Max Lucado Daily: PRAY THE PARTICULARS
A father was teaching his three-year-old daughter the Lord’s Prayer. She would repeat the lines after him. Finally she decided to go solo. She carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer. “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “but deliver us from e-mail.” Not a bad prayer!
God calls us to pray about everything! We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars. When the wedding ran low on wine, Mary wasn’t content to say, “Help us, Jesus.” She was specific. She said, “They have no more wine” (John 2:3 NIV). A specific prayer is a serious prayer. If I say to you, “Do you mind if I come by your house sometime?” you may not take me seriously. But if I say, “Can I come over this Friday night? I really need your advice.” Then you know my petition is sincere. When we offer specific requests, God knows the same. So, offer yours!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 13
1-2 So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his wife and everything he owned, and Lot still with him. By now Abram was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold.
3-4 He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai and built his first altar. Abram prayed there to God.
5-7 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. But the land couldn’t support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn’t both live there—quarrels broke out between Abram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time.
8-9 Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we’re family. Look around. Isn’t there plenty of land out there? Let’s separate. If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left.”
10-11 Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God’s garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east.
11-12 That’s how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom.
13 The people of Sodom were evil—flagrant sinners against God.
14-17 After Lot separated from him, God said to Abram, “Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I’ll make your descendants like dust—counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. So—on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I’m giving it all to you.”
18 Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 05, 2017
Read: Deuteronomy 32:7–12
Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.[a]
9 For the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.
12 The Lord alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
Footnotes:
Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God
INSIGHT
Deuteronomy comes from the Greek word deuteronomion (“second law”). Much of the content of the book of Deuteronomy is a retelling of the giving of the law to Israel recorded in the book of Exodus. This could be misleading, however, because Deuteronomy is more than just legal code. The first giving of the law marked Israel entering into a covenant relationship with God as His people, but this retelling prepared them for their entrance into the long-awaited land of promise. It reminded the Israelites of their covenant relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and was a reaffirmation of God’s covenant love for them—despite their repeated failures during the wilderness wanderings. God’s faithful, abiding love remained His response to His people. That same love continues today, and His perfect love never fails.
In your times of struggle, do you find it easy to question God’s love? How does God’s faithfulness to Israel encourage you to trust in His faithfulness to you? -Bill Crowder
Hovering Over Us
By Amy Boucher Pye
He shielded him and cared for him . . . like an eagle that . . . hovers over its young. Deuteronomy 32:10–11
Betty’s daughter arrived home from an overseas trip, feeling unwell. When her pain became unbearable, Betty and her husband took her to the emergency room. The doctors and nurses set to work, and after a few hours one of the nurses said to Betty, “She’s going to be okay! We’re going to take good care of her and get her healed up.” In that moment, Betty felt peace and love flood over her. She realized that while she hovered over her daughter anxiously, the Lord is the perfect parent who nurtures His children, comforting us in difficult times.
In the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord reminded His people how, when they were wandering in the desert, He cared for them as a loving parent who hovers over its young. He never left them, but was like an eagle “that spreads its wings” to catch its children and “carries them aloft” (32:11). He wanted them to remember that although they experienced hardship and strife in the desert, He didn’t abandon them.
We can take comfort and courage in this reminder that our God will never leave us.
We too may face challenges of many kinds, but we can take comfort and courage in this reminder that our God will never leave us. When we feel that we are falling, the Lord like an eagle will spread His wings to catch us (v. 11) as He brings us peace.
Father God, Your love as a parent is greater than anything I can imagine. May my confidence rest in You, and may I share Your love with others.
Our God hovers over us with love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 05, 2017
The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 05, 2017
The Souvenirs Of Sin - #8019
If you grew up on a farm, there's probably a dog in your memories. For my farm girl, Karen, that dog was a Collie cattle dog named King. King was great at rounding up her Dad's cattle. All Dad would have to do was to whistle that certain whistle, and King would start circling and circling those cattle until he herded them in. But there was a problem. One day a chicken got out, and King killed that chicken-which gave that valuable dog the taste of blood. They tell me if you can't cure that in a dog, you can't afford to keep that dog. The dog either has to be killed or disciplined so he'll never forget. So Dad took that dead chicken (now, get this) tied its legs around King's neck with some twine. Needless to say, this dog tried everything to shake that dead chicken, but as the day wore on, the bird he killed did not improve with age. No, by the end of the day, King's head and tail were hanging very low. Look, it's a painful way to learn the seriousness of what he had done, but not nearly as painful as the alternative.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Souvenirs of Sin."
If you have to carry some of the consequences of what you've done wrong, it can be powerful incentive not to do it again-which can save you from consequences that will be far worse. Now that's why God sometimes allows you and me to experience some unpleasant results of our sin. It's not that He didn't forgive us or that He doesn't love us. It's actually because He does.
God had great plans for Jacob-among other things, he would father the fathers of twelve tribes of Israel. But all his life this stubborn, self-willed, survival-oriented man had been wrestling with God for the control of his life. And then came the final wrestling match. Our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 32:24, "Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man."
Eventually, Jacob realizes who he's been wrestling with that night-and all these years. The Bible says, "Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared...He was limping (the Bible says) because of his hip" (Genesis 32:30-31). As far as we know, Jacob walked with a painful limp for the rest of his life. Was he right with God? Well, he asked for God's blessing that night, and God changed his name from Jacob, the cheat-to Israel, which means prince with God.
But even though it seems Jacob had made his peace with God, he was like that Collie, King. In essence, he carried the dead chicken around with him the rest of his life to remind him of how much it hurts to be self-willed and stubborn and manipulative. It wasn't that my father-in-law didn't value that dog of his-he did value the dog. That's why he made him live with those consequences, because the alternative was destruction.
That may be why God has allowed you to continue to experience some of the scars and pain and consequences of your sin. If you have brought that sin to Jesus' cross in true repentance, God promises He will "remember that sin no more" (Hebrews 8:12). Isn't that awesome? You are forgiven, you are clean, your sin is forever covered by the blood that Jesus shed for it. But God doesn't ever want you to go back where you were. So maybe today there are still the memories, the regrets, some of the brokenness, those scars. God has left you with that aftermath so you will be protected by those consequences from ever doing it again. You won't forget how much it hurts. You won't forget how much it costs.
It's another dimension of that same grace that forgave you and cleansed you. It's God's keeping grace; enough pain from the past to keep you from ever going back to what would destroy you. Sometimes God in His grace saves us from the consequences of our sin and sometimes He leaves the consequences there. Either way, it's His love.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Genesis 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD LOVES THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE
God loves the sound of your voice—always! God never places you on hold or tells you to call again later. He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers.
For that reason “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). With this verse the apostle calls us to take action against anxiety. We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars of our problems.
What Jesus said to the blind man, he says to us. “What do you want me to do for you?” (Luke 18:41 NIV). One would think the answer would be obvious. When a sightless man requests Jesus’ help, isn’t it apparent what he needs? Yet Jesus wanted to hear the man articulate his specific requests. He wants the same from us. “Let your requests be made known to God!”
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 12
Abram and Sarai
God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.
2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”
4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.
Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.
7 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.
8 He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.
9 Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.
10-13 Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, “Look. We both know that you’re a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they’re going to say, ‘Aha! That’s his wife!’ and kill me. But they’ll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you’re my sister. Because of you, they’ll welcome me and let me live.”
14-15 When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh’s princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.
16-17 Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. But God hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram’s wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.
18-19 Pharaoh called for Abram, “What’s this that you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she’s your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’ so that I’d take her as my wife? Here’s your wife back—take her and get out!”
20 Pharaoh ordered his men to get Abram out of the country. They sent him and his wife and everything he owned on their way.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Read: Luke 18:35–43
A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
INSIGHT
In Acts 8 we read of another divine interruption. Philip had a fruitful ministry in Samaria (Acts 8:4–25), so he may have wondered why God would tell him to leave and take “the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (v. 26). In obedience, Philip took the road few used. But God had sovereignly arranged for Philip to meet with an Ethiopian—a Gentile who himself had embarked on a long journey as he earnestly sought after God (v. 27). Philip made contact with the Ethiopian just as he was reading a prophecy about Jesus (vv. 28–34). The man believed in Christ, and Philip baptized him on the spot (vv. 36–38). Imagine how Philip must have felt when he realized he had been sent out on a divine assignment of leading a person to faith in Christ! Philip being on the road less traveled was no accident; he was there by divine leading.
What might the Lord be prompting you to do today? -Sim Kay Tee
Divine Interruptions
By David C. McCasland
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Luke 18:40–41
Experts agree that a staggering amount of time is consumed each day by interruptions. Whether at work or at home, a phone call or an unexpected visit can easily deflect us from what we feel is our main purpose.
Not many of us like disruptions in our daily lives, especially when they cause inconvenience or a change of plans. But Jesus treated what appeared to be interruptions in a far different way. Time after time in the Gospels, we see the Lord stop what He is doing to help a person in need.
Jesus, fill us with Your wisdom and compassion.
While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem where He would be crucified, a blind man begging by the side of the road called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:35–38). Some in the crowd told him to be quiet, but he kept calling out to Jesus. Jesus stopped and asked the man, “‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you’ ” (vv. 41–42).
When our plans are interrupted by someone who genuinely needs help, we can ask the Lord for wisdom in how to respond with compassion. What we call an interruption may be a divine appointment the Lord has scheduled for that day.
Lord Jesus, fill us with Your wisdom and compassion that we may respond as You did to people in need.
Interruptions can be opportunities to serve.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
The Vision and The Reality
…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Camping In the Nest - #8018
Birds had moved into the vent in the exhaust fan of our kitchen range while we were on vacation. Isn't that nice? They set up their little nest and made themselves really at home. And, man, were they noisy neighbors! The nest was so huge it made the fan unworkable. And some lovely spiders were hanging down from the hood on the stove. Our problem was that trying to remove that nest might have killed that nest full of baby birds. Well, we couldn't see them, but man, we could sure hear them when they were hungry! So, we waited until Mom and Dad bird took the babies out. A couple of weeks later, after we were sure they were gone, I got a long stick and I proceeded to rake out the rest. But when we removed the nest, we discovered a little surprise. Well, no, actually, a big, fat surprise. There was the fattest bird we had ever seen, sitting in the nest. As my wife went to get gloves and a box, he got away. But it literally took a major earthquake to get that bird out of his nest!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Camping In the Nest."
You know, God has some spiritually fat "birds" that have been sitting in the nest way too long. They should be flying; instead they're just hanging around the nest. And God sometimes shakes our nest to get us out of where it's comfortable and into some lives whose eternity may depend on us.
Jesus addresses the tragedy of believers who are camped in the nest in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 9:36-37. It says, "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Here's the question: is that what you see when you look at the people you work with or go to school with or live near? When you ask Jesus for a heart like His, those people you see almost every day never look the same again to you. No matter how together they may appear, you see them as sheep with no clue where to go, people with the pain that sin causes and you see them as future inhabitants of hell without Jesus. Unless someone close to them intervenes with the news that Jesus has died so they don't have to.
Then Jesus reveals this deadly equation: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Farmers tell me that, to them, the word harvest means "ready." So Jesus is saying, "Hey, the ready is plentiful." He's got all kinds of lost people ready to hear about Him. The lost people aren't His problem-it's His people. They're sitting in the nest, soaking up the spiritual goodies, while people all around them are ready for Jesus but spiritually dying without Him. So Jesus says, "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field."
In the original language of the New Testament, the word for "send out" literally means "to forcibly expel"! Jesus has to shake our nest, make us restless with our comfort zone, let us know that there's something we're missing, and then get us to join Him in rescuing the dying - His life's mission.
Words like "evangelism" and "witnessing" just don't convey the life-or-death urgency the Bible is describing when it tells us to "rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). When it's "rescue"-when someone's going to die if you don't go after them, you can't any longer just stay in your comfy Christian nest. You've got to do whatever you can to rescue the dying. And maybe God even wants to use these words to shake you out of your nest and get you into the mission for which His Son died.
We can rest in heaven forever. We only have now to help some people we know be there in heaven with us. As Amy Carmichael said so powerfully, "We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them." We are in those few short hours.
God loves the sound of your voice—always! God never places you on hold or tells you to call again later. He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers.
For that reason “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). With this verse the apostle calls us to take action against anxiety. We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars of our problems.
What Jesus said to the blind man, he says to us. “What do you want me to do for you?” (Luke 18:41 NIV). One would think the answer would be obvious. When a sightless man requests Jesus’ help, isn’t it apparent what he needs? Yet Jesus wanted to hear the man articulate his specific requests. He wants the same from us. “Let your requests be made known to God!”
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 12
Abram and Sarai
God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.
2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”
4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.
Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.
7 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.
8 He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.
9 Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.
10-13 Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, “Look. We both know that you’re a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they’re going to say, ‘Aha! That’s his wife!’ and kill me. But they’ll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you’re my sister. Because of you, they’ll welcome me and let me live.”
14-15 When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh’s princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.
16-17 Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. But God hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram’s wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.
18-19 Pharaoh called for Abram, “What’s this that you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she’s your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’ so that I’d take her as my wife? Here’s your wife back—take her and get out!”
20 Pharaoh ordered his men to get Abram out of the country. They sent him and his wife and everything he owned on their way.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Read: Luke 18:35–43
A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
INSIGHT
In Acts 8 we read of another divine interruption. Philip had a fruitful ministry in Samaria (Acts 8:4–25), so he may have wondered why God would tell him to leave and take “the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (v. 26). In obedience, Philip took the road few used. But God had sovereignly arranged for Philip to meet with an Ethiopian—a Gentile who himself had embarked on a long journey as he earnestly sought after God (v. 27). Philip made contact with the Ethiopian just as he was reading a prophecy about Jesus (vv. 28–34). The man believed in Christ, and Philip baptized him on the spot (vv. 36–38). Imagine how Philip must have felt when he realized he had been sent out on a divine assignment of leading a person to faith in Christ! Philip being on the road less traveled was no accident; he was there by divine leading.
What might the Lord be prompting you to do today? -Sim Kay Tee
Divine Interruptions
By David C. McCasland
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Luke 18:40–41
Experts agree that a staggering amount of time is consumed each day by interruptions. Whether at work or at home, a phone call or an unexpected visit can easily deflect us from what we feel is our main purpose.
Not many of us like disruptions in our daily lives, especially when they cause inconvenience or a change of plans. But Jesus treated what appeared to be interruptions in a far different way. Time after time in the Gospels, we see the Lord stop what He is doing to help a person in need.
Jesus, fill us with Your wisdom and compassion.
While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem where He would be crucified, a blind man begging by the side of the road called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:35–38). Some in the crowd told him to be quiet, but he kept calling out to Jesus. Jesus stopped and asked the man, “‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you’ ” (vv. 41–42).
When our plans are interrupted by someone who genuinely needs help, we can ask the Lord for wisdom in how to respond with compassion. What we call an interruption may be a divine appointment the Lord has scheduled for that day.
Lord Jesus, fill us with Your wisdom and compassion that we may respond as You did to people in need.
Interruptions can be opportunities to serve.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
The Vision and The Reality
…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Camping In the Nest - #8018
Birds had moved into the vent in the exhaust fan of our kitchen range while we were on vacation. Isn't that nice? They set up their little nest and made themselves really at home. And, man, were they noisy neighbors! The nest was so huge it made the fan unworkable. And some lovely spiders were hanging down from the hood on the stove. Our problem was that trying to remove that nest might have killed that nest full of baby birds. Well, we couldn't see them, but man, we could sure hear them when they were hungry! So, we waited until Mom and Dad bird took the babies out. A couple of weeks later, after we were sure they were gone, I got a long stick and I proceeded to rake out the rest. But when we removed the nest, we discovered a little surprise. Well, no, actually, a big, fat surprise. There was the fattest bird we had ever seen, sitting in the nest. As my wife went to get gloves and a box, he got away. But it literally took a major earthquake to get that bird out of his nest!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Camping In the Nest."
You know, God has some spiritually fat "birds" that have been sitting in the nest way too long. They should be flying; instead they're just hanging around the nest. And God sometimes shakes our nest to get us out of where it's comfortable and into some lives whose eternity may depend on us.
Jesus addresses the tragedy of believers who are camped in the nest in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 9:36-37. It says, "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Here's the question: is that what you see when you look at the people you work with or go to school with or live near? When you ask Jesus for a heart like His, those people you see almost every day never look the same again to you. No matter how together they may appear, you see them as sheep with no clue where to go, people with the pain that sin causes and you see them as future inhabitants of hell without Jesus. Unless someone close to them intervenes with the news that Jesus has died so they don't have to.
Then Jesus reveals this deadly equation: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Farmers tell me that, to them, the word harvest means "ready." So Jesus is saying, "Hey, the ready is plentiful." He's got all kinds of lost people ready to hear about Him. The lost people aren't His problem-it's His people. They're sitting in the nest, soaking up the spiritual goodies, while people all around them are ready for Jesus but spiritually dying without Him. So Jesus says, "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field."
In the original language of the New Testament, the word for "send out" literally means "to forcibly expel"! Jesus has to shake our nest, make us restless with our comfort zone, let us know that there's something we're missing, and then get us to join Him in rescuing the dying - His life's mission.
Words like "evangelism" and "witnessing" just don't convey the life-or-death urgency the Bible is describing when it tells us to "rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). When it's "rescue"-when someone's going to die if you don't go after them, you can't any longer just stay in your comfy Christian nest. You've got to do whatever you can to rescue the dying. And maybe God even wants to use these words to shake you out of your nest and get you into the mission for which His Son died.
We can rest in heaven forever. We only have now to help some people we know be there in heaven with us. As Amy Carmichael said so powerfully, "We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them." We are in those few short hours.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Genesis 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: ASK FOR HELP
In his fine book, The Dance of Hope, Bill Frey remembers the day he tried to pull a stump out of the Georgia dirt. One of his chores as a twelve year old was to search for stumps of pine trees that had been cut down and chop them into kindling. But there was one root system he just couldn’t pull out of the ground. He was still struggling when his father came over to watch.
“I think I see your problem,” his dad said.
“What’s that?” Bill asked.
“You’re not using all your strength.” Bill exploded and told him how hard he’d been working.
“No,” his Father said, “You’re not using all your strength.”
When Bill cooled down, he asked his Father what he meant.
He said, “You haven’t asked me to help you.”
You don’t have to do it alone! Present the challenge to your Father—ask for help! Will he solve the issue? Yes, he will.
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 11
“God Turned Their Language into ‘Babble’”
1-2 At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”
5 God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
6-9 God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world.
10-11 This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood. After he had Arphaxad, he lived 500 more years and had other sons and daughters.
12-13 When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah. After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
14-15 When Shelah was thirty years old, he had Eber. After Shelah had Eber, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
16-17 When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had Peleg. After Eber had Peleg, he lived 430 more years and had other sons and daughters.
18-19 When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu. After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.
20-21 When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had Serug. After Reu had Serug, he lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.
22-23 When Serug was thirty years old, he had Nahor. After Serug had Nahor, he lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.
24-25 When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26 When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Family Tree of Terah
27-28 This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.
29 Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.
30 Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.
32 Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Read: Psalm 57
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.[b] When he had fled from Saul into the cave.
1 Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.
2 I cry out to God Most High,
to God, who vindicates me.
3 He sends from heaven and saves me,
rebuking those who hotly pursue me—[c]
God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.
4 I am in the midst of lions;
I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
6 They spread a net for my feet—
I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path—
but they have fallen into it themselves.
7 My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
9 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
Footnotes:
Psalm 57:1 In Hebrew texts 57:1-11 is numbered 57:2-12.
Psalm 57:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 57:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 6.
INSIGHT
Scripture often uses the image of wings to speak of God’s strength and protection. The image of a chick hiding under the wings of its mother helps us understand the refuge that David seeks in God (Ps. 57). When chicks take refuge under the hen’s wings, they are not simply sheltered but are completely hidden—totally covered in the feathers of their mother, out of sight and out of the way of danger. Whatever danger comes must come to the parent first. Like David, we can “take refuge in the shadow of [God’s] wings” (v. 1).
How does this image encourage you to trust God during your trials? -J.R. Hudberg
Conceived in Crisis
By Tim Gustafson
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. Psalm 57:1
Marc recalls a moment from his childhood when his father called the family together. Their car had broken down, and the family would run out of money by the end of the month. Marc’s dad paused and prayed. Then he asked the family to expect God’s answer.
Today Marc recalls how God’s help arrived in surprising ways. A friend repaired their car; unexpected checks arrived; food showed up at the door. Praising God came easily. But the family’s gratitude had been forged in a crisis.
Your next crisis is your next opportunity to trust our unfailing God.
Psalm 57 has long provided rich inspiration for worship songs. When David declared, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens” (v. 11), we might imagine him gazing up at a magnificent Middle Eastern night sky or perhaps singing in a tabernacle worship service. But in reality David, fearful for his life, was hiding in a cave.
“I am in the midst of lions,” David said in the psalm. These “ravenous beasts” were “men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords” (v. 4). David’s praise was conceived in crisis. Although he was cornered by enemies who wanted him dead, David could write these amazing words: “My heart, O God, is steadfast . . . . I will sing and make music” (v. 7).
Whatever crisis we face today, we can run to God for help. Then, we can praise Him as we wait expectantly, confident in His infinitely creative care for us.
Share with others on Facebook.com/ourdailybread about when God delivered you from a crisis.
Your next crisis is your next opportunity to trust our unfailing God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
The Place of Ministry
He said to them, "This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." —Mark 9:29
“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
The Decisive Difference - #8017
Occasionally I see this bumper sticker that says, "I brake for antique shops." I'm not a bumper sticker guy, but I think we would qualify for that over the years, depending on who was driving-my wife or me. If it was my wife, we were a lot more likely to break for an antique shop. But my wife was not so much into collecting old stuff, it was more about finding items that she had as a girl growing up on a farm that had very few modern conveniences. And she had an eye for what was real and what was just a reproduction: Depression Glass, pottery, butter churns, even old violins. Take the famous Stradivarius violin. You know, there are relatively few originals. There are a lot of copies.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Decisive Difference."
Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's a copy in antiques and in people; especially people who claim that they belong to Jesus Christ.
Jesus described both the real ones and the copies in the story He told in Matthew 13, beginning in verse 24. It's our word for today from the Word of God. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared." Jesus said the man's servants wanted to go out and pull up the weeds, but he stopped them. "'No', He answered, 'because while you are pulling out the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
When Jesus explained His parable later, He made clear that the wheat represents those who really do belong to Him, and the weeds; they represent those who look like they belong to Him, but they don't. That's a pretty sobering thought-sitting next to one another in church may be two people who are singing the same songs, believing the same beliefs, saying the same words, but one is headed for heaven and the other is headed for hell. And no one on earth can tell the difference. But on Judgment Day it will be very clear who was real and who was the look-alike. That's why God says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith."
For some of us church folks, the business of being a Christian is really more of a religion, or a performance, or maybe a belief, or a script where we've got all the right words. You can have all that and you can miss what this is all really about; a deep love personal relationship with Jesus Christ based on His dying for your sins. It is a relationship you can only begin one way. You begin it the day you tell Him you are putting your total trust in Him, consciously giving all of you to Him. With all your Christianity, it's possible you've missed Christ, even though everyone around you thinks you know Him. That's everyone except Jesus.
It's very hard to admit that you've never really given yourself to Him, but it's fatal not to. So would you let this be the day that you finally, consciously and clearly make Jesus Christ your personal Savior from your personal sin. Tell Him, "Jesus, I want to know you for real. I'm pinning all my hopes on You like a drowning person would grab a rescuer."
Then go to our website and check that out. Because there you will find the information you need to secure your relationship with Christ and know for sure you've got Him in your life and in your heart and in your future. Our website - ANewStory.com. Would you go there today?
There's all the difference in the world between someone who really belongs to Jesus and someone who just looks like they do. It's actually the difference between heaven and hell.
In his fine book, The Dance of Hope, Bill Frey remembers the day he tried to pull a stump out of the Georgia dirt. One of his chores as a twelve year old was to search for stumps of pine trees that had been cut down and chop them into kindling. But there was one root system he just couldn’t pull out of the ground. He was still struggling when his father came over to watch.
“I think I see your problem,” his dad said.
“What’s that?” Bill asked.
“You’re not using all your strength.” Bill exploded and told him how hard he’d been working.
“No,” his Father said, “You’re not using all your strength.”
When Bill cooled down, he asked his Father what he meant.
He said, “You haven’t asked me to help you.”
You don’t have to do it alone! Present the challenge to your Father—ask for help! Will he solve the issue? Yes, he will.
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 11
“God Turned Their Language into ‘Babble’”
1-2 At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”
5 God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
6-9 God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world.
10-11 This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood. After he had Arphaxad, he lived 500 more years and had other sons and daughters.
12-13 When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah. After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
14-15 When Shelah was thirty years old, he had Eber. After Shelah had Eber, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
16-17 When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had Peleg. After Eber had Peleg, he lived 430 more years and had other sons and daughters.
18-19 When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu. After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.
20-21 When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had Serug. After Reu had Serug, he lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.
22-23 When Serug was thirty years old, he had Nahor. After Serug had Nahor, he lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.
24-25 When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26 When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Family Tree of Terah
27-28 This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.
29 Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.
30 Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.
32 Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Read: Psalm 57
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.[b] When he had fled from Saul into the cave.
1 Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.
2 I cry out to God Most High,
to God, who vindicates me.
3 He sends from heaven and saves me,
rebuking those who hotly pursue me—[c]
God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.
4 I am in the midst of lions;
I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
6 They spread a net for my feet—
I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path—
but they have fallen into it themselves.
7 My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
9 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
Footnotes:
Psalm 57:1 In Hebrew texts 57:1-11 is numbered 57:2-12.
Psalm 57:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 57:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 6.
INSIGHT
Scripture often uses the image of wings to speak of God’s strength and protection. The image of a chick hiding under the wings of its mother helps us understand the refuge that David seeks in God (Ps. 57). When chicks take refuge under the hen’s wings, they are not simply sheltered but are completely hidden—totally covered in the feathers of their mother, out of sight and out of the way of danger. Whatever danger comes must come to the parent first. Like David, we can “take refuge in the shadow of [God’s] wings” (v. 1).
How does this image encourage you to trust God during your trials? -J.R. Hudberg
Conceived in Crisis
By Tim Gustafson
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. Psalm 57:1
Marc recalls a moment from his childhood when his father called the family together. Their car had broken down, and the family would run out of money by the end of the month. Marc’s dad paused and prayed. Then he asked the family to expect God’s answer.
Today Marc recalls how God’s help arrived in surprising ways. A friend repaired their car; unexpected checks arrived; food showed up at the door. Praising God came easily. But the family’s gratitude had been forged in a crisis.
Your next crisis is your next opportunity to trust our unfailing God.
Psalm 57 has long provided rich inspiration for worship songs. When David declared, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens” (v. 11), we might imagine him gazing up at a magnificent Middle Eastern night sky or perhaps singing in a tabernacle worship service. But in reality David, fearful for his life, was hiding in a cave.
“I am in the midst of lions,” David said in the psalm. These “ravenous beasts” were “men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords” (v. 4). David’s praise was conceived in crisis. Although he was cornered by enemies who wanted him dead, David could write these amazing words: “My heart, O God, is steadfast . . . . I will sing and make music” (v. 7).
Whatever crisis we face today, we can run to God for help. Then, we can praise Him as we wait expectantly, confident in His infinitely creative care for us.
Share with others on Facebook.com/ourdailybread about when God delivered you from a crisis.
Your next crisis is your next opportunity to trust our unfailing God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
The Place of Ministry
He said to them, "This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." —Mark 9:29
“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
The Decisive Difference - #8017
Occasionally I see this bumper sticker that says, "I brake for antique shops." I'm not a bumper sticker guy, but I think we would qualify for that over the years, depending on who was driving-my wife or me. If it was my wife, we were a lot more likely to break for an antique shop. But my wife was not so much into collecting old stuff, it was more about finding items that she had as a girl growing up on a farm that had very few modern conveniences. And she had an eye for what was real and what was just a reproduction: Depression Glass, pottery, butter churns, even old violins. Take the famous Stradivarius violin. You know, there are relatively few originals. There are a lot of copies.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Decisive Difference."
Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's a copy in antiques and in people; especially people who claim that they belong to Jesus Christ.
Jesus described both the real ones and the copies in the story He told in Matthew 13, beginning in verse 24. It's our word for today from the Word of God. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared." Jesus said the man's servants wanted to go out and pull up the weeds, but he stopped them. "'No', He answered, 'because while you are pulling out the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
When Jesus explained His parable later, He made clear that the wheat represents those who really do belong to Him, and the weeds; they represent those who look like they belong to Him, but they don't. That's a pretty sobering thought-sitting next to one another in church may be two people who are singing the same songs, believing the same beliefs, saying the same words, but one is headed for heaven and the other is headed for hell. And no one on earth can tell the difference. But on Judgment Day it will be very clear who was real and who was the look-alike. That's why God says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith."
For some of us church folks, the business of being a Christian is really more of a religion, or a performance, or maybe a belief, or a script where we've got all the right words. You can have all that and you can miss what this is all really about; a deep love personal relationship with Jesus Christ based on His dying for your sins. It is a relationship you can only begin one way. You begin it the day you tell Him you are putting your total trust in Him, consciously giving all of you to Him. With all your Christianity, it's possible you've missed Christ, even though everyone around you thinks you know Him. That's everyone except Jesus.
It's very hard to admit that you've never really given yourself to Him, but it's fatal not to. So would you let this be the day that you finally, consciously and clearly make Jesus Christ your personal Savior from your personal sin. Tell Him, "Jesus, I want to know you for real. I'm pinning all my hopes on You like a drowning person would grab a rescuer."
Then go to our website and check that out. Because there you will find the information you need to secure your relationship with Christ and know for sure you've got Him in your life and in your heart and in your future. Our website - ANewStory.com. Would you go there today?
There's all the difference in the world between someone who really belongs to Jesus and someone who just looks like they do. It's actually the difference between heaven and hell.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Genesis 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LOOK UP IN FAITH
We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath! This was the reassuring message from the miracle of the bread and fish. In an event crafted to speak to the anxious heart, Jesus told his disciples to do the impossible: feed five thousand people. Now, you aren’t facing five thousand hungry bellies, but you might be facing a deadline in two days or a loved one in need of a cure.
On one hand you have a problem. On the other you have a limited quantity of wisdom, patience, or time. Typically you’d get anxious. You’d tell God, “You’ve given me too much to handle.” This time, instead of focusing on what you don’t have, start with Jesus. Start with his wealth, his resources, and his strength. Before you lash out in fear, look up in faith. Turn to your Father for help!
More from Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 10
The Family Tree of Noah’s Sons
This is the family tree of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, they themselves had sons.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.
4-5 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Rodanim. The seafaring peoples developed from these, each in its own place by family, each with its own language.
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca.
The sons of Raamah: Sheba, Dedan.
8-12 Cush also had Nimrod. He was the first great warrior on Earth. He was a great hunter before God. There was a saying, “Like Nimrod, a great hunter before God.” His kingdom got its start with Babel; then Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the country of Shinar. From there he went up to Asshur and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
13-14 Egypt was ancestor to the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (the origin of the Philistines), and the Kaphtorim.
15-19 Canaan had Sidon his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanites spread out, going from Sidon toward Gerar, as far south as Gaza, and then east all the way over to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and on to Lasha.
20 These are the descendants of Ham by family, language, country, and nation.
21 Shem, the older brother of Japheth, also had sons. Shem was ancestor to all the children of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, Meshech.
24-25 Arphaxad had Shelah and Shelah had Eber. Eber had two sons, Peleg (so named because in his days the human race divided) and Joktan.
26-30 Joktan had Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab—all sons of Joktan. Their land goes from Mesha toward Sephar as far as the mountain ranges in the east.
31 These are the descendants of Shem by family, language, country, and nation.
32 This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 02, 2017
Read: Romans 8:31–34
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
INSIGHT
From its opening affirmation to its closing declaration, Romans 8 is a powerhouse of encouragement for the follower of Christ. Today’s devotional highlights the reminder that Jesus Himself intercedes for us as we pray (v. 34). But there is even more help for us. Verse 26 tells us, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Imagine—the Son and the Spirit help us as we pray. What great reassurance that gives!
Do you struggle with your prayers? Knowing that divine help is available encourages us to keep praying—even when we aren’t sure how. -Bill Crowder
The Perfect Prayer Partner
By James Banks
[Jesus] is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:34
Few sounds are as beautiful as hearing someone who loves you praying for you. When you hear a friend pray for you with compassion and God-given insight, it’s a little like heaven touching earth.
How good it is to know that because of God’s kindness to us our prayers can also touch heaven. Sometimes when we pray we may struggle with words and feelings of inadequacy, but Jesus taught His followers that we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). God’s Word shows us that one of the reasons we can do this is that Jesus Himself “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34).
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for interceding for me with love. Help me to love and serve You with my prayers today.
We never pray alone, because Jesus is praying for us. He hears us as we pray, and speaks to the Father on our behalf. We don’t have to worry about the eloquence of our words, because no one understands us like Jesus. He helps us in every way, presenting our needs before God. He also knows when the answers we ask for would not be good for us, handling every request or concern with perfect wisdom and love.
Jesus is the perfect prayer partner—the friend who intercedes for us with immeasurable kindness. His prayers for us are beautiful beyond words, and should encourage us to always pray with thankfulness.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for interceding for me with love. Help me to love and serve You with my prayers today.
Visit us at ourdailybread.org/PrayerChangesThings for more resources on prayer.
There’s no greater privilege than praying with Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 02, 2017
The Place of Humiliation
If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. —Mark 9:22
After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6, Mark 9:14-23).
“If you can do anything….” It takes the valley of humiliation to remove the skepticism from us. Look back at your own experience and you will find that until you learned who Jesus really was, you were a skillful skeptic about His power. When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 02, 2017
God All Over Your Day - #8016
When I'm on the road and staying in a motel, I'm often leaving pretty early that day for the responsibilities I have. But by the time I return late that night, something amazing has happened. The bed is made and I didn't make it! I've got new, clean towels! I didn't find them. Everything's straightened and neat. I even get these cool little soaps now that are in the bathroom! The Room Fairy has been there! Now, I know that not because I've seen the maid (actually I haven't), but because I can see the results of her work all over the place.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God All Over Your Day."
He is, you know. It's not unlike that maid scenario. You may not see the one who made the difference, but you can sure see the difference that He made, if you're looking for it.
If you've ever been to one of those church meetings where they ask people to share their favorite verses, you've probably heard somebody mention our word for today from the Word of God. It's a lot of people's favorite verse. Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Notice what's the opposite of trusting in the Lord with all your heart: trying to figure it out for yourself, doing what you think is best - leaning on your own understanding.
Now comes a formula for finding out what God wants you to do in any given situation. Well, we need that. Verse 6 says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Now, God says, "If you want to know My heart for you, acknowledge Me in every situation you're in." You know what acknowledge means. Have you ever been in a new place or a roomful of people and you've gone totally un-greeted, un-noticed? Well, you were saying to yourself, "Hey, I wish someone would acknowledge me. I wish someone would notice I'm here." See, God knows that feeling. He shows up all through our day, and we often never notice Him. We don't acknowledge Him.
The other day I was really blessed in a place not normally associated with blessing-the dentist's office. I was in the waiting room and I saw an old friend with his wife-they're both in their 90's. He's working very hard to care for his wife because her health is deteriorating. Because it had been raining when they came in, my friend asked the dentist if he could help him get his wife out to the car. My dentist came back in, really touched by what had happened in those two minutes-so touched that he brought it up two more times. He said, "When I went out with George and his wife, it wasn't raining. And George said, 'Isn't it great that the Lord stopped the rain long enough for us to get out to the car?' Then he just looked heavenward and said, 'Thanks, Father.'"
Now that's acknowledging Him. That's noticing God's working in the details of your day. And that's where praise comes from, where joy comes from, where a victorious attitude comes from in the toughest of times. But you have to go into your day looking for God at work. If you don't, you'll miss God and you'll miss the joy. But if you do train your heart to go on a daily God-hunt (God-sightings, you know), you'll experience what the great preacher Charles Spurgeon talked about when he said, "He who looks for providences (or God-actions) will never lack a providence to observe."
If you haven't been seeing God a lot lately, it's because you haven't been looking. You may have been focused on your circumstances, or other people, or yourself or what's stressing you out. You've missed the fingerprints of God all over your day. The little mercies, the small miracles, the interventions, the protection, the encouraging surprises, the bad things that didn't happen. I know there's never a day where He doesn't show up because the Bible says His "mercies are new every morning!"
In those transformed motel rooms, I seldom see the maid, but I see the results of her work. In the little and big moments of your day, you may not see God, but you can see the results of His work on your behalf because you're His much-loved child. You'll see God all over your day if you're looking for Him.
We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath! This was the reassuring message from the miracle of the bread and fish. In an event crafted to speak to the anxious heart, Jesus told his disciples to do the impossible: feed five thousand people. Now, you aren’t facing five thousand hungry bellies, but you might be facing a deadline in two days or a loved one in need of a cure.
On one hand you have a problem. On the other you have a limited quantity of wisdom, patience, or time. Typically you’d get anxious. You’d tell God, “You’ve given me too much to handle.” This time, instead of focusing on what you don’t have, start with Jesus. Start with his wealth, his resources, and his strength. Before you lash out in fear, look up in faith. Turn to your Father for help!
More from Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 10
The Family Tree of Noah’s Sons
This is the family tree of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, they themselves had sons.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.
4-5 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Rodanim. The seafaring peoples developed from these, each in its own place by family, each with its own language.
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca.
The sons of Raamah: Sheba, Dedan.
8-12 Cush also had Nimrod. He was the first great warrior on Earth. He was a great hunter before God. There was a saying, “Like Nimrod, a great hunter before God.” His kingdom got its start with Babel; then Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the country of Shinar. From there he went up to Asshur and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
13-14 Egypt was ancestor to the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (the origin of the Philistines), and the Kaphtorim.
15-19 Canaan had Sidon his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanites spread out, going from Sidon toward Gerar, as far south as Gaza, and then east all the way over to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and on to Lasha.
20 These are the descendants of Ham by family, language, country, and nation.
21 Shem, the older brother of Japheth, also had sons. Shem was ancestor to all the children of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, Meshech.
24-25 Arphaxad had Shelah and Shelah had Eber. Eber had two sons, Peleg (so named because in his days the human race divided) and Joktan.
26-30 Joktan had Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab—all sons of Joktan. Their land goes from Mesha toward Sephar as far as the mountain ranges in the east.
31 These are the descendants of Shem by family, language, country, and nation.
32 This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 02, 2017
Read: Romans 8:31–34
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
INSIGHT
From its opening affirmation to its closing declaration, Romans 8 is a powerhouse of encouragement for the follower of Christ. Today’s devotional highlights the reminder that Jesus Himself intercedes for us as we pray (v. 34). But there is even more help for us. Verse 26 tells us, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Imagine—the Son and the Spirit help us as we pray. What great reassurance that gives!
Do you struggle with your prayers? Knowing that divine help is available encourages us to keep praying—even when we aren’t sure how. -Bill Crowder
The Perfect Prayer Partner
By James Banks
[Jesus] is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:34
Few sounds are as beautiful as hearing someone who loves you praying for you. When you hear a friend pray for you with compassion and God-given insight, it’s a little like heaven touching earth.
How good it is to know that because of God’s kindness to us our prayers can also touch heaven. Sometimes when we pray we may struggle with words and feelings of inadequacy, but Jesus taught His followers that we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). God’s Word shows us that one of the reasons we can do this is that Jesus Himself “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34).
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for interceding for me with love. Help me to love and serve You with my prayers today.
We never pray alone, because Jesus is praying for us. He hears us as we pray, and speaks to the Father on our behalf. We don’t have to worry about the eloquence of our words, because no one understands us like Jesus. He helps us in every way, presenting our needs before God. He also knows when the answers we ask for would not be good for us, handling every request or concern with perfect wisdom and love.
Jesus is the perfect prayer partner—the friend who intercedes for us with immeasurable kindness. His prayers for us are beautiful beyond words, and should encourage us to always pray with thankfulness.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for interceding for me with love. Help me to love and serve You with my prayers today.
Visit us at ourdailybread.org/PrayerChangesThings for more resources on prayer.
There’s no greater privilege than praying with Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 02, 2017
The Place of Humiliation
If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. —Mark 9:22
After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6, Mark 9:14-23).
“If you can do anything….” It takes the valley of humiliation to remove the skepticism from us. Look back at your own experience and you will find that until you learned who Jesus really was, you were a skillful skeptic about His power. When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 02, 2017
God All Over Your Day - #8016
When I'm on the road and staying in a motel, I'm often leaving pretty early that day for the responsibilities I have. But by the time I return late that night, something amazing has happened. The bed is made and I didn't make it! I've got new, clean towels! I didn't find them. Everything's straightened and neat. I even get these cool little soaps now that are in the bathroom! The Room Fairy has been there! Now, I know that not because I've seen the maid (actually I haven't), but because I can see the results of her work all over the place.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God All Over Your Day."
He is, you know. It's not unlike that maid scenario. You may not see the one who made the difference, but you can sure see the difference that He made, if you're looking for it.
If you've ever been to one of those church meetings where they ask people to share their favorite verses, you've probably heard somebody mention our word for today from the Word of God. It's a lot of people's favorite verse. Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Notice what's the opposite of trusting in the Lord with all your heart: trying to figure it out for yourself, doing what you think is best - leaning on your own understanding.
Now comes a formula for finding out what God wants you to do in any given situation. Well, we need that. Verse 6 says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Now, God says, "If you want to know My heart for you, acknowledge Me in every situation you're in." You know what acknowledge means. Have you ever been in a new place or a roomful of people and you've gone totally un-greeted, un-noticed? Well, you were saying to yourself, "Hey, I wish someone would acknowledge me. I wish someone would notice I'm here." See, God knows that feeling. He shows up all through our day, and we often never notice Him. We don't acknowledge Him.
The other day I was really blessed in a place not normally associated with blessing-the dentist's office. I was in the waiting room and I saw an old friend with his wife-they're both in their 90's. He's working very hard to care for his wife because her health is deteriorating. Because it had been raining when they came in, my friend asked the dentist if he could help him get his wife out to the car. My dentist came back in, really touched by what had happened in those two minutes-so touched that he brought it up two more times. He said, "When I went out with George and his wife, it wasn't raining. And George said, 'Isn't it great that the Lord stopped the rain long enough for us to get out to the car?' Then he just looked heavenward and said, 'Thanks, Father.'"
Now that's acknowledging Him. That's noticing God's working in the details of your day. And that's where praise comes from, where joy comes from, where a victorious attitude comes from in the toughest of times. But you have to go into your day looking for God at work. If you don't, you'll miss God and you'll miss the joy. But if you do train your heart to go on a daily God-hunt (God-sightings, you know), you'll experience what the great preacher Charles Spurgeon talked about when he said, "He who looks for providences (or God-actions) will never lack a providence to observe."
If you haven't been seeing God a lot lately, it's because you haven't been looking. You may have been focused on your circumstances, or other people, or yourself or what's stressing you out. You've missed the fingerprints of God all over your day. The little mercies, the small miracles, the interventions, the protection, the encouraging surprises, the bad things that didn't happen. I know there's never a day where He doesn't show up because the Bible says His "mercies are new every morning!"
In those transformed motel rooms, I seldom see the maid, but I see the results of her work. In the little and big moments of your day, you may not see God, but you can see the results of His work on your behalf because you're His much-loved child. You'll see God all over your day if you're looking for Him.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Matthew 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Before Amen Challenge
I'm a recovering prayer wimp. For years my prayers seemed to zig, then zag, then zig again. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps your prayer life could use a tune up, a reboot?
If that sounds overwhelming, I'm inviting you to a simpler plan. Four minutes, plus four weeks, equals forever change! Every day for four weeks, pray for four minutes, focusing on these core elements of prayer: "Father, You are good. I need help. They need help. Thank you."
It's that simple. Really! Talking with God doesn't have to be complicated or complex. The power isn't in the words we pray-but in the One who hears them!
Sign on at BeforeAmen.com. Every day for 4 weeks, pray four minutes-then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Matthew 4
The Test
1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”
5-6 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”
7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.”
8-9 For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”
10 Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”
11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.
Teaching and Healing
12-17 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon:
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
road to the sea, over Jordan,
Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
18-20 Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.
21-22 A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.
23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 01, 2017
Read: Ephesians 4:11–16
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
INSIGHT
When children begin to accept responsibility for their actions and demonstrate more patience, we say they are “growing up.” The children of God are to grow up spiritually—to express a heart for God and others in the spirit and attitudes of Christ. In Paul’s New Testament letter to the Ephesians his message is subtle but clear. He knows that just as there is a time to celebrate the miracle and wonder of a child, there is a time to get beyond childishness. But he writes with patience and gentleness and doesn’t set a timeframe, reminding us that our desire for maturity must be expressed with love (4:2).
For further study on spiritual growth read God at the Center. -Mart DeHaan
It Takes Time to Grow
By Cindy Hess Kasper
Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15
On her first day in preschool, young Charlotte was asked to draw a picture of herself. Her artwork featured a simple orb for a body, an oblong head, and two circle eyes. On her last day of preschool, Charlotte was again directed to draw a self-portrait. This one showed a little girl in a colorful dress, a smiling face with distinct features, and a cascade of beautiful red tresses. The school had used a simple assignment to demonstrate the difference that time can make in the level of maturity.
While we accept that it takes time for children to mature, we may grow impatient with ourselves or fellow believers who show slow spiritual growth. We rejoice when we see the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22–23), but are disheartened when we observe a sinful choice. The author of Hebrews spoke of this when he wrote to the church: “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again” (Heb. 5:12).
Speak the truth in love. Ephesians 4:15
As we continue to pursue intimacy with Jesus ourselves, let’s pray for each other and patiently come alongside those who love God but who seem to struggle with spiritual growth. “Speaking the truth in love,” let’s continue to encourage one another, so that together we may “grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).
Lord, we love You! In our walk with You, help us to receive and give encouragement.
Words of truth spoken in love can guide us all toward maturity in Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 01, 2017
The Place of Exaltation
…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.
We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
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Matthew 4
The Test
1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”
5-6 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”
7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.”
8-9 For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”
10 Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”
11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.
Teaching and Healing
12-17 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon:
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
road to the sea, over Jordan,
Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
18-20 Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.
21-22 A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.
23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 01, 2017
Read: Ephesians 4:11–16
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
INSIGHT
When children begin to accept responsibility for their actions and demonstrate more patience, we say they are “growing up.” The children of God are to grow up spiritually—to express a heart for God and others in the spirit and attitudes of Christ. In Paul’s New Testament letter to the Ephesians his message is subtle but clear. He knows that just as there is a time to celebrate the miracle and wonder of a child, there is a time to get beyond childishness. But he writes with patience and gentleness and doesn’t set a timeframe, reminding us that our desire for maturity must be expressed with love (4:2).
For further study on spiritual growth read God at the Center. -Mart DeHaan
It Takes Time to Grow
By Cindy Hess Kasper
Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15
On her first day in preschool, young Charlotte was asked to draw a picture of herself. Her artwork featured a simple orb for a body, an oblong head, and two circle eyes. On her last day of preschool, Charlotte was again directed to draw a self-portrait. This one showed a little girl in a colorful dress, a smiling face with distinct features, and a cascade of beautiful red tresses. The school had used a simple assignment to demonstrate the difference that time can make in the level of maturity.
While we accept that it takes time for children to mature, we may grow impatient with ourselves or fellow believers who show slow spiritual growth. We rejoice when we see the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22–23), but are disheartened when we observe a sinful choice. The author of Hebrews spoke of this when he wrote to the church: “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again” (Heb. 5:12).
Speak the truth in love. Ephesians 4:15
As we continue to pursue intimacy with Jesus ourselves, let’s pray for each other and patiently come alongside those who love God but who seem to struggle with spiritual growth. “Speaking the truth in love,” let’s continue to encourage one another, so that together we may “grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).
Lord, we love You! In our walk with You, help us to receive and give encouragement.
Words of truth spoken in love can guide us all toward maturity in Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 01, 2017
The Place of Exaltation
…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.
We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Matthew 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Content
What if God’s only gift to you were his grace to save you. Would you be content? Content! That’s the word. A state of heart in which you would be at peace if God gave you nothing more than he already has. You beg him to save the life of your child. You implore him to remove the cancer from your body. You plead with him to keep your business afloat. What if his answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?
You see, from heaven’s perspective, grace IS enough. If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain? Having been given eternal life, dare we grumble at an aching body? Let me be quick to add. God has not left you with “just” salvation. He has already given you grace upon grace. The vast majority of us have been saved and then blessed even more!
From In the Grip of Grace
Matthew 3
Thunder in the Desert!
1-2 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
3 John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy:
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4-6 John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.
7-10 When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.
11-12 “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”
13-14 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!”
15 But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” So John did it.
16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Read: John 3:1–8, 13–16
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
Footnotes:
John 3:3 The Greek for again also means from above; also in verse 7.
John 3:6 Or but spirit
John 3:7 The Greek is plural.
John 3:8 The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind.
John 3:13-16New International Version (NIV)
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[a] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[b] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[c]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Footnotes:
John 3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven
John 3:14 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted.
John 3:15 Some interpreters end the quotation with verse 21.
INSIGHT
A central theme in John is that it isn’t possible to be neutral about Jesus. We need to make a choice—either to live in the life, light, and joy found in Him, or to remain in darkness (3:19–21). But Jesus was patient in explaining the good news of transformation available through Him, knowing that understanding the gospel requires being “taught by God” (6:45). -Monica Brands
New: Inside and Out
By Dave Branon
No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. John 3:3
A few years ago a publisher made a big mistake. A book had been on the market for several years, so it was time for a makeover. The author rewrote the book to bring it up to date. But when the revision was published, there was a problem. The publisher gave the book a nice new cover but printed the old book inside.
The exterior was fresh and new, but the interior was old and out of date. This “reprint” was not really new at all.
Jesus changes hearts and makes all things new.
Sometimes that kind of thing happens with people. They realize a change needs to be made in life. Things are heading in the wrong direction. So they may put on a new exterior without making a vital change in their heart. They may change a behavior on the outside but may not realize that it is only God who can change us on the inside.
In John 3, Nicodemus sensed that because Jesus came “from God” (v. 2) He offered something very different. What Jesus told Nicodemus made him realize that He offered nothing short of a rebirth (v. 4): He needed to be “born again,” to be made totally new (v. 7).
That change comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s when “the old has gone, the new is here” (2 Cor. 5:17). Do you need a change? Put your faith in Jesus. He’s the one who changes your heart and makes all things new.
Lord, I now know that changes on the outside—behavior, looks, attitude—don’t change me inside. I put my faith in Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again to forgive my sins. Make me new on the inside—in my soul.
How has your life been changed by Jesus? Share it with us at odb.org.
Only God can make us new.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 30, 2017
The Assigning of the Call
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church… —Colossians 1:24
We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
What if God’s only gift to you were his grace to save you. Would you be content? Content! That’s the word. A state of heart in which you would be at peace if God gave you nothing more than he already has. You beg him to save the life of your child. You implore him to remove the cancer from your body. You plead with him to keep your business afloat. What if his answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?
You see, from heaven’s perspective, grace IS enough. If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain? Having been given eternal life, dare we grumble at an aching body? Let me be quick to add. God has not left you with “just” salvation. He has already given you grace upon grace. The vast majority of us have been saved and then blessed even more!
From In the Grip of Grace
Matthew 3
Thunder in the Desert!
1-2 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
3 John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy:
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4-6 John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.
7-10 When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.
11-12 “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”
13-14 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!”
15 But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” So John did it.
16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Read: John 3:1–8, 13–16
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
Footnotes:
John 3:3 The Greek for again also means from above; also in verse 7.
John 3:6 Or but spirit
John 3:7 The Greek is plural.
John 3:8 The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind.
John 3:13-16New International Version (NIV)
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[a] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[b] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[c]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Footnotes:
John 3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven
John 3:14 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted.
John 3:15 Some interpreters end the quotation with verse 21.
INSIGHT
A central theme in John is that it isn’t possible to be neutral about Jesus. We need to make a choice—either to live in the life, light, and joy found in Him, or to remain in darkness (3:19–21). But Jesus was patient in explaining the good news of transformation available through Him, knowing that understanding the gospel requires being “taught by God” (6:45). -Monica Brands
New: Inside and Out
By Dave Branon
No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. John 3:3
A few years ago a publisher made a big mistake. A book had been on the market for several years, so it was time for a makeover. The author rewrote the book to bring it up to date. But when the revision was published, there was a problem. The publisher gave the book a nice new cover but printed the old book inside.
The exterior was fresh and new, but the interior was old and out of date. This “reprint” was not really new at all.
Jesus changes hearts and makes all things new.
Sometimes that kind of thing happens with people. They realize a change needs to be made in life. Things are heading in the wrong direction. So they may put on a new exterior without making a vital change in their heart. They may change a behavior on the outside but may not realize that it is only God who can change us on the inside.
In John 3, Nicodemus sensed that because Jesus came “from God” (v. 2) He offered something very different. What Jesus told Nicodemus made him realize that He offered nothing short of a rebirth (v. 4): He needed to be “born again,” to be made totally new (v. 7).
That change comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s when “the old has gone, the new is here” (2 Cor. 5:17). Do you need a change? Put your faith in Jesus. He’s the one who changes your heart and makes all things new.
Lord, I now know that changes on the outside—behavior, looks, attitude—don’t change me inside. I put my faith in Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again to forgive my sins. Make me new on the inside—in my soul.
How has your life been changed by Jesus? Share it with us at odb.org.
Only God can make us new.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 30, 2017
The Assigning of the Call
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church… —Colossians 1:24
We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
Friday, September 29, 2017
Genesis 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: CHOOSE THE PRESENCE OF GOD
God repeatedly pledges his presence to his people! To Abram, God said, “Do not be afraid. . .I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). God told Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 NIV). In the ultimate declaration of communion, God called himself Immanuel, which means, God with us. He became flesh. He became sin. He defeated the grave. He is still with us. In the form of his Spirit, he comforts, teaches, and convicts.
Don’t assume God is watching from a distance. Isolation creates a downward cycle of fret. Choose instead to be the person who clutches the presence of God with both hands! We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath! And because the Lord is near, we can be anxious for nothing!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 9
1-4 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don’t eat that.
5 “But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
6-7 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans let his blood be shed,
Because God made humans in his image
reflecting God’s very nature.
You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,
lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!”
8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”
12-16 God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”
17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I’ve set up between me and everything living on the Earth.”
18-19 The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated.
20-23 Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father’s exposed body.
24-27 When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. He said,
Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves,
a slave to his brothers!
Blessed be God, the God of Shem,
but Canaan shall be his slave.
God prosper Japheth,
living spaciously in the tents of Shem.
But Canaan shall be his slave.
28-29 Noah lived another 350 years following the flood. He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 29, 2017
Read: John 20:24–29
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
INSIGHT
Though God may seem silent or even out of sight, He is never absent (Heb. 13:5). He is sovereignly working out things for our good; nothing is ever wasted in the hands of our God (see Rom. 8:28). In 1 Corinthians 10:13 the apostle Paul assures us that God will most certainly work things out for us: “The [trials] in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the [trials] to be more than you can stand. [God] will show you a way out so that you can endure” (nlt). When going through the difficulties of life, let us in faith see “him who is invisible” because “he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 11:27; 10:23).
For further reflection, read 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, and 2 Timothy 2:13. Allow the faithful God to embrace you and give you fresh faith. -Sim Kay Tee
Fresh Faith
By James Banks
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
When our son was struggling with heroin addiction, if you had told me God would one day use our experience to encourage other families who face these kinds of battles, I would have had trouble believing it. God has a way of bringing good out of difficult circumstances that isn’t always easy to see when you are going through them.
The apostle Thomas also didn’t expect God to bring good out of the greatest challenge of his faith—Jesus’s crucifixion. Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples when Jesus came to them after the resurrection, and in his deep grief he insisted, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were . . . I will not believe” (John 20:25). But later, when Jesus appeared to all the disciples together, out of the dust of Thomas’s doubts God’s Spirit would inspire a striking statement of faith. When Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28), he was grasping the truth that Jesus was actually God in the flesh, standing right in front of him. It was a bold confession of faith that would encourage and inspire believers in every century that followed.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
Our God is able to inspire fresh faith in our hearts, even in moments when we least expect it. We can always look forward to His faithfulness. Nothing is too hard for Him!
Thank You, Lord, that Your love is stronger than our greatest difficulties—even our worst doubts or fears!
God can change our doubts into bold statements of faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 29, 2017
The Awareness of the Call
…for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— “I chose you…” (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.
If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.
If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 29, 2017
What Your Child May be Missing - #8015
It's not much fun to perform without an audience, right? Toddlers, oh they believe that for sure. Our family was having one of those rare opportunities we could all get together, and we were having some great conversations, keeping one eye on our little two-year-old granddaughter. And one eye wasn't enough for her. Huh-uh! Using her recently enhanced motor skills, she started running wide circles right in the middle of the room. After her first two spins-which did manage to get our attention-she called out two little words (I didn't even know she knew them), "Watch this!" We did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Your Child May be Missing."
Our granddaughter wanted our attention. She wanted our approval-maybe even a little applause. Guess what? She got all three. She's not unusual. All children, no matter how old they are, need to know that their mom or dad loves them and is proud of them. It's that triple-A combination: our attention, our approval, our applause. Sadly, far too many sons and daughters, some all grown up now, are starved for their parent's blessing. Without it, they can make a lot of mistakes looking in all the wrong places for what only Mom and Dad can give them.
In a number of places in the Bible, we see examples of parents giving their children this great gift. In Genesis 49:28, for example, our word for today from the Word of God, it speaks of Jacob and his sons: "This is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him." Hey, that should be going on in every family, with every mother and father, every daughter and son. Hebrews 12:17 tells us about a son who missed his father's blessing-Esau. It says that his whole life "he sought the blessing with tears."
When you feel like you've never really gotten your mom or dad's blessing, it leaves this gaping hole inside. If you never got it from your parents, you know how it feels. Well, don't pass on that deficit; don't pass on that hurt to any child of yours, any grandchild of yours. What happens when a person has this blessing deficit? Sometimes they give up on trying to please Mom or Dad and they just go entirely the other direction so nobody expects anything of them.
Some will become rebels because they were never good enough for the most important people in their life. Others may just turn hard to cover up the hurt and look like they don't care. And some drive themselves mercilessly, even after that parent is gone, trying to please anyone who may give them that blessing that a parent failed to give. But it will never be enough.
We bless our son or daughter when we tell them what we like about them, what's good about them. When we compliment them on even small progress or achievements. When we point out to them, not only their positive abilities, but their positive qualities. Those are things that you don't get awards or grades for, but they're the things that really matter. You know, like being generous, being a good listener, being a leader, being organized.
Praise what's good, and praise it regularly and specifically. Water what you want to grow, and learn to swallow the negative and the critical and the shame-producing stuff. In the Bible's words, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up, according to their needs" (Ephesians 4:29).
Don't focus on the problems and the areas that need improving. You have such incredible power to make your son or daughter feel either very big or very small; very valuable or very worthless. It's all wrapped up in "giving each the blessing appropriate to him" or her.
And let your son or daughter know that there is a Father whose love does not ever have to be earned. In fact, it can't be earned. God is that Father whose unconditional love sent His Son to a cross for us; thus making possible for each one of us one love, one blessing, and one safe relationship we can always count on.
We parents pride ourselves on providing for our children the things they need, right? There are few things they need more than your blessing. Please, don't fail them.
God repeatedly pledges his presence to his people! To Abram, God said, “Do not be afraid. . .I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). God told Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 NIV). In the ultimate declaration of communion, God called himself Immanuel, which means, God with us. He became flesh. He became sin. He defeated the grave. He is still with us. In the form of his Spirit, he comforts, teaches, and convicts.
Don’t assume God is watching from a distance. Isolation creates a downward cycle of fret. Choose instead to be the person who clutches the presence of God with both hands! We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath! And because the Lord is near, we can be anxious for nothing!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 9
1-4 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don’t eat that.
5 “But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
6-7 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans let his blood be shed,
Because God made humans in his image
reflecting God’s very nature.
You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,
lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!”
8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”
12-16 God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”
17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I’ve set up between me and everything living on the Earth.”
18-19 The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated.
20-23 Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father’s exposed body.
24-27 When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. He said,
Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves,
a slave to his brothers!
Blessed be God, the God of Shem,
but Canaan shall be his slave.
God prosper Japheth,
living spaciously in the tents of Shem.
But Canaan shall be his slave.
28-29 Noah lived another 350 years following the flood. He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 29, 2017
Read: John 20:24–29
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
INSIGHT
Though God may seem silent or even out of sight, He is never absent (Heb. 13:5). He is sovereignly working out things for our good; nothing is ever wasted in the hands of our God (see Rom. 8:28). In 1 Corinthians 10:13 the apostle Paul assures us that God will most certainly work things out for us: “The [trials] in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the [trials] to be more than you can stand. [God] will show you a way out so that you can endure” (nlt). When going through the difficulties of life, let us in faith see “him who is invisible” because “he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 11:27; 10:23).
For further reflection, read 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, and 2 Timothy 2:13. Allow the faithful God to embrace you and give you fresh faith. -Sim Kay Tee
Fresh Faith
By James Banks
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
When our son was struggling with heroin addiction, if you had told me God would one day use our experience to encourage other families who face these kinds of battles, I would have had trouble believing it. God has a way of bringing good out of difficult circumstances that isn’t always easy to see when you are going through them.
The apostle Thomas also didn’t expect God to bring good out of the greatest challenge of his faith—Jesus’s crucifixion. Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples when Jesus came to them after the resurrection, and in his deep grief he insisted, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were . . . I will not believe” (John 20:25). But later, when Jesus appeared to all the disciples together, out of the dust of Thomas’s doubts God’s Spirit would inspire a striking statement of faith. When Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28), he was grasping the truth that Jesus was actually God in the flesh, standing right in front of him. It was a bold confession of faith that would encourage and inspire believers in every century that followed.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
Our God is able to inspire fresh faith in our hearts, even in moments when we least expect it. We can always look forward to His faithfulness. Nothing is too hard for Him!
Thank You, Lord, that Your love is stronger than our greatest difficulties—even our worst doubts or fears!
God can change our doubts into bold statements of faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 29, 2017
The Awareness of the Call
…for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— “I chose you…” (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.
If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.
If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 29, 2017
What Your Child May be Missing - #8015
It's not much fun to perform without an audience, right? Toddlers, oh they believe that for sure. Our family was having one of those rare opportunities we could all get together, and we were having some great conversations, keeping one eye on our little two-year-old granddaughter. And one eye wasn't enough for her. Huh-uh! Using her recently enhanced motor skills, she started running wide circles right in the middle of the room. After her first two spins-which did manage to get our attention-she called out two little words (I didn't even know she knew them), "Watch this!" We did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Your Child May be Missing."
Our granddaughter wanted our attention. She wanted our approval-maybe even a little applause. Guess what? She got all three. She's not unusual. All children, no matter how old they are, need to know that their mom or dad loves them and is proud of them. It's that triple-A combination: our attention, our approval, our applause. Sadly, far too many sons and daughters, some all grown up now, are starved for their parent's blessing. Without it, they can make a lot of mistakes looking in all the wrong places for what only Mom and Dad can give them.
In a number of places in the Bible, we see examples of parents giving their children this great gift. In Genesis 49:28, for example, our word for today from the Word of God, it speaks of Jacob and his sons: "This is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him." Hey, that should be going on in every family, with every mother and father, every daughter and son. Hebrews 12:17 tells us about a son who missed his father's blessing-Esau. It says that his whole life "he sought the blessing with tears."
When you feel like you've never really gotten your mom or dad's blessing, it leaves this gaping hole inside. If you never got it from your parents, you know how it feels. Well, don't pass on that deficit; don't pass on that hurt to any child of yours, any grandchild of yours. What happens when a person has this blessing deficit? Sometimes they give up on trying to please Mom or Dad and they just go entirely the other direction so nobody expects anything of them.
Some will become rebels because they were never good enough for the most important people in their life. Others may just turn hard to cover up the hurt and look like they don't care. And some drive themselves mercilessly, even after that parent is gone, trying to please anyone who may give them that blessing that a parent failed to give. But it will never be enough.
We bless our son or daughter when we tell them what we like about them, what's good about them. When we compliment them on even small progress or achievements. When we point out to them, not only their positive abilities, but their positive qualities. Those are things that you don't get awards or grades for, but they're the things that really matter. You know, like being generous, being a good listener, being a leader, being organized.
Praise what's good, and praise it regularly and specifically. Water what you want to grow, and learn to swallow the negative and the critical and the shame-producing stuff. In the Bible's words, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up, according to their needs" (Ephesians 4:29).
Don't focus on the problems and the areas that need improving. You have such incredible power to make your son or daughter feel either very big or very small; very valuable or very worthless. It's all wrapped up in "giving each the blessing appropriate to him" or her.
And let your son or daughter know that there is a Father whose love does not ever have to be earned. In fact, it can't be earned. God is that Father whose unconditional love sent His Son to a cross for us; thus making possible for each one of us one love, one blessing, and one safe relationship we can always count on.
We parents pride ourselves on providing for our children the things they need, right? There are few things they need more than your blessing. Please, don't fail them.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Genesis 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: CONTAGIOUS CALM
How many disasters have been averted because one person refused to buckle under the strain? It’s this kind of composure Paul is summoning when he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything…” (Philippians 4:5-6 NIV).
The Greek word translated here as gentleness describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature. It envisions an attitude fitting to the occasion, levelheaded and tempered. This gentleness is evident to all. Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.
The gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking. The contagiously calm person is the one who reminds others, “God is in control.” Pursue this gentleness. The Lord is near– you are not alone. You may feel alone. You may think you’re alone. But there is never a moment in which you face life without help. God is near—be anxious for nothing!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 8
1-3 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.
4-6 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship.
7-9 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn’t even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.
10-11 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.
12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn’t come back.
13-14 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.
15-17 God spoke to Noah: “Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth.”
18-19 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons’ wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family.
20-21 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done.
22 For as long as Earth lasts,
planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night
will never stop.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Read: Romans 8:22–26
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.INSIGHT
Anyone who has traveled to a foreign country can understand the value of a good translator. Someone who is familiar with our language and that of the country we are visiting knows how to choose just the right words to communicate clearly.
Have you ever been in a situation so perplexing you didn’t know the right words to use when you prayed? Because of our limited perspective and the distraction of our sinful inclinations we can sometimes struggle with prayer. Yet God the Holy Spirit is our intercessor. He groans with our concerns as He Himself makes our prayers conform to the will of God. It’s a comfort that the Holy Spirit knows our own limitations and weaknesses and translates our requests to God in conformity with His will.
In what ways does understanding the intercession of the Holy Spirit comfort you when you find it hard to pray? -Dennis Fisher
The Day I Couldn’t Pray
By Randy Kilgore
The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26
In November 2015, I learned I needed open-heart surgery. Surprised and a little shaken, I was naturally drawn to think about the possibility of death. Were there relationships I needed to mend? Were there financial matters I needed to attend to for my family? Was there work that could be done ahead of time? And what about work that couldn’t wait; who should I hand that off to? It was a time to both act and pray.
Except I couldn’t do either.
God never leaves the voices of His children unheard.
My body was so weary and my mind so fatigued that even the simplest of tasks seemed beyond my strength. Perhaps most surprising, when I tried to pray, my thoughts would drift to the discomfort, or the shallow breathing caused by the damaged heart made me fall asleep. It was frustrating. I couldn’t work and I couldn’t even ask God to let me live so I could spend more time with my family!
The inability to pray troubled me most. But as with all other human needs, the Creator knew this was happening to me. I would eventually recall He made two preparations for such occurrences: the prayer of the Spirit for us when we can’t pray (Rom. 8:26), and the prayer of others on our behalf (James 5:16; Gal. 6:2).
What a comfort it was to know that the Holy Spirit was even then raising my concerns before the Father. What a gift also to hear from friends and family as they prayed for me. Then came another surprise: As my friends and family asked me what to pray for, it became clear that my answers to them were also being heard by God as prayers. What a gift it is in a time of uncertainty to be reminded God hears our heart even when we think we can’t call out to Him.
God never leaves the voices of His children unheard.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 28, 2017
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
Jesus…said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor…and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." —Mark 10:21
September 28
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
By Oswald Chambers
Jesus…said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor…and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." —Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute “go” of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.
“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” (Mark 10:21). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.
“One thing you lack….” From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.
“…sell whatever you have….” I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. “…come…and follow Me.” And the road is the way He went.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. Biblical Psychology, 189 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Looking Good, Going Nowhere - #8014
When my wife and I would drive somewhere, we didn't lose any time when she drove. In fact, we set some records. Once we were on a trip and I was preparing for the meetings we were going to, she was driving down this four-lane, divided highway. I was looking down. All of a sudden, I looked up and I saw orange plastic cones on the middle line that divides the two lanes on our side. I wasn't clear which lane we were supposed to be driving in, because I hadn't been looking. And as I looked, every vehicle but one was moving into the left lane, to the left of the cones. You notice I said everyone but one. Yeah, that was us. My wife continued in the right lane, and I said, "Honey, what are you doing? Looks like this lane is closing." She said, "Just watch." Well, we passed a line of cars on our left, with a big truck at the head of it. See, that truck had moved into the left lane, and all the other cars said, "Oh, that must be the lane to be in." and all the other cars followed the big truck. The problem was that the truck that they were following was taking equipment to a big tar truck parked in the left lane, so we waved as we zipped by all those cars as they were heading for an unpleasant surprise.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking Good, Going Nowhere."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Proverbs 14:12. It's short, but it's hard-hitting. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death." The Bible's pretty clear here. A lot of people are on a road that looks good, but it's going nowhere. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 7:13-14, when He said, "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; but small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
See, a lot of people are wrong about the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about-God, and how to get to Him. If you're wrong about God, it's fatal forever. Maybe you're someone who might be on a sincere road that seems very right, but that ends far away from God forever instead of with Him forever. The Bible says many are on that kind of road. It's like those cars following that truck. Almost everybody chose that lane. It seemed like the best one, but it led to an unpleasant end.
Only God can tell us how to get to Him, and He does in John 14:6. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me." In 1 John 5:11-12, it says, "There is life in God's Son, and he that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life."
So, question: Do you have the Son of God in your heart? This bothers a lot of people that Jesus is the only way. You say, "Well, I believe in tolerance. As long as we're sincere." Well, if you're trapped in a burning building, and a firefighter risks his life to bring you out, I don't think you say, "Hey, wait, there's only one way out of here? Are you kidding?" No, you grab that rescuer and you say, "Thank God there's a way."
Well, thank God there is one way. There wasn't any way until one Savior came and paid the price for our sin. Sin has a death penalty. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." Someone's got to die for my sin. No good works, no matter what faith they're from, can pay that death penalty. Romans 5:8 says, "God proved His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
If you haven't pinned all your hopes on Jesus to be your Rescuer, you're still on the road that leads to death. That's why everything, now and forever, depends on what you do with God's Son, Jesus. This could be the day when you make this Jesus your Rescuer from your sin if you would just tell Him, "Jesus, I get it. You died on that cross for me. I'm Yours."
Man, I'd love for you to understand from God's own words exactly how this works and how you can be sure you have this relationship. So, our website ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check it out as soon as you can today.
Only one lane gets you to God. Only one lane gets you to heaven. It's the road that goes by the cross where Jesus died to pay for your sin.
How many disasters have been averted because one person refused to buckle under the strain? It’s this kind of composure Paul is summoning when he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything…” (Philippians 4:5-6 NIV).
The Greek word translated here as gentleness describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature. It envisions an attitude fitting to the occasion, levelheaded and tempered. This gentleness is evident to all. Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.
The gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking. The contagiously calm person is the one who reminds others, “God is in control.” Pursue this gentleness. The Lord is near– you are not alone. You may feel alone. You may think you’re alone. But there is never a moment in which you face life without help. God is near—be anxious for nothing!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Genesis 8
1-3 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.
4-6 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship.
7-9 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn’t even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.
10-11 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.
12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn’t come back.
13-14 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.
15-17 God spoke to Noah: “Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth.”
18-19 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons’ wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family.
20-21 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done.
22 For as long as Earth lasts,
planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night
will never stop.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Read: Romans 8:22–26
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.INSIGHT
Anyone who has traveled to a foreign country can understand the value of a good translator. Someone who is familiar with our language and that of the country we are visiting knows how to choose just the right words to communicate clearly.
Have you ever been in a situation so perplexing you didn’t know the right words to use when you prayed? Because of our limited perspective and the distraction of our sinful inclinations we can sometimes struggle with prayer. Yet God the Holy Spirit is our intercessor. He groans with our concerns as He Himself makes our prayers conform to the will of God. It’s a comfort that the Holy Spirit knows our own limitations and weaknesses and translates our requests to God in conformity with His will.
In what ways does understanding the intercession of the Holy Spirit comfort you when you find it hard to pray? -Dennis Fisher
The Day I Couldn’t Pray
By Randy Kilgore
The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26
In November 2015, I learned I needed open-heart surgery. Surprised and a little shaken, I was naturally drawn to think about the possibility of death. Were there relationships I needed to mend? Were there financial matters I needed to attend to for my family? Was there work that could be done ahead of time? And what about work that couldn’t wait; who should I hand that off to? It was a time to both act and pray.
Except I couldn’t do either.
God never leaves the voices of His children unheard.
My body was so weary and my mind so fatigued that even the simplest of tasks seemed beyond my strength. Perhaps most surprising, when I tried to pray, my thoughts would drift to the discomfort, or the shallow breathing caused by the damaged heart made me fall asleep. It was frustrating. I couldn’t work and I couldn’t even ask God to let me live so I could spend more time with my family!
The inability to pray troubled me most. But as with all other human needs, the Creator knew this was happening to me. I would eventually recall He made two preparations for such occurrences: the prayer of the Spirit for us when we can’t pray (Rom. 8:26), and the prayer of others on our behalf (James 5:16; Gal. 6:2).
What a comfort it was to know that the Holy Spirit was even then raising my concerns before the Father. What a gift also to hear from friends and family as they prayed for me. Then came another surprise: As my friends and family asked me what to pray for, it became clear that my answers to them were also being heard by God as prayers. What a gift it is in a time of uncertainty to be reminded God hears our heart even when we think we can’t call out to Him.
God never leaves the voices of His children unheard.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 28, 2017
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
Jesus…said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor…and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." —Mark 10:21
September 28
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
By Oswald Chambers
Jesus…said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor…and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." —Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute “go” of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.
“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” (Mark 10:21). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.
“One thing you lack….” From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.
“…sell whatever you have….” I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. “…come…and follow Me.” And the road is the way He went.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. Biblical Psychology, 189 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Looking Good, Going Nowhere - #8014
When my wife and I would drive somewhere, we didn't lose any time when she drove. In fact, we set some records. Once we were on a trip and I was preparing for the meetings we were going to, she was driving down this four-lane, divided highway. I was looking down. All of a sudden, I looked up and I saw orange plastic cones on the middle line that divides the two lanes on our side. I wasn't clear which lane we were supposed to be driving in, because I hadn't been looking. And as I looked, every vehicle but one was moving into the left lane, to the left of the cones. You notice I said everyone but one. Yeah, that was us. My wife continued in the right lane, and I said, "Honey, what are you doing? Looks like this lane is closing." She said, "Just watch." Well, we passed a line of cars on our left, with a big truck at the head of it. See, that truck had moved into the left lane, and all the other cars said, "Oh, that must be the lane to be in." and all the other cars followed the big truck. The problem was that the truck that they were following was taking equipment to a big tar truck parked in the left lane, so we waved as we zipped by all those cars as they were heading for an unpleasant surprise.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking Good, Going Nowhere."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Proverbs 14:12. It's short, but it's hard-hitting. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death." The Bible's pretty clear here. A lot of people are on a road that looks good, but it's going nowhere. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 7:13-14, when He said, "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; but small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
See, a lot of people are wrong about the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about-God, and how to get to Him. If you're wrong about God, it's fatal forever. Maybe you're someone who might be on a sincere road that seems very right, but that ends far away from God forever instead of with Him forever. The Bible says many are on that kind of road. It's like those cars following that truck. Almost everybody chose that lane. It seemed like the best one, but it led to an unpleasant end.
Only God can tell us how to get to Him, and He does in John 14:6. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me." In 1 John 5:11-12, it says, "There is life in God's Son, and he that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life."
So, question: Do you have the Son of God in your heart? This bothers a lot of people that Jesus is the only way. You say, "Well, I believe in tolerance. As long as we're sincere." Well, if you're trapped in a burning building, and a firefighter risks his life to bring you out, I don't think you say, "Hey, wait, there's only one way out of here? Are you kidding?" No, you grab that rescuer and you say, "Thank God there's a way."
Well, thank God there is one way. There wasn't any way until one Savior came and paid the price for our sin. Sin has a death penalty. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." Someone's got to die for my sin. No good works, no matter what faith they're from, can pay that death penalty. Romans 5:8 says, "God proved His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
If you haven't pinned all your hopes on Jesus to be your Rescuer, you're still on the road that leads to death. That's why everything, now and forever, depends on what you do with God's Son, Jesus. This could be the day when you make this Jesus your Rescuer from your sin if you would just tell Him, "Jesus, I get it. You died on that cross for me. I'm Yours."
Man, I'd love for you to understand from God's own words exactly how this works and how you can be sure you have this relationship. So, our website ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check it out as soon as you can today.
Only one lane gets you to God. Only one lane gets you to heaven. It's the road that goes by the cross where Jesus died to pay for your sin.
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