Max Lucado Daily: JESUS ‘CATCHED’ ME
A family was making a short drive to their neighborhood pool. Mom was driving so slowly that the automatic door locks hadn’t engaged. Little Noah opened his door and fell out. She felt a bump and braked to a quick stop. Noah was on the pavement, his legs covered in blood. Incredibly, tests in the ER showed no broken bones. A five-thousand pound vehicle had run over his legs, yet Noah had nothing but cuts and bruises to show for it.
Later that night when his mom checked on him he said, “Mama, Jesus catched me.” She said, “He did?” Noah replied, “I told Jesus thank you, and he said, you’re very welcome.”
Storms come. But Jesus still catches his children. He still sends his angels. Because you belong to him, Jesus sends this message to you: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:2 NIV).
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Matthew 8:1-17
He Carried Our Diseases
1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 27, 2017
Read: Deuteronomy 24:19–22
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
INSIGHT
How does God provide for us? What if the source of our help comes from someone of another religion or from someone who claims no belief in God? Is their kindness still from God? Think about the children of Israel. Who helped them in their escape from Egypt? Yes, it was God and Moses. But Moses tells us that the Spirit of God prompted the Egyptian neighbors to fill the arms of the Jewish slaves with gold, silver, and clothing for their journey (Ex. 12:35–36).
Looking back on that day of great escape, in Deuteronomy 24 God reminds His people of two things. To help them identify with those in need, He wanted Israel to remember that their ancestors were once impoverished slaves. The second reminder grew out of the first. The Lord reminded His people that just as they had been helped in their escape from bondage, now it was their turn. As God had met their needs through the hands of others, so it was their turn to help others in a way that gives hands and faces to the heart of our provider God. - Mart DeHaan
God Provides
By Julie Ackerman Link
Those who work their land will have abundant food. Proverbs 12:11
Outside my office window, the squirrels are in a race against winter to bury their acorns in a safe, accessible place. Their commotion amuses me. An entire herd of deer can go through our back yard and not make a sound, but one squirrel sounds like an invasion.
The two creatures are different in another way as well. Deer do not prepare for winter. When the snow comes they eat whatever they can find along the way (including ornamental shrubs in our yard). But squirrels would starve if they followed that example. They would be unable to find suitable food.
Our needs will never exhaust God’s supply.
The deer and the squirrel represent ways that God cares for us. He enables us to work and save for the future, and He meets our need when resources are scarce. As the wisdom literature teaches, God gives us seasons of plenty so that we can prepare for seasons of need (Prov. 12:11). And as Psalm 23 says, the Lord leads us through perilous places to pleasant pastures.
Another way that God provides is by instructing those with plenty to share with those in need (Deut. 24:19). So when it comes to provision, the message of the Bible is this: Work while we can, save what we can, share what we can, and trust God to meet our needs.
Thank You, Lord, for the promise that You will meet our needs. Help us not to fear or doubt. We’re grateful that You’re watching over us and that our cries for help reach Your ear.
Our needs will never exhaust God’s supply.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 27, 2017
The Method of Missions
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19
Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 27, 2017
The Instruments Don't Lie - #8035
Hooper Bay, Alaska. It's a little Eskimo village on the edge of the Bering Sea. And it was a place missionaries had repeatedly wanted our Native American outreach team, "On Eagles' Wings", to go to. They all spoke of the unparalleled desperation there. Well, thank God, we were able to go and see an amazing response to the Gospel – although we almost didn't get there! The weather closed in as our small missionary plane made its landing approach. My wife, Karen, was in that lead plane with several of our Native team leaders. The clouds were very low, the rain was falling, fog was all around. And our seasoned missionary pilot was making literally moment-by-moment judgments as to whether he needed to turn back. Now, hanging out over the Bering Sea, approaching that tiny runway, there was a whole lot of praying going on. But Karen, who knew enough about flying to read the critical instruments at least, said everything appeared to be lined up perfectly. Oh no, not according to their senses, not according to their stomachs, but according to the instruments. And moments later, sure enough, they were safe and sound on that runway! With a total instrument landing!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Instruments Don't Lie."
Now when your senses are no help, when your feelings are all over the place, the way not to crash is to totally trust the instruments. Not just in an airplane, but in the daily flight we call life.
At a time when Joshua was facing great turbulence, God gave him--and us--our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Joshua 1:7-8. Joshua was taking command of the Jewish multitude as they stood on the edge of great transition, major battles, a flooded river to cross, fierce enemies. Man, stormy conditions – enough to make them crash. But God says, "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
There's the secret of a happy landing in stormy conditions. Keep your eyes on the instruments – just keep on believing what the Word of God is telling you. In fact, this says that your mouth should be full of God's words, your mind should be full of God's words, and your life should be full of God's words.
Maybe for you right now, everything is spinning. It's crazy! It's a bumpy ride; you can't see through the fog. You don't know where you're going. All the reference points you might normally depend on just aren't there for you. Your environment is up for grabs. Your feelings-they're all over the place. But if you do what your feelings tell you to do, or your fellow passengers, or your environment, you're going to crash.
But God is saying, "Keep your eyes on the instruments. My Word hasn't changed. My promise hasn't changed. Trust what I say and only what I say. And you know the more turbulent it is, the more you need to focus totally on what God is saying is His unchanging Word. It is the only guidance you can totally trust right now.
Your feelings will lie to you. Your circumstances are changeable. This is the time to stake everything on what God says. Plant both your feet on the promises of your God. Stick with His way of doing it, and take no detours from what God has told you to do.
Trust anything else, you'll crash. Trust the instruments – the Word of God that is totally unaffected by the storm – and you're going to land safe and secure.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Job 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS NEAR
God never promised us a life without storms, but He has promised to be there when we face them.
Consider the compelling testimony of Jehoshaphat. According to the book of 2 Chronicles, the Moabites formed a great and powerful confederacy with the surrounding nations and marched against Jehoshaphat. It was a military version of a perfect storm. The Jews could handle one army. But when one army allies with another and those two combine with a third? Hear Jehoshaphat’s response as he cried out to God in prayer, “We have no power. . .nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You!” (2 Chronicles 20:12). God responded, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s!” (vs. 15).
Expect to see the God of the Ages fight for you! He is as near as your next breath!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 7
There’s Nothing to My Life
1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
It’s a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’
I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!
I’m covered with maggots and scabs.
My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!
7-10 “God, don’t forget that I’m only a puff of air!
These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
And your eyes have seen the last of me;
even while you’re looking, there’ll be nothing left to look at.
When a cloud evaporates, it’s gone for good;
those who go to the grave never come back.
They don’t return to visit their families;
never again will friends drop in for coffee.
11-16 “And so I’m not keeping one bit of this quiet,
I’m laying it all out on the table;
my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
Are you going to put a muzzle on me,
the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
If I say, ‘I’m going to bed, then I’ll feel better.
A little nap will lift my spirits,’
You come and so scare me with nightmares
and frighten me with ghosts
That I’d rather strangle in the bedclothes
than face this kind of life any longer.
I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?
Let me alone! There’s nothing to my life—it’s nothing
but smoke.
17-21 “What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them,
that you even give them the time of day?
That you check up on them every morning,
looking in on them to see how they’re doing?
Let up on me, will you?
Can’t you even let me spit in peace?
Even suppose I’d sinned—how would that hurt you?
You’re responsible for every human being.
Don’t you have better things to do than pick on me?
Why make a federal case out of me?
Why don’t you just forgive my sins
and start me off with a clean slate?
The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead.
You’ll look high and low, but I won’t be around.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Read: 1 Chronicles 17:1–15
God’s Promise to David
After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”
2 Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.”
3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:
4 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. 5 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. 6 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders[a] whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
7 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. 9 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 10 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.
“‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: 11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. 14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’”
15 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 17:6 Traditionally judges; also in verse 10
Exceedingly Better
By Kirsten Holmberg
He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 1 Chronicles 17:12
My birthday is the day after my mother’s. As an adolescent, I would scramble to think of a gift that delighted my mom yet fit in my budget. She always received my purchases with appreciation, and on the following day, my birthday, she would present her gift to me. Without fail, her gift vastly outshone mine. Her intention wasn’t to diminish what I’d given her; she simply gave generously from her resources, which far exceeded my own.
My desire to give to my mother reminds me of David’s wish to build a home for God. Struck by the contrast between his palace and the tent where God revealed Himself, David longed to build God a temple. Instead of granting David’s wish to give, God responded by giving David an exceedingly better gift. God promised that not only would one of David’s children (Solomon) build the temple (1 Chron. 17:11), but that He would build David a house, a dynasty. That promise began with Solomon but found its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, whose throne was indeed “established forever” (v. 12). David wanted to give from his finite resources, but God promised something infinite.
God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ exceeds all gifts.
Like David, may we always be moved to give to God out of gratitude and love. And may we always see how much more abundantly He has given to us in Jesus.
Father God, I thank You for Your astounding gift to me in Jesus Christ. Your love overwhelms me.
God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ exceeds all gifts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 26, 2017
What is a Missionary?
Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
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
Thursday, October 26, 2017
No One There To Celebrate You - #8034
Matt is 16, and he hates his birthday. At least, that's what some of his friends said. He said his birthday is always the worst day of the year for him ever since his sixth birthday. He remembers that like it was yesterday. See, his mom went out and bought a special cake, she invited all his friends to come over for Matt's birthday party, and nobody came. And since there was nobody there for the party, his mom took the cake back to the store. There was no one there to celebrate him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No One There To Celebrate You."
Most people haven't had a party in their honor that no one showed up for. But a lot of people feel like their life has been a party that no one showed up for. In fact, you may feel right now like there's no one celebrating you. So many times, you have felt overlooked, neglected, maybe you've felt abandoned, and betrayed. You're questioning your own value. You may be successful, you could be surrounded by people, spiritually involved, but maybe the feelings of unworthiness have never gone away.
Someone very important thinks you're very important. Actually, He was there for your first birthday-the day you were born. He created you. And this One who rules the galaxies values you more than you can imagine. God's commitment to you is spelled out very clearly in our word for today from the Word of God. You need to hear this.
In Isaiah 49:15-16, your Creator says, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you." Did you get what God's saying here? "I will not forget you." If everyone else does, He will not. He never has. He never will. How can you be sure that you're always on God's mind? Listen to the next verse, "See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands."
Do you know how Jesus' friends knew it was Him after He came back from the dead? By the nail prints in His hands. Those prints, hammered there when He was nailed to the cross, are there forever. And when Jesus looks at His hands, He sees the nail prints and He thinks of you, because He died on that cross for you. You can walk up to that cross in your mind and say these words right from the Bible, "He loved me and gave Himself for me."
It was the only way you could ever spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. All your religion, your good deeds, could never pay the death penalty that goes with your sin. And because Jesus doesn't want to lose you, He took that death penalty for you. That's how much you mean to Him. That's how much He loves you. And once you belong to Him, He will never turn His back on someone He loved enough to die for.
But sadly, you may not belong to Jesus because you've never opened your heart to Him; you've never given Him you. You've never felt like you're worth much because you've never known the One who gave you your worth-who thought you were worth His life. But beginning today, you can finally belong to the One who loves you most. But you have to tell Him that you want to begin a relationship with Him.
The Bible says about Him, "You were created by Him and for Him." And He waits now for you to reach out in total trust to tell Him He is your only hope. So, find a quiet place as soon as you can and just talk to Him something like this: "Jesus, thank You for dying for me. I was never supposed to run my life. I have, but I thank You that You made me and you loved me enough to die for me. And I want the love and the worth of my life from the only One who can give it to me. I want the relationship I was made for. I want a personal relationship with You."
Our website is designed specifically for a moment like this, for a person like you. I urge you to go there today - ANewStory.com. Because there you will find the information right from God's Word that will help you be sure you belong to Him.
See, the Son of God made you. He gave His life for you, and you are on the edge right now of more love than you have ever dreamed you could have.
God never promised us a life without storms, but He has promised to be there when we face them.
Consider the compelling testimony of Jehoshaphat. According to the book of 2 Chronicles, the Moabites formed a great and powerful confederacy with the surrounding nations and marched against Jehoshaphat. It was a military version of a perfect storm. The Jews could handle one army. But when one army allies with another and those two combine with a third? Hear Jehoshaphat’s response as he cried out to God in prayer, “We have no power. . .nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You!” (2 Chronicles 20:12). God responded, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s!” (vs. 15).
Expect to see the God of the Ages fight for you! He is as near as your next breath!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 7
There’s Nothing to My Life
1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
It’s a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’
I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!
I’m covered with maggots and scabs.
My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!
7-10 “God, don’t forget that I’m only a puff of air!
These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
And your eyes have seen the last of me;
even while you’re looking, there’ll be nothing left to look at.
When a cloud evaporates, it’s gone for good;
those who go to the grave never come back.
They don’t return to visit their families;
never again will friends drop in for coffee.
11-16 “And so I’m not keeping one bit of this quiet,
I’m laying it all out on the table;
my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
Are you going to put a muzzle on me,
the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
If I say, ‘I’m going to bed, then I’ll feel better.
A little nap will lift my spirits,’
You come and so scare me with nightmares
and frighten me with ghosts
That I’d rather strangle in the bedclothes
than face this kind of life any longer.
I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?
Let me alone! There’s nothing to my life—it’s nothing
but smoke.
17-21 “What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them,
that you even give them the time of day?
That you check up on them every morning,
looking in on them to see how they’re doing?
Let up on me, will you?
Can’t you even let me spit in peace?
Even suppose I’d sinned—how would that hurt you?
You’re responsible for every human being.
Don’t you have better things to do than pick on me?
Why make a federal case out of me?
Why don’t you just forgive my sins
and start me off with a clean slate?
The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead.
You’ll look high and low, but I won’t be around.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Read: 1 Chronicles 17:1–15
God’s Promise to David
After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”
2 Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.”
3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:
4 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. 5 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. 6 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders[a] whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
7 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. 9 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 10 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.
“‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: 11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. 14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’”
15 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 17:6 Traditionally judges; also in verse 10
Exceedingly Better
By Kirsten Holmberg
He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 1 Chronicles 17:12
My birthday is the day after my mother’s. As an adolescent, I would scramble to think of a gift that delighted my mom yet fit in my budget. She always received my purchases with appreciation, and on the following day, my birthday, she would present her gift to me. Without fail, her gift vastly outshone mine. Her intention wasn’t to diminish what I’d given her; she simply gave generously from her resources, which far exceeded my own.
My desire to give to my mother reminds me of David’s wish to build a home for God. Struck by the contrast between his palace and the tent where God revealed Himself, David longed to build God a temple. Instead of granting David’s wish to give, God responded by giving David an exceedingly better gift. God promised that not only would one of David’s children (Solomon) build the temple (1 Chron. 17:11), but that He would build David a house, a dynasty. That promise began with Solomon but found its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, whose throne was indeed “established forever” (v. 12). David wanted to give from his finite resources, but God promised something infinite.
God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ exceeds all gifts.
Like David, may we always be moved to give to God out of gratitude and love. And may we always see how much more abundantly He has given to us in Jesus.
Father God, I thank You for Your astounding gift to me in Jesus Christ. Your love overwhelms me.
God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ exceeds all gifts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 26, 2017
What is a Missionary?
Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
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
Thursday, October 26, 2017
No One There To Celebrate You - #8034
Matt is 16, and he hates his birthday. At least, that's what some of his friends said. He said his birthday is always the worst day of the year for him ever since his sixth birthday. He remembers that like it was yesterday. See, his mom went out and bought a special cake, she invited all his friends to come over for Matt's birthday party, and nobody came. And since there was nobody there for the party, his mom took the cake back to the store. There was no one there to celebrate him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No One There To Celebrate You."
Most people haven't had a party in their honor that no one showed up for. But a lot of people feel like their life has been a party that no one showed up for. In fact, you may feel right now like there's no one celebrating you. So many times, you have felt overlooked, neglected, maybe you've felt abandoned, and betrayed. You're questioning your own value. You may be successful, you could be surrounded by people, spiritually involved, but maybe the feelings of unworthiness have never gone away.
Someone very important thinks you're very important. Actually, He was there for your first birthday-the day you were born. He created you. And this One who rules the galaxies values you more than you can imagine. God's commitment to you is spelled out very clearly in our word for today from the Word of God. You need to hear this.
In Isaiah 49:15-16, your Creator says, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you." Did you get what God's saying here? "I will not forget you." If everyone else does, He will not. He never has. He never will. How can you be sure that you're always on God's mind? Listen to the next verse, "See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands."
Do you know how Jesus' friends knew it was Him after He came back from the dead? By the nail prints in His hands. Those prints, hammered there when He was nailed to the cross, are there forever. And when Jesus looks at His hands, He sees the nail prints and He thinks of you, because He died on that cross for you. You can walk up to that cross in your mind and say these words right from the Bible, "He loved me and gave Himself for me."
It was the only way you could ever spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. All your religion, your good deeds, could never pay the death penalty that goes with your sin. And because Jesus doesn't want to lose you, He took that death penalty for you. That's how much you mean to Him. That's how much He loves you. And once you belong to Him, He will never turn His back on someone He loved enough to die for.
But sadly, you may not belong to Jesus because you've never opened your heart to Him; you've never given Him you. You've never felt like you're worth much because you've never known the One who gave you your worth-who thought you were worth His life. But beginning today, you can finally belong to the One who loves you most. But you have to tell Him that you want to begin a relationship with Him.
The Bible says about Him, "You were created by Him and for Him." And He waits now for you to reach out in total trust to tell Him He is your only hope. So, find a quiet place as soon as you can and just talk to Him something like this: "Jesus, thank You for dying for me. I was never supposed to run my life. I have, but I thank You that You made me and you loved me enough to die for me. And I want the love and the worth of my life from the only One who can give it to me. I want the relationship I was made for. I want a personal relationship with You."
Our website is designed specifically for a moment like this, for a person like you. I urge you to go there today - ANewStory.com. Because there you will find the information right from God's Word that will help you be sure you belong to Him.
See, the Son of God made you. He gave His life for you, and you are on the edge right now of more love than you have ever dreamed you could have.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Job 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOU BELONG TO GOD
When parents send their kids to camp, they have to sign certain documents. One of them asks who is the responsible party? If Johnny breaks his arm or Maria breaks out with measles, who will be responsible? Hopefully mom and dad are willing to sign their names.
God signed his! When you gave your life to him, he took responsibility for you. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14 NIV). You are a bride; he is your bridegroom. The church is being “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). You are his child; he is your father. “You are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir” (Galatians 4:7 NLT).
You can have peace in the midst of the storms of life because you are not alone. You belong to God!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 6
Job Replies to Eliphaz
God Has Dumped the Works on Me
1-7 Job answered:
“If my misery could be weighed,
if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,
It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
Is it any wonder that I’m screaming like a caged cat?
The arrows of God Almighty are in me,
poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through!
God has dumped the whole works on me.
Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture—
so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this.
Do you see what God has dished out for me?
It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach!
Everything in me is repulsed by it—
it makes me sick.
Pressed Past the Limits
8-13 “All I want is an answer to one prayer,
a last request to be honored:
Let God step on me—squash me like a bug,
and be done with me for good.
I’d at least have the satisfaction
of not having blasphemed the Holy God,
before being pressed past the limits.
Where’s the strength to keep my hopes up?
What future do I have to keep me going?
Do you think I have nerves of steel?
Do you think I’m made of iron?
Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps?
Why, I don’t even have any boots!
My So-Called Friends
14-23 “When desperate people give up on God Almighty,
their friends, at least, should stick with them.
But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert—
one day they’re gushing with water
From melting ice and snow
cascading out of the mountains,
But by midsummer they’re dry,
gullies baked dry in the sun.
Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink
end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!
They get there, and their faces fall!
And you, my so-called friends, are no better—
there’s nothing to you!
One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It’s not as though I asked you for anything—
I didn’t ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
So why all this dodging and shuffling?
24-27 “Confront me with the truth and I’ll shut up,
show me where I’ve gone off the track.
Honest words never hurt anyone,
but what’s the point of all this pious bluster?
You pretend to tell me what’s wrong with my life,
but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
Are people mere things to you?
Are friends just items of profit and loss?
28-30 “Look me in the eyes!
Do you think I’d lie to your face?
Think it over—no double-talk!
Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!
Can you detect anything false in what I say?
Don’t you trust me to discern good from evil?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Read: Exodus 17:1–7
Water From the Rock
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Footnotes:
Exodus 17:7 Massah means testing.
Exodus 17:7 Meribah means quarreling.
INSIGHT
Three days after the Israelites left Egypt, the water they brought along was depleted. Finding no drinkable water in the Desert of Shur, they grumbled against Moses, and God miraculously made bitter water into good water (Ex. 15:22–25). Soon their food supplies ran out, and they complained again. God miraculously fed them with manna and quail (16:1–36). As they approached Sinai, they complained yet again of no water (17:1–2). God had already shown them He could provide the water and food they needed. All they had to do was to trust Him! (Deut. 8:2; Ps. 81:7–8).
Consider how God has been faithful to provide for your physical needs. How has He satisfied your spiritual thirst? - Sim Kay Tee
Surviving the Wilderness
By Dennis Fisher
The message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Hebrews 4:2
In the 1960s, the Kingston Trio released a song called “Desert Pete.” The ballad tells of a thirsty cowboy who is crossing the desert and finds a hand pump. Next to it, Desert Pete has left a note urging the reader not to drink the water in the jar left there but to use its contents to prime the pump.
The cowboy resists the temptation to drink and uses the water as the note instructs. In reward for his obedience, he receives an abundance of cold, satisfying water. Had he not acted in faith, he would have had only a jar of unsatisfying, warm water to drink.
Help us to place our trust in You, Lord. You are what our heart thirsts after.
This reminds me of Israel’s journey through the wilderness. When their thirst became overwhelming (Ex. 17:1–7), Moses sought the Lord. He was told to strike the rock of Horeb with his staff. Moses believed and obeyed, and water gushed from the stone.
Sadly, Israel would not consistently follow Moses’s example of faith. Ultimately, “the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed” (Heb. 4:2).
Sometimes life can seem like an arid desert. But God can quench our spiritual thirst in the most unlikely circumstances. When by faith we believe the promises of God’s Word, we can experience rivers of living water and grace for our daily needs.
Help us to place our trust in You, Lord. You are what our heart thirsts after.
Only Jesus, the Living Water, can satisfy our thirst for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “…Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside…to the right or the left…” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Laser Giving - #8033
We were far from home in Phoenix, Arizona, living in New Jersey, when my wife had a gall bladder crisis. In fact, she was going to have to have her gall bladder removed. Well, I wasn't too happy about that happening so far from home, but God was in it. Because our friend who we were there with at a conference said, "Well, I just had this surgery not long ago, and our doctor here is one of the few in the country (at that time anyway) who is an expert at doing gall bladder surgery with lasers. Really? Well, instead of the six weeks that I thought my wife was going to have to recuperate in Arizona, why she was up and around in a very few days, because of the amazing power of a laser. Think about that. I mean, lasers can penetrate steel. They can help you get better eye sight, or take care of a gall bladder that needs to come out. It's pretty amazing power. Now, diffused light can't do that; only the focused light can do it. If my wife had been under just diffused light all that time, it wouldn't do anything about her gall bladder. But it took the focused light - that powerful energy - to really change things. There's awesome power when you focus the energy on one thing.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Laser Giving."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Philippians 1 beginning in verse 4, where Paul says, "In all my prayers for you I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now." Imagine being partners with the spread of the Gospel through a dynamo like the Apostle Paul.
At the end of his letter in chapter 4 and beginning at verse 13, he writes about their support. He says, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength, yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only: for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account."
Now these people found a piece of God's work, the Apostle Paul, and they invested heavily in it and they received great dividends. They lasered their giving on this one missionary. All of his fruit, all the people Paul reached; all that was credited to their eternal account. See, you and I live in a world that hits us with more causes than you could ever support. Think of that stack of mail you get from Christian organizations. Now, there's a pattern. You're like, "I don't know how I can possibly support all these things." Well, you cant. Isn't it a better idea to get a lot of stock in a few eternal investments?
I remember when my wife's grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Her Grandma had all these records that we went through and we found her list of "Giving and Praying" it was all about the organizations she really believed in. It started out in real tiny script. That list probably went back to the 1940's and then the print got larger as her eyes began to fail, and at the age of 99 she was still praying for and giving to the same ministries. God laid that on her heart and here was 50 years of praying and 50 years of canceled checks to match. She was a partner in the Gospel.
Now in our self-focused generation, we've lost that excitement of sharing stock in Eternity, Inc. My friend, Jeff, a baby boomer said, "I have decided I am drawing a line in my checkbook and that's all we really need to live on and from thereon I'm putting it into the work of God."
Would you ask the Lord for a piece of his broken heart for this broken world, for a particular need, for some group, for some area of the world? I encourage you to ask God for a few spiritual works or people who you could really believe in, and pray for them and stick with them and give to them. Laser your giving!
The way to have a winning part of God's work on earth is to have a lot of stock in a few eternal investments. See, diffused energy doesn't make much of a difference, but lasered energy changes everything. You know what? You laser your giving, you'll be reaping dividends forever.
When parents send their kids to camp, they have to sign certain documents. One of them asks who is the responsible party? If Johnny breaks his arm or Maria breaks out with measles, who will be responsible? Hopefully mom and dad are willing to sign their names.
God signed his! When you gave your life to him, he took responsibility for you. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14 NIV). You are a bride; he is your bridegroom. The church is being “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). You are his child; he is your father. “You are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir” (Galatians 4:7 NLT).
You can have peace in the midst of the storms of life because you are not alone. You belong to God!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 6
Job Replies to Eliphaz
God Has Dumped the Works on Me
1-7 Job answered:
“If my misery could be weighed,
if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,
It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
Is it any wonder that I’m screaming like a caged cat?
The arrows of God Almighty are in me,
poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through!
God has dumped the whole works on me.
Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture—
so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this.
Do you see what God has dished out for me?
It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach!
Everything in me is repulsed by it—
it makes me sick.
Pressed Past the Limits
8-13 “All I want is an answer to one prayer,
a last request to be honored:
Let God step on me—squash me like a bug,
and be done with me for good.
I’d at least have the satisfaction
of not having blasphemed the Holy God,
before being pressed past the limits.
Where’s the strength to keep my hopes up?
What future do I have to keep me going?
Do you think I have nerves of steel?
Do you think I’m made of iron?
Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps?
Why, I don’t even have any boots!
My So-Called Friends
14-23 “When desperate people give up on God Almighty,
their friends, at least, should stick with them.
But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert—
one day they’re gushing with water
From melting ice and snow
cascading out of the mountains,
But by midsummer they’re dry,
gullies baked dry in the sun.
Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink
end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!
They get there, and their faces fall!
And you, my so-called friends, are no better—
there’s nothing to you!
One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It’s not as though I asked you for anything—
I didn’t ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
So why all this dodging and shuffling?
24-27 “Confront me with the truth and I’ll shut up,
show me where I’ve gone off the track.
Honest words never hurt anyone,
but what’s the point of all this pious bluster?
You pretend to tell me what’s wrong with my life,
but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
Are people mere things to you?
Are friends just items of profit and loss?
28-30 “Look me in the eyes!
Do you think I’d lie to your face?
Think it over—no double-talk!
Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!
Can you detect anything false in what I say?
Don’t you trust me to discern good from evil?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Read: Exodus 17:1–7
Water From the Rock
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Footnotes:
Exodus 17:7 Massah means testing.
Exodus 17:7 Meribah means quarreling.
INSIGHT
Three days after the Israelites left Egypt, the water they brought along was depleted. Finding no drinkable water in the Desert of Shur, they grumbled against Moses, and God miraculously made bitter water into good water (Ex. 15:22–25). Soon their food supplies ran out, and they complained again. God miraculously fed them with manna and quail (16:1–36). As they approached Sinai, they complained yet again of no water (17:1–2). God had already shown them He could provide the water and food they needed. All they had to do was to trust Him! (Deut. 8:2; Ps. 81:7–8).
Consider how God has been faithful to provide for your physical needs. How has He satisfied your spiritual thirst? - Sim Kay Tee
Surviving the Wilderness
By Dennis Fisher
The message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Hebrews 4:2
In the 1960s, the Kingston Trio released a song called “Desert Pete.” The ballad tells of a thirsty cowboy who is crossing the desert and finds a hand pump. Next to it, Desert Pete has left a note urging the reader not to drink the water in the jar left there but to use its contents to prime the pump.
The cowboy resists the temptation to drink and uses the water as the note instructs. In reward for his obedience, he receives an abundance of cold, satisfying water. Had he not acted in faith, he would have had only a jar of unsatisfying, warm water to drink.
Help us to place our trust in You, Lord. You are what our heart thirsts after.
This reminds me of Israel’s journey through the wilderness. When their thirst became overwhelming (Ex. 17:1–7), Moses sought the Lord. He was told to strike the rock of Horeb with his staff. Moses believed and obeyed, and water gushed from the stone.
Sadly, Israel would not consistently follow Moses’s example of faith. Ultimately, “the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed” (Heb. 4:2).
Sometimes life can seem like an arid desert. But God can quench our spiritual thirst in the most unlikely circumstances. When by faith we believe the promises of God’s Word, we can experience rivers of living water and grace for our daily needs.
Help us to place our trust in You, Lord. You are what our heart thirsts after.
Only Jesus, the Living Water, can satisfy our thirst for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “…Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside…to the right or the left…” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Laser Giving - #8033
We were far from home in Phoenix, Arizona, living in New Jersey, when my wife had a gall bladder crisis. In fact, she was going to have to have her gall bladder removed. Well, I wasn't too happy about that happening so far from home, but God was in it. Because our friend who we were there with at a conference said, "Well, I just had this surgery not long ago, and our doctor here is one of the few in the country (at that time anyway) who is an expert at doing gall bladder surgery with lasers. Really? Well, instead of the six weeks that I thought my wife was going to have to recuperate in Arizona, why she was up and around in a very few days, because of the amazing power of a laser. Think about that. I mean, lasers can penetrate steel. They can help you get better eye sight, or take care of a gall bladder that needs to come out. It's pretty amazing power. Now, diffused light can't do that; only the focused light can do it. If my wife had been under just diffused light all that time, it wouldn't do anything about her gall bladder. But it took the focused light - that powerful energy - to really change things. There's awesome power when you focus the energy on one thing.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Laser Giving."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Philippians 1 beginning in verse 4, where Paul says, "In all my prayers for you I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now." Imagine being partners with the spread of the Gospel through a dynamo like the Apostle Paul.
At the end of his letter in chapter 4 and beginning at verse 13, he writes about their support. He says, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength, yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only: for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account."
Now these people found a piece of God's work, the Apostle Paul, and they invested heavily in it and they received great dividends. They lasered their giving on this one missionary. All of his fruit, all the people Paul reached; all that was credited to their eternal account. See, you and I live in a world that hits us with more causes than you could ever support. Think of that stack of mail you get from Christian organizations. Now, there's a pattern. You're like, "I don't know how I can possibly support all these things." Well, you cant. Isn't it a better idea to get a lot of stock in a few eternal investments?
I remember when my wife's grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Her Grandma had all these records that we went through and we found her list of "Giving and Praying" it was all about the organizations she really believed in. It started out in real tiny script. That list probably went back to the 1940's and then the print got larger as her eyes began to fail, and at the age of 99 she was still praying for and giving to the same ministries. God laid that on her heart and here was 50 years of praying and 50 years of canceled checks to match. She was a partner in the Gospel.
Now in our self-focused generation, we've lost that excitement of sharing stock in Eternity, Inc. My friend, Jeff, a baby boomer said, "I have decided I am drawing a line in my checkbook and that's all we really need to live on and from thereon I'm putting it into the work of God."
Would you ask the Lord for a piece of his broken heart for this broken world, for a particular need, for some group, for some area of the world? I encourage you to ask God for a few spiritual works or people who you could really believe in, and pray for them and stick with them and give to them. Laser your giving!
The way to have a winning part of God's work on earth is to have a lot of stock in a few eternal investments. See, diffused energy doesn't make much of a difference, but lasered energy changes everything. You know what? You laser your giving, you'll be reaping dividends forever.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Job 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: HEAVEN’S HELPERS
Have your prayers been met with a silent sky? Have you prayed and heard nothing? If so, don’t give up! Are you floundering in the land between an offered and an answered prayer?
What the angel said to Daniel, God says to you: “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard” (Daniel 10:12 NIV). You have been heard in heaven. Reinforcements have been rallied. God promises in Isaiah 49:25, “I will contend with him who contends with you.” Do what Daniel did, and remain before the Lord.
The Scripture promises, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not be weary,
They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
“He God has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go” (Psalm 91:11 NCV).
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 5
Don’t Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong
1-7 “Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer!
To which of the holy angels will you turn?
The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him,
the jealous anger of a simpleton does her in.
I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots,
and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.
Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited,
with no one to stick up for them.
Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests,
cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all,
insatiable for everything they have.
Don’t blame fate when things go wrong—
trouble doesn’t come from nowhere.
It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble,
as certainly as sparks fly upward.
What a Blessing When God Corrects You!
8-16 “If I were in your shoes, I’d go straight to God,
I’d throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he’s famous for great and unexpected acts;
there’s no end to his surprises.
He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth,
sends water to irrigate the fields.
He raises up the down-and-out,
gives firm footing to those sinking in grief.
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks,
so that none of their plots come to term.
He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies—
all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash!
Suddenly they’re disoriented, plunged into darkness;
they can’t see to put one foot in front of the other.
But the downtrodden are saved by God,
saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist.
And so the poor continue to hope,
while injustice is bound and gagged.
17-19 “So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
Mind you, don’t despise the discipline of Almighty God!
True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;
the same hand that hurts you, heals you.
From one disaster after another he delivers you;
no matter what the calamity, the evil can’t touch you—
20-26 “In famine, he’ll keep you from starving,
in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You’ll be protected from vicious gossip
and live fearless through any catastrophe.
You’ll shrug off disaster and famine,
and stroll fearlessly among wild animals.
You’ll be on good terms with rocks and mountains;
wild animals will become your good friends.
You’ll know that your place on earth is safe,
you’ll look over your goods and find nothing amiss.
You’ll see your children grow up,
your family lovely and lissome as orchard grass.
You’ll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years,
like sheaves of golden grain at harvest.
27 “Yes, this is the way things are—my word of honor!
Take it to heart and you won’t go wrong.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Read: Matthew 25:31–40
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
INSIGHT
Matthew 25:31–40 is a powerful reminder of Jesus’s care for those who are hurting. In fact, since the “least of these” (v. 40) in Matthew consistently refers to followers of Jesus (see 10:42; 18:6), the passage implies we are likely to find true believers in Jesus in circumstances of great suffering. Those who are not in such suffering are judged on their willingness to serve and join with those who are. When they do, they encounter Jesus Himself (v. 40).
When have you most strongly experienced the presence of Jesus through being with someone who was suffering? -Monica Brands
Jesus in Disguise
By Amy Boucher Pye |
Whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me. Matthew 25:40
When a friend cared for her housebound mother-in-law, she asked her what she longed for the most. Her mother-in-law said, “For my feet to be washed.” My friend admitted, “How I hated that job! Each time she asked me to do it I was resentful, and would ask God to hide my feelings from her.”
But one day her grumbling attitude changed in a flash. As she got out the bowl and towel and knelt at her mother-in-law’s feet, she said, “I looked up, and for a moment I felt like I was washing the feet of Jesus Himself. She was Jesus in disguise!” After that, she felt honored to wash her mother-in-law’s feet.
Jesus, help me to love others in Your name.
When I heard this moving account, I thought of Jesus’s story about the end of time that He taught on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The King welcomes into His kingdom His sons and daughters, saying that when they visited the sick or fed the hungry, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40). We too serve Jesus Himself when we visit those in prison or give clothes to the needy.
Today, might you echo my friend, who now wonders when she meets someone new, “Are you Jesus in disguise?”
Lord Jesus Christ, You can transform the most mundane of tasks. Help me to love others in Your name.
When we serve others, we serve Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
The Proper Perspective
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ… —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37).
“We are to God the fragrance of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Blowing The Lid Off - #8032
One of the great privileges of my life was serving in the leadership of the Northern New Jersey Billy Graham Crusade in the Meadowlands. Now, for many of us who had been trying to reach people in this very hard corner of America, it was thrilling to see that arena nearly full on that opening Wednesday night. The arena seats 18,000 people, and filling it in Jesus' name was a victory of historic proportions for our area. By Thursday, it was totally full. But I was strangely restless. See, by faith, we had set up 8,000 chairs and a jumbo-tron video screen in the parking lot just in case there was overflow. It looked like we wouldn't need it – as the press so graciously reminded us. Even though we were seeing unprecedented attendances and spiritual harvests, I felt led to pull together several of our Crusade leaders after the second night. After thanking God for all He had done, I asked them to pray with me a prayer I had never prayed before. "Lord, if anyone other than You is holding a lid on this thing, if there's even more You want to do, would You blow the lid off!"
The next night the arena filled pretty quickly. I was on the platform, seated next to Dr. Graham, when they handed him a note. He showed it to me. It said, "There are 13, 000 in overflow!" Dr. Graham said, "I think you should go see it." Well, I did. And what a sight! Eight thousand chairs full, 5,000 people standing, sitting on car hoods, on the ground, even on the porta-johns, and Billy Graham preaching the Gospel on the big screen! It looked like a cross between the feeding of the 5,000 and a drive-in movie. And the rate of response that night was higher in the parking lot than it even was indoors! So much for that lid!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Blowing The Lid Off."
You might be saying, "Well, that's a wonderful page from your spiritual scrapbook, Ron. Thanks for sharing." No. It's actually a wonderful lesson in a way God may want you to be praying right now. Our word for today from the Word of God, Ephesians 3:20, where God is being praised as "Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us." A few verses earlier Paul has said, "I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name."
Paul says, "The God to whom we pray is one awesome God. And He can do so much more than we can imagine!" Which leads us to the kind of prayer that I learned to pray that night in the arena – the "blow the lid off" prayer. It's for those situations where the Holy Spirit seems to say, "I have more for you, much more." I'm convinced that we often are under-living because we're under- praying. We are praying under the mighty thing that God really wants to do.
So for your family, for your ministry, for that unreachable person, for that relationship, for that huge need, for that mission impossible – as the Spirit leads, pray something like this, "Father, if anyone other than you is holding a lid on what's happening here, blow the lid off in Jesus' Name." Now, that kind of God-sized faith may unlock a God-sized answer that will not only blow the lid off – it will blow you away!
Let's believe God for the kind of breakout, the kind of breakthrough, the kind of miracle that only He can do!
Have your prayers been met with a silent sky? Have you prayed and heard nothing? If so, don’t give up! Are you floundering in the land between an offered and an answered prayer?
What the angel said to Daniel, God says to you: “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard” (Daniel 10:12 NIV). You have been heard in heaven. Reinforcements have been rallied. God promises in Isaiah 49:25, “I will contend with him who contends with you.” Do what Daniel did, and remain before the Lord.
The Scripture promises, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not be weary,
They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
“He God has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go” (Psalm 91:11 NCV).
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 5
Don’t Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong
1-7 “Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer!
To which of the holy angels will you turn?
The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him,
the jealous anger of a simpleton does her in.
I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots,
and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.
Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited,
with no one to stick up for them.
Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests,
cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all,
insatiable for everything they have.
Don’t blame fate when things go wrong—
trouble doesn’t come from nowhere.
It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble,
as certainly as sparks fly upward.
What a Blessing When God Corrects You!
8-16 “If I were in your shoes, I’d go straight to God,
I’d throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he’s famous for great and unexpected acts;
there’s no end to his surprises.
He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth,
sends water to irrigate the fields.
He raises up the down-and-out,
gives firm footing to those sinking in grief.
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks,
so that none of their plots come to term.
He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies—
all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash!
Suddenly they’re disoriented, plunged into darkness;
they can’t see to put one foot in front of the other.
But the downtrodden are saved by God,
saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist.
And so the poor continue to hope,
while injustice is bound and gagged.
17-19 “So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
Mind you, don’t despise the discipline of Almighty God!
True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;
the same hand that hurts you, heals you.
From one disaster after another he delivers you;
no matter what the calamity, the evil can’t touch you—
20-26 “In famine, he’ll keep you from starving,
in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You’ll be protected from vicious gossip
and live fearless through any catastrophe.
You’ll shrug off disaster and famine,
and stroll fearlessly among wild animals.
You’ll be on good terms with rocks and mountains;
wild animals will become your good friends.
You’ll know that your place on earth is safe,
you’ll look over your goods and find nothing amiss.
You’ll see your children grow up,
your family lovely and lissome as orchard grass.
You’ll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years,
like sheaves of golden grain at harvest.
27 “Yes, this is the way things are—my word of honor!
Take it to heart and you won’t go wrong.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Read: Matthew 25:31–40
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
INSIGHT
Matthew 25:31–40 is a powerful reminder of Jesus’s care for those who are hurting. In fact, since the “least of these” (v. 40) in Matthew consistently refers to followers of Jesus (see 10:42; 18:6), the passage implies we are likely to find true believers in Jesus in circumstances of great suffering. Those who are not in such suffering are judged on their willingness to serve and join with those who are. When they do, they encounter Jesus Himself (v. 40).
When have you most strongly experienced the presence of Jesus through being with someone who was suffering? -Monica Brands
Jesus in Disguise
By Amy Boucher Pye |
Whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me. Matthew 25:40
When a friend cared for her housebound mother-in-law, she asked her what she longed for the most. Her mother-in-law said, “For my feet to be washed.” My friend admitted, “How I hated that job! Each time she asked me to do it I was resentful, and would ask God to hide my feelings from her.”
But one day her grumbling attitude changed in a flash. As she got out the bowl and towel and knelt at her mother-in-law’s feet, she said, “I looked up, and for a moment I felt like I was washing the feet of Jesus Himself. She was Jesus in disguise!” After that, she felt honored to wash her mother-in-law’s feet.
Jesus, help me to love others in Your name.
When I heard this moving account, I thought of Jesus’s story about the end of time that He taught on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The King welcomes into His kingdom His sons and daughters, saying that when they visited the sick or fed the hungry, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40). We too serve Jesus Himself when we visit those in prison or give clothes to the needy.
Today, might you echo my friend, who now wonders when she meets someone new, “Are you Jesus in disguise?”
Lord Jesus Christ, You can transform the most mundane of tasks. Help me to love others in Your name.
When we serve others, we serve Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
The Proper Perspective
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ… —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37).
“We are to God the fragrance of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Blowing The Lid Off - #8032
One of the great privileges of my life was serving in the leadership of the Northern New Jersey Billy Graham Crusade in the Meadowlands. Now, for many of us who had been trying to reach people in this very hard corner of America, it was thrilling to see that arena nearly full on that opening Wednesday night. The arena seats 18,000 people, and filling it in Jesus' name was a victory of historic proportions for our area. By Thursday, it was totally full. But I was strangely restless. See, by faith, we had set up 8,000 chairs and a jumbo-tron video screen in the parking lot just in case there was overflow. It looked like we wouldn't need it – as the press so graciously reminded us. Even though we were seeing unprecedented attendances and spiritual harvests, I felt led to pull together several of our Crusade leaders after the second night. After thanking God for all He had done, I asked them to pray with me a prayer I had never prayed before. "Lord, if anyone other than You is holding a lid on this thing, if there's even more You want to do, would You blow the lid off!"
The next night the arena filled pretty quickly. I was on the platform, seated next to Dr. Graham, when they handed him a note. He showed it to me. It said, "There are 13, 000 in overflow!" Dr. Graham said, "I think you should go see it." Well, I did. And what a sight! Eight thousand chairs full, 5,000 people standing, sitting on car hoods, on the ground, even on the porta-johns, and Billy Graham preaching the Gospel on the big screen! It looked like a cross between the feeding of the 5,000 and a drive-in movie. And the rate of response that night was higher in the parking lot than it even was indoors! So much for that lid!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Blowing The Lid Off."
You might be saying, "Well, that's a wonderful page from your spiritual scrapbook, Ron. Thanks for sharing." No. It's actually a wonderful lesson in a way God may want you to be praying right now. Our word for today from the Word of God, Ephesians 3:20, where God is being praised as "Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us." A few verses earlier Paul has said, "I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name."
Paul says, "The God to whom we pray is one awesome God. And He can do so much more than we can imagine!" Which leads us to the kind of prayer that I learned to pray that night in the arena – the "blow the lid off" prayer. It's for those situations where the Holy Spirit seems to say, "I have more for you, much more." I'm convinced that we often are under-living because we're under- praying. We are praying under the mighty thing that God really wants to do.
So for your family, for your ministry, for that unreachable person, for that relationship, for that huge need, for that mission impossible – as the Spirit leads, pray something like this, "Father, if anyone other than you is holding a lid on what's happening here, blow the lid off in Jesus' Name." Now, that kind of God-sized faith may unlock a God-sized answer that will not only blow the lid off – it will blow you away!
Let's believe God for the kind of breakout, the kind of breakthrough, the kind of miracle that only He can do!
Monday, October 23, 2017
Job 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS’ VINTAGE OF PEACE
Jesus promises you his vintage of peace! A peace that “guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). God takes responsibility for the hearts and minds of those who believe in him. As we celebrate him and pray to him, he constructs a fortress around our hearts and minds, protecting us from the attacks of the devil.
As the verse from the ancient hymn declares: A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing: Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. Martin Luther wrote these words centuries after the apostle Paul had written his epistles. Yet had Paul heard the hymn, he would have sung it with hearty conviction. He knew firsthand the peace and protection of God. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. . .do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27 NIV).
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 4
Eliphaz Speaks Out
Now You’re the One in Trouble
1-6 Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:
“Would you mind if I said something to you?
Under the circumstances it’s hard to keep quiet.
You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words
that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit.
Your words have put stumbling people on their feet,
put fresh hope in people about to collapse.
But now you’re the one in trouble—you’re hurting!
You’ve been hit hard and you’re reeling from the blow.
But shouldn’t your devout life give you confidence now?
Shouldn’t your exemplary life give you hope?
7-11 “Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap?
Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?
It’s my observation that those who plow evil
and sow trouble reap evil and trouble.
One breath from God and they fall apart,
one blast of his anger and there’s nothing left of them.
The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily,
but when he’s toothless he’s useless—
No teeth, no prey—and the cubs
wander off to fend for themselves.
12-16 “A word came to me in secret—
a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly.
It came in a scary dream one night,
after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.
Dread stared me in the face, and Terror.
I was scared to death—I shook from head to foot.
A spirit glided right in front of me—
the hair on my head stood on end.
I couldn’t tell what it was that appeared there—
a blur . . . and then I heard a muffled voice:
17-21 “‘How can mere mortals be more righteous than God?
How can humans be purer than their Creator?
Why, God doesn’t even trust his own servants,
doesn’t even cheer his angels,
So how much less these bodies composed of mud,
fragile as moths?
These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow,
and no one even notices—gone without a trace.
When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses—
we die and are never the wiser for having lived.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 23, 2017
Read: Genesis 33:1–11
1-4 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”
6-7 Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
8 Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”
“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”
9 Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”
10-11 Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.
INSIGHT
Over twenty “one another” statements in the New Testament call us to focus on the needs of others. We are challenged to love, pray for, serve, comfort, and forgive one another.
This week, will you watch for ways to extend love and grace to others through His Spirit? - Bill Crowder
Brother to Brother
By Tim Gustafson
A new command I give you: Love one another. John 13:34
My brother and I, less than a year apart in age, were quite “competitive” growing up (translation: we fought!). Dad understood. He had brothers. Mom? Not so much.
Our story could have fit in the book of Genesis, which might well be subtitled A Brief History of Sibling Rivalry. Cain and Abel (Gen. 4); Isaac and Ishmael (21:8–10); Joseph and everyone not named Benjamin (ch. 37). But for brother-to-brother animosity, it’s hard to beat Jacob and Esau.
A new command I give you: Love one another. John 13:34
Esau’s twin brother had cheated him twice, so he wanted to kill Jacob (27:41). Decades later Jacob and Esau would reconcile (ch. 33). But the rivalry continued on in their descendants, who became the nations of Edom and Israel. When the people of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, Edom met them with threats and an army (Num. 20:14–21). Much later, as Jerusalem’s citizens fled invading forces, Edom slaughtered the refugees (Obad. 1:10–14).
Happily for us, the Bible contains not just the sad account of our brokenness but the story of God’s redemption as well. Jesus changed everything, telling His disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another” (John 13:34). Then He showed us what that means by dying for us.
As my brother and I got older, we became close. That’s the thing with God. When we respond to the forgiveness He offers, His grace can transform our sibling rivalries into brotherly love.
Lord, we invite You to transform our relationships with Your healing love.
Sibling rivalry is natural. God’s love is supernatural.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 23, 2017
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind…is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.
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 23, 2017
Starting Where You Are - #8031
They often give you one when you check into some sprawling motel complex, or a big theme park, or a large convention facility. It's a map of the place. And for the directionally challenged like me, there's one important thing I look for on that map. It's that "X" and those very helpful words, "You are here". See, you're not helping me very much by just giving me a drawing of where everything is. In order for me to use that to get where I want to go, I need that one fundamental piece of information-where am I right now?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Starting Where You Are."
It is important to know exactly where you are when you're trying to get to a destination, and when you're trying to get to God. In fact, the failure to talk to God about where you really are may explain why He seems a little farther away than He once did-a little less real than He once did.
Hebrews 4:16 is God's powerful invitation to come boldly to His "throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." The verses that precede this promise of God's total availability have to do with our total honesty. Hebrews 4 beginning in verse 12 is our word for today from the Word of God, and it begins by saying that God's Word "is sharper than any double-edged sword." In other words it opens up our soul surgically and exposes what's really inside.
Verse 13 goes on to say, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." So you might as well come to God totally unmasked, because there's nothing He doesn't know about you. If you talk to Him about how you're honestly feeling, He's not going to say, "Oh, you're kidding! Really? I didn't know that!" No, it's understandable why you may not tell other people how you're really feeling; they might think less of you. But God already knows, and there's nothing you can do to make God love you more or love you less.
In fact, these words go on to remind us that "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence." Why? Because God already knows all about us, and because we are coming to the Father through a Savior who has felt all the feelings of being human.
You might say, "Well, God already knows, why do I need to tell Him?" So you can open up that part of your heart and your life to His cleansing, His restoring, and His healing. He only goes where He's invited. Maybe you've been saying, "Well, God doesn't seem real to me right now." Maybe He's saying the same thing to you; you're coming to Him all religious, all together, and all dressed up. If God doesn't seem real to you, maybe it's because you aren't being real with Him. You aren't starting where you really are. You're coming as you think you're supposed to be.
Tell it all to your Lord, won't you? Tell Him where you're hurting, tell Him where you're afraid, tell Him where you feel like giving up, where you're angry, where you can't forgive, where you can't fight anymore, where you can't understand, where you're desperate for love. Tell Him when you're spiritually flat. See, He already knows, but He's waiting for you to open up that part of you so He can bring in His mercy and His grace and His love.
Your spiritual drifting, your distance from God, your unnecessary pain may be because you've been coming to God without the real you. You need to get your map out and mark where you are right now. Then your Lord will take you from there to where you need to be. When Jesus says, "If you will open the door, I will come in" He invites us to come just as we are with a lifetime of sin and doubt that He died to pay for on a cross, and then prove that He could give us eternal life by walking out of His grave under His own power.
There's an old hymn that expresses this very well the only way to come to Him. "Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me; and that Thou bidst me come to Thee. O Lamb of God, I come."
Jesus promises you his vintage of peace! A peace that “guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). God takes responsibility for the hearts and minds of those who believe in him. As we celebrate him and pray to him, he constructs a fortress around our hearts and minds, protecting us from the attacks of the devil.
As the verse from the ancient hymn declares: A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing: Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. Martin Luther wrote these words centuries after the apostle Paul had written his epistles. Yet had Paul heard the hymn, he would have sung it with hearty conviction. He knew firsthand the peace and protection of God. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. . .do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27 NIV).
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Job 4
Eliphaz Speaks Out
Now You’re the One in Trouble
1-6 Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:
“Would you mind if I said something to you?
Under the circumstances it’s hard to keep quiet.
You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words
that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit.
Your words have put stumbling people on their feet,
put fresh hope in people about to collapse.
But now you’re the one in trouble—you’re hurting!
You’ve been hit hard and you’re reeling from the blow.
But shouldn’t your devout life give you confidence now?
Shouldn’t your exemplary life give you hope?
7-11 “Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap?
Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?
It’s my observation that those who plow evil
and sow trouble reap evil and trouble.
One breath from God and they fall apart,
one blast of his anger and there’s nothing left of them.
The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily,
but when he’s toothless he’s useless—
No teeth, no prey—and the cubs
wander off to fend for themselves.
12-16 “A word came to me in secret—
a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly.
It came in a scary dream one night,
after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.
Dread stared me in the face, and Terror.
I was scared to death—I shook from head to foot.
A spirit glided right in front of me—
the hair on my head stood on end.
I couldn’t tell what it was that appeared there—
a blur . . . and then I heard a muffled voice:
17-21 “‘How can mere mortals be more righteous than God?
How can humans be purer than their Creator?
Why, God doesn’t even trust his own servants,
doesn’t even cheer his angels,
So how much less these bodies composed of mud,
fragile as moths?
These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow,
and no one even notices—gone without a trace.
When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses—
we die and are never the wiser for having lived.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 23, 2017
Read: Genesis 33:1–11
1-4 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”
6-7 Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
8 Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”
“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”
9 Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”
10-11 Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.
INSIGHT
Over twenty “one another” statements in the New Testament call us to focus on the needs of others. We are challenged to love, pray for, serve, comfort, and forgive one another.
This week, will you watch for ways to extend love and grace to others through His Spirit? - Bill Crowder
Brother to Brother
By Tim Gustafson
A new command I give you: Love one another. John 13:34
My brother and I, less than a year apart in age, were quite “competitive” growing up (translation: we fought!). Dad understood. He had brothers. Mom? Not so much.
Our story could have fit in the book of Genesis, which might well be subtitled A Brief History of Sibling Rivalry. Cain and Abel (Gen. 4); Isaac and Ishmael (21:8–10); Joseph and everyone not named Benjamin (ch. 37). But for brother-to-brother animosity, it’s hard to beat Jacob and Esau.
A new command I give you: Love one another. John 13:34
Esau’s twin brother had cheated him twice, so he wanted to kill Jacob (27:41). Decades later Jacob and Esau would reconcile (ch. 33). But the rivalry continued on in their descendants, who became the nations of Edom and Israel. When the people of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, Edom met them with threats and an army (Num. 20:14–21). Much later, as Jerusalem’s citizens fled invading forces, Edom slaughtered the refugees (Obad. 1:10–14).
Happily for us, the Bible contains not just the sad account of our brokenness but the story of God’s redemption as well. Jesus changed everything, telling His disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another” (John 13:34). Then He showed us what that means by dying for us.
As my brother and I got older, we became close. That’s the thing with God. When we respond to the forgiveness He offers, His grace can transform our sibling rivalries into brotherly love.
Lord, we invite You to transform our relationships with Your healing love.
Sibling rivalry is natural. God’s love is supernatural.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 23, 2017
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind…is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.
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 23, 2017
Starting Where You Are - #8031
They often give you one when you check into some sprawling motel complex, or a big theme park, or a large convention facility. It's a map of the place. And for the directionally challenged like me, there's one important thing I look for on that map. It's that "X" and those very helpful words, "You are here". See, you're not helping me very much by just giving me a drawing of where everything is. In order for me to use that to get where I want to go, I need that one fundamental piece of information-where am I right now?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Starting Where You Are."
It is important to know exactly where you are when you're trying to get to a destination, and when you're trying to get to God. In fact, the failure to talk to God about where you really are may explain why He seems a little farther away than He once did-a little less real than He once did.
Hebrews 4:16 is God's powerful invitation to come boldly to His "throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." The verses that precede this promise of God's total availability have to do with our total honesty. Hebrews 4 beginning in verse 12 is our word for today from the Word of God, and it begins by saying that God's Word "is sharper than any double-edged sword." In other words it opens up our soul surgically and exposes what's really inside.
Verse 13 goes on to say, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." So you might as well come to God totally unmasked, because there's nothing He doesn't know about you. If you talk to Him about how you're honestly feeling, He's not going to say, "Oh, you're kidding! Really? I didn't know that!" No, it's understandable why you may not tell other people how you're really feeling; they might think less of you. But God already knows, and there's nothing you can do to make God love you more or love you less.
In fact, these words go on to remind us that "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence." Why? Because God already knows all about us, and because we are coming to the Father through a Savior who has felt all the feelings of being human.
You might say, "Well, God already knows, why do I need to tell Him?" So you can open up that part of your heart and your life to His cleansing, His restoring, and His healing. He only goes where He's invited. Maybe you've been saying, "Well, God doesn't seem real to me right now." Maybe He's saying the same thing to you; you're coming to Him all religious, all together, and all dressed up. If God doesn't seem real to you, maybe it's because you aren't being real with Him. You aren't starting where you really are. You're coming as you think you're supposed to be.
Tell it all to your Lord, won't you? Tell Him where you're hurting, tell Him where you're afraid, tell Him where you feel like giving up, where you're angry, where you can't forgive, where you can't fight anymore, where you can't understand, where you're desperate for love. Tell Him when you're spiritually flat. See, He already knows, but He's waiting for you to open up that part of you so He can bring in His mercy and His grace and His love.
Your spiritual drifting, your distance from God, your unnecessary pain may be because you've been coming to God without the real you. You need to get your map out and mark where you are right now. Then your Lord will take you from there to where you need to be. When Jesus says, "If you will open the door, I will come in" He invites us to come just as we are with a lifetime of sin and doubt that He died to pay for on a cross, and then prove that He could give us eternal life by walking out of His grave under His own power.
There's an old hymn that expresses this very well the only way to come to Him. "Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me; and that Thou bidst me come to Thee. O Lamb of God, I come."
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Job 3 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: "Oh, Daddy!"
When my eldest daughter was 13, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents' hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. "Oh, Daddy." That was enough for me. At that moment I'd have given her the moon. All she said was, "Oh Daddy!"
Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt, "Oh Daddy!" Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.
Here's my prayer challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com for a simple prayer. Then every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes-it'll change your life forever!
Before Amen
Job 3
Job Cries Out
What’s the Point of Life?
1-2 Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:
3-10 “Obliterate the day I was born.
Blank out the night I was conceived!
Let it be a black hole in space.
May God above forget it ever happened.
Erase it from the books!
May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness,
shrouded by the fog,
swallowed by the night.
And the night of my conception—the devil take it!
Rip the date off the calendar,
delete it from the almanac.
Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness—
no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever!
May those who are good at cursing curse that day.
Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it.
May its morning stars turn to black cinders,
waiting for a daylight that never comes,
never once seeing the first light of dawn.
And why? Because it released me from my mother’s womb
into a life with so much trouble.
11-19 “Why didn’t I die at birth,
my first breath out of the womb my last?
Why were there arms to rock me,
and breasts for me to drink from?
I could be resting in peace right now,
asleep forever, feeling no pain,
In the company of kings and statesmen
in their royal ruins,
Or with princes resplendent
in their gold and silver tombs.
Why wasn’t I stillborn and buried
with all the babies who never saw light,
Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone
and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest?
Prisoners sleep undisturbed,
never again to wake up to the bark of the guards.
The small and the great are equals in that place,
and slaves are free from their masters.
20-23 “Why does God bother giving light to the miserable,
why bother keeping bitter people alive,
Those who want in the worst way to die, and can’t,
who can’t imagine anything better than death,
Who count the day of their death and burial
the happiest day of their life?
What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense,
when God blocks all the roads to meaning?
24-26 “Instead of bread I get groans for my supper,
then leave the table and vomit my anguish.
The worst of my fears has come true,
what I’ve dreaded most has happened.
My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed.
No rest for me, ever—death has invaded life.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Read: John 15:9–17
“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.
INSIGHT
Have you ever wondered how Jesus could command His disciples to love anyone? How can you force people of varying backgrounds and interests to care for one another?
Such instruction probably won’t make sense until we understand what kind of a king Jesus was—and what kind of relationship He had with His Father. He wasn’t saying, “I’ll love you if you love me.” That’s not the way His relationship with His Father worked. He knew His Father loved Him. When He loved and obeyed His Father’s commands, it was because Jesus knew and listened to His Father’s heart. In the Spirit of our God, we love our King—and one another—because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). - Mart DeHaan
Love of Another Kind
By Joe Stowell
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12
One of my favorite churches started several years ago as a ministry to ex-prisoners who were transitioning back into society. Now the church flourishes with people from all walks of life. I love that church because it reminds me of what I picture heaven will be like—filled with different kinds of people, all redeemed sinners, all bound together by the love of Jesus.
Sometimes, though, I wonder if church seems more like an exclusive club than a safe haven for forgiven sinners. As people naturally gravitate into groups of “a certain kind” and cluster around those they feel comfortable with, it leaves others feeling marginalized. But that’s not what Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples to “love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). His church was to be an extension of His love mutually shared with all.
Share Christ’s love with another.
If hurting, rejected people can find loving refuge, comfort, and forgiveness in Jesus, they should expect no less from the church. So let’s exhibit the love of Jesus to everyone we encounter—especially those who are not like us. All around us are people Jesus wants to love through us. What a joy it is when people unite to worship together in love—a slice of heaven we can enjoy here on earth!
Lord, remind me today that while I was a sinner You embraced me with Your deep and unconditional love and brought me into the fellowship of Your grace. Lead me to someone I can love as You loved me.
Share Christ’s love with another.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 22, 2017
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit… —Romans 8:16
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
When my eldest daughter was 13, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents' hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. "Oh, Daddy." That was enough for me. At that moment I'd have given her the moon. All she said was, "Oh Daddy!"
Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt, "Oh Daddy!" Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.
Here's my prayer challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com for a simple prayer. Then every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes-it'll change your life forever!
Before Amen
Job 3
Job Cries Out
What’s the Point of Life?
1-2 Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:
3-10 “Obliterate the day I was born.
Blank out the night I was conceived!
Let it be a black hole in space.
May God above forget it ever happened.
Erase it from the books!
May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness,
shrouded by the fog,
swallowed by the night.
And the night of my conception—the devil take it!
Rip the date off the calendar,
delete it from the almanac.
Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness—
no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever!
May those who are good at cursing curse that day.
Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it.
May its morning stars turn to black cinders,
waiting for a daylight that never comes,
never once seeing the first light of dawn.
And why? Because it released me from my mother’s womb
into a life with so much trouble.
11-19 “Why didn’t I die at birth,
my first breath out of the womb my last?
Why were there arms to rock me,
and breasts for me to drink from?
I could be resting in peace right now,
asleep forever, feeling no pain,
In the company of kings and statesmen
in their royal ruins,
Or with princes resplendent
in their gold and silver tombs.
Why wasn’t I stillborn and buried
with all the babies who never saw light,
Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone
and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest?
Prisoners sleep undisturbed,
never again to wake up to the bark of the guards.
The small and the great are equals in that place,
and slaves are free from their masters.
20-23 “Why does God bother giving light to the miserable,
why bother keeping bitter people alive,
Those who want in the worst way to die, and can’t,
who can’t imagine anything better than death,
Who count the day of their death and burial
the happiest day of their life?
What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense,
when God blocks all the roads to meaning?
24-26 “Instead of bread I get groans for my supper,
then leave the table and vomit my anguish.
The worst of my fears has come true,
what I’ve dreaded most has happened.
My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed.
No rest for me, ever—death has invaded life.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Read: John 15:9–17
“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.
INSIGHT
Have you ever wondered how Jesus could command His disciples to love anyone? How can you force people of varying backgrounds and interests to care for one another?
Such instruction probably won’t make sense until we understand what kind of a king Jesus was—and what kind of relationship He had with His Father. He wasn’t saying, “I’ll love you if you love me.” That’s not the way His relationship with His Father worked. He knew His Father loved Him. When He loved and obeyed His Father’s commands, it was because Jesus knew and listened to His Father’s heart. In the Spirit of our God, we love our King—and one another—because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). - Mart DeHaan
Love of Another Kind
By Joe Stowell
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12
One of my favorite churches started several years ago as a ministry to ex-prisoners who were transitioning back into society. Now the church flourishes with people from all walks of life. I love that church because it reminds me of what I picture heaven will be like—filled with different kinds of people, all redeemed sinners, all bound together by the love of Jesus.
Sometimes, though, I wonder if church seems more like an exclusive club than a safe haven for forgiven sinners. As people naturally gravitate into groups of “a certain kind” and cluster around those they feel comfortable with, it leaves others feeling marginalized. But that’s not what Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples to “love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). His church was to be an extension of His love mutually shared with all.
Share Christ’s love with another.
If hurting, rejected people can find loving refuge, comfort, and forgiveness in Jesus, they should expect no less from the church. So let’s exhibit the love of Jesus to everyone we encounter—especially those who are not like us. All around us are people Jesus wants to love through us. What a joy it is when people unite to worship together in love—a slice of heaven we can enjoy here on earth!
Lord, remind me today that while I was a sinner You embraced me with Your deep and unconditional love and brought me into the fellowship of Your grace. Lead me to someone I can love as You loved me.
Share Christ’s love with another.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 22, 2017
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit… —Romans 8:16
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Matthew 8:1-17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Approaching God
Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy! And how do children approach their daddies? I went to a school playground to find out. When a five-year-old spots his father in the parking lot, how does he react?
"Yippee!" screamed a redheaded boy wearing a Batman backpack.
"Pop!" Over here! Push me!" yelled a boy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap who scooted straight to the swings.
Here's what I didn't hear: "Father, it is most gracious of thee to drive thy car to my place of education. Please know of my deep gratitude for your benevolence. For thou art splendid in they attentive care and diligent in they dedication."
I heard kids who were happy to see their dads and eager to speak to them! God invites us to approach Him in the same manner. What a relief!
Before Amen
He Carried Our Diseases
8 1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Read: Proverbs 18:10–11
God’s name is a place of protection—
good people can run there and be safe.
11 The rich think their wealth protects them;
they imagine themselves safe behind it.
INSIGHT
One of the greatest biblical descriptions of a truly “safe place” is found in the familiar words of Psalm 23. Some scholars envision David writing this Shepherd-psalm while still a young boy, perhaps lying under a star-filled night sky. Others see so much maturity and wisdom in the song that they imagine Psalm 23 as the reflections of an elderly person who has lived long and learned much. Either way, the song clearly describes David’s “safe place.” It was a place of provision (v. 1); a place of green pastures and quiet, relaxing waters (v. 2); and a place for spiritual restoration and spiritual guidance (v. 3). But, most of all, it was a place where David experienced the presence of God, who removed all his fear and provided deep comfort (v. 4). - Bill Crowder
Your Safe Place
By Elisa Morgan
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
My daughter and I were arranging to attend an extended family gathering. Because she was nervous about the trip, I offered to drive. “Okay. But I feel safer in my car. Can you drive it?” she asked. I assumed she preferred her more spacious vehicle to my compact one so I responded, “Is my car too cramped?” “No, it’s just that my car is my safe place. Somehow I feel protected there.”
Her comment challenged me to consider my own personal “safe place.” Immediately I thought of Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” In Old Testament times, the walls and watchtower of a city provided warning of danger from without and shielding for its citizens within. The writer’s point is that God’s name, which stands for His character, person, and everything that He is, provides true protection for His people.
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
Certain physical places promise longed-for safety in moments that seem dangerous. A sturdy roof overhead in the midst of a storm. A hospital offering medical care. The embrace of a loved one.
What is your “safe place”? Wherever we seek safety, it is God’s presence with us in that place that provides the strength and protection we really need.
Dear God, thank You that no matter what worries and concerns we have today, when we think about You, we find safety in Your presence.
Where is your safe place? Share at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God is a safe place in life’s storms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith… —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman— an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R
Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy! And how do children approach their daddies? I went to a school playground to find out. When a five-year-old spots his father in the parking lot, how does he react?
"Yippee!" screamed a redheaded boy wearing a Batman backpack.
"Pop!" Over here! Push me!" yelled a boy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap who scooted straight to the swings.
Here's what I didn't hear: "Father, it is most gracious of thee to drive thy car to my place of education. Please know of my deep gratitude for your benevolence. For thou art splendid in they attentive care and diligent in they dedication."
I heard kids who were happy to see their dads and eager to speak to them! God invites us to approach Him in the same manner. What a relief!
Before Amen
He Carried Our Diseases
8 1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Read: Proverbs 18:10–11
God’s name is a place of protection—
good people can run there and be safe.
11 The rich think their wealth protects them;
they imagine themselves safe behind it.
INSIGHT
One of the greatest biblical descriptions of a truly “safe place” is found in the familiar words of Psalm 23. Some scholars envision David writing this Shepherd-psalm while still a young boy, perhaps lying under a star-filled night sky. Others see so much maturity and wisdom in the song that they imagine Psalm 23 as the reflections of an elderly person who has lived long and learned much. Either way, the song clearly describes David’s “safe place.” It was a place of provision (v. 1); a place of green pastures and quiet, relaxing waters (v. 2); and a place for spiritual restoration and spiritual guidance (v. 3). But, most of all, it was a place where David experienced the presence of God, who removed all his fear and provided deep comfort (v. 4). - Bill Crowder
Your Safe Place
By Elisa Morgan
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
My daughter and I were arranging to attend an extended family gathering. Because she was nervous about the trip, I offered to drive. “Okay. But I feel safer in my car. Can you drive it?” she asked. I assumed she preferred her more spacious vehicle to my compact one so I responded, “Is my car too cramped?” “No, it’s just that my car is my safe place. Somehow I feel protected there.”
Her comment challenged me to consider my own personal “safe place.” Immediately I thought of Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” In Old Testament times, the walls and watchtower of a city provided warning of danger from without and shielding for its citizens within. The writer’s point is that God’s name, which stands for His character, person, and everything that He is, provides true protection for His people.
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
Certain physical places promise longed-for safety in moments that seem dangerous. A sturdy roof overhead in the midst of a storm. A hospital offering medical care. The embrace of a loved one.
What is your “safe place”? Wherever we seek safety, it is God’s presence with us in that place that provides the strength and protection we really need.
Dear God, thank You that no matter what worries and concerns we have today, when we think about You, we find safety in Your presence.
Where is your safe place? Share at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God is a safe place in life’s storms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith… —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman— an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R
Matthew 7 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Approaching God
Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy! And how do children approach their daddies? I went to a school playground to find out. When a five-year-old spots his father in the parking lot, how does he react?
"Yippee!" screamed a redheaded boy wearing a Batman backpack.
"Pop!" Over here! Push me!" yelled a boy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap who scooted straight to the swings.
Here's what I didn't hear: "Father, it is most gracious of thee to drive thy car to my place of education. Please know of my deep gratitude for your benevolence. For thou art splendid in they attentive care and diligent in they dedication."
I heard kids who were happy to see their dads and eager to speak to them! God invites us to approach Him in the same manner. What a relief!
Before Amen
He Carried Our Diseases
8 1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Read: Proverbs 18:10–11
God’s name is a place of protection—
good people can run there and be safe.
11 The rich think their wealth protects them;
they imagine themselves safe behind it.
INSIGHT
One of the greatest biblical descriptions of a truly “safe place” is found in the familiar words of Psalm 23. Some scholars envision David writing this Shepherd-psalm while still a young boy, perhaps lying under a star-filled night sky. Others see so much maturity and wisdom in the song that they imagine Psalm 23 as the reflections of an elderly person who has lived long and learned much. Either way, the song clearly describes David’s “safe place.” It was a place of provision (v. 1); a place of green pastures and quiet, relaxing waters (v. 2); and a place for spiritual restoration and spiritual guidance (v. 3). But, most of all, it was a place where David experienced the presence of God, who removed all his fear and provided deep comfort (v. 4). - Bill Crowder
Your Safe Place
By Elisa Morgan
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
My daughter and I were arranging to attend an extended family gathering. Because she was nervous about the trip, I offered to drive. “Okay. But I feel safer in my car. Can you drive it?” she asked. I assumed she preferred her more spacious vehicle to my compact one so I responded, “Is my car too cramped?” “No, it’s just that my car is my safe place. Somehow I feel protected there.”
Her comment challenged me to consider my own personal “safe place.” Immediately I thought of Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” In Old Testament times, the walls and watchtower of a city provided warning of danger from without and shielding for its citizens within. The writer’s point is that God’s name, which stands for His character, person, and everything that He is, provides true protection for His people.
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
Certain physical places promise longed-for safety in moments that seem dangerous. A sturdy roof overhead in the midst of a storm. A hospital offering medical care. The embrace of a loved one.
What is your “safe place”? Wherever we seek safety, it is God’s presence with us in that place that provides the strength and protection we really need.
Dear God, thank You that no matter what worries and concerns we have today, when we think about You, we find safety in Your presence.
Where is your safe place? Share at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God is a safe place in life’s storms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith… —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman— an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R
Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy! And how do children approach their daddies? I went to a school playground to find out. When a five-year-old spots his father in the parking lot, how does he react?
"Yippee!" screamed a redheaded boy wearing a Batman backpack.
"Pop!" Over here! Push me!" yelled a boy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap who scooted straight to the swings.
Here's what I didn't hear: "Father, it is most gracious of thee to drive thy car to my place of education. Please know of my deep gratitude for your benevolence. For thou art splendid in they attentive care and diligent in they dedication."
I heard kids who were happy to see their dads and eager to speak to them! God invites us to approach Him in the same manner. What a relief!
Before Amen
He Carried Our Diseases
8 1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Read: Proverbs 18:10–11
God’s name is a place of protection—
good people can run there and be safe.
11 The rich think their wealth protects them;
they imagine themselves safe behind it.
INSIGHT
One of the greatest biblical descriptions of a truly “safe place” is found in the familiar words of Psalm 23. Some scholars envision David writing this Shepherd-psalm while still a young boy, perhaps lying under a star-filled night sky. Others see so much maturity and wisdom in the song that they imagine Psalm 23 as the reflections of an elderly person who has lived long and learned much. Either way, the song clearly describes David’s “safe place.” It was a place of provision (v. 1); a place of green pastures and quiet, relaxing waters (v. 2); and a place for spiritual restoration and spiritual guidance (v. 3). But, most of all, it was a place where David experienced the presence of God, who removed all his fear and provided deep comfort (v. 4). - Bill Crowder
Your Safe Place
By Elisa Morgan
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
My daughter and I were arranging to attend an extended family gathering. Because she was nervous about the trip, I offered to drive. “Okay. But I feel safer in my car. Can you drive it?” she asked. I assumed she preferred her more spacious vehicle to my compact one so I responded, “Is my car too cramped?” “No, it’s just that my car is my safe place. Somehow I feel protected there.”
Her comment challenged me to consider my own personal “safe place.” Immediately I thought of Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” In Old Testament times, the walls and watchtower of a city provided warning of danger from without and shielding for its citizens within. The writer’s point is that God’s name, which stands for His character, person, and everything that He is, provides true protection for His people.
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10
Certain physical places promise longed-for safety in moments that seem dangerous. A sturdy roof overhead in the midst of a storm. A hospital offering medical care. The embrace of a loved one.
What is your “safe place”? Wherever we seek safety, it is God’s presence with us in that place that provides the strength and protection we really need.
Dear God, thank You that no matter what worries and concerns we have today, when we think about You, we find safety in Your presence.
Where is your safe place? Share at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God is a safe place in life’s storms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith… —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman— an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R
Friday, October 20, 2017
Matthew 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE PERFECT STORM
When mariners describe a tempest no sailor can escape, they call it a perfect storm. Not perfect in the sense of ideal. But perfect in the sense of combining contributing factors. You don’t need to be a fisherman to experience a perfect storm. All you need is a layoff plus a recession. A disease plus a breakup. We can handle one challenge—but two or three at a time? It’s enough to make you wonder, will I survive?
Paul’s answer to that question is profound and concise. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). This is not a peace from God. Our Father gives us the very peace of God. We should be upset, but we aren’t. The peace of God transcends all logic. This kind of peace is not a human achievement. It is a gift from above. A perfect gift for the perfect storm!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Matthew 7
Judging Others
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
True and False Prophets
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 20, 2017
Read: Psalm 27:1–4
A David Psalm
Light, space, zest—
that’s God!
So, with him on my side I’m fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.
2 When vandal hordes ride down
ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
fall flat on their faces.
3 When besieged,
I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I’m collected and cool.
4 I’m asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I’ll contemplate his beauty;
I’ll study at his feet.
INSIGHT
God is worthy of our faith, hope, and confidence; His power and presence are the foundation of many of the Old Testament stories. But sometimes life makes us question what we know. It's hard to see these truths about God when life is hard. That's when we need to view our experience through the lens of Scripture.
David does just that in Psalm 27. Despite having been anointed king by Samuel, he is living as a vagrant and fugitive. Even though he is on the run and enemy armies are pursuing him (vv. 2–3), he is confident in the Lord (v. 3). It is just then—when David’s immediate experience suggests hopelessness—that he rests in the power and protection of the Lord. Turning his eyes away from his circumstances and toward the Lord bolstered David’s confidence. His one desire was not to be vindicated in front of his enemies, but to be in the presence of the Lord (v. 4). Turning to the Lord is what gave him confidence in the day of trouble (v. 5).
Where does your experience need to be understood through the lens of Scripture? What truth about God do you need to be reminded of today? - J.R. Hudberg
When Beauty Never Ends
By James Banks
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Psalm 63:3
I love looking at the Grand Canyon. Whenever I stand at the canyon rim I see new brushstrokes of God’s handiwork that take my breath away.
Even though it’s just a (very large) “hole” in the ground, the Grand Canyon causes me to reflect on heaven. A very honest twelve-year-old asked me once, “Won’t heaven be boring? Don’t you think we’ll get tired of praising God all the time?” But if a “hole in the ground” can be so overwhelmingly beautiful we can’t stop looking at it, we can only imagine the joy of one day seeing the very Source of beauty—our loving Creator—in all of the pristine wonder of the new creation.
We were created to enjoy God forever.
David expressed this longing when he wrote, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord” (Ps. 27:4). There’s nothing more beautiful than the presence of God, which draws near to us on this earth as we seek Him by faith, looking forward to seeing Him face to face.
On that day we’ll never tire of praising our amazing Lord, because we will never come to an end of fresh, new discoveries of His exquisite goodness and the wonders of the works of His hands. Every moment in His presence will bring a breathtaking revelation of His beauty and His love.
Beautiful Savior, please help me to seek You every day and to live even now in Your presence and Your love.
We were created to enjoy God forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 20, 2017
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification… —1 Thessalonians 4:3
Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.
All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 20, 2017
How Immunization Can Cost You Your Life - #8030
Today's children have barely even heard of the disease, but when I was a kid, it was every parent's greatest fear for their child - that crippling, sometimes deadly disease called polio. I can distinctly remember how my mother didn't even want me to be in big crowds because of how polio seemed to spread so quickly. But then along came the vaccine. We all got our shots and we were immune to polio. Since then, there are a lot more shots like that for everything from smallpox, to tetanus, to the flu. And they all work basically on the same principle; in essence, you get a little of the virus injected into your system so that your body will build up an immunity to what could otherwise cripple you or kill you. That kind of immunization can save your life. But, on the other hand, immunization can be really dangerous spiritually…even deadly.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Immunization Can Cost You Your Life."
Yep, we are talking spiritual immunization - the kind where you get injected with just enough Christianity to immunize you to your personal need for Jesus Christ. Literally, all you know about Jesus can spiritually kill you, if it numbs you and keeps you from acting on what Jesus did on the cross for you.
That's why we have this warning in Hebrews 4:7, our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Let's say you've been around the message of Jesus a lot. You know - you agree - that all of us have a sin problem. We're in trouble with God; we're away from God because we have run our own lives instead of God running them. You know, and you agree that Jesus Christ, God's Son, loved us so much that He gave His life to pay our death penalty. You know and you agree that people need to put their trust in Jesus to make Him their personal Rescuer from their personal sin and its penalty.
And you have, as the verse says, "heard His voice." You have felt the tug of Jesus, urging you to give yourself to Him. But even though you know all about belonging to Jesus, you don't belong to Him. You agree with Him, but you've never really reached out to Him in the way that a drowning person grabs the lifeguard whose come to save them.
And every time you've heard about Jesus and you've done nothing, you've been unknowingly "hardening your heart" a little more. You've become almost immune to the prompting of the Holy Spirit when He says, "Hey, this is for you." You watch others come to Christ, but you never have. When someone asks people to come to Christ, you subconsciously are thinking, "Oh, that's for somebody else." Maybe not. Maybe today the call to come to Christ is finally for you.
Hear the words of God again, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart." In John 12, the Bible describes some people who it says "would not believe in Him" (John 12:37). Then it says ultimately "they could not believe" (John 12:39). You never know how close you are to the point of no return. So if you've never actually begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, why don't you do it right now? Do it right where you are.
This is the only opportunity you could be sure of. Do not harden your heart. The tug you feel is Jesus knocking on the door of your heart. Tell Him, "Jesus, I don't want to just agree with You or know about You. I want to know you. I want to belong to you.
Our website is a great place for you to go right now. It's a place to find exactly the information you need biblically to confirm that you actually have this relationship with Jesus. That is the key to being in heaven with Him some day. Would you go to ANewStory.com?
Immunity to Jesus can cost you your life - your eternal life in heaven. Before it's forever too late, please give yourself to this Savior that you've known about for so long.
When mariners describe a tempest no sailor can escape, they call it a perfect storm. Not perfect in the sense of ideal. But perfect in the sense of combining contributing factors. You don’t need to be a fisherman to experience a perfect storm. All you need is a layoff plus a recession. A disease plus a breakup. We can handle one challenge—but two or three at a time? It’s enough to make you wonder, will I survive?
Paul’s answer to that question is profound and concise. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). This is not a peace from God. Our Father gives us the very peace of God. We should be upset, but we aren’t. The peace of God transcends all logic. This kind of peace is not a human achievement. It is a gift from above. A perfect gift for the perfect storm!
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Matthew 7
Judging Others
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
True and False Prophets
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 20, 2017
Read: Psalm 27:1–4
A David Psalm
Light, space, zest—
that’s God!
So, with him on my side I’m fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.
2 When vandal hordes ride down
ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
fall flat on their faces.
3 When besieged,
I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I’m collected and cool.
4 I’m asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I’ll contemplate his beauty;
I’ll study at his feet.
INSIGHT
God is worthy of our faith, hope, and confidence; His power and presence are the foundation of many of the Old Testament stories. But sometimes life makes us question what we know. It's hard to see these truths about God when life is hard. That's when we need to view our experience through the lens of Scripture.
David does just that in Psalm 27. Despite having been anointed king by Samuel, he is living as a vagrant and fugitive. Even though he is on the run and enemy armies are pursuing him (vv. 2–3), he is confident in the Lord (v. 3). It is just then—when David’s immediate experience suggests hopelessness—that he rests in the power and protection of the Lord. Turning his eyes away from his circumstances and toward the Lord bolstered David’s confidence. His one desire was not to be vindicated in front of his enemies, but to be in the presence of the Lord (v. 4). Turning to the Lord is what gave him confidence in the day of trouble (v. 5).
Where does your experience need to be understood through the lens of Scripture? What truth about God do you need to be reminded of today? - J.R. Hudberg
When Beauty Never Ends
By James Banks
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Psalm 63:3
I love looking at the Grand Canyon. Whenever I stand at the canyon rim I see new brushstrokes of God’s handiwork that take my breath away.
Even though it’s just a (very large) “hole” in the ground, the Grand Canyon causes me to reflect on heaven. A very honest twelve-year-old asked me once, “Won’t heaven be boring? Don’t you think we’ll get tired of praising God all the time?” But if a “hole in the ground” can be so overwhelmingly beautiful we can’t stop looking at it, we can only imagine the joy of one day seeing the very Source of beauty—our loving Creator—in all of the pristine wonder of the new creation.
We were created to enjoy God forever.
David expressed this longing when he wrote, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord” (Ps. 27:4). There’s nothing more beautiful than the presence of God, which draws near to us on this earth as we seek Him by faith, looking forward to seeing Him face to face.
On that day we’ll never tire of praising our amazing Lord, because we will never come to an end of fresh, new discoveries of His exquisite goodness and the wonders of the works of His hands. Every moment in His presence will bring a breathtaking revelation of His beauty and His love.
Beautiful Savior, please help me to seek You every day and to live even now in Your presence and Your love.
We were created to enjoy God forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 20, 2017
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification… —1 Thessalonians 4:3
Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.
All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 20, 2017
How Immunization Can Cost You Your Life - #8030
Today's children have barely even heard of the disease, but when I was a kid, it was every parent's greatest fear for their child - that crippling, sometimes deadly disease called polio. I can distinctly remember how my mother didn't even want me to be in big crowds because of how polio seemed to spread so quickly. But then along came the vaccine. We all got our shots and we were immune to polio. Since then, there are a lot more shots like that for everything from smallpox, to tetanus, to the flu. And they all work basically on the same principle; in essence, you get a little of the virus injected into your system so that your body will build up an immunity to what could otherwise cripple you or kill you. That kind of immunization can save your life. But, on the other hand, immunization can be really dangerous spiritually…even deadly.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Immunization Can Cost You Your Life."
Yep, we are talking spiritual immunization - the kind where you get injected with just enough Christianity to immunize you to your personal need for Jesus Christ. Literally, all you know about Jesus can spiritually kill you, if it numbs you and keeps you from acting on what Jesus did on the cross for you.
That's why we have this warning in Hebrews 4:7, our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Let's say you've been around the message of Jesus a lot. You know - you agree - that all of us have a sin problem. We're in trouble with God; we're away from God because we have run our own lives instead of God running them. You know, and you agree that Jesus Christ, God's Son, loved us so much that He gave His life to pay our death penalty. You know and you agree that people need to put their trust in Jesus to make Him their personal Rescuer from their personal sin and its penalty.
And you have, as the verse says, "heard His voice." You have felt the tug of Jesus, urging you to give yourself to Him. But even though you know all about belonging to Jesus, you don't belong to Him. You agree with Him, but you've never really reached out to Him in the way that a drowning person grabs the lifeguard whose come to save them.
And every time you've heard about Jesus and you've done nothing, you've been unknowingly "hardening your heart" a little more. You've become almost immune to the prompting of the Holy Spirit when He says, "Hey, this is for you." You watch others come to Christ, but you never have. When someone asks people to come to Christ, you subconsciously are thinking, "Oh, that's for somebody else." Maybe not. Maybe today the call to come to Christ is finally for you.
Hear the words of God again, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart." In John 12, the Bible describes some people who it says "would not believe in Him" (John 12:37). Then it says ultimately "they could not believe" (John 12:39). You never know how close you are to the point of no return. So if you've never actually begun your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, why don't you do it right now? Do it right where you are.
This is the only opportunity you could be sure of. Do not harden your heart. The tug you feel is Jesus knocking on the door of your heart. Tell Him, "Jesus, I don't want to just agree with You or know about You. I want to know you. I want to belong to you.
Our website is a great place for you to go right now. It's a place to find exactly the information you need biblically to confirm that you actually have this relationship with Jesus. That is the key to being in heaven with Him some day. Would you go to ANewStory.com?
Immunity to Jesus can cost you your life - your eternal life in heaven. Before it's forever too late, please give yourself to this Savior that you've known about for so long.
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