Max Lucado Daily: Family Secrets
Most families keep their family secrets a secret! Such stories remain unmentioned at the family reunion and unrecorded in the family Bible. That is unless you’re Jesus. He displays the bad apples of his family tree in the first chapter of the New Testament. Rahab was a Jericho harlot. David was one day writing psalms, another day seducing his captain’s wife. But did Jesus erase his name from the list? Not at all!
If your family tree has bruised fruit, Jesus wants you to know, “I’ve been there.” The phrase I’ve been there is in the chorus of Christ’s theme song. To the lonely Jesus whispers “I’ve been there.” To the discouraged, Christ nods his head and sighs, “I’ve been there.” When you turn to him for help, he runs to you to help! Why? He knows how you feel. He’s been there!
From Next Door Savior
Jeremiah 3
Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions
God’s Message came to me as follows:
“If a man’s wife
walks out on him
And marries another man,
can he take her back as if nothing had happened?
Wouldn’t that raise a huge stink
in the land?
And isn’t that what you’ve done—
‘whored’ your way with god after god?
And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened.”
God’s Decree.
2-5 “Look around at the hills.
Where have you not had sex?
You’ve camped out like hunters stalking deer.
You’ve solicited many lover-gods,
Like a streetwalking whore
chasing after other gods.
And so the rain has stopped.
No more rain from the skies!
But it doesn’t even faze you. Brazen as whores,
you carry on as if you’ve done nothing wrong.
Then you have the nerve to call out, ‘My father!
You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?
Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?’
That’s your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop.”
Admit Your God-Defiance
6-10 God spoke to me during the reign of King Josiah: “You have noticed, haven’t you, how fickle Israel has visited every hill and grove of trees as a whore at large? I assumed that after she had gotten it out of her system, she’d come back, but she didn’t. Her flighty sister, Judah, saw what she did. She also saw that because of fickle Israel’s loose morals I threw her out, gave her her walking papers. But that didn’t faze flighty sister Judah. She went out, big as you please, and took up a whore’s life also. She took up cheap sex-and-religion as a sideline diversion, an indulgent recreation, and used anything and anyone, flouting sanity and sanctity alike, stinking up the country. And not once in all this did flighty sister Judah even give me a nod, although she made a show of it from time to time.” God’s Decree.
11-12 Then God told me, “Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah. Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say:
12-15 “‘Turn back, fickle Israel.
I’m not just hanging back to punish you.
I’m committed in love to you.
My anger doesn’t seethe nonstop.
Just admit your guilt.
Admit your God-defiance.
Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners,
pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves
While turning a deaf ear to me.’”
God’s Decree.
“Come back, wandering children!”
God’s Decree.
“I, yes I, am your true husband.
I’ll pick you out one by one—
This one from the city, these two from the country—
and bring you to Zion.
I’ll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way,
who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.
16 “And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come”—God’s Decree!—“when no one will say any longer, ‘Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?’ It won’t even occur to anyone to say it—‘the good old days.’ The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.
17 “Jerusalem will be the new Ark—‘God’s Throne.’ All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor God.
18 “At that time, the House of Judah will join up with the House of Israel. Holding hands, they’ll leave the north country and come to the land I willed to your ancestors.
19-20 “I planned what I’d say if you returned to me:
‘Good! I’ll bring you back into the family.
I’ll give you choice land,
land that the godless nations would die for.’
And I imagined that you would say, ‘Dear father!’
and would never again go off and leave me.
But no luck. Like a false-hearted woman walking out on her husband,
you, the whole family of Israel, have proven false to me.”
God’s Decree.
21-22 The sound of voices comes drifting out of the hills,
the unhappy sound of Israel’s crying,
Israel lamenting the wasted years,
never once giving her God a thought.
“Come back, wandering children!
I can heal your wanderlust!”
22-25 “We’re here! We’ve come back to you.
You’re our own true God!
All that popular religion was a cheap lie,
duped crowds buying up the latest in gods.
We’re back! Back to our true God,
the salvation of Israel.
The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us
of what our ancestors bequeathed us,
Gypped us out of our inheritance—
God-blessed flocks and God-given children.
We made our bed and now lie in it,
all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonor.
All because we sinned against our God,
we and our fathers and mothers.
From the time we took our first steps, said our first words,
we’ve been rebels, disobeying the voice of our God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, January 07, 2017
Read: Matthew 6:9–15
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
14-15 “In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
INSIGHT:
Notice the basic themes Jesus teaches us to address when we pray. The prayer begins with worship on several different levels. First, we celebrate our relationship with our Creator that allows us to call Him “our Father.” His exalted nature is brought to mind as we remember that He is in heaven and bears a holy name. When we understand His character and wisdom, it should drive us to long for His purposes and rule to be realized here on earth, in the same way it is in heaven. We are then challenged to look to Him for all our needs. His daily, faithful provision is a source of great comfort and assurance for the child of God.
Our Source of Provision
By Bill Crowder
The Lord is near to all who call on him. Psalm 145:18
In August 2010, the attention of the world was focused on a mine shaft near Copiapó, Chile. Thirty-three miners huddled in the dark, trapped 2,300 feet underground. They had no idea if help would ever arrive. After seventeen days of waiting, they heard drilling. Rescuers produced a small hole in the mine shaft ceiling, and that hole was followed by three more, establishing a delivery path for water, food, and medicine. The miners depended on those conduits to the surface above ground, where rescuers had the provisions they would need to survive. On day sixty-nine, rescuers pulled the last miner to safety.
None of us can survive in this world apart from provisions that are outside of ourselves. God, the Creator of the universe, is the one who provides us with everything we need. Like the drill holes for those miners, prayer connects us to the God of all supply.
Prayer is the voice of faith, trusting that God knows and cares.
Jesus encouraged us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). In His day, bread was the basic staple of life and pictured all the daily needs of the people. Jesus was teaching us to pray not only for our physical needs but also for everything we need—comfort, healing, courage, wisdom.
Through prayer we have access to Him at any moment, and He knows what we need before we even ask (v. 8). What might you be struggling with today? “The Lord is near to all who call on him” (Ps. 145:18).
To learn more about prayer, read Let's Pray at discoveryseries.org/hp135.
Prayer is the voice of faith, trusting that God knows and cares.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 07, 2017
Intimate With Jesus
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?" —John 14:9
These words were not spoken as a rebuke, nor even with surprise; Jesus was encouraging Philip to draw closer. Yet the last person we get intimate with is Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come: “…I have called you friends…” (John 15:15). True friendship is rare on earth. It means identifying with someone in thought, heart, and spirit. The whole experience of life is designed to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His Word, but do we really know Him?
Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away…” (John 16:7). He left that relationship to lead them even closer. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to walk more intimately with Him. The bearing of fruit is always shown in Scripture to be the visible result of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ (see John 15:1-4).
Once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely and we never lack for understanding or compassion. We can continually pour out our hearts to Him without being perceived as overly emotional or pitiful. The Christian who is truly intimate with Jesus will never draw attention to himself but will only show the evidence of a life where Jesus is completely in control. This is the outcome of allowing Jesus to satisfy every area of life to its depth. The picture resulting from such a life is that of the strong, calm balance that our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Acts 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LET HIM HEAL YOU
Would you like Jesus to heal you? Then, ask him! The four Gospels detail approximately 36 miracles and reference even more. Jesus changed water into wine, calmed more than one storm, restored sight to more than one blind man. Yet Jesus never grandstanded his miraculous powers. He performed miracles for two reasons: to prove his identity and to help his people.
Can you imagine the testimonies? Imagine if you were a part of the crowd he fed, one of the dead he raised, or one of the sick he healed. The church exploded like a fire on a West Texas prairie. Why? Because Jesus healed people. Why not let him heal you? You can be sure that, in the right time and in the right way, Jesus will respond.
From God is With You Every Day
Acts 26
“I Couldn’t Just Walk Away”
1-3 Agrippa spoke directly to Paul: “Go ahead—tell us about yourself.”
Paul took the stand and told his story. “I can’t think of anyone, King Agrippa, before whom I’d rather be answering all these Jewish accusations than you, knowing how well you are acquainted with Jewish ways and all our family quarrels.
4-8 “From the time of my youth, my life has been lived among my own people in Jerusalem. Practically every Jew in town who watched me grow up—and if they were willing to stick their necks out they’d tell you in person—knows that I lived as a strict Pharisee, the most demanding branch of our religion. It’s because I believed it and took it seriously, committed myself heart and soul to what God promised my ancestors—the identical hope, mind you, that the twelve tribes have lived for night and day all these centuries—it’s because I have held on to this tested and tried hope that I’m being called on the carpet by the Jews. They should be the ones standing trial here, not me! For the life of me, I can’t see why it’s a criminal offense to believe that God raises the dead.
9-11 “I admit that I didn’t always hold to this position. For a time I thought it was my duty to oppose this Jesus of Nazareth with all my might. Backed with the full authority of the high priests, I threw these believers—I had no idea they were God’s people!—into the Jerusalem jail right and left, and whenever it came to a vote, I voted for their execution. I stormed through their meeting places, bullying them into cursing Jesus, a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people. And then I started on the towns outside Jerusalem.
12-14 “One day on my way to Damascus, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. Oh, King, it was so bright! We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?’
15-16 “I said, ‘Who are you, Master?’
“The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you.
17-18 “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’
19-20 “What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.
21-23 “It’s because of this ‘whole world’ dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me, just as he promised, and I’m standing here saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with what the prophets and Moses said would happen: One, the Messiah must die; two, raised from the dead, he would be the first rays of God’s daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and God-fearing.”
24 That was too much for Festus. He interrupted with a shout: “Paul, you’re crazy! You’ve read too many books, spent too much time staring off into space! Get a grip on yourself, get back in the real world!”
25-27 But Paul stood his ground. “With all respect, Festus, Your Honor, I’m not crazy. I’m both accurate and sane in what I’m saying. The king knows what I’m talking about. I’m sure that nothing of what I’ve said sounds crazy to him. He’s known all about it for a long time. You must realize that this wasn’t done behind the scenes. You believe the prophets, don’t you, King Agrippa? Don’t answer that—I know you believe.”
28 But Agrippa did answer: “Keep this up much longer and you’ll make a Christian out of me!”
29 Paul, still in chains, said, “That’s what I’m praying for, whether now or later, and not only you but everyone listening today, to become like me—except, of course, for this prison jewelry!”
30-31 The king and the governor, along with Bernice and their advisors, got up and went into the next room to talk over what they had heard. They quickly agreed on Paul’s innocence, saying, “There’s nothing in this man deserving prison, let alone death.”
32 Agrippa told Festus, “He could be set free right now if he hadn’t requested the hearing before Caesar.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 06, 2017
Read: Matthew 2:1–12
Scholars from the East
1-2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”
3-4 When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5-6 They told him, “Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land,
no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
7-8 Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.”
9-10 Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
11 They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
12 In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.
INSIGHT:
The magi were considered wise, not because they were people of great learning but because they searched for Jesus and—having found Him—they worshiped Him as God. That’s what wise people do. The wise are those who fear God and worship Him!
Someone to Celebrate
By James Banks
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95:6
Many manger scenes depict the wise men, or magi, visiting Jesus in Bethlehem at the same time as the shepherds. But according to the gospel of Matthew, the only place in Scripture where their story is found, the magi showed up later. Jesus was no longer in the manger in a stable at the inn, but in a house. Matthew 2:11 tells us, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
Realizing that the magi’s visit happened later than we may think provides a helpful reminder as we begin a new year. Jesus is always worthy of worship. When the holidays are past and we head back to life’s everyday routines, we still have Someone to celebrate.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. Psalm 95:6
Jesus Christ is Immanuel, “God with us” (Matt. 1:23), in every season. He has promised to be with us “always” (28:20). Because He is always with us, we can worship Him in our hearts every day and trust that He will show Himself faithful in the years to come. Just as the magi sought Him, may we seek Him too and worship Him wherever we are.
Lord Jesus, just as the magi sought You and bowed before You as the coming King, help me to yield my will to You and to follow where You lead.
When we find Christ we offer our worship.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 06, 2017
Worship
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. —Genesis 12:8
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 06, 2017
Pit Crew Heroes - #7825
We had someone on our ministry team who was really an enthusiastic auto-racing fan. If you're into that sport, you know a name like Jeff Gordon is one of the best in the business. One of the people that helped him get to that position is the man who has been head of his pit crew. You've probably seen those high-speed cars swing into their service pit and only seconds later they roar back into the race.
My racing fan friend told me about a TV special a while back on Jeff Gordon. On it, they interviewed the head of his pit crew – who, by the way, has a degree in organizational behavior. Isn't that interesting? He revealed just how amazing the work of the pit crew is in a sport where seconds really matter. The pit crew chief said they will change up to 20 tires in one race. Just think of what those speeds have to do to a tire! And they change a complete set of four tires (You ready now?) in thirteen seconds. That's faster than I can finish off a bite of my dinner! The driver, of course, is the name everyone knows. But the driver knows he's nothing without his pit crew!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pit Crew Heroes."
There are unsung heroes whose support is the key to finishing the race. And not just at a speedway. For every one of us, at one time or another, it's our pit crew that has made the difference in us finishing our race.
In Paul's last letter, written shortly before his death, the great missionary pays tribute to one of his pit crew heroes – a man with a name that's a mouthful – Onesiphorus. At one stressful season of Paul's life, Onesiphorus was the head of his pit crew and he kept Paul rolling.
Here's the story of an unsung hero from our word for today from the Word of God. By the way, you might find out you're one of those unsung heroes. It's 2 Timothy 1:16, "May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know very well in how many ways he helped me. "
Man, we all need an Onesiphorus. Wait a minute! We all need to be Onesiphorus, except maybe with a name that's easier to pronounce. You can't control if you have a friend like this, but you can decide to be a friend like this! Although the Bible does say, "He that refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25). And "with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Mark 4:24).
You know some people right now probably who are at a tough time in their race. They're slowing down, they're overheating, they're under heavy pressure, they may not feel like they can finish. And the difference is going to be someone who is willing to step up and be their pit crew. Someone like you. Someone who follows the example we just read about. Frequently asking, "Lord, what could I do that would refresh my hurting friend: a call, an email, a note, a text, a meal, babysitting, giving them some time off?" Notice it says "He often refreshed me."
You go out of your way to find them, to find out what's wrong. "He searched hard for me" Paul said. We're talking about you being the kind of person who is their "be there" person. They need to know you will always be there, and when everybody else walks out, you're walking in.
God has a wonderful promise for you if you'll be someone's unsung hero in the pit crew who keeps them in the race. The promise is in Hebrews 6:10, "God will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people."
Would you like Jesus to heal you? Then, ask him! The four Gospels detail approximately 36 miracles and reference even more. Jesus changed water into wine, calmed more than one storm, restored sight to more than one blind man. Yet Jesus never grandstanded his miraculous powers. He performed miracles for two reasons: to prove his identity and to help his people.
Can you imagine the testimonies? Imagine if you were a part of the crowd he fed, one of the dead he raised, or one of the sick he healed. The church exploded like a fire on a West Texas prairie. Why? Because Jesus healed people. Why not let him heal you? You can be sure that, in the right time and in the right way, Jesus will respond.
From God is With You Every Day
Acts 26
“I Couldn’t Just Walk Away”
1-3 Agrippa spoke directly to Paul: “Go ahead—tell us about yourself.”
Paul took the stand and told his story. “I can’t think of anyone, King Agrippa, before whom I’d rather be answering all these Jewish accusations than you, knowing how well you are acquainted with Jewish ways and all our family quarrels.
4-8 “From the time of my youth, my life has been lived among my own people in Jerusalem. Practically every Jew in town who watched me grow up—and if they were willing to stick their necks out they’d tell you in person—knows that I lived as a strict Pharisee, the most demanding branch of our religion. It’s because I believed it and took it seriously, committed myself heart and soul to what God promised my ancestors—the identical hope, mind you, that the twelve tribes have lived for night and day all these centuries—it’s because I have held on to this tested and tried hope that I’m being called on the carpet by the Jews. They should be the ones standing trial here, not me! For the life of me, I can’t see why it’s a criminal offense to believe that God raises the dead.
9-11 “I admit that I didn’t always hold to this position. For a time I thought it was my duty to oppose this Jesus of Nazareth with all my might. Backed with the full authority of the high priests, I threw these believers—I had no idea they were God’s people!—into the Jerusalem jail right and left, and whenever it came to a vote, I voted for their execution. I stormed through their meeting places, bullying them into cursing Jesus, a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people. And then I started on the towns outside Jerusalem.
12-14 “One day on my way to Damascus, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. Oh, King, it was so bright! We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?’
15-16 “I said, ‘Who are you, Master?’
“The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you.
17-18 “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’
19-20 “What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.
21-23 “It’s because of this ‘whole world’ dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me, just as he promised, and I’m standing here saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with what the prophets and Moses said would happen: One, the Messiah must die; two, raised from the dead, he would be the first rays of God’s daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and God-fearing.”
24 That was too much for Festus. He interrupted with a shout: “Paul, you’re crazy! You’ve read too many books, spent too much time staring off into space! Get a grip on yourself, get back in the real world!”
25-27 But Paul stood his ground. “With all respect, Festus, Your Honor, I’m not crazy. I’m both accurate and sane in what I’m saying. The king knows what I’m talking about. I’m sure that nothing of what I’ve said sounds crazy to him. He’s known all about it for a long time. You must realize that this wasn’t done behind the scenes. You believe the prophets, don’t you, King Agrippa? Don’t answer that—I know you believe.”
28 But Agrippa did answer: “Keep this up much longer and you’ll make a Christian out of me!”
29 Paul, still in chains, said, “That’s what I’m praying for, whether now or later, and not only you but everyone listening today, to become like me—except, of course, for this prison jewelry!”
30-31 The king and the governor, along with Bernice and their advisors, got up and went into the next room to talk over what they had heard. They quickly agreed on Paul’s innocence, saying, “There’s nothing in this man deserving prison, let alone death.”
32 Agrippa told Festus, “He could be set free right now if he hadn’t requested the hearing before Caesar.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 06, 2017
Read: Matthew 2:1–12
Scholars from the East
1-2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”
3-4 When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5-6 They told him, “Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land,
no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
7-8 Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.”
9-10 Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
11 They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
12 In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.
INSIGHT:
The magi were considered wise, not because they were people of great learning but because they searched for Jesus and—having found Him—they worshiped Him as God. That’s what wise people do. The wise are those who fear God and worship Him!
Someone to Celebrate
By James Banks
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95:6
Many manger scenes depict the wise men, or magi, visiting Jesus in Bethlehem at the same time as the shepherds. But according to the gospel of Matthew, the only place in Scripture where their story is found, the magi showed up later. Jesus was no longer in the manger in a stable at the inn, but in a house. Matthew 2:11 tells us, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
Realizing that the magi’s visit happened later than we may think provides a helpful reminder as we begin a new year. Jesus is always worthy of worship. When the holidays are past and we head back to life’s everyday routines, we still have Someone to celebrate.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. Psalm 95:6
Jesus Christ is Immanuel, “God with us” (Matt. 1:23), in every season. He has promised to be with us “always” (28:20). Because He is always with us, we can worship Him in our hearts every day and trust that He will show Himself faithful in the years to come. Just as the magi sought Him, may we seek Him too and worship Him wherever we are.
Lord Jesus, just as the magi sought You and bowed before You as the coming King, help me to yield my will to You and to follow where You lead.
When we find Christ we offer our worship.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 06, 2017
Worship
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. —Genesis 12:8
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 06, 2017
Pit Crew Heroes - #7825
We had someone on our ministry team who was really an enthusiastic auto-racing fan. If you're into that sport, you know a name like Jeff Gordon is one of the best in the business. One of the people that helped him get to that position is the man who has been head of his pit crew. You've probably seen those high-speed cars swing into their service pit and only seconds later they roar back into the race.
My racing fan friend told me about a TV special a while back on Jeff Gordon. On it, they interviewed the head of his pit crew – who, by the way, has a degree in organizational behavior. Isn't that interesting? He revealed just how amazing the work of the pit crew is in a sport where seconds really matter. The pit crew chief said they will change up to 20 tires in one race. Just think of what those speeds have to do to a tire! And they change a complete set of four tires (You ready now?) in thirteen seconds. That's faster than I can finish off a bite of my dinner! The driver, of course, is the name everyone knows. But the driver knows he's nothing without his pit crew!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pit Crew Heroes."
There are unsung heroes whose support is the key to finishing the race. And not just at a speedway. For every one of us, at one time or another, it's our pit crew that has made the difference in us finishing our race.
In Paul's last letter, written shortly before his death, the great missionary pays tribute to one of his pit crew heroes – a man with a name that's a mouthful – Onesiphorus. At one stressful season of Paul's life, Onesiphorus was the head of his pit crew and he kept Paul rolling.
Here's the story of an unsung hero from our word for today from the Word of God. By the way, you might find out you're one of those unsung heroes. It's 2 Timothy 1:16, "May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know very well in how many ways he helped me. "
Man, we all need an Onesiphorus. Wait a minute! We all need to be Onesiphorus, except maybe with a name that's easier to pronounce. You can't control if you have a friend like this, but you can decide to be a friend like this! Although the Bible does say, "He that refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25). And "with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Mark 4:24).
You know some people right now probably who are at a tough time in their race. They're slowing down, they're overheating, they're under heavy pressure, they may not feel like they can finish. And the difference is going to be someone who is willing to step up and be their pit crew. Someone like you. Someone who follows the example we just read about. Frequently asking, "Lord, what could I do that would refresh my hurting friend: a call, an email, a note, a text, a meal, babysitting, giving them some time off?" Notice it says "He often refreshed me."
You go out of your way to find them, to find out what's wrong. "He searched hard for me" Paul said. We're talking about you being the kind of person who is their "be there" person. They need to know you will always be there, and when everybody else walks out, you're walking in.
God has a wonderful promise for you if you'll be someone's unsung hero in the pit crew who keeps them in the race. The promise is in Hebrews 6:10, "God will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people."
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Jeremiah 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: PUT GOD’S PLAN IN PLACE
My wife and I spent five years on a missionary team in Brazil. Our first two years felt fruitless and futile. More often than not I went home frustrated. We asked God for another plan. We prayed and read the Epistles. We especially focused on Galatians. When I compared our gospel message with Paul’s, I saw a difference. His was high-octane good news. Mine was soured legalism.
As a team we resolved to focus on the gospel. I did my best to proclaim forgiveness of sins and resurrection from the dead. We saw an immediate change. We baptized forty people in twelve months. Quite a few for a church of sixty members. You see, God wasn’t finished with us yet. We just needed to put God’s plan in place!
When things aren’t going well, why don’t you ask God for His plan!
From God is With You Every Day
Jeremiah 2
Israel Was God’s Holy Choice
1-3 God’s Message came to me. It went like this:
“Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem,
‘God’s Message!
I remember your youthful loyalty,
our love as newlyweds.
You stayed with me through the wilderness years,
stuck with me through all the hard places.
Israel was God’s holy choice,
the pick of the crop.
Anyone who laid a hand on her
would soon wish he hadn’t!’”
God’s Decree.
4-6 Hear God’s Message, House of Jacob!
Yes, you—House of Israel!
God’s Message: “What did your ancestors find fault with in me
that they drifted so far from me,
Took up with Sir Windbag
and turned into windbags themselves?
It never occurred to them to say, ‘Where’s God,
the God who got us out of Egypt,
Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble
wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys,
A land that no one who enters comes out of,
a cruel, inhospitable land?’
7-8 “I brought you to a garden land
where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, ‘Where’s God?’
The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
9-11 “Because of all this, I’m bringing charges against you”
—God’s Decree—
“charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this?
Sail to the western islands and look.
Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look.
Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
That a nation has traded in its gods
for gods that aren’t even close to gods?
But my people have traded my Glory
for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
12-13 “Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!
Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!”
God’s Decree.
“My people have committed a compound sin:
they’ve walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.
14-17 “Isn’t Israel a valued servant,
born into a family with place and position?
So how did she end up a piece of meat
fought over by snarling and roaring lions?
There’s nothing left of her but a few old bones,
her towns trashed and deserted.
Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken your skulls.
And why do you think all this has happened?
Isn’t it because you walked out on your God
just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?
18-19 “And now, what do you think you’ll get by going off to Egypt?
Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water?
Or what do you think you’ll get by going off to Assyria?
Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that’s what you’ll get.
You’ll pay dearly for your disloyal ways.
Take a long, hard look at what you’ve done and its bitter results.
Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?”
God’s Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Addicted to Alien Gods
20-22 “A long time ago you broke out of the harness.
You shook off all restraints.
You said, ‘I will not serve!’
and off you went,
Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way,
like a common whore.
You were a select vine when I planted you
from completely reliable stock.
And look how you’ve turned out—
a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
Scrub, using the strongest soaps.
Scour your skin raw.
The sin-grease won’t come out. I can’t stand to even look at you!”
God’s Decree, the Master’s Decree.
23-24 “How dare you tell me, ‘I’m not stained by sin.
I’ve never chased after the Baal sex gods’!
Well, look at the tracks you’ve left behind in the valley.
How do you account for what is written in the desert dust—
Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
tracks of a wild donkey in rut,
Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex.
Who could possibly corral her!
On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex—
insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.
25 “Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry?
Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, ‘I can’t help it.
I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’
26-28 “Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught,
so the people of Israel are chagrined,
Caught along with their kings and princes,
their priests and prophets.
They walk up to a tree and say, ‘My father!’
They pick up a stone and say, ‘My mother! You bore me!’
All I ever see of them is their backsides.
They never look me in the face.
But when things go badly, they don’t hesitate to come running,
calling out, ‘Get a move on! Save us!’
Why not go to your handcrafted gods you’re so fond of?
Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times.
You’ve got more gods, Judah,
than you know what to do with.
Trying Out Another Sin-Project
29-30 “What do you have against me,
running off to assert your ‘independence’?”
God’s Decree.
“I’ve wasted my time trying to train your children.
They’ve paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline.
And you’ve gotten rid of your God-messengers,
treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
31-32 “What a generation you turned out to be!
Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I warn you?
Have I let you down, Israel?
Am I nothing but a dead-end street?
Why do my people say, ‘Good riddance!
From now on we’re on our own’?
Young women don’t forget their jewelry, do they?
Brides don’t show up without their veils, do they?
But my people forget me.
Day after day after day they never give me a thought.
33-35 “What an impressive start you made
to get the most out of life.
You founded schools of sin,
taught graduate courses in evil!
And now you’re sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown—
except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims!
All that blood convicts you.
You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
And yet you have the gall to say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.
God doesn’t mind. He hasn’t punished me, has he?’
Don’t look now, but judgment’s on the way,
aimed at you who say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
36-37 “You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you,
to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?
But Egypt will leave you in the lurch
the same way that Assyria did.
You’re going to walk away from there
wringing your hands.
I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted.
You’ll get not a lick of help from them.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Read: Genesis 3:8–17
When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”
11 God said, “Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”
12 The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”
God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”
13 “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”
14-15 God told the serpent:
“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,
Cursed to slink on your belly
and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,
between your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your head,
you’ll wound his heel.”
16 He told the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
but he’ll lord it over you.”
17-19 He told the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
you’ll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;
you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.”
Listening to God
By Keila Ochoa
The Lord God called . . . “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9
My young son loves to hear my voice, except when I call his name loudly and sternly, followed by the question, “Where are you?” When I do that, I am usually calling for him because he has been into some mischief and is trying to hide from me. I want my son to listen to my voice because I’m concerned about his well-being and do not want him to get hurt.
Adam and Eve were used to hearing God’s voice in the garden. However, after they disobeyed Him by eating the forbidden fruit, they hid from Him when they heard Him calling, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). They didn’t want to face God because they knew they had done something wrong—something He had told them not to do (v. 11).
Thank You, Lord, for Your love and care.
When God called for Adam and Eve and found them in the garden, His words did include correction and consequence (vv. 13–19). But God also showed them kindness and gave them hope for mankind in the promise of the Savior (v. 15).
God doesn’t have to look for us. He knows where we are and what we are trying to hide. But as a loving Father, He wants to speak to our hearts and bring us forgiveness and restoration. He longs for us to hear His voice—and to listen.
Thank You, Lord, for Your love and care. Thank You for sending Your Son, our Savior, to fulfill Your promise of forgiveness and restoration.
When God calls, we need to answer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 05, 2017
The Life of Power to Follow
Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." —John 13:36
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “…He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit” — the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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
Thursday, January 05, 2017
The Price of Leadership - #7824
The precision of America's weapons during recent military engagements has been pretty amazing. But even in these days of high-tech efficiency, there are still casualties and fatalities from what's called "friendly fire". In the war on terrorism, one of our most accurate bombs went astray and killed some of our own military. Several days after that tragedy, four of the men injured by that bomb – men who lost some of their comrades – were interviewed. I was struck especially by the comments of their commanding officer. Basically, here's what he said. "I will have my time to cry and grieve for what we've lost, but not now. I have men to lead and I have a war to win. My feelings will have to wait."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Price of Leadership."
For me, that soldier's commitment to putting his responsibility above his feelings was a powerful example of the price of leadership. And most of us are a leader to somebody – our family, people at work, people at church, or people we influence. There's positional leadership which means people follow you because of the title you have. Then there's personal leadership, which means people follow you because of the kind of person you are – with or without the title.
There's a really strong model of this kind of mission-focused leadership in our word for today from the Word of God. In the chapters leading up to Joshua 8, we read about the Jewish conquest of Jericho – and then their stunning defeat at the much smaller city of Ai, all because of sin in their midst. In chapter 8, they have cleaned out that sin and they are following God's orders to now take the city of Ai. Notice how General Joshua leads his troops: verse 18 says, "Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.' So Joshua held out his javelin toward Ai."
Later we read, "Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin" until the victory over Ai was complete. The leader's job here was clear – keep pointing people toward the goal, never moving, never looking back, never giving up. That's always the leader's job – no matter how he's feeling. The mission: the battle can never be at the mercy of the leader's emotional ups and downs.
Now this doesn't mean that you deny your feelings or you stuff your feelings. That's dishonest and it's damaging. You have your feelings, but you don't let your feelings have you. Yes, leaders feel discouraged, frustrated, angry, hurt, exhausted, even like giving up sometimes. But they don't let that spill onto the people who are looking to them! You have no right to encumber your troops with what's bothering you. They don't need any more battles. You can't say whatever you feel like saying. You need to weigh your words because they affect people far more than you realize. You have to remain steady under fire or the people around you are going to start to retreat. You cannot lead if you're carrying your baggage into the battle with you.
You take your deep feelings to your Lord, not your troops. David had it right. In Psalm 142 he says, "I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble." By the way, don't forget that the leaders in your life who appear so strong really need your encouragement, your prayer, your love, and your affirmation. When you seem strong, people tend to forget that you need what everyone else needs. We can see those needs in the people who are weak. We tend to think the strong are doing just fine. You know what? They're just like the rest of us.
So with whatever leadership role God has entrusted to you, keep pointing people toward the goal, no matter how you're feeling. They're watching you to decide how they should be. The mission cannot be at the mercy of your moods.
Yes, a leader has his feelings, but he doesn't let his feelings have him.
My wife and I spent five years on a missionary team in Brazil. Our first two years felt fruitless and futile. More often than not I went home frustrated. We asked God for another plan. We prayed and read the Epistles. We especially focused on Galatians. When I compared our gospel message with Paul’s, I saw a difference. His was high-octane good news. Mine was soured legalism.
As a team we resolved to focus on the gospel. I did my best to proclaim forgiveness of sins and resurrection from the dead. We saw an immediate change. We baptized forty people in twelve months. Quite a few for a church of sixty members. You see, God wasn’t finished with us yet. We just needed to put God’s plan in place!
When things aren’t going well, why don’t you ask God for His plan!
From God is With You Every Day
Jeremiah 2
Israel Was God’s Holy Choice
1-3 God’s Message came to me. It went like this:
“Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem,
‘God’s Message!
I remember your youthful loyalty,
our love as newlyweds.
You stayed with me through the wilderness years,
stuck with me through all the hard places.
Israel was God’s holy choice,
the pick of the crop.
Anyone who laid a hand on her
would soon wish he hadn’t!’”
God’s Decree.
4-6 Hear God’s Message, House of Jacob!
Yes, you—House of Israel!
God’s Message: “What did your ancestors find fault with in me
that they drifted so far from me,
Took up with Sir Windbag
and turned into windbags themselves?
It never occurred to them to say, ‘Where’s God,
the God who got us out of Egypt,
Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble
wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys,
A land that no one who enters comes out of,
a cruel, inhospitable land?’
7-8 “I brought you to a garden land
where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, ‘Where’s God?’
The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
9-11 “Because of all this, I’m bringing charges against you”
—God’s Decree—
“charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this?
Sail to the western islands and look.
Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look.
Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
That a nation has traded in its gods
for gods that aren’t even close to gods?
But my people have traded my Glory
for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
12-13 “Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!
Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!”
God’s Decree.
“My people have committed a compound sin:
they’ve walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.
14-17 “Isn’t Israel a valued servant,
born into a family with place and position?
So how did she end up a piece of meat
fought over by snarling and roaring lions?
There’s nothing left of her but a few old bones,
her towns trashed and deserted.
Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken your skulls.
And why do you think all this has happened?
Isn’t it because you walked out on your God
just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?
18-19 “And now, what do you think you’ll get by going off to Egypt?
Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water?
Or what do you think you’ll get by going off to Assyria?
Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that’s what you’ll get.
You’ll pay dearly for your disloyal ways.
Take a long, hard look at what you’ve done and its bitter results.
Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?”
God’s Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Addicted to Alien Gods
20-22 “A long time ago you broke out of the harness.
You shook off all restraints.
You said, ‘I will not serve!’
and off you went,
Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way,
like a common whore.
You were a select vine when I planted you
from completely reliable stock.
And look how you’ve turned out—
a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
Scrub, using the strongest soaps.
Scour your skin raw.
The sin-grease won’t come out. I can’t stand to even look at you!”
God’s Decree, the Master’s Decree.
23-24 “How dare you tell me, ‘I’m not stained by sin.
I’ve never chased after the Baal sex gods’!
Well, look at the tracks you’ve left behind in the valley.
How do you account for what is written in the desert dust—
Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
tracks of a wild donkey in rut,
Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex.
Who could possibly corral her!
On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex—
insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.
25 “Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry?
Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, ‘I can’t help it.
I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’
26-28 “Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught,
so the people of Israel are chagrined,
Caught along with their kings and princes,
their priests and prophets.
They walk up to a tree and say, ‘My father!’
They pick up a stone and say, ‘My mother! You bore me!’
All I ever see of them is their backsides.
They never look me in the face.
But when things go badly, they don’t hesitate to come running,
calling out, ‘Get a move on! Save us!’
Why not go to your handcrafted gods you’re so fond of?
Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times.
You’ve got more gods, Judah,
than you know what to do with.
Trying Out Another Sin-Project
29-30 “What do you have against me,
running off to assert your ‘independence’?”
God’s Decree.
“I’ve wasted my time trying to train your children.
They’ve paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline.
And you’ve gotten rid of your God-messengers,
treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
31-32 “What a generation you turned out to be!
Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I warn you?
Have I let you down, Israel?
Am I nothing but a dead-end street?
Why do my people say, ‘Good riddance!
From now on we’re on our own’?
Young women don’t forget their jewelry, do they?
Brides don’t show up without their veils, do they?
But my people forget me.
Day after day after day they never give me a thought.
33-35 “What an impressive start you made
to get the most out of life.
You founded schools of sin,
taught graduate courses in evil!
And now you’re sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown—
except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims!
All that blood convicts you.
You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
And yet you have the gall to say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.
God doesn’t mind. He hasn’t punished me, has he?’
Don’t look now, but judgment’s on the way,
aimed at you who say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
36-37 “You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you,
to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?
But Egypt will leave you in the lurch
the same way that Assyria did.
You’re going to walk away from there
wringing your hands.
I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted.
You’ll get not a lick of help from them.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Read: Genesis 3:8–17
When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”
11 God said, “Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”
12 The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”
God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”
13 “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”
14-15 God told the serpent:
“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,
Cursed to slink on your belly
and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,
between your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your head,
you’ll wound his heel.”
16 He told the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
but he’ll lord it over you.”
17-19 He told the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
you’ll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;
you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.”
Listening to God
By Keila Ochoa
The Lord God called . . . “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9
My young son loves to hear my voice, except when I call his name loudly and sternly, followed by the question, “Where are you?” When I do that, I am usually calling for him because he has been into some mischief and is trying to hide from me. I want my son to listen to my voice because I’m concerned about his well-being and do not want him to get hurt.
Adam and Eve were used to hearing God’s voice in the garden. However, after they disobeyed Him by eating the forbidden fruit, they hid from Him when they heard Him calling, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). They didn’t want to face God because they knew they had done something wrong—something He had told them not to do (v. 11).
Thank You, Lord, for Your love and care.
When God called for Adam and Eve and found them in the garden, His words did include correction and consequence (vv. 13–19). But God also showed them kindness and gave them hope for mankind in the promise of the Savior (v. 15).
God doesn’t have to look for us. He knows where we are and what we are trying to hide. But as a loving Father, He wants to speak to our hearts and bring us forgiveness and restoration. He longs for us to hear His voice—and to listen.
Thank You, Lord, for Your love and care. Thank You for sending Your Son, our Savior, to fulfill Your promise of forgiveness and restoration.
When God calls, we need to answer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 05, 2017
The Life of Power to Follow
Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." —John 13:36
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “…He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit” — the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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
Thursday, January 05, 2017
The Price of Leadership - #7824
The precision of America's weapons during recent military engagements has been pretty amazing. But even in these days of high-tech efficiency, there are still casualties and fatalities from what's called "friendly fire". In the war on terrorism, one of our most accurate bombs went astray and killed some of our own military. Several days after that tragedy, four of the men injured by that bomb – men who lost some of their comrades – were interviewed. I was struck especially by the comments of their commanding officer. Basically, here's what he said. "I will have my time to cry and grieve for what we've lost, but not now. I have men to lead and I have a war to win. My feelings will have to wait."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Price of Leadership."
For me, that soldier's commitment to putting his responsibility above his feelings was a powerful example of the price of leadership. And most of us are a leader to somebody – our family, people at work, people at church, or people we influence. There's positional leadership which means people follow you because of the title you have. Then there's personal leadership, which means people follow you because of the kind of person you are – with or without the title.
There's a really strong model of this kind of mission-focused leadership in our word for today from the Word of God. In the chapters leading up to Joshua 8, we read about the Jewish conquest of Jericho – and then their stunning defeat at the much smaller city of Ai, all because of sin in their midst. In chapter 8, they have cleaned out that sin and they are following God's orders to now take the city of Ai. Notice how General Joshua leads his troops: verse 18 says, "Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.' So Joshua held out his javelin toward Ai."
Later we read, "Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin" until the victory over Ai was complete. The leader's job here was clear – keep pointing people toward the goal, never moving, never looking back, never giving up. That's always the leader's job – no matter how he's feeling. The mission: the battle can never be at the mercy of the leader's emotional ups and downs.
Now this doesn't mean that you deny your feelings or you stuff your feelings. That's dishonest and it's damaging. You have your feelings, but you don't let your feelings have you. Yes, leaders feel discouraged, frustrated, angry, hurt, exhausted, even like giving up sometimes. But they don't let that spill onto the people who are looking to them! You have no right to encumber your troops with what's bothering you. They don't need any more battles. You can't say whatever you feel like saying. You need to weigh your words because they affect people far more than you realize. You have to remain steady under fire or the people around you are going to start to retreat. You cannot lead if you're carrying your baggage into the battle with you.
You take your deep feelings to your Lord, not your troops. David had it right. In Psalm 142 he says, "I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble." By the way, don't forget that the leaders in your life who appear so strong really need your encouragement, your prayer, your love, and your affirmation. When you seem strong, people tend to forget that you need what everyone else needs. We can see those needs in the people who are weak. We tend to think the strong are doing just fine. You know what? They're just like the rest of us.
So with whatever leadership role God has entrusted to you, keep pointing people toward the goal, no matter how you're feeling. They're watching you to decide how they should be. The mission cannot be at the mercy of your moods.
Yes, a leader has his feelings, but he doesn't let his feelings have him.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Jeremiah 1 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily:WILL YOU BE SOMEONE?
When disaster strikes, the human spirit responds by reaching out to help those afflicted. People stand in line to give blood. Rescue teams work for endless hours. But the most essential effort is accomplished by another valiant team. Their task? To gird the world with prayer.
For the most part, we don’t even know their names. Such is the case of someone who prayed on a day long ago. He went to Jesus on behalf of a friend who was sick. No one was more vital than the one who went to Jesus. John writes: “So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick’” (John 11:3 NCV). Someone went to Jesus on behalf of Lazarus. And because someone went, Jesus responded! Would you be someone for someone?
From God is With You Every Day
Jeremiah 1
Demolish, and Then Start Over
1-4 The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God’s Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amos reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:
5 “Before I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
that’s what I had in mind for you.”
6 But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me.
I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”
7-8 God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’
I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.
I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it.
Don’t be afraid of a soul.
I’ll be right there, looking after you.”
God’s Decree.
9-10 God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,
“Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!
See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do
among nations and governments—a red-letter day!
Your job is to pull up and tear down,
take apart and demolish,
And then start over,
building and planting.”
Stand Up and Say Your Piece
11-12 God’s Message came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I said, “A walking stick—that’s all.”
And God said, “Good eyes! I’m sticking with you.
I’ll make every word I give you come true.”
13-15 God’s Message came again: “So what do you see now?”
I said, “I see a boiling pot, tipped down toward us.”
Then God told me, “Disaster will pour out of the north
on everyone living in this land.
Watch for this: I’m calling all the kings out of the north.”
God’s Decree.
15-16 “They’ll come and set up headquarters
facing Jerusalem’s gates,
Facing all the city walls,
facing all the villages of Judah.
I’ll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah
for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—
And courting other gods with their offerings,
worshiping as gods sticks they’d carved, stones they’d painted.
17 “But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don’t pull your punches
or I’ll pull you out of the lineup.
18-19 “Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
I’m making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
solid as a concrete block wall.
You’re a one-man defense system
against this culture,
Against Judah’s kings and princes,
against the priests and local leaders.
They’ll fight you, but they won’t
even scratch you.
I’ll back you up every inch of the way.”
God’s Decree.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Read: 1 John 4:20–5:5
20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
5 1-3 Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we’ll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God’s children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.
The Power That Brings the World to Its Knees
4-5 Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
INSIGHT:
In the gospel of John, Jesus told His disciples that love would be the identifying mark of His followers: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (13:35). He also told them: “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (15:10). The connection between these two verses is as simple as it is wonderful: Loving Jesus means keeping His commands, and His command is to love. In fact, John says we cannot do one if we do not do the other. They cannot be separated—we cannot love God in one way and fellow believers in another way. Rather, “Whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).
A Multiplied Love
By Tim Gustafson
Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:21
When a woman in Karen’s church was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), things looked bad. This cruel disease affects nerves and muscles, eventually leading to paralysis. The family’s insurance wouldn’t cover home care, and the stricken woman’s husband couldn’t bear the thought of putting her in a nursing home.
As a nurse, Karen had the expertise to help and began going to the woman’s home to care for her. But she soon realized she couldn’t take care of her own family while meeting the needs of her friend, so she started teaching others in the church to help. As the disease ran its course over the next seven years, Karen trained thirty-one additional volunteers who surrounded that family with love, prayer, and practical assistance.
Ask God to show you how He wants you to use your gifts for His kingdom.
“Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister,” said John the disciple (1 John 4:21). Karen gives us a shining example of that kind of love. She had the skills, compassion, and vision to rally a church family around a hurting friend. Her love for one person in need became a multiplied love lived out by many.
How might God use your talents and abilities to serve others in need? Ask God to show you how He wants you to use your gifts for His kingdom.
To learn more, read God Is Love at discoveryseries.org/q0612.
Love your neighbor as yourself. —Jesus
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?
Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?" —John 13:37
There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t. Conformed to His Image, 357 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
After Your Sun Sets - #7823
I missed that sunset a few nights ago, but I saw something just as beautiful-the afterglow. A sky painted by my favorite Artist in brilliant hues of orange and yellow. Look, I've seen a lot of sunsets all over the country and all over the world. But the show isn't over when the sun goes down. No, the sky is still glowing; often magnificently. The sun may be gone, but its aftermath is still beautifying our horizon.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "After the Sun Sets."
I've seen lives like that. My wife was a life like that. The sun set suddenly on my baby's life four months ago. But its brilliant afterglow is continuing to light up so many lives. More than even I knew. It's there in the flood of those "she changed my life" tributes I've received since she went Home.
It's made me think about what I'll leave on people's horizon when my sun sets. And about people I've known, whose life on earth is over, but who are still "afterglowing" on the landscape of my life.
Oh, I know the kind of people who bring clouds and shadows with them – sort of like emotional Pigpens. You know, Charlie Brown's friend who spreads old dirt wherever he goes. They're the gripers, the gossipers, the grimacers, the growlers, and the grumps. No glow.
But what is it about certain people that makes them a treasure to be cherished, long after they're gone? It's in a certain way, I think, that they make you feel when you're with them. They make you feel lighter. There's this contagious joy and an ever-ready smile that's like sun on the gloomiest day. Who doesn't want to be around – even seek out – that kind of person?
My Karen had that, even when she might have been weighed down with medical, financial, or work stresses. But her joy was explained by a favorite Bible verse of hers, which is our word for today from the Word of God in Nehemiah 8:10, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." That's an unsinkable buoyancy that's independent of your circumstances and it's anchored in Christ.
These "afterglow" people also make you feel safe, unlike the many who have an agenda, can't keep a confidence, make you feel judged, or later use what you tell them against you. But there are those rare people who have been for me a harbor where I know I can run in the storm. Someone I can pour out my heart to. Those people change your life.
So do the people who make you feel heard. In a world where no one can remember what you were saying when you lost your train of thought, these people can because they're all about you. Unforgettable people really listen for your heart, not just your words.
Ultimately, the "afterglow" legacy people are the ones who make you feel important. When you're with them, you feel like you're the only person in their world at that moment. I lived with and I loved this kind of woman since I was twenty years old. Long enough to know why people of every age and race and background cherish her memory.
She made us feel Jesus. She always told us, "It's not about me. It's all about Jesus." It turns out she wasn't generating all that love and joy. She was reflecting it like the moon, reflecting the glory of the sun; or in her case, the Son of God.
She felt so totally loved by Jesus, because she could say in the words of the Bible, "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). You could say that too. She lived Jesus' promise to light up every life that's given to Him. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).
Have you ever experienced that? Do you feel safe and secure in the love of the One who loves you the most – Jesus? The only One who loved you enough to die for your sin? Today, if you've never given your life to Him, you've done life without Him long enough. Let this be Day 1 of life like it was meant to be. Tell Him, "Jesus, nobody loves me like you do. I'm yours. Replace the darkness with Your light."
Go to our website, and find out there exactly how to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.
I've seen this light Jesus talked about up close for many years. I called it her Jesus-glow. So radiant that it continues to light my life and countless others, as yours can...even after your sun has set.
When disaster strikes, the human spirit responds by reaching out to help those afflicted. People stand in line to give blood. Rescue teams work for endless hours. But the most essential effort is accomplished by another valiant team. Their task? To gird the world with prayer.
For the most part, we don’t even know their names. Such is the case of someone who prayed on a day long ago. He went to Jesus on behalf of a friend who was sick. No one was more vital than the one who went to Jesus. John writes: “So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick’” (John 11:3 NCV). Someone went to Jesus on behalf of Lazarus. And because someone went, Jesus responded! Would you be someone for someone?
From God is With You Every Day
Jeremiah 1
Demolish, and Then Start Over
1-4 The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God’s Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amos reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:
5 “Before I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
that’s what I had in mind for you.”
6 But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me.
I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”
7-8 God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’
I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.
I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it.
Don’t be afraid of a soul.
I’ll be right there, looking after you.”
God’s Decree.
9-10 God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,
“Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!
See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do
among nations and governments—a red-letter day!
Your job is to pull up and tear down,
take apart and demolish,
And then start over,
building and planting.”
Stand Up and Say Your Piece
11-12 God’s Message came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I said, “A walking stick—that’s all.”
And God said, “Good eyes! I’m sticking with you.
I’ll make every word I give you come true.”
13-15 God’s Message came again: “So what do you see now?”
I said, “I see a boiling pot, tipped down toward us.”
Then God told me, “Disaster will pour out of the north
on everyone living in this land.
Watch for this: I’m calling all the kings out of the north.”
God’s Decree.
15-16 “They’ll come and set up headquarters
facing Jerusalem’s gates,
Facing all the city walls,
facing all the villages of Judah.
I’ll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah
for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—
And courting other gods with their offerings,
worshiping as gods sticks they’d carved, stones they’d painted.
17 “But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don’t pull your punches
or I’ll pull you out of the lineup.
18-19 “Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
I’m making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
solid as a concrete block wall.
You’re a one-man defense system
against this culture,
Against Judah’s kings and princes,
against the priests and local leaders.
They’ll fight you, but they won’t
even scratch you.
I’ll back you up every inch of the way.”
God’s Decree.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Read: 1 John 4:20–5:5
20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
5 1-3 Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we’ll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God’s children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.
The Power That Brings the World to Its Knees
4-5 Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
INSIGHT:
In the gospel of John, Jesus told His disciples that love would be the identifying mark of His followers: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (13:35). He also told them: “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (15:10). The connection between these two verses is as simple as it is wonderful: Loving Jesus means keeping His commands, and His command is to love. In fact, John says we cannot do one if we do not do the other. They cannot be separated—we cannot love God in one way and fellow believers in another way. Rather, “Whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).
A Multiplied Love
By Tim Gustafson
Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:21
When a woman in Karen’s church was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), things looked bad. This cruel disease affects nerves and muscles, eventually leading to paralysis. The family’s insurance wouldn’t cover home care, and the stricken woman’s husband couldn’t bear the thought of putting her in a nursing home.
As a nurse, Karen had the expertise to help and began going to the woman’s home to care for her. But she soon realized she couldn’t take care of her own family while meeting the needs of her friend, so she started teaching others in the church to help. As the disease ran its course over the next seven years, Karen trained thirty-one additional volunteers who surrounded that family with love, prayer, and practical assistance.
Ask God to show you how He wants you to use your gifts for His kingdom.
“Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister,” said John the disciple (1 John 4:21). Karen gives us a shining example of that kind of love. She had the skills, compassion, and vision to rally a church family around a hurting friend. Her love for one person in need became a multiplied love lived out by many.
How might God use your talents and abilities to serve others in need? Ask God to show you how He wants you to use your gifts for His kingdom.
To learn more, read God Is Love at discoveryseries.org/q0612.
Love your neighbor as yourself. —Jesus
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?
Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?" —John 13:37
There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t. Conformed to His Image, 357 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
After Your Sun Sets - #7823
I missed that sunset a few nights ago, but I saw something just as beautiful-the afterglow. A sky painted by my favorite Artist in brilliant hues of orange and yellow. Look, I've seen a lot of sunsets all over the country and all over the world. But the show isn't over when the sun goes down. No, the sky is still glowing; often magnificently. The sun may be gone, but its aftermath is still beautifying our horizon.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "After the Sun Sets."
I've seen lives like that. My wife was a life like that. The sun set suddenly on my baby's life four months ago. But its brilliant afterglow is continuing to light up so many lives. More than even I knew. It's there in the flood of those "she changed my life" tributes I've received since she went Home.
It's made me think about what I'll leave on people's horizon when my sun sets. And about people I've known, whose life on earth is over, but who are still "afterglowing" on the landscape of my life.
Oh, I know the kind of people who bring clouds and shadows with them – sort of like emotional Pigpens. You know, Charlie Brown's friend who spreads old dirt wherever he goes. They're the gripers, the gossipers, the grimacers, the growlers, and the grumps. No glow.
But what is it about certain people that makes them a treasure to be cherished, long after they're gone? It's in a certain way, I think, that they make you feel when you're with them. They make you feel lighter. There's this contagious joy and an ever-ready smile that's like sun on the gloomiest day. Who doesn't want to be around – even seek out – that kind of person?
My Karen had that, even when she might have been weighed down with medical, financial, or work stresses. But her joy was explained by a favorite Bible verse of hers, which is our word for today from the Word of God in Nehemiah 8:10, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." That's an unsinkable buoyancy that's independent of your circumstances and it's anchored in Christ.
These "afterglow" people also make you feel safe, unlike the many who have an agenda, can't keep a confidence, make you feel judged, or later use what you tell them against you. But there are those rare people who have been for me a harbor where I know I can run in the storm. Someone I can pour out my heart to. Those people change your life.
So do the people who make you feel heard. In a world where no one can remember what you were saying when you lost your train of thought, these people can because they're all about you. Unforgettable people really listen for your heart, not just your words.
Ultimately, the "afterglow" legacy people are the ones who make you feel important. When you're with them, you feel like you're the only person in their world at that moment. I lived with and I loved this kind of woman since I was twenty years old. Long enough to know why people of every age and race and background cherish her memory.
She made us feel Jesus. She always told us, "It's not about me. It's all about Jesus." It turns out she wasn't generating all that love and joy. She was reflecting it like the moon, reflecting the glory of the sun; or in her case, the Son of God.
She felt so totally loved by Jesus, because she could say in the words of the Bible, "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). You could say that too. She lived Jesus' promise to light up every life that's given to Him. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).
Have you ever experienced that? Do you feel safe and secure in the love of the One who loves you the most – Jesus? The only One who loved you enough to die for your sin? Today, if you've never given your life to Him, you've done life without Him long enough. Let this be Day 1 of life like it was meant to be. Tell Him, "Jesus, nobody loves me like you do. I'm yours. Replace the darkness with Your light."
Go to our website, and find out there exactly how to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.
I've seen this light Jesus talked about up close for many years. I called it her Jesus-glow. So radiant that it continues to light my life and countless others, as yours can...even after your sun has set.
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
2 Chronicles 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: READY TO MARCH?
Think about the Christian you want to be. What qualities do you want to have: more compassion…more conviction…more courage? What attitudes do you want to discontinue: greed…guilt…endless negativity? With God’s help you can! You can close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. Indeed, the person God made you to be. You can live “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
To inherit your inheritance is God’s vision for your life! Imagine the thought. You as you were intended. It’s a life that is yours for the taking. You can expect to be challenged. The enemy won’t go down without a fight. But God’s promises outweigh personal problems. Victory becomes, dare we imagine, a way of life. Isn’t it time for you to change your mailing address from the wilderness to the promised land? Are you ready to march?
From God is With You Every Day
2 Chronicles 35
1-4 Josiah celebrated the Passover to God in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. He gave the priests detailed instructions and encouraged them in the work of leading worship in The Temple of God. He also told the Levites who were in charge of teaching and guiding Israel in all matters of worship (they were especially consecrated for this), “Place the sacred Chest in The Temple that Solomon son of David, the king of Israel, built. You don’t have to carry it around on your shoulders any longer! Serve God and God’s people Israel. Organize yourselves by families for your respective responsibilities, following the instructions left by David king of Israel and Solomon his son.
5-6 “Take your place in the sanctuary—a team of Levites for every grouping of your fellow citizens, the laity. Your job is to kill the Passover lambs, then consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs so that everyone will be able to keep the Passover exactly as God commanded through Moses.”
7-9 Josiah personally donated thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and goats and three thousand bulls—everything needed for the Passover celebration was there. His officials also pitched in on behalf of the people, including the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, leaders in The Temple of God, gave twenty-six hundred lambs and three hundred bulls to the priests for the Passover offerings. Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with the Levitical chiefs Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, donated five thousand lambs and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.
10-13 Preparations were complete for the service of worship; the priests took up their positions and the Levites were at their posts as instructed by the king. They killed the Passover lambs, and while the priests sprinkled the blood from the lambs, the Levites skinned them out. Then they set aside the Whole-Burnt-Offering for presentation to the family groupings of the people so that each group could offer it to God following the instructions in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They roasted the Passover lamb according to the instructions and boiled the consecrated offerings in pots and kettles and pans and promptly served the people.
14 After the people had eaten the holy meal, the Levites served themselves and the Aaronite priests—the priests were busy late into the night making the offerings at the Altar.
15 The Asaph singers were all in their places following the instructions of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The security guards were on duty at each gate—the Levites also served them because they couldn’t leave their posts.
16-19 Everything went without a hitch in the worship of God that day as they celebrated the Passover and the offering of the Whole-Burnt-Offering on the Altar of God. It went just as Josiah had ordered. The Israelites celebrated the Passover, also known as the Feast of Unraised Bread, for seven days. The Passover hadn’t been celebrated like this since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings had done it. But Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there that week, plus the citizens of Jerusalem—they did it. In the eighteenth year of the rule of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated.
20 Some time later, after Josiah’s reformation of The Temple, Neco king of Egypt marched out toward Carchemish on the Euphrates River on his way to war. Josiah went out to fight him.
21 Neco sent messengers to Josiah saying, “What do we have against each other, O King of Judah? I haven’t come to fight against you but against the country with whom I’m at war. God commanded me to hurry, so don’t get in my way; you’ll only interfere with God, who is on my side in this, and he’ll destroy you.”
22-23 But Josiah was spoiling for a fight and wouldn’t listen to a thing Neco said (in actuality it was God who said it). Though King Josiah disguised himself when they met on the plain of Megiddo, archers shot him anyway.
The king said to his servants, “Get me out of here—I’m badly wounded.”
24-25 So his servants took him out of his chariot and laid him down in an ambulance chariot and drove him back to Jerusalem. He died there and was buried in the family cemetery. Everybody in Judah and Jerusalem attended the funeral. Jeremiah composed an anthem of lament for Josiah. The anthem is still sung by the choirs of Israel to this day. The anthem is written in the Laments.
26-27 The rest of the history of Josiah, his exemplary and devout life, conformed to The Revelation of God. The whole story, from start to finish, is written in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Read: 2 Kings 6:8–17
One time when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, after consulting with his officers, he said, “At such and such a place I want an ambush set.”
9 The Holy Man sent a message to the king of Israel: “Watch out when you’re passing this place, because Aram has set an ambush there.”
10 So the king of Israel sent word concerning the place of which the Holy Man had warned him.
This kind of thing happened all the time.
11 The king of Aram was furious over all this. He called his officers together and said, “Tell me, who is leaking information to the king of Israel? Who is the spy in our ranks?”
12 But one of his men said, “No, my master, dear king. It’s not any of us. It’s Elisha the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel everything you say, even what you whisper in your bedroom.”
13 The king said, “Go and find out where he is. I’ll send someone and capture him.”
The report came back, “He’s in Dothan.”
14 Then he dispatched horses and chariots, an impressive fighting force. They came by night and surrounded the city.
15 Early in the morning a servant of the Holy Man got up and went out. Surprise! Horses and chariots surrounding the city! The young man exclaimed, “Oh, master! What shall we do?”
16 He said, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.”
17 Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.”
The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!
INSIGHT:
In Elisha and Elijah’s day, the nation of Israel had drifted from God and embraced pagan gods. The miracles God performed through these men called the people back to Himself. How does believing in the God of the miraculous help when you’re feeling helpless or overwhelmed?
Not What It Seems
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Don’t be afraid . . . . Those who are with us are more than those who are with [the enemy]. 2 Kings 6:16
Don is a border collie who lives on a farm in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. One morning, he and his owner, Tom, set out to check on some animals. They rode together in a small farm utility truck. When they arrived, Tom left the vehicle but forgot to put the brake on. With Don in the driver’s seat, the vehicle rolled down a hill and across two lanes of traffic before it stopped safely. To watching motorists, it appeared the dog was out for a morning drive. Indeed, things are not always as they seem.
It seemed as if Elisha and his servant were about to be captured and carried off to the King of Aram. The king’s forces had surrounded the city where Elisha and his servant were staying. The servant believed they were doomed, but Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid . . . . Those who are with us are more than those who are with [the enemy]” (2 Kings 6:16). When Elisha prayed, the servant was able to see the multitudes of supernatural forces that were in place to protect them.
Situations that seem hopeless are not always the way we perceive them to be.
Situations that seem hopeless are not always the way we perceive them to be. When we feel overwhelmed and outnumbered, we can remember that God is by our side. He can “command his angels . . . to guard [us] in all [our] ways” (Ps. 91:11).
Dear God, please give me a glimpse of Your power today. Help me to believe that You are willing and able to help me in any situation I encounter.
Things are always better than they seem to be when we remember that God is by our side.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Clouds and Darkness
Clouds and darkness surround Him… —Psalm 97:2
A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him….” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — “clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Conformed to His Image, 354 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Deadly Baggage - #7822
She was only 21 years old – but she was well on her way to becoming a superstar. Aaliyah was enjoying huge success with her music, and she was beginning to emerge as an actress with a great future. But all that ended in one awful moment in the Bahamas when the plane carrying her and her crew crashed shortly after takeoff. What made the crash even more tragic was the fact that apparently it was avoidable – at least on the preliminary findings of the investigators. The plane had been loaded with something like twice its maximum baggage capacity. And investigators believe that it was all that weight that made the plane go down.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Deadly Baggage."
Too much baggage can cause a plane to crash. Well, it can make a person crash, too. When you're carrying around a lot of emotional and spiritual baggage, it can really weigh you down – and make it very hard for you to fly or to reach your destination. And these days a lot of us are carrying around a lot of baggage. That could be what's holding you back –maybe even making you crash.
That's one reason that God tells us in Hebrews 12:1, our word for today from the Word of God, "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." The truth is that you may actually be hanging onto baggage that hinders you from running; that keeps tripping you up.
Baggage is like a grudge you're holding-feelings you just keep harboring-resentment you've allowed to grow instead of letting it go. You've let the "sun go down on your anger", like the Bible says, too many times, and the weight of your bitterness is just darkening everything in you and around you. A chip on your shoulder starts out just weighing a little, but it ends up weighing a lot. The release that comes from forgiving, of making a new beginning with that person is really the only way you can keep from crashing.
It could be that you're dwelling on the pain of your past, which means you're choosing to carry yesterday's pain into this new today. The clear command of God from Isaiah 43:18-19 (anchor verses for me) say this: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"
Maybe you're actually blocking God's new thing by dwelling on the old thing – by not facing that pain, getting whatever help you need to deal with it, and releasing it once and for all. Hasn't it defined you long enough? Haven't you carried that hurter from your past into too many todays and now into tomorrows? It's time to face and then conquer the pain of the past.
Paul calls us to live like this: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal..." (Philippians 3:13-14). It's time to take an honest look at how much baggage you've been carrying around – all of which Jesus said He would carry for you. His invitation in Matthew 11:28 is this: "Come to Me all of you who are weary and heavily burdened." Do you qualify? He said, "And I will give you rest." Why don't you take Him up on that promise?
That baggage has made you negative, stressed, angry, and way too sensitive long enough. It's weighing you down and it's keeping you from flying. You don't need to be overloaded like this. Unload that baggage before it makes you crash.
Think about the Christian you want to be. What qualities do you want to have: more compassion…more conviction…more courage? What attitudes do you want to discontinue: greed…guilt…endless negativity? With God’s help you can! You can close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. Indeed, the person God made you to be. You can live “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
To inherit your inheritance is God’s vision for your life! Imagine the thought. You as you were intended. It’s a life that is yours for the taking. You can expect to be challenged. The enemy won’t go down without a fight. But God’s promises outweigh personal problems. Victory becomes, dare we imagine, a way of life. Isn’t it time for you to change your mailing address from the wilderness to the promised land? Are you ready to march?
From God is With You Every Day
2 Chronicles 35
1-4 Josiah celebrated the Passover to God in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. He gave the priests detailed instructions and encouraged them in the work of leading worship in The Temple of God. He also told the Levites who were in charge of teaching and guiding Israel in all matters of worship (they were especially consecrated for this), “Place the sacred Chest in The Temple that Solomon son of David, the king of Israel, built. You don’t have to carry it around on your shoulders any longer! Serve God and God’s people Israel. Organize yourselves by families for your respective responsibilities, following the instructions left by David king of Israel and Solomon his son.
5-6 “Take your place in the sanctuary—a team of Levites for every grouping of your fellow citizens, the laity. Your job is to kill the Passover lambs, then consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs so that everyone will be able to keep the Passover exactly as God commanded through Moses.”
7-9 Josiah personally donated thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and goats and three thousand bulls—everything needed for the Passover celebration was there. His officials also pitched in on behalf of the people, including the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, leaders in The Temple of God, gave twenty-six hundred lambs and three hundred bulls to the priests for the Passover offerings. Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with the Levitical chiefs Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, donated five thousand lambs and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.
10-13 Preparations were complete for the service of worship; the priests took up their positions and the Levites were at their posts as instructed by the king. They killed the Passover lambs, and while the priests sprinkled the blood from the lambs, the Levites skinned them out. Then they set aside the Whole-Burnt-Offering for presentation to the family groupings of the people so that each group could offer it to God following the instructions in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They roasted the Passover lamb according to the instructions and boiled the consecrated offerings in pots and kettles and pans and promptly served the people.
14 After the people had eaten the holy meal, the Levites served themselves and the Aaronite priests—the priests were busy late into the night making the offerings at the Altar.
15 The Asaph singers were all in their places following the instructions of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The security guards were on duty at each gate—the Levites also served them because they couldn’t leave their posts.
16-19 Everything went without a hitch in the worship of God that day as they celebrated the Passover and the offering of the Whole-Burnt-Offering on the Altar of God. It went just as Josiah had ordered. The Israelites celebrated the Passover, also known as the Feast of Unraised Bread, for seven days. The Passover hadn’t been celebrated like this since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings had done it. But Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there that week, plus the citizens of Jerusalem—they did it. In the eighteenth year of the rule of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated.
20 Some time later, after Josiah’s reformation of The Temple, Neco king of Egypt marched out toward Carchemish on the Euphrates River on his way to war. Josiah went out to fight him.
21 Neco sent messengers to Josiah saying, “What do we have against each other, O King of Judah? I haven’t come to fight against you but against the country with whom I’m at war. God commanded me to hurry, so don’t get in my way; you’ll only interfere with God, who is on my side in this, and he’ll destroy you.”
22-23 But Josiah was spoiling for a fight and wouldn’t listen to a thing Neco said (in actuality it was God who said it). Though King Josiah disguised himself when they met on the plain of Megiddo, archers shot him anyway.
The king said to his servants, “Get me out of here—I’m badly wounded.”
24-25 So his servants took him out of his chariot and laid him down in an ambulance chariot and drove him back to Jerusalem. He died there and was buried in the family cemetery. Everybody in Judah and Jerusalem attended the funeral. Jeremiah composed an anthem of lament for Josiah. The anthem is still sung by the choirs of Israel to this day. The anthem is written in the Laments.
26-27 The rest of the history of Josiah, his exemplary and devout life, conformed to The Revelation of God. The whole story, from start to finish, is written in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Read: 2 Kings 6:8–17
One time when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, after consulting with his officers, he said, “At such and such a place I want an ambush set.”
9 The Holy Man sent a message to the king of Israel: “Watch out when you’re passing this place, because Aram has set an ambush there.”
10 So the king of Israel sent word concerning the place of which the Holy Man had warned him.
This kind of thing happened all the time.
11 The king of Aram was furious over all this. He called his officers together and said, “Tell me, who is leaking information to the king of Israel? Who is the spy in our ranks?”
12 But one of his men said, “No, my master, dear king. It’s not any of us. It’s Elisha the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel everything you say, even what you whisper in your bedroom.”
13 The king said, “Go and find out where he is. I’ll send someone and capture him.”
The report came back, “He’s in Dothan.”
14 Then he dispatched horses and chariots, an impressive fighting force. They came by night and surrounded the city.
15 Early in the morning a servant of the Holy Man got up and went out. Surprise! Horses and chariots surrounding the city! The young man exclaimed, “Oh, master! What shall we do?”
16 He said, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.”
17 Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.”
The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!
INSIGHT:
In Elisha and Elijah’s day, the nation of Israel had drifted from God and embraced pagan gods. The miracles God performed through these men called the people back to Himself. How does believing in the God of the miraculous help when you’re feeling helpless or overwhelmed?
Not What It Seems
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Don’t be afraid . . . . Those who are with us are more than those who are with [the enemy]. 2 Kings 6:16
Don is a border collie who lives on a farm in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. One morning, he and his owner, Tom, set out to check on some animals. They rode together in a small farm utility truck. When they arrived, Tom left the vehicle but forgot to put the brake on. With Don in the driver’s seat, the vehicle rolled down a hill and across two lanes of traffic before it stopped safely. To watching motorists, it appeared the dog was out for a morning drive. Indeed, things are not always as they seem.
It seemed as if Elisha and his servant were about to be captured and carried off to the King of Aram. The king’s forces had surrounded the city where Elisha and his servant were staying. The servant believed they were doomed, but Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid . . . . Those who are with us are more than those who are with [the enemy]” (2 Kings 6:16). When Elisha prayed, the servant was able to see the multitudes of supernatural forces that were in place to protect them.
Situations that seem hopeless are not always the way we perceive them to be.
Situations that seem hopeless are not always the way we perceive them to be. When we feel overwhelmed and outnumbered, we can remember that God is by our side. He can “command his angels . . . to guard [us] in all [our] ways” (Ps. 91:11).
Dear God, please give me a glimpse of Your power today. Help me to believe that You are willing and able to help me in any situation I encounter.
Things are always better than they seem to be when we remember that God is by our side.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Clouds and Darkness
Clouds and darkness surround Him… —Psalm 97:2
A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him….” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — “clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Conformed to His Image, 354 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Deadly Baggage - #7822
She was only 21 years old – but she was well on her way to becoming a superstar. Aaliyah was enjoying huge success with her music, and she was beginning to emerge as an actress with a great future. But all that ended in one awful moment in the Bahamas when the plane carrying her and her crew crashed shortly after takeoff. What made the crash even more tragic was the fact that apparently it was avoidable – at least on the preliminary findings of the investigators. The plane had been loaded with something like twice its maximum baggage capacity. And investigators believe that it was all that weight that made the plane go down.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Deadly Baggage."
Too much baggage can cause a plane to crash. Well, it can make a person crash, too. When you're carrying around a lot of emotional and spiritual baggage, it can really weigh you down – and make it very hard for you to fly or to reach your destination. And these days a lot of us are carrying around a lot of baggage. That could be what's holding you back –maybe even making you crash.
That's one reason that God tells us in Hebrews 12:1, our word for today from the Word of God, "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." The truth is that you may actually be hanging onto baggage that hinders you from running; that keeps tripping you up.
Baggage is like a grudge you're holding-feelings you just keep harboring-resentment you've allowed to grow instead of letting it go. You've let the "sun go down on your anger", like the Bible says, too many times, and the weight of your bitterness is just darkening everything in you and around you. A chip on your shoulder starts out just weighing a little, but it ends up weighing a lot. The release that comes from forgiving, of making a new beginning with that person is really the only way you can keep from crashing.
It could be that you're dwelling on the pain of your past, which means you're choosing to carry yesterday's pain into this new today. The clear command of God from Isaiah 43:18-19 (anchor verses for me) say this: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"
Maybe you're actually blocking God's new thing by dwelling on the old thing – by not facing that pain, getting whatever help you need to deal with it, and releasing it once and for all. Hasn't it defined you long enough? Haven't you carried that hurter from your past into too many todays and now into tomorrows? It's time to face and then conquer the pain of the past.
Paul calls us to live like this: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal..." (Philippians 3:13-14). It's time to take an honest look at how much baggage you've been carrying around – all of which Jesus said He would carry for you. His invitation in Matthew 11:28 is this: "Come to Me all of you who are weary and heavily burdened." Do you qualify? He said, "And I will give you rest." Why don't you take Him up on that promise?
That baggage has made you negative, stressed, angry, and way too sensitive long enough. It's weighing you down and it's keeping you from flying. You don't need to be overloaded like this. Unload that baggage before it makes you crash.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Habakkuk 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD DOESN’T LET GO
Many Christians think they’re saved, hope they’re saved, but still they doubt, wondering, “Am I really saved?” Our behavior gives us reason to wonder. We’re strong one day, weak the next. Devoted one hour, flagging the next. Believing, then unbelieving.
Conventional wisdom draws a line through the middle of these fluctuations. Perform above this line, and enjoy God’s acceptance. But dip below it, and expect a pink slip from heaven. Salvation then becomes a matter of timing and you just hope you die on an upswing.
Jesus’ language couldn’t be stronger: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages…and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 AMP). God doesn’t let go and He won’t let go of you!
From God is With You Every Day
Habakkuk 2
What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.
I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I’ll wait to see what God says,
how he’ll answer my complaint.
Full of Self, but Soul-Empty
2-3 And then God answered: “Write this.
Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It’s on its way. It will come right on time.
4 “Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
through loyal and steady believing
is fully alive, really alive.
5-6 “Note well: Money deceives.
The arrogant rich don’t last.
They are more hungry for wealth
than the grave is for cadavers.
Like death, they always want more,
but the ‘more’ they get is dead bodies.
They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,
graveyards filled with corpses.
Don’t give people like this a second thought.
Soon the whole world will be taunting them:
6-8 “‘Who do you think you are—
getting rich by stealing and extortion?
How long do you think
you can get away with this?’
Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,
stand up and make you the victim?
You’ve plundered nation after nation.
Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
All the survivors are out to plunder you,
a payback for all your murders and massacres.
9-11 “Who do you think you are—
recklessly grabbing and looting,
Living it up, acting like king of the mountain,
acting above it all, above trials and troubles?
You’ve engineered the ruin of your own house.
In ruining others you’ve ruined yourself.
You’ve undermined your foundations,
rotted out your own soul.
The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you.
The woodwork will step forward with evidence.
12-14 “Who do you think you are—
building a town by murder, a city with crime?
Don’t you know that God-of-the-Angel-Armies
makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes,
Makes sure the harder you work
at that kind of thing, the less you are?
Meanwhile the earth fills up
with awareness of God’s glory
as the waters cover the sea.
15-17 “Who do you think you are—
inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties,
Giving them too much to drink,
roping them into your sexual orgies?
You thought you were having the time of your life.
Wrong! It’s a time of disgrace.
All the time you were drinking,
you were drinking from the cup of God’s wrath.
You’ll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over—
hung over from Lebanon violence,
Hung over from animal massacres,
hung over from murder and mayhem,
From multiple violations
of place and people.
18-19 “What’s the use of a carved god
so skillfully carved by its sculptor?
What good is a fancy cast god
when all it tells is lies?
What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker
who makes gods that can’t even talk?
Who do you think you are—
saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,’
Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up’?
Can they teach you anything about anything?
There’s nothing to them but surface.
There’s nothing on the inside.
20 “But oh! God is in his holy Temple!
Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 02, 2017
Read: Romans 11:33–12:2 |
33-36 Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Place Your Life Before God
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
INSIGHT:
As Paul begins to describe the new life we can have because of what Jesus has done (Rom. 12–16), he calls for a radical commitment involving the dedication of our bodies and transformation of our minds (12:1–2). God does not require that we die for Him; rather, we are to live for Him—“to offer [ourselves] as a living sacrifice” (v. 1). In the Old Testament two kinds of sacrifices were offered: propitiatory and dedicatory. Propitiatory or atoning sacrifices are mandatory sacrifices to atone for sin and to restore fellowship with God. Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), is the perfect and final propitiatory sacrifice. Paul emphasizes that “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). Dedicatory sacrifices are thank offerings voluntarily offered to God to express thankfulness, love, and joyful worship in response to divine blessing or His mercy and grace (Lev. 7:11–15; 22:29; Pss. 50:14, 23; 107:22). We can never offer ourselves as atoning sacrifices (no human person can) because only “Jesus, the Lamb of God, [can take] away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). But we are all qualified to be a thank offering, to be “living sacrifices.”
The Perfect Gift
By David McCasland
Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1
The weeks after Christmas are the busiest time of year in the US for merchandise returns as people trade unwanted gifts for what they really want. Yet you probably know a few people who always seem to give the perfect gift. How do they know just what another person values and what is right for the occasion? The key to successful gift-giving is not money; it’s listening to others and taking a personal interest in what they enjoy and appreciate.
This is true for family and friends. But what about God? Is there anything meaningful or valuable that we can give to God? Is there anything He doesn’t already have?
Dear Lord, I’m Yours. I want to offer myself to You—heart, mind, and will.
Romans 11:33–36, a song of praise to God for His great wisdom, knowledge, and glory, is followed by a call to give ourselves to Him. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (12:1). Instead of being shaped by the world around us, we are to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (v. 2).
What’s the best gift we can give to God today? In gratitude, humility, and love we can give ourselves completely to Him—heart, mind, and will. It’s just what the Lord is longing to receive from each of us.
Dear Lord, I’m Yours. I want to offer myself to You—heart, mind, and will—in humble service and in thankful worship for all You have done for me.
The best gift we can give to God is ourselves.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 02, 2017
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. Biblical Ethics, 125 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 02, 2017
What Your Storm Helps You See - #7821
The Seattle Mariners were in the middle of a baseball game when it hit. It was an earthquake! And the sportscaster in the Seattle King Dome said, "Man, everything is shaking here." Well, the newscast showed the reaction of the Seattle star Ken Griffey, Jr. Even though he is one of baseball's premier players, he ran over to a spot on the field where he could see his family in the stands, and it wasn't baseball he was thinking of all of a sudden. He was motioning to his family to get out of that stadium, now and to start driving home! It reminded me of the night when an earthquake hit that third game of the 1989 World Series in San Francisco, and the remark the San Francisco catcher made that night. Even in the midst of living his World Series dream, speaking of that quake he simply said to a reporter, "Sure does change your priorities, doesn't it?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Your Storm Helps You See."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 27. There's a storm in there. Those baseball players had it right. When things are shaking it's time to remember what really matters. It happened to that great spiritual ambassador, Paul, in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 27:18-20. Paul is a prisoner on his way to Rome for trial and there is a storm that literally shakes up everything, including everyone's priorities.
Verse 18: "We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved." Do you see how this is changing their priorities? I mean, things they would have never considered getting rid of before, they're throwing overboard.
It's amazing how life's storms and quakes make things that once looked so important, suddenly seem pretty inconsequential. And now, things that we haven't been paying much attention to suddenly seem very important. Verse 22, Paul is talking to the people onboard and he says, "I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am, and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you." Well, with everything shaking, God showed up and reminded Paul of what really mattered. Not the ship, but the people around him and the mission God had given him.
Maybe right now is one of those earthquake times or storm times for you. God wants to use this time, not to ruin you but to re-focus you on the things that really matter, like your family who you may have been unintentionally neglecting because of all the demands on you. The quake is meant to bring you back into their lives. Or, it could be that God is trying to re-focus you on a life's mission, or a life's work that He's been wanting you to do for Him.
Maybe your life's been filling up with less important things. The shaking could be to drive you back to Jesus. You've gotten away, and the storm is designed to drive you back to Him. He's urging you to come back to the safety and the love of His arms. Or maybe you've just been neglecting your relationship with Him. Not doing anything against Him, but not spending much time with Him either. The quake is His way of driving you back to depending on Him, the place where you can really experience His love and His total power.
And it could be that you've never begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You probably know that when He was dying on the cross it was to pay the death penalty for everything you've done wrong in your life, and that He walked out of His grave under His own power. Do you know why? One reason, so He could walk into your life, and the storm has brought you to the end of you so you could finally experience His love for yourself. Would you say, "Jesus, I'm yours" today?
And I'd love to give you some information that would help you get started with Him if you'd just go to our website ANewStory.com.
Like the baseball player said, when everything's shaking, "Sure does change your priorities." Well, don't miss the message in the shake-up. It's time to stop playing the game for a little while and start taking care again of the things that really matter.
Many Christians think they’re saved, hope they’re saved, but still they doubt, wondering, “Am I really saved?” Our behavior gives us reason to wonder. We’re strong one day, weak the next. Devoted one hour, flagging the next. Believing, then unbelieving.
Conventional wisdom draws a line through the middle of these fluctuations. Perform above this line, and enjoy God’s acceptance. But dip below it, and expect a pink slip from heaven. Salvation then becomes a matter of timing and you just hope you die on an upswing.
Jesus’ language couldn’t be stronger: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages…and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 AMP). God doesn’t let go and He won’t let go of you!
From God is With You Every Day
Habakkuk 2
What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.
I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I’ll wait to see what God says,
how he’ll answer my complaint.
Full of Self, but Soul-Empty
2-3 And then God answered: “Write this.
Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It’s on its way. It will come right on time.
4 “Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
through loyal and steady believing
is fully alive, really alive.
5-6 “Note well: Money deceives.
The arrogant rich don’t last.
They are more hungry for wealth
than the grave is for cadavers.
Like death, they always want more,
but the ‘more’ they get is dead bodies.
They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,
graveyards filled with corpses.
Don’t give people like this a second thought.
Soon the whole world will be taunting them:
6-8 “‘Who do you think you are—
getting rich by stealing and extortion?
How long do you think
you can get away with this?’
Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,
stand up and make you the victim?
You’ve plundered nation after nation.
Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
All the survivors are out to plunder you,
a payback for all your murders and massacres.
9-11 “Who do you think you are—
recklessly grabbing and looting,
Living it up, acting like king of the mountain,
acting above it all, above trials and troubles?
You’ve engineered the ruin of your own house.
In ruining others you’ve ruined yourself.
You’ve undermined your foundations,
rotted out your own soul.
The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you.
The woodwork will step forward with evidence.
12-14 “Who do you think you are—
building a town by murder, a city with crime?
Don’t you know that God-of-the-Angel-Armies
makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes,
Makes sure the harder you work
at that kind of thing, the less you are?
Meanwhile the earth fills up
with awareness of God’s glory
as the waters cover the sea.
15-17 “Who do you think you are—
inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties,
Giving them too much to drink,
roping them into your sexual orgies?
You thought you were having the time of your life.
Wrong! It’s a time of disgrace.
All the time you were drinking,
you were drinking from the cup of God’s wrath.
You’ll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over—
hung over from Lebanon violence,
Hung over from animal massacres,
hung over from murder and mayhem,
From multiple violations
of place and people.
18-19 “What’s the use of a carved god
so skillfully carved by its sculptor?
What good is a fancy cast god
when all it tells is lies?
What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker
who makes gods that can’t even talk?
Who do you think you are—
saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,’
Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up’?
Can they teach you anything about anything?
There’s nothing to them but surface.
There’s nothing on the inside.
20 “But oh! God is in his holy Temple!
Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 02, 2017
Read: Romans 11:33–12:2 |
33-36 Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Place Your Life Before God
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
INSIGHT:
As Paul begins to describe the new life we can have because of what Jesus has done (Rom. 12–16), he calls for a radical commitment involving the dedication of our bodies and transformation of our minds (12:1–2). God does not require that we die for Him; rather, we are to live for Him—“to offer [ourselves] as a living sacrifice” (v. 1). In the Old Testament two kinds of sacrifices were offered: propitiatory and dedicatory. Propitiatory or atoning sacrifices are mandatory sacrifices to atone for sin and to restore fellowship with God. Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), is the perfect and final propitiatory sacrifice. Paul emphasizes that “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). Dedicatory sacrifices are thank offerings voluntarily offered to God to express thankfulness, love, and joyful worship in response to divine blessing or His mercy and grace (Lev. 7:11–15; 22:29; Pss. 50:14, 23; 107:22). We can never offer ourselves as atoning sacrifices (no human person can) because only “Jesus, the Lamb of God, [can take] away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). But we are all qualified to be a thank offering, to be “living sacrifices.”
The Perfect Gift
By David McCasland
Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1
The weeks after Christmas are the busiest time of year in the US for merchandise returns as people trade unwanted gifts for what they really want. Yet you probably know a few people who always seem to give the perfect gift. How do they know just what another person values and what is right for the occasion? The key to successful gift-giving is not money; it’s listening to others and taking a personal interest in what they enjoy and appreciate.
This is true for family and friends. But what about God? Is there anything meaningful or valuable that we can give to God? Is there anything He doesn’t already have?
Dear Lord, I’m Yours. I want to offer myself to You—heart, mind, and will.
Romans 11:33–36, a song of praise to God for His great wisdom, knowledge, and glory, is followed by a call to give ourselves to Him. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (12:1). Instead of being shaped by the world around us, we are to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (v. 2).
What’s the best gift we can give to God today? In gratitude, humility, and love we can give ourselves completely to Him—heart, mind, and will. It’s just what the Lord is longing to receive from each of us.
Dear Lord, I’m Yours. I want to offer myself to You—heart, mind, and will—in humble service and in thankful worship for all You have done for me.
The best gift we can give to God is ourselves.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 02, 2017
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. Biblical Ethics, 125 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 02, 2017
What Your Storm Helps You See - #7821
The Seattle Mariners were in the middle of a baseball game when it hit. It was an earthquake! And the sportscaster in the Seattle King Dome said, "Man, everything is shaking here." Well, the newscast showed the reaction of the Seattle star Ken Griffey, Jr. Even though he is one of baseball's premier players, he ran over to a spot on the field where he could see his family in the stands, and it wasn't baseball he was thinking of all of a sudden. He was motioning to his family to get out of that stadium, now and to start driving home! It reminded me of the night when an earthquake hit that third game of the 1989 World Series in San Francisco, and the remark the San Francisco catcher made that night. Even in the midst of living his World Series dream, speaking of that quake he simply said to a reporter, "Sure does change your priorities, doesn't it?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Your Storm Helps You See."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 27. There's a storm in there. Those baseball players had it right. When things are shaking it's time to remember what really matters. It happened to that great spiritual ambassador, Paul, in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 27:18-20. Paul is a prisoner on his way to Rome for trial and there is a storm that literally shakes up everything, including everyone's priorities.
Verse 18: "We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved." Do you see how this is changing their priorities? I mean, things they would have never considered getting rid of before, they're throwing overboard.
It's amazing how life's storms and quakes make things that once looked so important, suddenly seem pretty inconsequential. And now, things that we haven't been paying much attention to suddenly seem very important. Verse 22, Paul is talking to the people onboard and he says, "I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am, and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you." Well, with everything shaking, God showed up and reminded Paul of what really mattered. Not the ship, but the people around him and the mission God had given him.
Maybe right now is one of those earthquake times or storm times for you. God wants to use this time, not to ruin you but to re-focus you on the things that really matter, like your family who you may have been unintentionally neglecting because of all the demands on you. The quake is meant to bring you back into their lives. Or, it could be that God is trying to re-focus you on a life's mission, or a life's work that He's been wanting you to do for Him.
Maybe your life's been filling up with less important things. The shaking could be to drive you back to Jesus. You've gotten away, and the storm is designed to drive you back to Him. He's urging you to come back to the safety and the love of His arms. Or maybe you've just been neglecting your relationship with Him. Not doing anything against Him, but not spending much time with Him either. The quake is His way of driving you back to depending on Him, the place where you can really experience His love and His total power.
And it could be that you've never begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You probably know that when He was dying on the cross it was to pay the death penalty for everything you've done wrong in your life, and that He walked out of His grave under His own power. Do you know why? One reason, so He could walk into your life, and the storm has brought you to the end of you so you could finally experience His love for yourself. Would you say, "Jesus, I'm yours" today?
And I'd love to give you some information that would help you get started with Him if you'd just go to our website ANewStory.com.
Like the baseball player said, when everything's shaking, "Sure does change your priorities." Well, don't miss the message in the shake-up. It's time to stop playing the game for a little while and start taking care again of the things that really matter.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Habakkuk 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: All of God in Human Body
“Who do you say I am?” Jesus asks of Peter.
He replies, “I…uh, I believe. . .you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Maybe he wasn’t that hesitant, but if he was, you can hardly fault Peter. How many times do you call a callous-handed nail bender from a one-camel town the Son of God? You remember the drawings with the question, What’s wrong with this picture? We would look closely for something that didn’t fit—an astronaut on the moon with a pay phone in the background. God doesn’t chum with common folk or snooze in fishing boats. But Colossians 2:9 says He did, “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body.” All God, all man. Don’t we need a God-man Savior? Nothing compares to what Philippians 3:8 says is “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord!”
From Next Door Savior
Habakkuk 1
Justice Is a Joke
1-4 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it:
God, how long do I have to cry out for help
before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!”
before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
and stand justice on its head.
God Says, “Look!”
5-11 “Look around at the godless nations.
Look long and hard. Brace yourself for a shock.
Something’s about to take place
and you’re going to find it hard to believe.
I’m about to raise up Babylonians to punish you,
Babylonians, fierce and ferocious—
World-conquering Babylon,
grabbing up nations right and left,
A dreadful and terrible people,
making up its own rules as it goes.
Their horses run like the wind,
attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses
thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures
circling in on carrion.
They’re out to kill. Death is on their minds.
They collect victims like squirrels gathering nuts.
They mock kings,
poke fun at generals,
Spit on forts,
and leave them in the dust.
They’ll all be blown away by the wind.
Brazen in sin, they call strength their god.”
Why Is God Silent Now?
12-13 God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you?
Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we?
God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work?
Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?
But you can’t be serious!
You can’t condone evil!
So why don’t you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
14-16 You’re treating men and women
as so many fish in the ocean,
Swimming without direction,
swimming but not getting anywhere.
Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing.
He pulls in a good catch.
He catches his limit and fills his creel—
a good day of fishing! He’s happy!
He praises his rod and reel,
piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it!
It’s made his day,
and he’s going to eat well tonight!
17 Are you going to let this go on and on?
Will you let this Babylonian fisherman
Fish like a weekend angler,
killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, January 01, 2017
A David Psalm
1-3 God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 23 is a familiar favorite of many people. Modern believers are unlikely to connect shepherds with sovereigns. Yet in the Bible world, people did think of kings as shepherds. Look up Psalm 78:71–72; 2 Samuel 5:2; Isaiah 44:28; and Jeremiah 3:15. (Amazingly, note that in Revelation 7:17 a Lamb will shepherd His people!) After all, what does a shepherd do? He cares, controls, governs, protects, and so on. Isn’t that what any good king would do? In other words, the job profile for kings and shepherds is not all that different. God’s giving is the trigger for our responsive thanksgiving. And thanksgiving can be packaged as “thanks-living.” Why not take an inventory of ways God has provided for you this week? How might your thanksgiving practically manifest itself in “thanks-living”?
Thanks-Living
By Anne Cetas
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6
Wanting to mature in her spiritual life and become more thankful, Sue started what she called a Thanks-Living jar. Each evening she wrote on a small piece of paper one thing she thanked God for and dropped it in the jar. Some days she had many praises; other difficult days she struggled to find one. At the end of the year she emptied her jar and read through all of the notes. She found herself thanking God again for everything He had done. He had given simple things like a beautiful sunset or a cool evening for a walk in the park, and other times He had provided grace to handle a difficult situation or had answered a prayer.
Sue’s discovery reminded me of what the psalmist David says he experienced (Ps. 23). God refreshed him with “green pastures” and “quiet waters” (vv. 2–3). He gave him guidance, protection, and comfort (vv. 3–4). David concluded: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life” (v. 6).
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6
I’m going to make a Thanks-Living jar this year. Maybe you’d like to as well. I think we’ll see we have many reasons to thank God—including His gifts of friends and family and His provisions for our physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. We’ll see that the goodness and love of God follow us all the days of our lives.
Dear Lord, You bless me in more ways than I can count. Thank You for Your love for me.
When you think of all that’s good, give thanks to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 01, 2017
"…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." —Philippians 1:20
My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L
“Who do you say I am?” Jesus asks of Peter.
He replies, “I…uh, I believe. . .you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Maybe he wasn’t that hesitant, but if he was, you can hardly fault Peter. How many times do you call a callous-handed nail bender from a one-camel town the Son of God? You remember the drawings with the question, What’s wrong with this picture? We would look closely for something that didn’t fit—an astronaut on the moon with a pay phone in the background. God doesn’t chum with common folk or snooze in fishing boats. But Colossians 2:9 says He did, “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body.” All God, all man. Don’t we need a God-man Savior? Nothing compares to what Philippians 3:8 says is “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord!”
From Next Door Savior
Habakkuk 1
Justice Is a Joke
1-4 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it:
God, how long do I have to cry out for help
before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!”
before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
and stand justice on its head.
God Says, “Look!”
5-11 “Look around at the godless nations.
Look long and hard. Brace yourself for a shock.
Something’s about to take place
and you’re going to find it hard to believe.
I’m about to raise up Babylonians to punish you,
Babylonians, fierce and ferocious—
World-conquering Babylon,
grabbing up nations right and left,
A dreadful and terrible people,
making up its own rules as it goes.
Their horses run like the wind,
attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses
thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures
circling in on carrion.
They’re out to kill. Death is on their minds.
They collect victims like squirrels gathering nuts.
They mock kings,
poke fun at generals,
Spit on forts,
and leave them in the dust.
They’ll all be blown away by the wind.
Brazen in sin, they call strength their god.”
Why Is God Silent Now?
12-13 God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you?
Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we?
God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work?
Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?
But you can’t be serious!
You can’t condone evil!
So why don’t you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
14-16 You’re treating men and women
as so many fish in the ocean,
Swimming without direction,
swimming but not getting anywhere.
Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing.
He pulls in a good catch.
He catches his limit and fills his creel—
a good day of fishing! He’s happy!
He praises his rod and reel,
piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it!
It’s made his day,
and he’s going to eat well tonight!
17 Are you going to let this go on and on?
Will you let this Babylonian fisherman
Fish like a weekend angler,
killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, January 01, 2017
A David Psalm
1-3 God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 23 is a familiar favorite of many people. Modern believers are unlikely to connect shepherds with sovereigns. Yet in the Bible world, people did think of kings as shepherds. Look up Psalm 78:71–72; 2 Samuel 5:2; Isaiah 44:28; and Jeremiah 3:15. (Amazingly, note that in Revelation 7:17 a Lamb will shepherd His people!) After all, what does a shepherd do? He cares, controls, governs, protects, and so on. Isn’t that what any good king would do? In other words, the job profile for kings and shepherds is not all that different. God’s giving is the trigger for our responsive thanksgiving. And thanksgiving can be packaged as “thanks-living.” Why not take an inventory of ways God has provided for you this week? How might your thanksgiving practically manifest itself in “thanks-living”?
Thanks-Living
By Anne Cetas
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6
Wanting to mature in her spiritual life and become more thankful, Sue started what she called a Thanks-Living jar. Each evening she wrote on a small piece of paper one thing she thanked God for and dropped it in the jar. Some days she had many praises; other difficult days she struggled to find one. At the end of the year she emptied her jar and read through all of the notes. She found herself thanking God again for everything He had done. He had given simple things like a beautiful sunset or a cool evening for a walk in the park, and other times He had provided grace to handle a difficult situation or had answered a prayer.
Sue’s discovery reminded me of what the psalmist David says he experienced (Ps. 23). God refreshed him with “green pastures” and “quiet waters” (vv. 2–3). He gave him guidance, protection, and comfort (vv. 3–4). David concluded: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life” (v. 6).
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6
I’m going to make a Thanks-Living jar this year. Maybe you’d like to as well. I think we’ll see we have many reasons to thank God—including His gifts of friends and family and His provisions for our physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. We’ll see that the goodness and love of God follow us all the days of our lives.
Dear Lord, You bless me in more ways than I can count. Thank You for Your love for me.
When you think of all that’s good, give thanks to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 01, 2017
"…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." —Philippians 1:20
My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L
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