Max Lucado Daily: Grace Comes After You ·
God’s grace! It has a wildness about it. A white-water, rip-tide, turn-you-upside-downess about it. Grace comes after you!
Some years ago I underwent a heart procedure. I asked the surgeon,
“You’re burning the interior of my heart, right?”
“Correct.”
“You intend to kill the misbehaving cells, yes?”
“That’s my plan.”
“As long as you’re in there, could you take your little blowtorch to some of my greed, selfishness, superiority, and guilt?”
He smiled, “Sorry, that’s out of my pay grade!”
But it’s not out of God’s! We’d be wrong to think this change happens overnight. We’d be equally wrong to assume change never happens at all. It may come in fits and spurts—but it comes!
Titus 2:11 says, “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared.”
You just never know when grace will seep in. Could you use some?
From GRACE
Mark 1:1-22
John the Baptizer
1 1-3 The good news of Jesus Christ—the Message!—begins here, following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher ahead of you;
He’ll make the road smooth for you.
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.
7-8 As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”
9-11 At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”
God’s Kingdom Is Here
12-13 At once, this same Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.
14-15 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.”
16-18 Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.
19-20 A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee’s sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.
Confident Teaching
21-22 Then they entered Capernaum. When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 03, 2018
Read: Genesis 1:26–31
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Footnotes:
Genesis 1:26 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Syriac); Masoretic Text the earth
INSIGHT
What does it mean that we are made in God’s image? We are like Him because we possess emotions, intellect, will, and conscience. We are also designed for relationship. In John 17:5 Jesus prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” This shared glory speaks of the eternal relationship between Christ and the Father. Just as there is relationship within the Godhead, we are made for relationship both with God and with one another. Being created in His image means we are not intended to live in isolation.
For more on being created in God’s image, check out the Discover the Word conversations, “Philemon: Plea from a Friend” at discovertheword.org/series/philemon-plea-from-a-friend. - Bill Crowder
Precious to God
By James Banks
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11
His name was David, but most just called him “the street fiddler.” David was a disheveled, older man who was a regular fixture in popular places in our city, serenading passers-by with unusual skill at his violin. In exchange for his music, listeners would sometimes place a dollar in the open instrument case before them on the sidewalk. David would smile and nod his head in thanks as he continued to play.
When David died recently and his obituary appeared in a local paper, it was revealed that he spoke several languages, was the graduate of a prestigious university, and had even run for the state senate years ago. Some expressed surprise at the extent of his accomplishments, having assessed him on the basis of appearance alone.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your wonderful love for me.
Scripture tells us that “God created mankind in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). This reveals an inherent worth within each of us, regardless of how we look, what we have achieved, or what others may think of us. Even when we chose to turn from God in our sinfulness, God valued us so much that He sent His only Son to show us the way to salvation and eternity with Him.
We are loved by God, and all around us are those who are precious to Him. May we express our love for Him in return by sharing His love with others.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your wonderful love for me. I pray that others may see Your love in my words and actions today.
God’s love is meant to be shared.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 03, 2018
His Commission to Us
Feed My sheep. —John 21:17
This is love in the making. The love of God is not created— it is His nature. When we receive the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit, He unites us with God so that His love is demonstrated in us. The goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not just to unite us with God, but to do it in such a way that we will be one with the Father in exactly the same way Jesus was. And what kind of oneness did Jesus Christ have with the Father? He had such a oneness with the Father that He was obedient when His Father sent Him down here to be poured out for us. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).
Peter now realizes that he does love Him, due to the revelation that came with the Lord’s piercing question. The Lord’s next point is— “Pour yourself out. Don’t testify about how much you love Me and don’t talk about the wonderful revelation you have had, just ‘Feed My sheep.’ ” Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions— I have to feed His sheep. We will not be delivered or released from His commission to us. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by following your own natural human emotions, sympathies, or understandings. That will only serve to revile and abuse the true love of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Friday, March 2, 2018
Exodus 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS SAYS “TRUST ME”
“Daddy, how much farther?” It’s the single question hated most by moms and dads on a trip. Our girls loved to watch The Little Mermaid, so Denalyn and I used the movie as an economy of scale. “How long, daddy?” they asked. And we’d respond, “About as long as it takes you to watch The Little Mermaid three times!” And for a few minutes it helped. But sooner or later they’d ask again and we’d say, “Just trust me. Enjoy the trip and don’t worry about the details. I’ll make sure we get home okay.”
Sound familiar? In John 14:1-3 Jesus says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. . .I will come back and take you to be with me. . .” Most all of his words here can be reduced to two: Trust me! A healthy reminder when it comes to anticipating the return of Christ!
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 26
The Dwelling
1-6 “Make The Dwelling itself from ten panels of tapestry woven from fine twisted linen, blue and purple and scarlet material, with an angel-cherubim design. A skilled craftsman should do it. The panels of tapestry are each to be forty-six feet long and six feet wide. Join five of the panels together, and then the other five together. Make loops of blue along the edge of the outside panel of the first set and the same on the outside panel of the second set. Make fifty loops on each panel. Then make fifty gold clasps and join the tapestries together so that The Dwelling is one whole.
7-11 “Next make tapestries of goat hair for a tent that will cover The Dwelling. Make eleven panels of these tapestries. The length of each panel will be forty-five feet long and six feet wide. Join five of the panels together, and then the other six. Fold the sixth panel double at the front of the tent. Now make fifty loops along the edge of the end panel and fifty loops along the edge of the joining panel. Make fifty clasps of bronze and connect the clasps with the loops, bringing the tent together.
12-14 “Hang half of the overlap of the tapestry panels over the rear of The Dwelling. The eighteen inches of overlap on either side will cover the sides of the tent. Finally, make a covering for the tapestries of tanned rams’ skins dyed red and over that a covering of dolphin skins.
15-25 “Frame The Dwelling with planks of acacia wood, each section of frame fifteen feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide, with two pegs for securing them. Make all the frames identical: twenty frames for the south side with forty silver sockets to receive the two pegs from each of the twenty frames; the same construction on the north side of The Dwelling; for the rear of The Dwelling, which faces west, make six frames with two additional frames for the rear corners. Both of the two corner frames need to be double in thickness from top to bottom and fit into a single ring—eight frames altogether with sixteen sockets of silver, two under each frame.
26-30 “Now make crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of The Dwelling, five for the other side, and five for the back side facing west. The center crossbar runs from end to end halfway up the frames. Cover the frames with a veneer of gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. And cover the crossbars with a veneer of gold. Then put The Dwelling together, following the design you were shown on the mountain.
31-35 “Make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. Have a design of angel-cherubim woven into it by a skilled craftsman. Fasten it with gold hooks to four posts of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold, set on four silver bases. After hanging the curtain from the clasps, bring the Chest of The Testimony in behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Holy-of-Holies. Now place the Atonement-Cover lid on the Chest of The Testimony in the Holy-of-Holies. Place the Table and the Lampstand outside the curtain, the Lampstand on the south side of The Dwelling and the Table opposite it on the north side.
36-37 “Make a screen for the door of the tent. Weave it from blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. Frame the weaving with five poles of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold and make gold hooks to hang the weaving. Cast five bronze bases for the poles.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 02, 2018
Read: 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
INSIGHT
As in today’s text, we find helpful teaching on prayer in Luke 18:1–8. The parable of the persistent widow contrasts the widow’s plight and a believer’s privilege. In this parable, the widow perseveres in getting an unjust judge to give her the justice she needs.
Like the widow, we’re desperately helpless. But unlike the widow, who is a stranger to the judge, we’re God's beloved children (Romans 8:16). The widow went to a court of law claiming man’s laws, but we approach the throne of grace claiming God’s promises (Hebrews 4:14–16). The callous judge didn’t care, but our heavenly Father cares deeply for us (1 Peter 5:7). She didn’t have easy access to the judge, but we have unhindered “access to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence” to talk with our Father and to ask for His help any time (Ephesians 3:12 nlt).
How does knowing we can talk with God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11) encourage you in your prayers? - K. T. Sim
Phone Zone
By Bill Crowder
Pray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
One of the benefits of cell phones is that we now have virtually unlimited access to others. As a result, many people talk on the phone or text even while driving—sometimes resulting in terrible car crashes. To avoid such disasters, many areas of the world have made distracted driving illegal. In the United States, highway signs are popping up to remind drivers of special cell phone zones where they can pull off the road to safely talk and text to their heart’s delight.
While it is a good idea to restrict mobile phone communication for drivers, there is another kind of communication that has no restrictions: prayer. God invites us to call on Him whether we are coming, going, or sitting still. In the New Testament, Paul’s words advise each person who wants to communicate with God to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Paul brackets this divine open-door policy by encouraging us to “rejoice always” (v. 16) and to “give thanks in all circumstances” (v. 18). God calls us to joy and thanksgiving—expressions of faith in God through Christ anchored in continual prayer.
God is available for a quick cry or for a lengthy conversation.
God is available for our quick cry or for a lengthy conversation. He welcomes us into a relationship with Him, a constant and endless sharing of our joys and gratitude, needs, questions, and concerns (Hebrews 4:15–16). We are always in the prayer zone.
I’m grateful, Lord, that You want to hear from me. I need You today.
Access to God’s throne is always open.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 02, 2018
Have You Felt the Pain Inflicted by the Lord?
He said to him the third time, "…do you love Me?" —John 21:17
Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.
Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 02, 2018
Not A Destination - #8125
Our friends own this historic New England inn, and we were privileged to be their guests there on occasion. We loved to go there. I mean, that quaint New England village with a lot of charm. Unfortunately, it's not real close to any major ski area or other attractions. So the hotel and motel owners there were doing OK, but they seldom would sell out. We can understand why our friends, the innkeepers, and the other hotel owners in the area weren't too excited about the news that a couple of major national motel chains would build in their town. There doesn't seem to be enough demand for rooms there to match all that supply. In fact, one point my friend kept making to the town fathers was this. He says, "This is a nice place, but this is not a destination."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not A Destination."
If you belong to Jesus Christ, you could look around your world right now and make that same observation. "This is a nice place, but this is not a destination!" See, once you've gotten a glimpse of eternity through your relationship with Christ, earth and earth-stuff should never look the same - never mean the same. Because this is not where we end up; this isn't home.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Peter is talking to people who have lost a lot. Many have been driven out of their hometown and their immediate futures are up for grabs. In 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 9, Peter reminds them, and us, of who they really are and where they really belong. "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God...Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires." The King James Version refers to us as "strangers and pilgrims in the world".
Well, however you say it, God's meaning is clear. This world is your temporary assignment from God, but it isn't home. This isn't a destination. It's a place you pass through. It's Hotel Earth. In the words of the old hymn, "This world is not my home. I'm just a passin' through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue."
The problem is that too many of us are living as if this is a place that we're staying, not just visiting. You can tell by how much earth-stuff we're accumulating, by how much time and effort and money we spend on things that will last only a lifetime instead of an eternity. By how seldom we tell people about Jesus and eternity, by the advice we give our children on what kind of lives they should aspire to. Strangers and pilgrims don't fill their arms with all this stuff and then start settling down in a place they know they're in for just a short time. For us eternity folks, that's what an earth-house is, an earth-car, an earth-job, an earth-position. It's all for a very short time.
Which means some of us should be de-cumulating, simplifying our lives so we're living more like we're passing through than settling in. A good question might be, "How can I put my earth-stuff to work for the Kingdom of God? Are there people who have very little who need what I have much of?"
Our great satisfaction should be in our giving, not our saving. We should be teaching our kids to live for what will be important in heaven forever instead of on earth for maybe 70 years. And as you look around, remember that all the people in your world are going to end up in one of two destinations forever depending on what they do with Jesus. If you know where their real destination is, you won't let any earth-issues keep you from telling them about how they can live forever.
Our getaway spot in New England was, as the innkeeper said, a beautiful place. It's just not a destination. There's a lot of beauty along the way on our earth-journey, but we're just passing through. Hold earth-stuff lightly. Don't hold a lot of it. Remember that earth-struggles are, at most, only temporary inconveniences.
So, stand back and look at your days, and your house, and your life and see what they're full of. Open up everything to your Lord. You don't want Him coming back some day and saying to you, "What's all this? This wasn't your destination."
“Daddy, how much farther?” It’s the single question hated most by moms and dads on a trip. Our girls loved to watch The Little Mermaid, so Denalyn and I used the movie as an economy of scale. “How long, daddy?” they asked. And we’d respond, “About as long as it takes you to watch The Little Mermaid three times!” And for a few minutes it helped. But sooner or later they’d ask again and we’d say, “Just trust me. Enjoy the trip and don’t worry about the details. I’ll make sure we get home okay.”
Sound familiar? In John 14:1-3 Jesus says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. . .I will come back and take you to be with me. . .” Most all of his words here can be reduced to two: Trust me! A healthy reminder when it comes to anticipating the return of Christ!
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 26
The Dwelling
1-6 “Make The Dwelling itself from ten panels of tapestry woven from fine twisted linen, blue and purple and scarlet material, with an angel-cherubim design. A skilled craftsman should do it. The panels of tapestry are each to be forty-six feet long and six feet wide. Join five of the panels together, and then the other five together. Make loops of blue along the edge of the outside panel of the first set and the same on the outside panel of the second set. Make fifty loops on each panel. Then make fifty gold clasps and join the tapestries together so that The Dwelling is one whole.
7-11 “Next make tapestries of goat hair for a tent that will cover The Dwelling. Make eleven panels of these tapestries. The length of each panel will be forty-five feet long and six feet wide. Join five of the panels together, and then the other six. Fold the sixth panel double at the front of the tent. Now make fifty loops along the edge of the end panel and fifty loops along the edge of the joining panel. Make fifty clasps of bronze and connect the clasps with the loops, bringing the tent together.
12-14 “Hang half of the overlap of the tapestry panels over the rear of The Dwelling. The eighteen inches of overlap on either side will cover the sides of the tent. Finally, make a covering for the tapestries of tanned rams’ skins dyed red and over that a covering of dolphin skins.
15-25 “Frame The Dwelling with planks of acacia wood, each section of frame fifteen feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide, with two pegs for securing them. Make all the frames identical: twenty frames for the south side with forty silver sockets to receive the two pegs from each of the twenty frames; the same construction on the north side of The Dwelling; for the rear of The Dwelling, which faces west, make six frames with two additional frames for the rear corners. Both of the two corner frames need to be double in thickness from top to bottom and fit into a single ring—eight frames altogether with sixteen sockets of silver, two under each frame.
26-30 “Now make crossbars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of The Dwelling, five for the other side, and five for the back side facing west. The center crossbar runs from end to end halfway up the frames. Cover the frames with a veneer of gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. And cover the crossbars with a veneer of gold. Then put The Dwelling together, following the design you were shown on the mountain.
31-35 “Make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. Have a design of angel-cherubim woven into it by a skilled craftsman. Fasten it with gold hooks to four posts of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold, set on four silver bases. After hanging the curtain from the clasps, bring the Chest of The Testimony in behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Holy-of-Holies. Now place the Atonement-Cover lid on the Chest of The Testimony in the Holy-of-Holies. Place the Table and the Lampstand outside the curtain, the Lampstand on the south side of The Dwelling and the Table opposite it on the north side.
36-37 “Make a screen for the door of the tent. Weave it from blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. Frame the weaving with five poles of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold and make gold hooks to hang the weaving. Cast five bronze bases for the poles.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 02, 2018
Read: 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
INSIGHT
As in today’s text, we find helpful teaching on prayer in Luke 18:1–8. The parable of the persistent widow contrasts the widow’s plight and a believer’s privilege. In this parable, the widow perseveres in getting an unjust judge to give her the justice she needs.
Like the widow, we’re desperately helpless. But unlike the widow, who is a stranger to the judge, we’re God's beloved children (Romans 8:16). The widow went to a court of law claiming man’s laws, but we approach the throne of grace claiming God’s promises (Hebrews 4:14–16). The callous judge didn’t care, but our heavenly Father cares deeply for us (1 Peter 5:7). She didn’t have easy access to the judge, but we have unhindered “access to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence” to talk with our Father and to ask for His help any time (Ephesians 3:12 nlt).
How does knowing we can talk with God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11) encourage you in your prayers? - K. T. Sim
Phone Zone
By Bill Crowder
Pray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
One of the benefits of cell phones is that we now have virtually unlimited access to others. As a result, many people talk on the phone or text even while driving—sometimes resulting in terrible car crashes. To avoid such disasters, many areas of the world have made distracted driving illegal. In the United States, highway signs are popping up to remind drivers of special cell phone zones where they can pull off the road to safely talk and text to their heart’s delight.
While it is a good idea to restrict mobile phone communication for drivers, there is another kind of communication that has no restrictions: prayer. God invites us to call on Him whether we are coming, going, or sitting still. In the New Testament, Paul’s words advise each person who wants to communicate with God to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Paul brackets this divine open-door policy by encouraging us to “rejoice always” (v. 16) and to “give thanks in all circumstances” (v. 18). God calls us to joy and thanksgiving—expressions of faith in God through Christ anchored in continual prayer.
God is available for a quick cry or for a lengthy conversation.
God is available for our quick cry or for a lengthy conversation. He welcomes us into a relationship with Him, a constant and endless sharing of our joys and gratitude, needs, questions, and concerns (Hebrews 4:15–16). We are always in the prayer zone.
I’m grateful, Lord, that You want to hear from me. I need You today.
Access to God’s throne is always open.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 02, 2018
Have You Felt the Pain Inflicted by the Lord?
He said to him the third time, "…do you love Me?" —John 21:17
Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.
Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 02, 2018
Not A Destination - #8125
Our friends own this historic New England inn, and we were privileged to be their guests there on occasion. We loved to go there. I mean, that quaint New England village with a lot of charm. Unfortunately, it's not real close to any major ski area or other attractions. So the hotel and motel owners there were doing OK, but they seldom would sell out. We can understand why our friends, the innkeepers, and the other hotel owners in the area weren't too excited about the news that a couple of major national motel chains would build in their town. There doesn't seem to be enough demand for rooms there to match all that supply. In fact, one point my friend kept making to the town fathers was this. He says, "This is a nice place, but this is not a destination."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not A Destination."
If you belong to Jesus Christ, you could look around your world right now and make that same observation. "This is a nice place, but this is not a destination!" See, once you've gotten a glimpse of eternity through your relationship with Christ, earth and earth-stuff should never look the same - never mean the same. Because this is not where we end up; this isn't home.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Peter is talking to people who have lost a lot. Many have been driven out of their hometown and their immediate futures are up for grabs. In 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 9, Peter reminds them, and us, of who they really are and where they really belong. "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God...Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires." The King James Version refers to us as "strangers and pilgrims in the world".
Well, however you say it, God's meaning is clear. This world is your temporary assignment from God, but it isn't home. This isn't a destination. It's a place you pass through. It's Hotel Earth. In the words of the old hymn, "This world is not my home. I'm just a passin' through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue."
The problem is that too many of us are living as if this is a place that we're staying, not just visiting. You can tell by how much earth-stuff we're accumulating, by how much time and effort and money we spend on things that will last only a lifetime instead of an eternity. By how seldom we tell people about Jesus and eternity, by the advice we give our children on what kind of lives they should aspire to. Strangers and pilgrims don't fill their arms with all this stuff and then start settling down in a place they know they're in for just a short time. For us eternity folks, that's what an earth-house is, an earth-car, an earth-job, an earth-position. It's all for a very short time.
Which means some of us should be de-cumulating, simplifying our lives so we're living more like we're passing through than settling in. A good question might be, "How can I put my earth-stuff to work for the Kingdom of God? Are there people who have very little who need what I have much of?"
Our great satisfaction should be in our giving, not our saving. We should be teaching our kids to live for what will be important in heaven forever instead of on earth for maybe 70 years. And as you look around, remember that all the people in your world are going to end up in one of two destinations forever depending on what they do with Jesus. If you know where their real destination is, you won't let any earth-issues keep you from telling them about how they can live forever.
Our getaway spot in New England was, as the innkeeper said, a beautiful place. It's just not a destination. There's a lot of beauty along the way on our earth-journey, but we're just passing through. Hold earth-stuff lightly. Don't hold a lot of it. Remember that earth-struggles are, at most, only temporary inconveniences.
So, stand back and look at your days, and your house, and your life and see what they're full of. Open up everything to your Lord. You don't want Him coming back some day and saying to you, "What's all this? This wasn't your destination."
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Exodus 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHAT’S YOUR WORD
If you summarized your emotions regarding the return of Christ what word would you use? Discomfort…denial…disappointment…or hope? Maybe your word is discomfort. After all, the Book of Life will be opened, and names will be read. How could the thought of His return bring anything but discomfort? Maybe it’s denial? We prefer answers and explanations, and the end of time seems short on both. Or how about disappointment? A mother-to-be wants to hold her baby; an engaged couple want to be married. A soldier overseas wants to go home before he goes… home!
Discomfort. Denial. Disappointment. All possible feelings. But here is the one feeling Christ wants us to have– trust! Jesus says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in Me” (John 14:1).
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 25
Instructions on the Mountain: The Offerings
1-9 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites that they are to set aside offerings for me. Receive the offerings from everyone who is willing to give. These are the offerings I want you to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats’ hair; tanned rams’ skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. Let them construct a Sanctuary for me so that I can live among them. You are to construct it following the plans I’ve given you, the design for The Dwelling and the design for all its furnishings.
The Chest
10-15 “First let them make a Chest using acacia wood: make it three and three-quarters feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide and deep. Cover it with a veneer of pure gold inside and out and make a molding of gold all around it. Cast four gold rings and attach them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Make poles from acacia wood and cover them with a veneer of gold and insert them into the rings on the sides of the Chest for carrying the Chest. The poles are to stay in the rings; they must not be removed.
16 “Place The Testimony that I give you in the Chest.
17 “Now make a lid of pure gold for the Chest, an Atonement-Cover, three and three-quarters feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide.
18-22 “Sculpt two winged angels out of hammered gold for either end of the Atonement-Cover, one angel at one end, one angel at the other. Make them of one piece with the Atonement-Cover. Make the angels with their wings spread, hovering over the Atonement-Cover, facing one another but looking down on it. Set the Atonement-Cover as a lid over the Chest and place in the Chest The Testimony that I will give you. I will meet you there at set times and speak with you from above the Atonement-Cover and from between the angel-figures that are on it, speaking the commands that I have for the Israelites.
The Table
23-28 “Next make a Table from acacia wood. Make it three feet long, one and one-half feet wide and two and one-quarter feet high. Cover it with a veneer of pure gold. Make a molding all around it of gold. Make the border a handbreadth wide all around it and a rim of gold for the border. Make four rings of gold and attach the rings to the four legs parallel to the tabletop. They will serve as holders for the poles used to carry the Table. Make the poles of acacia wood and cover them with a veneer of gold. They will be used to carry the Table.
29 “Make plates, bowls, jars, and jugs for pouring out offerings. Make them of pure gold.
30 “Always keep fresh Bread of the Presence on the Table before me.
The Lampstand
31-36 “Make a Lampstand of pure hammered gold. Make its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece. Give it six branches, three from one side and three from the other; put three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, three on the next, and so on—the same for all six branches. On the main stem of the Lampstand, make four cups shaped like almonds, with calyx and petals, a calyx extending from under each pair of the six branches, the entire Lampstand fashioned from one piece of hammered pure gold.
37-38 “Make seven of these lamps for the Table. Arrange the lamps so they throw their light out in front. Make the candle snuffers and trays out of pure gold.
39-40 “Use a seventy-five-pound brick of pure gold to make the Lampstand and its accessories. Study the design you were given on the mountain and make everything accordingly.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Read: Matthew 6:25–34
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height
INSIGHT
We see God’s loving care and provision for His people throughout the Bible. A quick look at the Psalms confirms it. In Psalm 23, we read: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (v. 4). And Psalm 55:22 tells us to “cast [our] cares on the Lord and he will sustain [us].” Likewise, Psalm 91 assures us that God is our refuge and even commands His angels to guard us (vv. 9–11). “He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (95:7).
What concern can you entrust to Him?
We Won’t Break
By Xochitl Dixon
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:27
As a native Californian and lover of all things sunny, I shy away from all things cold. I do, however, enjoy beautiful photos of snow. So I couldn’t help but smile when my friend from Illinois shared a winter picture of a sapling outside her window. Admiration turned to sadness when I noticed its bare, knotted branches bowing under the heavy fringe of sparkling icicles.
How long could those bending boughs endure before breaking under their icy burdens? The heaviness threatening to crack the tree’s limbs reminded me of my shoulders, hunched beneath the weight of worries.
We never have to worry, Lord, because You never fail to meet our deepest needs.
After Jesus affirms that the greatest treasures are not earthly or temporary, He encourages us to release our anxious thoughts. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe loves and provides for His children, so we don’t have to waste our precious time worrying. God knows our needs and will care for us (Matthew 6:19–32).
He also knows we’ll be tempted to succumb to worry. He tells us to come to Him first, trust His presence and provision in the present, and live by faith one day at a time (vv. 33–34).
In this life, we’ll face overwhelming troubles and uncertainties that can make our shoulders droop. We may temporarily bend under the weight of worrying. But when we trust God, we won’t break.
Thanks for assuring us that we never have to worry, Lord, because You never fail to meet our deepest needs.
Worry won’t break us when we trust the Giver of all good things.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 01, 2018
The Piercing Question
Do you love Me? —John 21:17
Peter’s response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35; also see Matthew 26:33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within our inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confesses his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).
Unless we are experiencing the hurt of facing every deception about ourselves, we have hindered the work of the Word of God in our lives. The Word of God inflicts hurt on us more than sin ever could, because sin dulls our senses. But this question of the Lord intensifies our sensitivities to the point that this hurt produced by Jesus is the most exquisite pain conceivable. It hurts not only on the natural level, but also on the deeper spiritual level. “For the Word of God is living and powerful…, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…”— to the point that no deception can remain (Hebrews 4:12). When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible to think and respond properly, because when the Lord speaks directly to us, the pain is too intense. It causes such a tremendous hurt that any part of our life which may be out of line with His will can feel the pain. There is never any mistaking the pain of the Lord’s Word by His children, but the moment that pain is felt is the very moment at which God reveals His truth to us.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 01, 2018
The Thirst That's Never Quenched - #8124
He may have been the greatest American hero of his time; his name was Meriwether Lewis. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the massive Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, the size of this young country was more than doubled overnight. The land stretched from the Mississippi all the way to the Pacific, and much of it was known well to Native Americans but largely unknown to white Americans. Jefferson tapped his personal aide and a distinguished war veteran to lead this incredible adventure that we know today as, that's right, the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Following the long and winding route of the Missouri River, Lewis led his expedition all the way from the point where it ends near St. Louis to its headwaters in Montana. His longtime dream had been to find the source of that river and to drink from it. He got his dream. If only it had satisfied his thirst.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Thirst That's Never Quenched."
In a letter to a friend after he reached that pinnacle, Meriwether Lewis wrote these words: "I feel all that restlessness, which I cannot help but thinking proceeds from that void in our hearts. Whence it comes I know not, but certain it is, that I have never felt less like a hero than at the present moment." Shortly thereafter, Meriwether Lewis died of what is believed to be his own suicide.
He accomplished his greatest goals; he drank the sweet water of success and conquest and had the admiration of thousands. But he still had not found what fills what he called "that void in our hearts." Maybe you know that feeling. If you haven't gotten what you've been pursuing, you know, maybe a relationship, an accomplishment, a position, and you think that's why you have this incurable restlessness. If you've gotten what you thought would fill that hole in your heart and the hole is still there, guess what the next stop is? Despair.
But ultimately the void is in our hearts because God isn't. In the Bible's words, we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). But we haven't lived for Him. Again, according to the Bible, 100% of us have basically done life our way, not God's way. So we're missing Him. I wish I could get into a time machine and go back and talk to Meriwether Lewis and help him understand who he was restless for.
That's not possible, but God has put you and me together today, maybe because He wants to show you how the thirst in your soul can finally end by drinking from the Source; by experiencing for yourself, not a religion, but a personal love relationship with the God who put you here.
He says in Isaiah 55:2, our word for today from the Word of God, "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." Jesus, God's Son, who died to pay the penalty for you and me hijacking our life from God, made this promise: "He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). Void filled. Restlessness satisfied. With the gap between you and God bridged by Jesus, you're finally drinking from the Source.
It starts the day that you "come to" Jesus, the day you He said, "believe in" Him. And you do that by placing your total trust in this One who loved you enough to die for you and then was powerful enough to rise from the dead. Why don't you let Him begin this relationship now; let your search be over. If you do, would you tell Him that, "Jesus, beginning today, I'm yours."
Check out our website, because it's loaded with information that will help you be sure you have made this connection with Jesus Christ, the One who loves you most. Our website is ANewStory.com. Which, in fact, might be the beginning of a new story for you.
There's no one else who can satisfy your thirsty soul. Beginning today, you can be, as so many of us restless seekers have discovered, thirsty no more.
If you summarized your emotions regarding the return of Christ what word would you use? Discomfort…denial…disappointment…or hope? Maybe your word is discomfort. After all, the Book of Life will be opened, and names will be read. How could the thought of His return bring anything but discomfort? Maybe it’s denial? We prefer answers and explanations, and the end of time seems short on both. Or how about disappointment? A mother-to-be wants to hold her baby; an engaged couple want to be married. A soldier overseas wants to go home before he goes… home!
Discomfort. Denial. Disappointment. All possible feelings. But here is the one feeling Christ wants us to have– trust! Jesus says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in Me” (John 14:1).
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 25
Instructions on the Mountain: The Offerings
1-9 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites that they are to set aside offerings for me. Receive the offerings from everyone who is willing to give. These are the offerings I want you to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats’ hair; tanned rams’ skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. Let them construct a Sanctuary for me so that I can live among them. You are to construct it following the plans I’ve given you, the design for The Dwelling and the design for all its furnishings.
The Chest
10-15 “First let them make a Chest using acacia wood: make it three and three-quarters feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide and deep. Cover it with a veneer of pure gold inside and out and make a molding of gold all around it. Cast four gold rings and attach them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Make poles from acacia wood and cover them with a veneer of gold and insert them into the rings on the sides of the Chest for carrying the Chest. The poles are to stay in the rings; they must not be removed.
16 “Place The Testimony that I give you in the Chest.
17 “Now make a lid of pure gold for the Chest, an Atonement-Cover, three and three-quarters feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide.
18-22 “Sculpt two winged angels out of hammered gold for either end of the Atonement-Cover, one angel at one end, one angel at the other. Make them of one piece with the Atonement-Cover. Make the angels with their wings spread, hovering over the Atonement-Cover, facing one another but looking down on it. Set the Atonement-Cover as a lid over the Chest and place in the Chest The Testimony that I will give you. I will meet you there at set times and speak with you from above the Atonement-Cover and from between the angel-figures that are on it, speaking the commands that I have for the Israelites.
The Table
23-28 “Next make a Table from acacia wood. Make it three feet long, one and one-half feet wide and two and one-quarter feet high. Cover it with a veneer of pure gold. Make a molding all around it of gold. Make the border a handbreadth wide all around it and a rim of gold for the border. Make four rings of gold and attach the rings to the four legs parallel to the tabletop. They will serve as holders for the poles used to carry the Table. Make the poles of acacia wood and cover them with a veneer of gold. They will be used to carry the Table.
29 “Make plates, bowls, jars, and jugs for pouring out offerings. Make them of pure gold.
30 “Always keep fresh Bread of the Presence on the Table before me.
The Lampstand
31-36 “Make a Lampstand of pure hammered gold. Make its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece. Give it six branches, three from one side and three from the other; put three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, three on the next, and so on—the same for all six branches. On the main stem of the Lampstand, make four cups shaped like almonds, with calyx and petals, a calyx extending from under each pair of the six branches, the entire Lampstand fashioned from one piece of hammered pure gold.
37-38 “Make seven of these lamps for the Table. Arrange the lamps so they throw their light out in front. Make the candle snuffers and trays out of pure gold.
39-40 “Use a seventy-five-pound brick of pure gold to make the Lampstand and its accessories. Study the design you were given on the mountain and make everything accordingly.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Read: Matthew 6:25–34
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height
INSIGHT
We see God’s loving care and provision for His people throughout the Bible. A quick look at the Psalms confirms it. In Psalm 23, we read: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (v. 4). And Psalm 55:22 tells us to “cast [our] cares on the Lord and he will sustain [us].” Likewise, Psalm 91 assures us that God is our refuge and even commands His angels to guard us (vv. 9–11). “He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (95:7).
What concern can you entrust to Him?
We Won’t Break
By Xochitl Dixon
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:27
As a native Californian and lover of all things sunny, I shy away from all things cold. I do, however, enjoy beautiful photos of snow. So I couldn’t help but smile when my friend from Illinois shared a winter picture of a sapling outside her window. Admiration turned to sadness when I noticed its bare, knotted branches bowing under the heavy fringe of sparkling icicles.
How long could those bending boughs endure before breaking under their icy burdens? The heaviness threatening to crack the tree’s limbs reminded me of my shoulders, hunched beneath the weight of worries.
We never have to worry, Lord, because You never fail to meet our deepest needs.
After Jesus affirms that the greatest treasures are not earthly or temporary, He encourages us to release our anxious thoughts. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe loves and provides for His children, so we don’t have to waste our precious time worrying. God knows our needs and will care for us (Matthew 6:19–32).
He also knows we’ll be tempted to succumb to worry. He tells us to come to Him first, trust His presence and provision in the present, and live by faith one day at a time (vv. 33–34).
In this life, we’ll face overwhelming troubles and uncertainties that can make our shoulders droop. We may temporarily bend under the weight of worrying. But when we trust God, we won’t break.
Thanks for assuring us that we never have to worry, Lord, because You never fail to meet our deepest needs.
Worry won’t break us when we trust the Giver of all good things.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 01, 2018
The Piercing Question
Do you love Me? —John 21:17
Peter’s response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35; also see Matthew 26:33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within our inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confesses his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).
Unless we are experiencing the hurt of facing every deception about ourselves, we have hindered the work of the Word of God in our lives. The Word of God inflicts hurt on us more than sin ever could, because sin dulls our senses. But this question of the Lord intensifies our sensitivities to the point that this hurt produced by Jesus is the most exquisite pain conceivable. It hurts not only on the natural level, but also on the deeper spiritual level. “For the Word of God is living and powerful…, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…”— to the point that no deception can remain (Hebrews 4:12). When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible to think and respond properly, because when the Lord speaks directly to us, the pain is too intense. It causes such a tremendous hurt that any part of our life which may be out of line with His will can feel the pain. There is never any mistaking the pain of the Lord’s Word by His children, but the moment that pain is felt is the very moment at which God reveals His truth to us.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 01, 2018
The Thirst That's Never Quenched - #8124
He may have been the greatest American hero of his time; his name was Meriwether Lewis. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the massive Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, the size of this young country was more than doubled overnight. The land stretched from the Mississippi all the way to the Pacific, and much of it was known well to Native Americans but largely unknown to white Americans. Jefferson tapped his personal aide and a distinguished war veteran to lead this incredible adventure that we know today as, that's right, the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Following the long and winding route of the Missouri River, Lewis led his expedition all the way from the point where it ends near St. Louis to its headwaters in Montana. His longtime dream had been to find the source of that river and to drink from it. He got his dream. If only it had satisfied his thirst.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Thirst That's Never Quenched."
In a letter to a friend after he reached that pinnacle, Meriwether Lewis wrote these words: "I feel all that restlessness, which I cannot help but thinking proceeds from that void in our hearts. Whence it comes I know not, but certain it is, that I have never felt less like a hero than at the present moment." Shortly thereafter, Meriwether Lewis died of what is believed to be his own suicide.
He accomplished his greatest goals; he drank the sweet water of success and conquest and had the admiration of thousands. But he still had not found what fills what he called "that void in our hearts." Maybe you know that feeling. If you haven't gotten what you've been pursuing, you know, maybe a relationship, an accomplishment, a position, and you think that's why you have this incurable restlessness. If you've gotten what you thought would fill that hole in your heart and the hole is still there, guess what the next stop is? Despair.
But ultimately the void is in our hearts because God isn't. In the Bible's words, we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). But we haven't lived for Him. Again, according to the Bible, 100% of us have basically done life our way, not God's way. So we're missing Him. I wish I could get into a time machine and go back and talk to Meriwether Lewis and help him understand who he was restless for.
That's not possible, but God has put you and me together today, maybe because He wants to show you how the thirst in your soul can finally end by drinking from the Source; by experiencing for yourself, not a religion, but a personal love relationship with the God who put you here.
He says in Isaiah 55:2, our word for today from the Word of God, "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." Jesus, God's Son, who died to pay the penalty for you and me hijacking our life from God, made this promise: "He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). Void filled. Restlessness satisfied. With the gap between you and God bridged by Jesus, you're finally drinking from the Source.
It starts the day that you "come to" Jesus, the day you He said, "believe in" Him. And you do that by placing your total trust in this One who loved you enough to die for you and then was powerful enough to rise from the dead. Why don't you let Him begin this relationship now; let your search be over. If you do, would you tell Him that, "Jesus, beginning today, I'm yours."
Check out our website, because it's loaded with information that will help you be sure you have made this connection with Jesus Christ, the One who loves you most. Our website is ANewStory.com. Which, in fact, might be the beginning of a new story for you.
There's no one else who can satisfy your thirsty soul. Beginning today, you can be, as so many of us restless seekers have discovered, thirsty no more.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Exodus 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHEN THE PIECES DON’T FIT
Do you want to see a father’s face go ashen as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy: Some assembly required. What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I’m convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.
Some assembly required. Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one. Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. The pieces don’t fit. When they don’t, take your problem to Jesus. He says, Bring your problems to Me! In prayer, state them simply. Present them faithfully, and trust Him reverently!
Read more Before Amen
Exodus 24
1-2 He said to Moses, “Climb the mountain to God, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. They will worship from a distance; only Moses will approach God. The rest are not to come close. And the people are not to climb the mountain at all.”
3 So Moses went to the people and told them everything God had said—all the rules and regulations. They all answered in unison: “Everything God said, we’ll do.”
4-6 Then Moses wrote it all down, everything God had said. He got up early the next morning and built an Altar at the foot of the mountain using twelve pillar-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed young Israelite men to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrifice Peace-Offerings of bulls. Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls; the other half he threw against the Altar.
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened. They said, “Everything God said, we’ll do. Yes, we’ll obey.”
8 Moses took the rest of the blood and threw it out over the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you out of all these words I have spoken.”
9-11 Then they climbed the mountain—Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel—and saw the God of Israel. He was standing on a pavement of something like sapphires—pure, clear sky-blue. He didn’t hurt these pillar-leaders of the Israelites: They saw God; and they ate and drank.
12-13 God said to Moses, “Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I’ll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I’ve written to instruct them.” So Moses got up, accompanied by Joshua his aide. And Moses climbed up the mountain of God.
14 He told the elders of Israel, “Wait for us here until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; if there are any problems, go to them.”
15-17 Then Moses climbed the mountain. The Cloud covered the mountain. The Glory of God settled over Mount Sinai. The Cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called out of the Cloud to Moses. In the view of the Israelites below, the Glory of God looked like a raging fire at the top of the mountain.
18 Moses entered the middle of the Cloud and climbed the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Read: Luke 15:1–9
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
Footnotes:
Luke 15:8 Greek ten drachmas, each worth about a day’s wages
INSIGHT
In the Bible the word shepherd not only applies to the occupation of shepherd (Genesis 29:3; 46:32) but is also used to indicate a leader (2 Samuel 5:2; 2 Chronicles 18:16; Jeremiah 3:15) or spiritual overseer (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2). Being a shepherd of sheep required bravery, steadfast watchfulness, and tender care. Sheep are helpless without a shepherd and need guidance to food and water as well as protection from the elements and wild beasts (1 Samuel 17:34–36; Psalm 23; Luke 2:8).
Leading people is far more difficult! Thankfully Jesus is the Good Shepherd who cares for us so much that He “[lay] down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11–14). He is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) and rejoices over each lost person who repents and is found (Luke 15:3–7).
Have you received the salvation offered by Jesus, the Good Shepherd? - Alyson Kieda
Lost but Found
By Leslie Koh
Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6
When we discovered that my mother-in-law had gone missing while shopping with a relative, my wife and I were frantic. Mom suffered from memory loss and confusion, and there was no telling what she might do. Would she wander the area, or hop onto any bus thinking it would take her home? Worst-case scenarios spun through our minds as we began to search for her, crying out to God, “Please find her.”
Hours later, my mother-in-law was spotted stumbling along a road, miles away. How God blessed us in being able to find her. Several months later, He blessed her: at eighty years of age, my mother-in-law turned to Jesus Christ for salvation.
Lord, You search for us and find us. Thank You for making us Your own.
Jesus, comparing humans to lost sheep, gives us this illustration: “Suppose [a shepherd] has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, . . . he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep” (Luke 15:4–6).
Shepherds counted their sheep to make sure every one was accounted for. In the same way, Jesus, who likens himself to that shepherd, values each of us, young and old. When we’re wandering in life, searching, wondering about our purpose, it’s never too late to turn to Christ. God wants us to experience His love and blessings.
Lord, You search for us and find us. Thank You for making us Your own.
Amazing grace! . . . I once was lost, but now am found. John Newton
Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
“Do You Now Believe?”
"By this we believe…." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?" —John 16:30-31
“Now we believe….” But Jesus asks, “Do you…? Indeed the hour is coming…that you…will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.
We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation— just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Dreams On the Scrapheap - #8123
It's really a beautiful area of the Southwestern United States, except for this one horrendous eyesore. It's a graveyard for cars. Acre after acre; you've seen them. They're covered with cars that have been discarded, or wrecked, or crushed, and stacked several cars deep. And every time I pass this one and I see all these trashed and mashed cars, I can't help but thinking to myself, "Just think, one day that car was somebody's dream come true." Someone probably wished for that car, got that car, and showed everybody this car they were so proud of. Look at it now!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dreams On the Scrapheap."
When I look at that auto junkyard, I see what was once somebody's dream now just another piece of junk on the scrapheap. Some of us have lives that are like that junkyard; a pile of what was once our dreams, now laying on the scrapheap. Dreams that either didn't happen or didn't turn out to be what we thought they would; a lot of disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment, and as a result, a search now for a dream that won't let us down or maybe even turn into a nightmare.
It's strange, in a way, that it's often at the end of our dreams that we find the reason we're living. Until then, we're pouring everything we've got into what we think will give us the love and meaning and fulfillment that we're looking for. But sooner or later, our path of dreams lets us down and it leaves us empty.
That's when we might finally be ready to consider what God thinks will make our life make sense. Since He's the One who made you, He's the One who knows why you're here. It was the dream He dreamed for you even before there was a you! It's the destiny you were made for, lived out one meaningful day at a time.
God actually talks about His plans for you in Jeremiah 29:11, our word for today from the Word of God. "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Those are the plans you were created for. Unfortunately, we've spent most of our life on our own dreams; a lot of which are now on the scrapheap. But now may be the time when you finally embrace what you were made for by embracing the One who made you; the One of whom the Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). And that includes you.
But we've been building our life without the Architect, and things keep collapsing on us-disappointing us. We have, in the Bible's words, "gone astray" and turned to our "own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We've all gotten way off course and you know it took the greatest act of love in cosmic history to get us back - the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for our rebellion, for our sin, for our takeover of a life God made.
The moment you reach out to this Jesus and tell Him you want to be His from now on, you start to belong to your Creator, to experience His forgiving for every wrong thing you have ever done. You start living God's great dream for your life when you give yourself to Jesus, the One who loved you so much He would die for all your sin.
I would say today would be the best day of your life to say to this Jesus, "I am yours. After what you did for me, if you loved me enough to die for me, you would never do me wrong. I'm ready to live the way I was created to live." Would you say, "Jesus, I'm yours."
Maybe you'd like a new story to begin for you today. Well, then why don't you go to our website which is called ANewStory.com. I think you'll find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on.
Those wasted days, wasted years, end the moment you open your life to Jesus Christ. For you, the dream that will never disappoint could begin this very day.
Do you want to see a father’s face go ashen as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy: Some assembly required. What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I’m convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.
Some assembly required. Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one. Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. The pieces don’t fit. When they don’t, take your problem to Jesus. He says, Bring your problems to Me! In prayer, state them simply. Present them faithfully, and trust Him reverently!
Read more Before Amen
Exodus 24
1-2 He said to Moses, “Climb the mountain to God, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. They will worship from a distance; only Moses will approach God. The rest are not to come close. And the people are not to climb the mountain at all.”
3 So Moses went to the people and told them everything God had said—all the rules and regulations. They all answered in unison: “Everything God said, we’ll do.”
4-6 Then Moses wrote it all down, everything God had said. He got up early the next morning and built an Altar at the foot of the mountain using twelve pillar-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed young Israelite men to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrifice Peace-Offerings of bulls. Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls; the other half he threw against the Altar.
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened. They said, “Everything God said, we’ll do. Yes, we’ll obey.”
8 Moses took the rest of the blood and threw it out over the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you out of all these words I have spoken.”
9-11 Then they climbed the mountain—Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel—and saw the God of Israel. He was standing on a pavement of something like sapphires—pure, clear sky-blue. He didn’t hurt these pillar-leaders of the Israelites: They saw God; and they ate and drank.
12-13 God said to Moses, “Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I’ll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I’ve written to instruct them.” So Moses got up, accompanied by Joshua his aide. And Moses climbed up the mountain of God.
14 He told the elders of Israel, “Wait for us here until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; if there are any problems, go to them.”
15-17 Then Moses climbed the mountain. The Cloud covered the mountain. The Glory of God settled over Mount Sinai. The Cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called out of the Cloud to Moses. In the view of the Israelites below, the Glory of God looked like a raging fire at the top of the mountain.
18 Moses entered the middle of the Cloud and climbed the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Read: Luke 15:1–9
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
Footnotes:
Luke 15:8 Greek ten drachmas, each worth about a day’s wages
INSIGHT
In the Bible the word shepherd not only applies to the occupation of shepherd (Genesis 29:3; 46:32) but is also used to indicate a leader (2 Samuel 5:2; 2 Chronicles 18:16; Jeremiah 3:15) or spiritual overseer (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2). Being a shepherd of sheep required bravery, steadfast watchfulness, and tender care. Sheep are helpless without a shepherd and need guidance to food and water as well as protection from the elements and wild beasts (1 Samuel 17:34–36; Psalm 23; Luke 2:8).
Leading people is far more difficult! Thankfully Jesus is the Good Shepherd who cares for us so much that He “[lay] down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11–14). He is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) and rejoices over each lost person who repents and is found (Luke 15:3–7).
Have you received the salvation offered by Jesus, the Good Shepherd? - Alyson Kieda
Lost but Found
By Leslie Koh
Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6
When we discovered that my mother-in-law had gone missing while shopping with a relative, my wife and I were frantic. Mom suffered from memory loss and confusion, and there was no telling what she might do. Would she wander the area, or hop onto any bus thinking it would take her home? Worst-case scenarios spun through our minds as we began to search for her, crying out to God, “Please find her.”
Hours later, my mother-in-law was spotted stumbling along a road, miles away. How God blessed us in being able to find her. Several months later, He blessed her: at eighty years of age, my mother-in-law turned to Jesus Christ for salvation.
Lord, You search for us and find us. Thank You for making us Your own.
Jesus, comparing humans to lost sheep, gives us this illustration: “Suppose [a shepherd] has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, . . . he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep” (Luke 15:4–6).
Shepherds counted their sheep to make sure every one was accounted for. In the same way, Jesus, who likens himself to that shepherd, values each of us, young and old. When we’re wandering in life, searching, wondering about our purpose, it’s never too late to turn to Christ. God wants us to experience His love and blessings.
Lord, You search for us and find us. Thank You for making us Your own.
Amazing grace! . . . I once was lost, but now am found. John Newton
Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
“Do You Now Believe?”
"By this we believe…." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?" —John 16:30-31
“Now we believe….” But Jesus asks, “Do you…? Indeed the hour is coming…that you…will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.
We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation— just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Dreams On the Scrapheap - #8123
It's really a beautiful area of the Southwestern United States, except for this one horrendous eyesore. It's a graveyard for cars. Acre after acre; you've seen them. They're covered with cars that have been discarded, or wrecked, or crushed, and stacked several cars deep. And every time I pass this one and I see all these trashed and mashed cars, I can't help but thinking to myself, "Just think, one day that car was somebody's dream come true." Someone probably wished for that car, got that car, and showed everybody this car they were so proud of. Look at it now!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dreams On the Scrapheap."
When I look at that auto junkyard, I see what was once somebody's dream now just another piece of junk on the scrapheap. Some of us have lives that are like that junkyard; a pile of what was once our dreams, now laying on the scrapheap. Dreams that either didn't happen or didn't turn out to be what we thought they would; a lot of disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment, and as a result, a search now for a dream that won't let us down or maybe even turn into a nightmare.
It's strange, in a way, that it's often at the end of our dreams that we find the reason we're living. Until then, we're pouring everything we've got into what we think will give us the love and meaning and fulfillment that we're looking for. But sooner or later, our path of dreams lets us down and it leaves us empty.
That's when we might finally be ready to consider what God thinks will make our life make sense. Since He's the One who made you, He's the One who knows why you're here. It was the dream He dreamed for you even before there was a you! It's the destiny you were made for, lived out one meaningful day at a time.
God actually talks about His plans for you in Jeremiah 29:11, our word for today from the Word of God. "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Those are the plans you were created for. Unfortunately, we've spent most of our life on our own dreams; a lot of which are now on the scrapheap. But now may be the time when you finally embrace what you were made for by embracing the One who made you; the One of whom the Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). And that includes you.
But we've been building our life without the Architect, and things keep collapsing on us-disappointing us. We have, in the Bible's words, "gone astray" and turned to our "own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We've all gotten way off course and you know it took the greatest act of love in cosmic history to get us back - the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for our rebellion, for our sin, for our takeover of a life God made.
The moment you reach out to this Jesus and tell Him you want to be His from now on, you start to belong to your Creator, to experience His forgiving for every wrong thing you have ever done. You start living God's great dream for your life when you give yourself to Jesus, the One who loved you so much He would die for all your sin.
I would say today would be the best day of your life to say to this Jesus, "I am yours. After what you did for me, if you loved me enough to die for me, you would never do me wrong. I'm ready to live the way I was created to live." Would you say, "Jesus, I'm yours."
Maybe you'd like a new story to begin for you today. Well, then why don't you go to our website which is called ANewStory.com. I think you'll find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on.
Those wasted days, wasted years, end the moment you open your life to Jesus Christ. For you, the dream that will never disappoint could begin this very day.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Exodus 23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS FATHER TO THE FATHERLESS
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” A glimpse of God’s goodness changes us. If He is only slightly stronger than us, why pray? If He has limitations, questions, and hesitations, then you might as well pray to the Wizard of Oz.
Psalm 68:5-6 says, God is “a father to the fatherless. He sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”
Pray with me!
Dear God. Today remind me today that you protect me. Be my father and defender. Defend those who’re weak and afraid and feel forgotten. Show up in their lives today. Thank you for giving me a spiritual family that can never be taken away. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
At any point you’re only a prayer away from help!
Read more Before Amen
Exodus 23
1-3 “Don’t pass on malicious gossip.
“Don’t link up with a wicked person and give corrupt testimony. Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil and don’t fudge your testimony in a case just to please the crowd. And just because someone is poor, don’t show favoritism in a dispute.
4-5 “If you find your enemy’s ox or donkey loose, take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, don’t walk off and leave it. Help it up.
6 “When there is a dispute concerning your poor, don’t tamper with the justice due them.
7 “Stay clear of false accusations. Don’t contribute to the death of innocent and good people. I don’t let the wicked off the hook.
8 “Don’t take bribes. Bribes blind perfectly good eyes and twist the speech of good people.
9 “Don’t take advantage of a stranger. You know what it’s like to be a stranger; you were strangers in Egypt.
10-11 “Sow your land for six years and gather in its crops, but in the seventh year leave it alone and give it a rest so that your poor may eat from it. What they leave, let the wildlife have. Do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
12 “Work for six days and rest the seventh so your ox and donkey may rest and your servant and migrant workers may have time to get their needed rest.
13 “Listen carefully to everything I tell you. Don’t pay attention to other gods—don’t so much as mention their names.
14 “Three times a year you are to hold a festival for me.
15 “Hold the spring Festival of Unraised Bread when you eat unraised bread for seven days at the time set for the month of Abib, as I commanded you. That was the month you came out of Egypt. No one should show up before me empty-handed.
16 “Hold the summer Festival of Harvest when you bring in the firstfruits of all your work in the fields.
“Hold the autumn Festival of Ingathering at the end of the season when you bring in the year’s crops.
17 “Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Master, God.
18 “Don’t offer the blood of a sacrifice to me with anything that has yeast in it.
“Don’t leave the fat from my festival offering out overnight.
19 “Bring the choice first produce of the year to the house of your God.
“Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
20-24 “Now get yourselves ready. I’m sending my Angel ahead of you to guard you in your travels, to lead you to the place that I’ve prepared. Pay close attention to him. Obey him. Don’t go against him. He won’t put up with your rebellions because he’s acting on my authority. But if you obey him and do everything I tell you, I’ll be an enemy to your enemies, I’ll fight those who fight you. When my Angel goes ahead of you and leads you to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, I’ll clear the country of them. So don’t worship or serve their gods; don’t do anything they do because I’m going to wipe them right off the face of the Earth and smash their sacred phallic pillars to bits.
25-26 “But you—you serve your God and he’ll bless your food and your water. I’ll get rid of the sickness among you; there won’t be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I’ll make sure you live full and complete lives.
27 “I’ll send my Terror on ahead of you and throw those peoples you’re approaching into a panic. All you’ll see of your enemies is the backs of their necks.
28-31 “And I’ll send Despair on ahead of you. It will push the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites out of your way. I won’t get rid of them all at once lest the land grow up in weeds and the wild animals take over. Little by little I’ll get them out of there while you have a chance to get your crops going and make the land your own. I will make your borders stretch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Wilderness to the Euphrates River. I’m turning everyone living in that land over to you; go ahead and drive them out.
32-33 “Don’t make any deals with them or their gods. They are not to stay in the same country with you lest they get you to sin by worshiping their gods. Beware. That’s a huge danger.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Read: Mark 6:45–53
Jesus Walks on the Water
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.
INSIGHT
When we read today’s story, we may wonder why these sturdy fishermen would be afraid of a “ghost” (Mark 6:49). But put yourself in their shoes. The disciples did see someone walking on the water—and they knew that was not possible. We may not fear the same things they feared, but we all have fears. Just like the disciples, we need the assurance of Jesus’s words: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (v. 50). The Lord who fed the multitude with a few loaves and fishes is the same one who walked on water. The disciples did not need to fear because they knew who Jesus was and what He could do. Jesus was essentially saying, “Don’t be afraid! You know me.”
What are you afraid of today? What do you need to remember about Jesus that can help you trust Him? - J.R. Hudberg
The Release of Fear
By Amy Boucher Pye
Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid. Mark 6:50
Our bodies react to our feelings of dread and fear. A weight in the pit of our stomachs, along with our hearts pounding as we gulp for breath, signal our sense of anxiety. Our physical nature keeps us from ignoring these feelings of unease.
The disciples felt shockwaves of fear one night after Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding more than five thousand people. The Lord had sent them ahead to Bethsaida so He could be alone to pray. During the night, they were rowing against the wind when suddenly they saw Him walking on the water. Thinking He was a ghost, they were terrified (Mark 6:49–50).
Lord release me from my fears and give me Your peace.
But Jesus reassured them, telling them not to be afraid and to take courage. As He entered their vessel, the wind died down and they made it to the shore. I imagine that their feelings of dread calmed as they embraced the peace He bestowed.
When we’re feeling breathless with anxiety, we can rest assured in Jesus’s power. Whether He calms our waves or strengthens us to face them, He will give us the gift of His peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). And as He releases us from our fears, our spirits and our bodies can return to a state of rest.
Lord Jesus Christ, help me when the dread seems to cling to me. Release me from my fears and give me Your peace.
The Lord releases us from fear.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus
Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11
“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
How To Keep Order In Your Universe - #8122
Look, people were confused about it for centuries. They looked at the sun rising and setting every day and they reached a seemingly obvious conclusion: the earth is the center of everything and the sun revolves around the earth, right? If you say "right," you need to go back to third grade science Actually, if you think the sun revolves around the earth, well, did you know you agree with about one out of five Americans in a recent survey? Well, that's a good thing to get right. I mean, what's in the center and what revolves around it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How To Keep Order In Your Universe."
Now, it's easy to make the same mistake that ancient, and even some modern people have made, confusing what should be the planets of our life with the sun that those planets should all be revolving around.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 4 beginning in verse 42, Jesus has to make sure that the "sun" is in the middle, and everything else is revolving around it in His own life. In this case, the "sun" is the life mission He is on. He's in Capernaum where He has spent much of the day miraculously healing people and casting out demons. Then it says, "...at daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for Him and when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them. But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea."
Notice those words that decide Jesus' priorities: "I must." Jesus knows His musts, His non-negotiables, the "sun" around which all the other demands in His life have to revolve. And He is faced with a lot of people who really need Him there, asking Him to do a very good thing. But He says "No" based on His non-negotiable mission. He knows He cannot allow anything, no matter how noble, to deter Him from what He came to do - to keep spreading His message to other towns.
And Jesus has left us a model, actually, for making the hard priority choices that we all face. Maybe you're struggling with some right now. And maybe, like Jesus, all your choices are good ones. When it's hard to sort all that out, it's time to do what Jesus did - get alone with God and let Him refocus you on what is most important from His perspective. Each new day, we need to be with the Father making sure that we're making His non-negotiables our non-negotiables.
Certainly, our relationship with Him is the ultimate "sun" around which everything else is just a "planet." We can't make any choice that will adversely affect this anchor relationship. But there are other non-negotiables God wants you to make the center of your choices too. Like what's best for your marriage, what's best for your children, what's best for sticking to His calling, His life-mission for you, or keeping uncompromised integrity, or your responsibility to show the people around you what Jesus is like, your responsibility to spread the Jesus message to people who will die without it.
See, life's choices are a lot less confusing when you know and stick to your non-negotiables. Then you decide based on everything else having to revolve around those non-negotiables. See, when you know your must, you know your can't. "I can't because I must do this."
Actually, you have to be sure you know God's non-negotiables as you re-clarify them with Him each new day. There are just too many noble detours that you can't afford to take. Your personal universe is in order when the sun is in the center, and then everything else is where it's supposed to be - planets taking their place around a sun that never ever moves.
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” A glimpse of God’s goodness changes us. If He is only slightly stronger than us, why pray? If He has limitations, questions, and hesitations, then you might as well pray to the Wizard of Oz.
Psalm 68:5-6 says, God is “a father to the fatherless. He sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”
Pray with me!
Dear God. Today remind me today that you protect me. Be my father and defender. Defend those who’re weak and afraid and feel forgotten. Show up in their lives today. Thank you for giving me a spiritual family that can never be taken away. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
At any point you’re only a prayer away from help!
Read more Before Amen
Exodus 23
1-3 “Don’t pass on malicious gossip.
“Don’t link up with a wicked person and give corrupt testimony. Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil and don’t fudge your testimony in a case just to please the crowd. And just because someone is poor, don’t show favoritism in a dispute.
4-5 “If you find your enemy’s ox or donkey loose, take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, don’t walk off and leave it. Help it up.
6 “When there is a dispute concerning your poor, don’t tamper with the justice due them.
7 “Stay clear of false accusations. Don’t contribute to the death of innocent and good people. I don’t let the wicked off the hook.
8 “Don’t take bribes. Bribes blind perfectly good eyes and twist the speech of good people.
9 “Don’t take advantage of a stranger. You know what it’s like to be a stranger; you were strangers in Egypt.
10-11 “Sow your land for six years and gather in its crops, but in the seventh year leave it alone and give it a rest so that your poor may eat from it. What they leave, let the wildlife have. Do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.
12 “Work for six days and rest the seventh so your ox and donkey may rest and your servant and migrant workers may have time to get their needed rest.
13 “Listen carefully to everything I tell you. Don’t pay attention to other gods—don’t so much as mention their names.
14 “Three times a year you are to hold a festival for me.
15 “Hold the spring Festival of Unraised Bread when you eat unraised bread for seven days at the time set for the month of Abib, as I commanded you. That was the month you came out of Egypt. No one should show up before me empty-handed.
16 “Hold the summer Festival of Harvest when you bring in the firstfruits of all your work in the fields.
“Hold the autumn Festival of Ingathering at the end of the season when you bring in the year’s crops.
17 “Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Master, God.
18 “Don’t offer the blood of a sacrifice to me with anything that has yeast in it.
“Don’t leave the fat from my festival offering out overnight.
19 “Bring the choice first produce of the year to the house of your God.
“Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
20-24 “Now get yourselves ready. I’m sending my Angel ahead of you to guard you in your travels, to lead you to the place that I’ve prepared. Pay close attention to him. Obey him. Don’t go against him. He won’t put up with your rebellions because he’s acting on my authority. But if you obey him and do everything I tell you, I’ll be an enemy to your enemies, I’ll fight those who fight you. When my Angel goes ahead of you and leads you to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, I’ll clear the country of them. So don’t worship or serve their gods; don’t do anything they do because I’m going to wipe them right off the face of the Earth and smash their sacred phallic pillars to bits.
25-26 “But you—you serve your God and he’ll bless your food and your water. I’ll get rid of the sickness among you; there won’t be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I’ll make sure you live full and complete lives.
27 “I’ll send my Terror on ahead of you and throw those peoples you’re approaching into a panic. All you’ll see of your enemies is the backs of their necks.
28-31 “And I’ll send Despair on ahead of you. It will push the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites out of your way. I won’t get rid of them all at once lest the land grow up in weeds and the wild animals take over. Little by little I’ll get them out of there while you have a chance to get your crops going and make the land your own. I will make your borders stretch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Wilderness to the Euphrates River. I’m turning everyone living in that land over to you; go ahead and drive them out.
32-33 “Don’t make any deals with them or their gods. They are not to stay in the same country with you lest they get you to sin by worshiping their gods. Beware. That’s a huge danger.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Read: Mark 6:45–53
Jesus Walks on the Water
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.
INSIGHT
When we read today’s story, we may wonder why these sturdy fishermen would be afraid of a “ghost” (Mark 6:49). But put yourself in their shoes. The disciples did see someone walking on the water—and they knew that was not possible. We may not fear the same things they feared, but we all have fears. Just like the disciples, we need the assurance of Jesus’s words: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (v. 50). The Lord who fed the multitude with a few loaves and fishes is the same one who walked on water. The disciples did not need to fear because they knew who Jesus was and what He could do. Jesus was essentially saying, “Don’t be afraid! You know me.”
What are you afraid of today? What do you need to remember about Jesus that can help you trust Him? - J.R. Hudberg
The Release of Fear
By Amy Boucher Pye
Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid. Mark 6:50
Our bodies react to our feelings of dread and fear. A weight in the pit of our stomachs, along with our hearts pounding as we gulp for breath, signal our sense of anxiety. Our physical nature keeps us from ignoring these feelings of unease.
The disciples felt shockwaves of fear one night after Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding more than five thousand people. The Lord had sent them ahead to Bethsaida so He could be alone to pray. During the night, they were rowing against the wind when suddenly they saw Him walking on the water. Thinking He was a ghost, they were terrified (Mark 6:49–50).
Lord release me from my fears and give me Your peace.
But Jesus reassured them, telling them not to be afraid and to take courage. As He entered their vessel, the wind died down and they made it to the shore. I imagine that their feelings of dread calmed as they embraced the peace He bestowed.
When we’re feeling breathless with anxiety, we can rest assured in Jesus’s power. Whether He calms our waves or strengthens us to face them, He will give us the gift of His peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). And as He releases us from our fears, our spirits and our bodies can return to a state of rest.
Lord Jesus Christ, help me when the dread seems to cling to me. Release me from my fears and give me Your peace.
The Lord releases us from fear.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus
Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11
“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
How To Keep Order In Your Universe - #8122
Look, people were confused about it for centuries. They looked at the sun rising and setting every day and they reached a seemingly obvious conclusion: the earth is the center of everything and the sun revolves around the earth, right? If you say "right," you need to go back to third grade science Actually, if you think the sun revolves around the earth, well, did you know you agree with about one out of five Americans in a recent survey? Well, that's a good thing to get right. I mean, what's in the center and what revolves around it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How To Keep Order In Your Universe."
Now, it's easy to make the same mistake that ancient, and even some modern people have made, confusing what should be the planets of our life with the sun that those planets should all be revolving around.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 4 beginning in verse 42, Jesus has to make sure that the "sun" is in the middle, and everything else is revolving around it in His own life. In this case, the "sun" is the life mission He is on. He's in Capernaum where He has spent much of the day miraculously healing people and casting out demons. Then it says, "...at daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for Him and when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them. But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea."
Notice those words that decide Jesus' priorities: "I must." Jesus knows His musts, His non-negotiables, the "sun" around which all the other demands in His life have to revolve. And He is faced with a lot of people who really need Him there, asking Him to do a very good thing. But He says "No" based on His non-negotiable mission. He knows He cannot allow anything, no matter how noble, to deter Him from what He came to do - to keep spreading His message to other towns.
And Jesus has left us a model, actually, for making the hard priority choices that we all face. Maybe you're struggling with some right now. And maybe, like Jesus, all your choices are good ones. When it's hard to sort all that out, it's time to do what Jesus did - get alone with God and let Him refocus you on what is most important from His perspective. Each new day, we need to be with the Father making sure that we're making His non-negotiables our non-negotiables.
Certainly, our relationship with Him is the ultimate "sun" around which everything else is just a "planet." We can't make any choice that will adversely affect this anchor relationship. But there are other non-negotiables God wants you to make the center of your choices too. Like what's best for your marriage, what's best for your children, what's best for sticking to His calling, His life-mission for you, or keeping uncompromised integrity, or your responsibility to show the people around you what Jesus is like, your responsibility to spread the Jesus message to people who will die without it.
See, life's choices are a lot less confusing when you know and stick to your non-negotiables. Then you decide based on everything else having to revolve around those non-negotiables. See, when you know your must, you know your can't. "I can't because I must do this."
Actually, you have to be sure you know God's non-negotiables as you re-clarify them with Him each new day. There are just too many noble detours that you can't afford to take. Your personal universe is in order when the sun is in the center, and then everything else is where it's supposed to be - planets taking their place around a sun that never ever moves.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Matthew 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: FACE YOUR FATHER FIRST
A lot of us make unnecessary messes. But we can change that. May I make a suggestion? Before you face the world, face your Father. Take this pocket prayer:
Father, You are good. Your heart is good. The words might come slowly at first, but stay at it! You are always right. The weather’s bad, the economy is bad; but God, you are awesome!
Don’t underestimate the power of this moment. You just opened the door to God and welcomed truth to enter your heart. Who knows, you might even start to worship. Is your world different because you prayed? In one sense, no. But you are different. You have peace. You’ve talked with your Father.
Here’s a prayer challenge for you! Every day for four weeks pray four minutes; and get ready to connect with God like never before!
Read more Before Amen
Matthew 28
Risen from the Dead
1-4 After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.
5-6 The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.
7 “Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.”
8-10 The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. “Good morning!” he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life! Don’t be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”
11-15 Meanwhile, the guards had scattered, but a few of them went into the city and told the high priests everything that had happened. They called a meeting of the religious leaders and came up with a plan: They took a large sum of money and gave it to the soldiers, bribing them to say, “His disciples came in the night and stole the body while we were sleeping.” They assured them, “If the governor hears about your sleeping on duty, we will make sure you don’t get blamed.” The soldiers took the bribe and did as they were told. That story, cooked up in the Jewish High Council, is still going around.
16-17 Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
18-20 Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 26, 2018
Read: Malachi 3:8–12
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
INSIGHT
The command to give a tithe (one-tenth) of one’s income to God was central in ancient Israel (Leviticus 27:30; Deuteronomy 12:5–6; 2 Chronicles 31:4–5). In Israel’s God-ruled government, the tithe helped to provide for the Levitical tribe, which offered sacrifices to the Lord and assisted in temple work (Numbers 18:21, 26), as well as provide for the poor. Today’s passage gives us a stirring warning about the neglect of giving to God, calling it robbery (Malachi 3:8–9).
When Christ came, He fulfilled the demands of the Mosaic law (see Galatians 3:10–13), and there is no longer a required tithe. Instead, believers are encouraged to regularly give to the Lord in proportion to their income and with an attitude of generosity (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6–7). Giving is an act of worship and generous giving can show our confidence in the God of grace.
In what ways can you worship God this week through your generosity?
For further study see odb.org/2013/11/08/the-blessing-of-giving.
Fearless Giving
By Xochitl Dixon
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Malachi 3:10
When my son Xavier was six years old, a friend brought her toddler to visit and Xavier wanted to give him a few toys. I delighted in our little giver’s generosity, until he offered a stuffed animal my husband had searched several stores in different cities to find. Recognizing the high-demand toy, my friend tried to politely decline. Still, Xavier placed his gift into her son’s hands and said, “My daddy gives me lots of toys to share.”
Though I’d like to say Xavier learned his confident giving from me, I’ve often withheld my resources from God and others. But when I remember that my heavenly Father gives me everything I have and need, it’s easier to share.
Fearless giving to God and others reveals our trust in the Lord’s promises and provision.
In the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to trust Him by giving a portion of all He had supplied to the Levite priests, who would in turn help others in need. When the people refused, the prophet Malachi said they were robbing the Lord (Malachi 3:8–9). But if they gave willingly, showing they trusted the Lord’s promised provision and protection (vv. 10–11), others would recognize them as God’s blessed people (v. 12).
Whether we’re managing our finances, our schedules, or the gifts God entrusted to us, giving can be an act of worship. Giving freely and fearlessly can show our confidence in the care of our loving Father—the ultimate generous Giver.
Lord, please help us live with full confidence in Your faithful provision, so we can give freely and fearlessly to You and others.
Fearless giving to God and others reveals our trust in the Lord’s promises and provision.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 26, 2018
Our Misgivings About Jesus
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." —John 4:11
Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.
My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself. The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 26, 2018
The "Others" Factor - #8121
Our son-in-law has always liked to ski, even though he has never gotten to do it that often. And like everything else he does athletically, he goes for it when he skis. But his last time on the slopes was different from all the other times in his life. See, for the first time, he had a son! And that little baby was on his mind when he was on the slopes. When we asked about his ski adventure, I got the distinct feeling he didn't take the risks he's taken before. Actually, here's the way he put it. Moving his arms in skiing form as he said, and just kept saying, "I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The 'Others' Factor."
It's interesting how responsibility can change the way we live--or how it should change the way we live. Like a certain skiing father I know, you do some things differently when you start thinking about how it could affect people you care about--people you very appropriately feel responsible for. In essence, you start living God's way when you no longer approach life as if it's all about you.
Designer living is described in our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 2 beginning in verse 3. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." The passage goes on to say that although Jesus was God, He "made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross."
Okay, you're a follower of Jesus. Jesus' example is one of total selflessness, total self-forgetfulness. If you're full of yourself, you're not full of Jesus. You're not really following Him. Maybe the pain of your life has made you pretty full of yourself and your needs, or maybe your ambitions have, or your overload, or your background.
But the Jesus-revolution in a person takes that person from skiing down life's mountain with only themselves in mind to skiing with others in mind. It could be right now that you're in a pattern of doing what you want, what you feel, what you need--and you're leaving behind some wounded people, some neglected people, some disillusioned people. You've been wondering what's wrong with them. Maybe what's wrong with them is what's wrong with you. You just haven't been thinking about what some of your choices, your actions and your attitudes are doing to the people you love.
We can't just think about ourselves. Skiing with abandon at top speed may feel good to you, but what about the people who need you, who look to you? What could it do to them? Maybe you're running your life to get what you want, to do what you want, to do what feels good to you, but what are you doing to your husband? What are you doing to your wife, your son, your daughter, the people you influence spiritually?
Jesus is calling you to live with the 'others' factor in mind--to live the way He showed us to live. As you ski your course, you need to hear yourself saying, "I'm a Daddy." "I'm a husband." "I'm a wife." "I'm a leader." "I'm a representative of Jesus." A life that's just about you? I'll tell you, that's a life that's way too small to live in. When your life's about others, well you are finally living the real adventure!
A lot of us make unnecessary messes. But we can change that. May I make a suggestion? Before you face the world, face your Father. Take this pocket prayer:
Father, You are good. Your heart is good. The words might come slowly at first, but stay at it! You are always right. The weather’s bad, the economy is bad; but God, you are awesome!
Don’t underestimate the power of this moment. You just opened the door to God and welcomed truth to enter your heart. Who knows, you might even start to worship. Is your world different because you prayed? In one sense, no. But you are different. You have peace. You’ve talked with your Father.
Here’s a prayer challenge for you! Every day for four weeks pray four minutes; and get ready to connect with God like never before!
Read more Before Amen
Matthew 28
Risen from the Dead
1-4 After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.
5-6 The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.
7 “Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.”
8-10 The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. “Good morning!” he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life! Don’t be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”
11-15 Meanwhile, the guards had scattered, but a few of them went into the city and told the high priests everything that had happened. They called a meeting of the religious leaders and came up with a plan: They took a large sum of money and gave it to the soldiers, bribing them to say, “His disciples came in the night and stole the body while we were sleeping.” They assured them, “If the governor hears about your sleeping on duty, we will make sure you don’t get blamed.” The soldiers took the bribe and did as they were told. That story, cooked up in the Jewish High Council, is still going around.
16-17 Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
18-20 Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 26, 2018
Read: Malachi 3:8–12
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
INSIGHT
The command to give a tithe (one-tenth) of one’s income to God was central in ancient Israel (Leviticus 27:30; Deuteronomy 12:5–6; 2 Chronicles 31:4–5). In Israel’s God-ruled government, the tithe helped to provide for the Levitical tribe, which offered sacrifices to the Lord and assisted in temple work (Numbers 18:21, 26), as well as provide for the poor. Today’s passage gives us a stirring warning about the neglect of giving to God, calling it robbery (Malachi 3:8–9).
When Christ came, He fulfilled the demands of the Mosaic law (see Galatians 3:10–13), and there is no longer a required tithe. Instead, believers are encouraged to regularly give to the Lord in proportion to their income and with an attitude of generosity (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6–7). Giving is an act of worship and generous giving can show our confidence in the God of grace.
In what ways can you worship God this week through your generosity?
For further study see odb.org/2013/11/08/the-blessing-of-giving.
Fearless Giving
By Xochitl Dixon
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Malachi 3:10
When my son Xavier was six years old, a friend brought her toddler to visit and Xavier wanted to give him a few toys. I delighted in our little giver’s generosity, until he offered a stuffed animal my husband had searched several stores in different cities to find. Recognizing the high-demand toy, my friend tried to politely decline. Still, Xavier placed his gift into her son’s hands and said, “My daddy gives me lots of toys to share.”
Though I’d like to say Xavier learned his confident giving from me, I’ve often withheld my resources from God and others. But when I remember that my heavenly Father gives me everything I have and need, it’s easier to share.
Fearless giving to God and others reveals our trust in the Lord’s promises and provision.
In the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to trust Him by giving a portion of all He had supplied to the Levite priests, who would in turn help others in need. When the people refused, the prophet Malachi said they were robbing the Lord (Malachi 3:8–9). But if they gave willingly, showing they trusted the Lord’s promised provision and protection (vv. 10–11), others would recognize them as God’s blessed people (v. 12).
Whether we’re managing our finances, our schedules, or the gifts God entrusted to us, giving can be an act of worship. Giving freely and fearlessly can show our confidence in the care of our loving Father—the ultimate generous Giver.
Lord, please help us live with full confidence in Your faithful provision, so we can give freely and fearlessly to You and others.
Fearless giving to God and others reveals our trust in the Lord’s promises and provision.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 26, 2018
Our Misgivings About Jesus
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." —John 4:11
Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.
My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself. The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 26, 2018
The "Others" Factor - #8121
Our son-in-law has always liked to ski, even though he has never gotten to do it that often. And like everything else he does athletically, he goes for it when he skis. But his last time on the slopes was different from all the other times in his life. See, for the first time, he had a son! And that little baby was on his mind when he was on the slopes. When we asked about his ski adventure, I got the distinct feeling he didn't take the risks he's taken before. Actually, here's the way he put it. Moving his arms in skiing form as he said, and just kept saying, "I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The 'Others' Factor."
It's interesting how responsibility can change the way we live--or how it should change the way we live. Like a certain skiing father I know, you do some things differently when you start thinking about how it could affect people you care about--people you very appropriately feel responsible for. In essence, you start living God's way when you no longer approach life as if it's all about you.
Designer living is described in our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 2 beginning in verse 3. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." The passage goes on to say that although Jesus was God, He "made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross."
Okay, you're a follower of Jesus. Jesus' example is one of total selflessness, total self-forgetfulness. If you're full of yourself, you're not full of Jesus. You're not really following Him. Maybe the pain of your life has made you pretty full of yourself and your needs, or maybe your ambitions have, or your overload, or your background.
But the Jesus-revolution in a person takes that person from skiing down life's mountain with only themselves in mind to skiing with others in mind. It could be right now that you're in a pattern of doing what you want, what you feel, what you need--and you're leaving behind some wounded people, some neglected people, some disillusioned people. You've been wondering what's wrong with them. Maybe what's wrong with them is what's wrong with you. You just haven't been thinking about what some of your choices, your actions and your attitudes are doing to the people you love.
We can't just think about ourselves. Skiing with abandon at top speed may feel good to you, but what about the people who need you, who look to you? What could it do to them? Maybe you're running your life to get what you want, to do what you want, to do what feels good to you, but what are you doing to your husband? What are you doing to your wife, your son, your daughter, the people you influence spiritually?
Jesus is calling you to live with the 'others' factor in mind--to live the way He showed us to live. As you ski your course, you need to hear yourself saying, "I'm a Daddy." "I'm a husband." "I'm a wife." "I'm a leader." "I'm a representative of Jesus." A life that's just about you? I'll tell you, that's a life that's way too small to live in. When your life's about others, well you are finally living the real adventure!
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Matthew 27:51-66, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado: Simplify Your Faith
How do you simplify your faith? How do you get rid of the clutter? How do you discover a joy worth waking up to? Simple. Get rid of the middleman. There are some who suggest the only way to God is through them. There’s the great teacher who has the final word on Bible teaching. There’s the father who must bless your acts. There’s the spiritual master who’ll tell you what God wants you to do.
Jesus’ message for complicated religion is to remove these middlemen. He’s not saying you don’t need teachers, elders, or counselors. He is saying, however, that we are all brothers and sisters with equal access to the Father. Seek God for yourself. No elaborate channels of command or levels of access.
You have a Bible? You can study. You have a heart? You can pray. You have a mind? You can think!
From And the Angels Were Silent
Matthew 27:51-66
51-53 At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)
54 The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God!”
55-56 There were also quite a few women watching from a distance, women who had followed Jesus from Galilee in order to serve him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the Zebedee brothers.
The Tomb
57-61 Late in the afternoon a wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate granted his request. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linens, put it in his own tomb, a new tomb only recently cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the entrance. Then he went off. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed, sitting in plain view of the tomb.
62-64 After sundown, the high priests and Pharisees arranged a meeting with Pilate. They said, “Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be raised.’ We’ve got to get that tomb sealed until the third day. There’s a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, ‘He’s risen from the dead.’ Then we’ll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first.”
65-66 Pilate told them, “You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can.” So they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Read: Isaiah 33:2–6
Lord, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress.
3 At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee;
when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts;
like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.[a]
Footnotes:
Isaiah 33:6 Or is a treasure from him
INSIGHT
This brief section of Isaiah comes immediately after the prophet has pronounced six “woes” (contained in chapters 28 through 33:1). Now, beginning with 33:2, Isaiah prays in expectancy, despite the Assyrian forces threatening Jerusalem. He looks not to the city’s military strength or diplomatic skill for deliverance, but to God. “At the uproar of your army, the [invading] peoples flee” and “scatter,” said Isaiah (v. 3). The loot left behind when the Assyrians fled would be “harvested as by young locusts” (v. 4)—the citizens of Jerusalem themselves. No wonder Isaiah saw God as “the sure foundation” and the “rich store of salvation” (v. 6).
Isaiah’s original audience expected a Messiah, and Isaiah prophesied of Him in 28:16—“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” In Matthew 21:42, when Jesus told His critics, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” He was referring to Himself as that Messiah.
What tempts you to panic today? Christ is our deliverer. He provides a sure foundation and a rich store of salvation to all who turn to Him. - Tim Gustafson
Our Sure Foundation
By David C. McCasland
[The Lord] will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6
For many years, people in our city built and bought homes in areas subject to landslides. Some knew about the risk of the unstable land, while others were not told. “Forty years of warnings from geologists and city regulations created to ensure safe homebuilding” were unexplained or ignored (The Gazette, Colorado Springs, April 27, 2016). The view from many of those homes was magnificent, but the ground beneath them was a disaster in the making.
Many people in ancient Israel ignored the Lord’s warnings to turn from idols and seek Him, the true and living God. The Old Testament records the tragic results of their disobedience. Yet, with the world crumbling around them, the Lord continued reaching out to His people with a message of forgiveness and hope if they would turn to Him and follow His way.
Father in heaven, we acknowledge You as our sure foundation. Our security and hope are in You.
The prophet Isaiah said, “[The Lord] will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).
Today, as in the Old Testament era, God has given us a choice about the foundation on which we will build our lives. We can follow our own desires, or we can embrace His eternal principles revealed in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. “On Christ, the solid rock, I stand—all other ground is sinking sand” (Edward Mote).
Father in heaven, we acknowledge You as our sure foundation. Our security and hope are in You.
The Lord Himself is our strong foundation in life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 25, 2018
The Destitution of Service
…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. —2 Corinthians 12:15
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
How do you simplify your faith? How do you get rid of the clutter? How do you discover a joy worth waking up to? Simple. Get rid of the middleman. There are some who suggest the only way to God is through them. There’s the great teacher who has the final word on Bible teaching. There’s the father who must bless your acts. There’s the spiritual master who’ll tell you what God wants you to do.
Jesus’ message for complicated religion is to remove these middlemen. He’s not saying you don’t need teachers, elders, or counselors. He is saying, however, that we are all brothers and sisters with equal access to the Father. Seek God for yourself. No elaborate channels of command or levels of access.
You have a Bible? You can study. You have a heart? You can pray. You have a mind? You can think!
From And the Angels Were Silent
Matthew 27:51-66
51-53 At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)
54 The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God!”
55-56 There were also quite a few women watching from a distance, women who had followed Jesus from Galilee in order to serve him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the Zebedee brothers.
The Tomb
57-61 Late in the afternoon a wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate granted his request. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linens, put it in his own tomb, a new tomb only recently cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the entrance. Then he went off. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed, sitting in plain view of the tomb.
62-64 After sundown, the high priests and Pharisees arranged a meeting with Pilate. They said, “Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be raised.’ We’ve got to get that tomb sealed until the third day. There’s a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, ‘He’s risen from the dead.’ Then we’ll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first.”
65-66 Pilate told them, “You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can.” So they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Read: Isaiah 33:2–6
Lord, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress.
3 At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee;
when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts;
like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.[a]
Footnotes:
Isaiah 33:6 Or is a treasure from him
INSIGHT
This brief section of Isaiah comes immediately after the prophet has pronounced six “woes” (contained in chapters 28 through 33:1). Now, beginning with 33:2, Isaiah prays in expectancy, despite the Assyrian forces threatening Jerusalem. He looks not to the city’s military strength or diplomatic skill for deliverance, but to God. “At the uproar of your army, the [invading] peoples flee” and “scatter,” said Isaiah (v. 3). The loot left behind when the Assyrians fled would be “harvested as by young locusts” (v. 4)—the citizens of Jerusalem themselves. No wonder Isaiah saw God as “the sure foundation” and the “rich store of salvation” (v. 6).
Isaiah’s original audience expected a Messiah, and Isaiah prophesied of Him in 28:16—“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” In Matthew 21:42, when Jesus told His critics, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” He was referring to Himself as that Messiah.
What tempts you to panic today? Christ is our deliverer. He provides a sure foundation and a rich store of salvation to all who turn to Him. - Tim Gustafson
Our Sure Foundation
By David C. McCasland
[The Lord] will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6
For many years, people in our city built and bought homes in areas subject to landslides. Some knew about the risk of the unstable land, while others were not told. “Forty years of warnings from geologists and city regulations created to ensure safe homebuilding” were unexplained or ignored (The Gazette, Colorado Springs, April 27, 2016). The view from many of those homes was magnificent, but the ground beneath them was a disaster in the making.
Many people in ancient Israel ignored the Lord’s warnings to turn from idols and seek Him, the true and living God. The Old Testament records the tragic results of their disobedience. Yet, with the world crumbling around them, the Lord continued reaching out to His people with a message of forgiveness and hope if they would turn to Him and follow His way.
Father in heaven, we acknowledge You as our sure foundation. Our security and hope are in You.
The prophet Isaiah said, “[The Lord] will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).
Today, as in the Old Testament era, God has given us a choice about the foundation on which we will build our lives. We can follow our own desires, or we can embrace His eternal principles revealed in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. “On Christ, the solid rock, I stand—all other ground is sinking sand” (Edward Mote).
Father in heaven, we acknowledge You as our sure foundation. Our security and hope are in You.
The Lord Himself is our strong foundation in life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 25, 2018
The Destitution of Service
…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. —2 Corinthians 12:15
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Exodus 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Like a Child
No child understands the logic of going to bed while there’s energy left in the body! I remember when our daughter, Andrea, was just five. We finally got her to bed. I went in to give her a final kiss, when she lifted her eyelids and said, “I can’t wait until I wake up!” Oh for the attitude of a five-year-old!
Is it any wonder Jesus said we must have the heart of a child before we can enter the kingdom of heaven? He said, “Believe me, unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).” In other words, quit looking at life like an adult. See it through the eyes of a child.
“I can’t wait to wake up,” are the words of a child’s faith. Andrea could say them because she plays hard, laughs much, and leaves the worries to her father. Let’s do the same.
From And the Angels Were Silent
Exodus 22
1-3 “If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt.
3-4 “A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double.
5 “If someone grazes livestock in a field or vineyard but lets them loose so they graze in someone else’s field, restitution must be made from the best of the owner’s field or vineyard.
6 “If fire breaks out and spreads to the brush so that the sheaves of grain or the standing grain or even the whole field is burned up, whoever started the fire must pay for the damages.
7-8 “If someone gives a neighbor money or things for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. If the thief is not caught, the owner must be brought before God to determine whether the owner was the one who took the neighbor’s goods.
9 “In all cases of stolen goods, whether oxen, donkeys, sheep, clothing, anything in fact missing of which someone says, ‘That’s mine,’ both parties must come before the judges. The one the judges pronounce guilty must pay double to the other.
10-13 “If someone gives a donkey or ox or lamb or any kind of animal to another for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or lost and there is no witness, an oath before God must be made between them to decide whether one has laid hands on the property of the other. The owner must accept this and no damages are assessed. But if it turns out it was stolen, the owner must be compensated. If it has been torn by wild beasts, the torn animal must be brought in as evidence; no damages have to be paid.
14-15 “If someone borrows an animal from a neighbor and it gets injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must pay for it. But if the owner was with it, he doesn’t have to pay. If the animal was hired, the payment covers the loss.
16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the marriage price and marry her. If her father absolutely refuses to give her away, the man must still pay the marriage price for virgins.
18 “Don’t let a sorceress live.
19 “Anyone who has sex with an animal gets the death penalty.
20 “Anyone who sacrifices to a god other than God alone must be put to death.
21 “Don’t abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt.
22-24 “Don’t mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I’ll take them most seriously; I’ll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.
25 “If you lend money to my people, to any of the down-and-out among you, don’t come down hard on them and gouge them with interest.
26-27 “If you take your neighbor’s coat as security, give it back before nightfall; it may be your neighbor’s only covering—what else does the person have to sleep in? And if I hear the neighbor crying out from the cold, I’ll step in—I’m compassionate.
28 “Don’t curse God; and don’t damn your leaders.
29-30 “Don’t be stingy as your wine vats fill up.
“Dedicate your firstborn sons to me. The same with your cattle and sheep—they are to stay for seven days with their mother, then give them to me.
31 “Be holy for my sake.
“Don’t eat mutilated flesh you find in the fields; throw it to the dogs.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Read: 1 Samuel 20:30–34
Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
INSIGHT
Do you ever wonder whether you are in the place God wants you to be? David and Jonathan help us ask a different question. When combined with the story of Jonathan’s father, Saul, they give us reason to ask not about our place in life but about the condition of our hearts.
When Israel rejected the God who delivered them, they asked for the kind of king they saw ruling other nations. So God gave them Saul, a handsome man, head and shoulders above any other man in the land (1 Samuel 9:2). He seemed to be the ideal match for a nation that wanted to be led by men rather than God (8:1–5).
Saul’s successor, David, was also a good-looking man (17:42). But when the personal and family lives of Saul, Jonathan, and David are considered together, they show us that while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. By trusting his eyes rather than the Lord, Saul became a bitter, violent man. David, though far from perfect, knew what it meant to trust the Lord. As a result, Jonathan learned that being loyal to David and trusting David’s God was far better than being next in line for the place of his father’s ruined life and throne. - Mart DeHaan
Blooming in the Right Spot
By Tim Gustafson
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David. 1 Samuel 20:16
“A weed is any plant that grows where you don’t want it,” my father said, handing me the hoe. I wanted to leave the corn plant that had “volunteered” among the peas. But Dad, who had grown up on a farm, instructed me to pull it out. That lone cornstalk would do nothing but choke the peas and rob them of nutrients.
Human beings aren’t plants—we have minds of our own and God-given free will. But sometimes we try to bloom where God doesn’t intend us to be.
God invites us to participate with Him in taking the gospel to our world.
King Saul’s son, the warrior-prince Jonathan, could have done that. He had every reason to expect to be king. But he saw God’s blessing on David, and he recognized the envy and pride of his own father (1 Samuel 18:12–15). So rather than grasping for a throne that would never be his, Jonathan became David’s closest friend, even saving his life (19:1–6; 20:1–4).
Some would say that Jonathan gave up too much. But how would we prefer to be remembered? Like the ambitious Saul, who clung to his kingdom and lost it? Or like Jonathan, who protected the life of a man who would become an honored ancestor of Jesus?
God’s plan is always better than our own. We can fight against it and resemble a misplaced weed. Or we can accept His direction and become flourishing, fruitful plants in His garden. He leaves the choice with us.
Lord, please forgive us for those times when we act as if You have planted us in the wrong place. Help us see what You have for us to do today.
God invites us to participate with Him in taking the gospel to our world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, February 24, 2018
The Delight of Sacrifice
I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
No child understands the logic of going to bed while there’s energy left in the body! I remember when our daughter, Andrea, was just five. We finally got her to bed. I went in to give her a final kiss, when she lifted her eyelids and said, “I can’t wait until I wake up!” Oh for the attitude of a five-year-old!
Is it any wonder Jesus said we must have the heart of a child before we can enter the kingdom of heaven? He said, “Believe me, unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).” In other words, quit looking at life like an adult. See it through the eyes of a child.
“I can’t wait to wake up,” are the words of a child’s faith. Andrea could say them because she plays hard, laughs much, and leaves the worries to her father. Let’s do the same.
From And the Angels Were Silent
Exodus 22
1-3 “If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt.
3-4 “A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double.
5 “If someone grazes livestock in a field or vineyard but lets them loose so they graze in someone else’s field, restitution must be made from the best of the owner’s field or vineyard.
6 “If fire breaks out and spreads to the brush so that the sheaves of grain or the standing grain or even the whole field is burned up, whoever started the fire must pay for the damages.
7-8 “If someone gives a neighbor money or things for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. If the thief is not caught, the owner must be brought before God to determine whether the owner was the one who took the neighbor’s goods.
9 “In all cases of stolen goods, whether oxen, donkeys, sheep, clothing, anything in fact missing of which someone says, ‘That’s mine,’ both parties must come before the judges. The one the judges pronounce guilty must pay double to the other.
10-13 “If someone gives a donkey or ox or lamb or any kind of animal to another for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or lost and there is no witness, an oath before God must be made between them to decide whether one has laid hands on the property of the other. The owner must accept this and no damages are assessed. But if it turns out it was stolen, the owner must be compensated. If it has been torn by wild beasts, the torn animal must be brought in as evidence; no damages have to be paid.
14-15 “If someone borrows an animal from a neighbor and it gets injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must pay for it. But if the owner was with it, he doesn’t have to pay. If the animal was hired, the payment covers the loss.
16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the marriage price and marry her. If her father absolutely refuses to give her away, the man must still pay the marriage price for virgins.
18 “Don’t let a sorceress live.
19 “Anyone who has sex with an animal gets the death penalty.
20 “Anyone who sacrifices to a god other than God alone must be put to death.
21 “Don’t abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt.
22-24 “Don’t mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I’ll take them most seriously; I’ll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.
25 “If you lend money to my people, to any of the down-and-out among you, don’t come down hard on them and gouge them with interest.
26-27 “If you take your neighbor’s coat as security, give it back before nightfall; it may be your neighbor’s only covering—what else does the person have to sleep in? And if I hear the neighbor crying out from the cold, I’ll step in—I’m compassionate.
28 “Don’t curse God; and don’t damn your leaders.
29-30 “Don’t be stingy as your wine vats fill up.
“Dedicate your firstborn sons to me. The same with your cattle and sheep—they are to stay for seven days with their mother, then give them to me.
31 “Be holy for my sake.
“Don’t eat mutilated flesh you find in the fields; throw it to the dogs.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Read: 1 Samuel 20:30–34
Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
INSIGHT
Do you ever wonder whether you are in the place God wants you to be? David and Jonathan help us ask a different question. When combined with the story of Jonathan’s father, Saul, they give us reason to ask not about our place in life but about the condition of our hearts.
When Israel rejected the God who delivered them, they asked for the kind of king they saw ruling other nations. So God gave them Saul, a handsome man, head and shoulders above any other man in the land (1 Samuel 9:2). He seemed to be the ideal match for a nation that wanted to be led by men rather than God (8:1–5).
Saul’s successor, David, was also a good-looking man (17:42). But when the personal and family lives of Saul, Jonathan, and David are considered together, they show us that while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. By trusting his eyes rather than the Lord, Saul became a bitter, violent man. David, though far from perfect, knew what it meant to trust the Lord. As a result, Jonathan learned that being loyal to David and trusting David’s God was far better than being next in line for the place of his father’s ruined life and throne. - Mart DeHaan
Blooming in the Right Spot
By Tim Gustafson
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David. 1 Samuel 20:16
“A weed is any plant that grows where you don’t want it,” my father said, handing me the hoe. I wanted to leave the corn plant that had “volunteered” among the peas. But Dad, who had grown up on a farm, instructed me to pull it out. That lone cornstalk would do nothing but choke the peas and rob them of nutrients.
Human beings aren’t plants—we have minds of our own and God-given free will. But sometimes we try to bloom where God doesn’t intend us to be.
God invites us to participate with Him in taking the gospel to our world.
King Saul’s son, the warrior-prince Jonathan, could have done that. He had every reason to expect to be king. But he saw God’s blessing on David, and he recognized the envy and pride of his own father (1 Samuel 18:12–15). So rather than grasping for a throne that would never be his, Jonathan became David’s closest friend, even saving his life (19:1–6; 20:1–4).
Some would say that Jonathan gave up too much. But how would we prefer to be remembered? Like the ambitious Saul, who clung to his kingdom and lost it? Or like Jonathan, who protected the life of a man who would become an honored ancestor of Jesus?
God’s plan is always better than our own. We can fight against it and resemble a misplaced weed. Or we can accept His direction and become flourishing, fruitful plants in His garden. He leaves the choice with us.
Lord, please forgive us for those times when we act as if You have planted us in the wrong place. Help us see what You have for us to do today.
God invites us to participate with Him in taking the gospel to our world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, February 24, 2018
The Delight of Sacrifice
I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
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