worth - the life of His one and only Son.
The Bible says you are "God's workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). No one on earth gave you your worth and no one on earth can take it away. But the reason we don't know what we're worth is because we have left the One who gives us our worth. Our sin has taken us away from God. But God loves you so much that He sent His Son to pay with His life for your sin. In the words of the bible, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The day you open your heart to Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin is the day you finally realize how priceless you are.
You come with all those "deep feelings of unworthiness" to the cross where Jesus thought you were worth dying for. And you give yourself to Him.
If you've never done that - and you want to, you want to belong to the One who loves you most - tell Him that right now? "Jesus, I'm yours." And let me invite you to go to our website where, in just a very short time, you can walk through the steps that will help you be sure you have begun your personal relationship with the One who loves you most.
My daughter has a plaque that sums up so well how Jesus feels about you. It says these words, "I asked Jesus, 'How much do You love me?' 'This much,' He said...and He stretched out His arms and He died."
A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like Danny. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam. So Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam! Turns out, all Adam had to do was be himself.
Stay in your own lane. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete. God doesn’t judge you according to the talents of others. He judges you according to yours! His yardstick for measuring faithfulness is how faithful you are with your own gifts.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 45
For the choir director: A love song to be sung to the tune “Lilies.” A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
1 Beautiful words stir my heart.
I will recite a lovely poem about the king,
for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.
2 You are the most handsome of all.
Gracious words stream from your lips.
God himself has blessed you forever.
3 Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!
You are so glorious, so majestic!
4 In your majesty, ride out to victory,
defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!
5 Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies’ hearts.
The nations fall beneath your feet.
6 Your throne, O God,[b] endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
7 You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume your robes.
In ivory palaces the music of strings entertains you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble women.
At your right side stands the queen,
wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir!
10 Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say.
Forget your people and your family far away.
11 For your royal husband delights in your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.
12 The princess of Tyre[c] will shower you with gifts.
The wealthy will beg your favor.
13 The bride, a princess, looks glorious
in her golden gown.
14 In her beautiful robes, she is led to the king,
accompanied by her bridesmaids.
15 What a joyful and enthusiastic procession
as they enter the king’s palace!
16 Your sons will become kings like their father.
You will make them rulers over many lands.
17 I will bring honor to your name in every generation.
Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever.
Footnotes:
45:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
45:6 Or Your divine throne.
45:12 Hebrew The daughter of Tyre.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Read: Hebrews 4:14–16
Christ Is Our High Priest
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
INSIGHT:
The writer of Hebrews refers to Jesus as our Great High Priest. This concept can be difficult to understand when we are so distanced from the religion of ancient Israel. The high priest was the single representative who could enter the Holy of Holies and the presence of God to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Even though the Word of God exposes our sin (Heb. 4:12–13), we can still confidently come to God because Jesus, our High Priest, has offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. The mercy and grace we receive (v. 16) is the forgiveness of our sins.
Lord, Help!
By Poh Fang Chia
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
I was so happy for my friend when she told me she was going to be a mum! Together we counted the days until the birth. But when the baby suffered a brain injury during delivery, my heart broke and I didn’t know how to pray. All I knew was who I should pray to—God. He is our Father, and He hears us when we call.
I knew that God was capable of miracles. He brought Jairus’s daughter back to life (Luke 8:49-55) and in so doing also healed the girl of whatever disease had robbed her of life. So I asked Him to bring healing for my friend’s baby too.
God calls us to Him in the details of our lives.
But what if God doesn’t heal? I wondered. Surely He doesn’t lack the power. Could it be He doesn’t care? I thought of Jesus’s suffering on the cross and the explanation that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Then I remembered the questions of Job and how he learned to see the wisdom of God as shown in the creation around him (Job 38–39).
Slowly I saw how God calls us to Him in the details of our lives. In God’s grace, my friend and I learned together what it means to call on the Lord and to trust Him—whatever the outcome.
Lord, to whom can I go but You! I trust You with my life and the lives of my loved ones. I’m grateful You always hear my cry.
When life knocks you down, you’re in the perfect position to pray!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Are You Obsessed by Something?
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
“He himself shall dwell in prosperity…” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge…” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Undervalued Treasure - #7669
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Our son, over the years, was a dedicated baseball card collector. I mean dedicated. He was even dealing for baseball cards on his honeymoon! Hello. But it was worth it. He met a man who was selling his entire collection. So our son bought it for about $300 and when he started going through those cards, he started to get really excited - not that those cards were any match for his beautiful bride, of course. But he began to find single cards that were worth more than the price he had paid for the entire collection! Later, when he needed some money for equipment for a Christian band, he sold a lot of those cards - for 10 times the amount that man had sold it to him for! That man had no idea how much what he had was worth! So he let it go like it wasn't worth, really, much at all!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Undervalued Treasure."
Tragically, a lot of people are like that. They don't realize how much they're worth - including even the beautiful people, people who seem to have it all together. During Princess Diana's funeral service years ago, her brother, Earl Spencer, gave an unforgettable eulogy - one which I have not forgotten. And it was an honest tribute to his sister. I was touched by a glimpse that he offered into the pain of the most famous woman in the world at that time.
He said, "For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness, of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom." Deep feelings of unworthiness, Princess Diana - she wasn't alone. Those might be feelings you know all too well. And no amount of achievement or relationship has really removed that gnawing sense that you're not worth very much.
That man who sold his baseball card collection didn't realize how valuable they were - and he sold them way too cheap. Maybe that's a mistake you've made. Because you don't realize how much you're really worth, you've gone for too cheap - to get a little approval, a little love, a little significance. But today some of those choices may actually be making you feel even more worthless.
Why do we feel so worthless sometimes? It comes from things you've been called ...the things you've done that you're ashamed of...the things that have been done to you...the hugs you've never had. We have accepted the price tag put on us by people who don't know our value.
It's time we got the truth about how much you're worth - from the only One who knows - the Person who created you! How much was He willing to spend on you? Our word for today from the Word of God, Revelation 5:9 – says this about Jesus - "With your blood, You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation" That's it - that's what God thinks you're worth - the life of His one and only Son.
The Bible says you are "God's workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). No one on earth gave you your worth and no one on earth can take it away. But the reason we don't know what we're worth is because we have left the One who gives us our worth. Our sin has taken us away from God. But God loves you so much that He sent His Son to pay with His life for your sin. In the words of the bible, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The day you open your heart to Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin is the day you finally realize how priceless you are.
You come with all those "deep feelings of unworthiness" to the cross where Jesus thought you were worth dying for. And you give yourself to Him.
If you've never done that - and you want to, you want to belong to the One who loves you most - tell Him that right now? "Jesus, I'm yours." And let me invite you to go to our website where, in just a very short time, you can walk through the steps that will help you be sure you have begun your personal relationship with the One who loves you most.
My daughter has a plaque that sums up so well how Jesus feels about you. It says these words, "I asked Jesus, 'How much do You love me?' 'This much,' He said...and He stretched out His arms and He died."
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