Max Lucado Daily: REMEMBER WHAT YOU’RE WORTH
Remember what you are worth! The Bible says, “You were bought, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. . .” (1 Peter 1:18).
Ever feel like you have nothing? Just look at the gifts he has given you. His Holy Spirit to dwell in you, his church to encourage you, and his Word to guide you. You have been chosen by Christ. He has claimed you as his beloved. You are spoken for; engaged; set apart; called out; a holy bride! Be obsessed with your wedding date. Be intolerant of memory lapses. Write yourself notes. Do whatever you need to do to aim at what is in heaven. . .to think about only the things in heaven (Colossians 3:1-20).
You are engaged to Royalty—and your prince is coming to take you home!
From When Christ Comes
Mark 4:21-41
Giving, Not Getting
21-22 Jesus went on: “Does anyone bring a lamp home and put it under a washtub or beneath the bed? Don’t you put it up on a table or on the mantel? We’re not keeping secrets, we’re telling them; we’re not hiding things, we’re bringing them out into the open.
23 “Are you listening to this? Really listening?
24-25 “Listen carefully to what I am saying—and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.”
Never Without a Story
26-29 Then Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time!
30-32 “How can we picture God’s kingdom? What kind of story can we use? It’s like a pine nut. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches. Eagles nest in it.”
33-34 With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke. When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots.
The Wind Ran Out of Breath
35-38 Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”
39-40 Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”
41 They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”
The Message (MSG)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 23, 2018
Isaiah 25:1-9
Praise to the Lord
25 Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done wonderful things,
things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
INSIGHT
Are the hopes we have for ourselves and others realistic? Isaiah and the people he loved were living under conditions of social violence, economic injustices, and a looming Assyrian invasion. Yet God gave him a confidence that enabled him to look beyond conditions of inequality, insecurity, and disgrace. For the weak, the troubled, and the dying, he wrote as if the plans and promises of God are something worth living, waiting, and even dying for (Isaiah 2:1–5; 66:20).
A Double Promise
By Leslie Koh
In perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1
Since she suffered with cancer several years ago, Ruth has been unable to eat, drink, or even swallow properly. She has also lost a lot of her physical strength, and numerous operations and treatments have left her a shadow of what she used to be.
Yet Ruth is still able to praise God; her faith remains strong, and her joy is infectious. She relies on God daily, and holds on to the hope that she will recover fully one day. She prays for healing and is confident that God will answer—sooner or later. What an awesome faith!
In perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1
Ruth explained that what keeps her faith strong is the secure knowledge that God will not only fulfill His promises in His time, but will also sustain her until that happens. This was the same hope that God’s people had as they waited for Him to complete His plans (Isaiah 25:1), deliver them from their enemies (v. 2), wipe away their tears, remove their disgrace, and “swallow up death forever” (v. 8).
In the meantime, God gave His people refuge and shelter (v. 4) as they waited. He comforted them in their ordeals, gave them strength to endure, and gave them assurance that He was there with them.
This is the double promise we have—the hope of deliverance one day, plus the provision of His comfort, strength, and shelter throughout our lives.
Thank You, Lord, for Your wonderful gift of hope. You have promised to save me and to walk with me every day of my life.
Trusting God’s faithfulness can dispel our fearfulness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 23, 2018
Am I Carnally Minded?
Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal…? —1 Corinthians 3:3
The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). In other words, carnality will disappear.
Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, “Oh, I can explain that.” When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness.
What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it— it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, “If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!” And you will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 23, 2018
Why Things Are Caving In - #8140
On the September 11th we'll never forget, she was the last person brought out alive from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Fleeing down the stairs from her office on the 64th floor of the north tower, Genelle Guzman got as far as the thirteenth floor when the building collapsed around her. Suddenly, she was in total darkness, she was buried alive and she was unable to move much of her body. Well, Genelle cried out to God for help. And that help came in the person of a rescuer breaking through the rubble and grabbing her hand. In her darkest moments, Genelle Guzman promised her life to Jesus Christ. Her emotional miracle was the total peace she has had every day since then; a peace that her psychiatrist, who's worked with many nightmare-plagued survivors, simply couldn't understand. In his book "Breakthrough Prayer," Jim Cymbala quotes Genelle's bottom line on what happened to her and as she told it to her amazed psychiatrist. She said, "The tragedy I suffered was something I needed to go through in order to know Him."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Things Are Caving In."
You've never had a September 11th, but you know what it is to feel like everything is caving in around you. You've had your share of pain, discouragement, darkness. Someone you trusted has failed you, or maybe you've failed, or your health has let you down, maybe things are in turmoil at work, or even worse at home or your personal life. You're really under it, and you're wondering why.
Maybe, in a way, it's Genelle's story reenacted on the stage of your life: the tragedy you're suffering is what you've needed to go through in order to know your Creator. See, He loves you too much to lose you, and He will do whatever it takes to bring you to Him; to get your attention so you can finally find the relationship you were made for. So you can move from your religion to a personal relationship with Him. So you're ready for eternity, whenever it comes.
For one man, it took a death sentence for him to experience the love and forgiveness of God. He was a hardened criminal, nailed to the cross next to Jesus Christ. At first, he had no use for Jesus. The Bible says, "The robbers who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him." But then he heard Jesus say of the men who had nailed Him to that cross, "Father, forgive them." And this dying man suddenly realized that Jesus was his only hope.
In Luke 23:42, our word for today from the Word of God, this man says, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." Jesus said to him what I hope you'll hear from Him one day, "Today you will be with Me in paradise." Like the last survivor at Ground Zero, this man's suffering brought him to his Savior.
That might be why things are caving in around you. The pain you're going through now is God's way of saving you from the awful pain of an eternity without Him; a penalty for your sin that Jesus has already paid. The Bible says Jesus was "a man of sorrows ... pierced for our transgressions," "crushed for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:4-5). But some of us are so self-reliant, so proud, so stubborn, even so religious that we refuse to acknowledge our need of the Savior who is our only hope until everything's coming down and everything’s out of control.
Now, like the rescuer who reached into the rubble and grabbed a dying woman's hand, Jesus is reaching for you. Isn't it time you surrendered the steering wheel of your life and said, "Jesus, I now realize You are my only hope. I'm sorry for all the years when I've done it my way. From this moment on, though, I'm Yours."
If you want to experience that love, that peace for yourself today, I would encourage you to go to our website ANewStory.com. It's a place where many people get this settled once and for all.
You may never be this close to Jesus again. Please don't miss Him.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Exodus 40, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE?
I once shared a class with a girl who got engaged. I don’t remember much about the class except the hour was early and the teacher was dull. I don’t even remember the girl’s name. I do remember that she didn’t stand out in the crowd. She was shy and not very confident. One day, however, her hair changed, her outfit changed, and even her voice changed. She spoke with confidence. What made the difference? Simple. A young man she loved looked her squarely in the eye and said, “Come and spend forever with me.” He proposed to her. His love for her convinced her she was worth loving.
God’s love can do the same. It can change us! The Bible says, “God has loved you with an everlasting love; He has drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). Jesus can live without us—but He doesn’t want to!
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 40
“Moses Finished the Work”
1-3 God spoke to Moses: “On the first day of the first month, set up The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting. Place the Chest of The Testimony in it and screen the Chest with the curtain.
4 “Bring in the Table and set it, arranging its Lampstand and lamps.
5 “Place the Gold Altar of Incense before the Chest of The Testimony and hang the curtain at the door of The Dwelling.
6 “Place the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering at the door of The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting.
7 “Place the Washbasin between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar and fill it with water.
8 “Set up the Courtyard on all sides and hang the curtain at the entrance to the Courtyard.
9-11 “Then take the anointing oil and anoint The Dwelling and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings so that it becomes holy. Anoint the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and all its utensils, consecrating the Altar so that it is completely holy. Anoint the Washbasin and its base: consecrate it.
12-15 “Finally, bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. Dress Aaron in the sacred vestments. Anoint him. Consecrate him to serve me as priest. Bring his sons and put tunics on them. Anoint them, just as you anointed their father, to serve me as priests. Their anointing will bring them into a perpetual priesthood, down through the generations.”
16 Moses did everything God commanded. He did it all.
17-19 On the first day of the first month of the second year, The Dwelling was set up. Moses set it up: He laid its bases, erected the frames, placed the crossbars, set the posts, spread the tent over The Dwelling, and put the covering over the tent, just as God had commanded Moses.
20-21 He placed The Testimony in the Chest, inserted the poles for carrying the Chest, and placed the lid, the Atonement-Cover, on it. He brought the Chest into The Dwelling and set up the curtain, screening off the Chest of The Testimony, just as God had commanded Moses.
22-23 He placed the Table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of The Dwelling, outside the curtain, and arranged the Bread there before God, just as God had commanded him.
24-25 He placed the Lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the Table on the south side of The Dwelling and set up the lamps before God, just as God had commanded him.
26-27 Moses placed the Gold Altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the curtain and burned fragrant incense on it, just as God had commanded him.
28 He placed the screen at the entrance to The Dwelling.
29 He set the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering at the door of The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting, and offered up the Whole-Burnt-Offerings and the Grain-Offerings, just as God had commanded Moses.
30-32 He placed the Washbasin between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar, and filled it with water for washing. Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and feet there. When they entered the Tent of Meeting and when they served at the Altar, they washed, just as God had commanded Moses.
33 Finally, he erected the Courtyard all around The Dwelling and the Altar, and put up the screen for the Courtyard entrance.
Moses finished the work.
34-35 The Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling. Moses couldn’t enter the Tent of Meeting because the Cloud was upon it, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling.
36-38 Whenever the Cloud lifted from The Dwelling, the People of Israel set out on their travels, but if the Cloud did not lift, they wouldn’t set out until it did lift. The Cloud of God was over The Dwelling during the day and the fire was in it at night, visible to all the Israelites in all their travels.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Read: Psalm 79:8–13
Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.
9 Help us, God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes, make known among the nations
that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times
the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.
INSIGHT
The prayer of Psalm 79 for God to restore His people was voiced in the context of great loss—perhaps when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 587 bc. Although the psalmist recognized that much of Israel’s suffering was caused by their sin, he pleaded for God to restore anyway—because of how it would look to unbelieving nations if Israel seemed abandoned by Him.
This idea—that God can be expected to be faithful even when His people are not—is pervasive throughout Scripture. Prayers often plead with God to consider that even if suffering seems deserved, human suffering and death does not bring Him glory the same way His gracious restoration does (see Psalm 30:9). And God confirmed this truth, pleading with His people to return to Him and assuring them that because He is “God, and not a man” (Hosea 11:9), He could be trusted to be merciful.
As dark as our sin can be, God’s grace is deeper still. Do you feel unworthy of God’s forgiveness? Turn to Him anyway, and experience the joy of new life (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Our sin does not prevent God from bringing hope, restoration, and an ongoing legacy of faith. -Monica Brands
Passing on the Legacy
By Elisa Morgan
Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise. Psalm 79:13
My phone beeped, indicating an incoming text. My daughter wanted my grandmother’s recipe for Peppermint Ice Cream Pie. As I thumbed through the yellowed cards in my aged recipe box, my eyes spotted the unique handwriting of my grandmother—and several jotted notes in the small cursive of my mother. It occurred to me that with my daughter’s request, Peppermint Ice Cream Pie would make its entrance into a fourth generation within my family.
I wondered, What other family heirlooms might be handed down generation to generation? What about choices regarding faith? Besides the pie, would the faith of my grandmother—and my own—play out in the lives of my daughter and her offspring?
Sharing and living out our faith is the best way to leave a legacy.
In Psalm 79, the psalmist bemoans a wayward Israel, which has lost its faith moorings. He begs God to rescue His people from the ungodly and to restore Jerusalem to safety. This done, he promises a restored—and ongoing—commitment to God’s ways. “Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise” (v. 13).
I eagerly shared the recipe, knowing my grandmother’s dessert legacy would enjoy a new layer in our family. And I prayed sincerely for the most lasting hand-me-down of all: the influence of our family’s faith on one generation to the next.
What is your family passing down to the next generation? Share with us on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Sharing and living out our faith is the best way to leave a legacy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 22, 2018
The Burning Heart
Did not our heart burn within us…? —Luke 24:32
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the “mount of transfiguration,” basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours of insight willed
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
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
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Super-Sized Praying - #8139
Well, we've been wrong. Yeah, our science books tell us that there are 100 billion galaxies. We look at our Milky Way, and we see the one galaxy we're in. We're all excited because we've been able to get an unmanned spacecraft to the edge of our solar system! Hey, Hey!!! Our solar system is just one small part of our one galaxy, and they're still counting galaxies. They did say there were 100 billion. Now, with the Hubble telescope, they're saying there may be as many as two trillion galaxies. Don't even try to comprehend what God has put out there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Super-Sized Praying."
You remember a few years ago when the fast food restaurants would ask if you wanted to "super-size" your fries or your drink - you know, go for something bigger. Probably that ended up super-sizing us. Don't you think it's time we "super-size" the way we pray - in light of the size of the One we're praying to? He's the God who invites us to "come boldly to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). That's the throne from which billions of galaxies are governed! Do you pray like that?
Paul understood the size of the One who we're with when we pray and the size of what we should pray for. In our word for today from the Word of God, from Ephesians 3 beginning in verse 14, Paul captures the wonder of it all when he says, "I kneel before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power . . . I pray that you . . . may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ . . . and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."
Man! Immeasurable love. Incomparable power. All poured out on those who belong to Him. Wow! Well, in this next verse, Ephesians 3:20, Paul says our God is the One "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us." There are many times I think we should "3:20" our prayer, Ephesians 3:20 that is; enlarging our request in light of this promise that God can do "immeasurably more." I wonder if God's listening as we come to Him with our little man-sized requests and saying, "Would you like Me to super-size that?"
I think we forget Who we're with when we pray. I was reminded again of how big our God really is when I heard the slight correction of the number of galaxies from billions to trillions! Your Heavenly Father is the One who controls them all, and prayer brings you into His holy, omnipotent presence.
It’s no wonder we are encouraged to "come boldly". Not because we deserve to be there, but because Jesus has removed every obstacle to being there by shedding His blood for us. So why do we come so timidly? When is the last time you trusted God for something so big only God could do it? He's told us He wants to show us "great and mighty things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
God has so much more He wants to do for us than we're willing to believe Him for. We're under-living because we're under-praying and under-trusting. Before you begin to praise Him and petition Him in prayer, take just a moment to remember how big your God really is. You won't pray the same. You'll be humbled. You'll be amazed, and you'll be bold.
The universe is bigger than we thought it was, and the God who made all those galaxies in a moment is much bigger than we think He is. It's time we super-size our praying!
I once shared a class with a girl who got engaged. I don’t remember much about the class except the hour was early and the teacher was dull. I don’t even remember the girl’s name. I do remember that she didn’t stand out in the crowd. She was shy and not very confident. One day, however, her hair changed, her outfit changed, and even her voice changed. She spoke with confidence. What made the difference? Simple. A young man she loved looked her squarely in the eye and said, “Come and spend forever with me.” He proposed to her. His love for her convinced her she was worth loving.
God’s love can do the same. It can change us! The Bible says, “God has loved you with an everlasting love; He has drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). Jesus can live without us—but He doesn’t want to!
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 40
“Moses Finished the Work”
1-3 God spoke to Moses: “On the first day of the first month, set up The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting. Place the Chest of The Testimony in it and screen the Chest with the curtain.
4 “Bring in the Table and set it, arranging its Lampstand and lamps.
5 “Place the Gold Altar of Incense before the Chest of The Testimony and hang the curtain at the door of The Dwelling.
6 “Place the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering at the door of The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting.
7 “Place the Washbasin between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar and fill it with water.
8 “Set up the Courtyard on all sides and hang the curtain at the entrance to the Courtyard.
9-11 “Then take the anointing oil and anoint The Dwelling and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings so that it becomes holy. Anoint the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and all its utensils, consecrating the Altar so that it is completely holy. Anoint the Washbasin and its base: consecrate it.
12-15 “Finally, bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. Dress Aaron in the sacred vestments. Anoint him. Consecrate him to serve me as priest. Bring his sons and put tunics on them. Anoint them, just as you anointed their father, to serve me as priests. Their anointing will bring them into a perpetual priesthood, down through the generations.”
16 Moses did everything God commanded. He did it all.
17-19 On the first day of the first month of the second year, The Dwelling was set up. Moses set it up: He laid its bases, erected the frames, placed the crossbars, set the posts, spread the tent over The Dwelling, and put the covering over the tent, just as God had commanded Moses.
20-21 He placed The Testimony in the Chest, inserted the poles for carrying the Chest, and placed the lid, the Atonement-Cover, on it. He brought the Chest into The Dwelling and set up the curtain, screening off the Chest of The Testimony, just as God had commanded Moses.
22-23 He placed the Table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of The Dwelling, outside the curtain, and arranged the Bread there before God, just as God had commanded him.
24-25 He placed the Lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the Table on the south side of The Dwelling and set up the lamps before God, just as God had commanded him.
26-27 Moses placed the Gold Altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the curtain and burned fragrant incense on it, just as God had commanded him.
28 He placed the screen at the entrance to The Dwelling.
29 He set the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering at the door of The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting, and offered up the Whole-Burnt-Offerings and the Grain-Offerings, just as God had commanded Moses.
30-32 He placed the Washbasin between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar, and filled it with water for washing. Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and feet there. When they entered the Tent of Meeting and when they served at the Altar, they washed, just as God had commanded Moses.
33 Finally, he erected the Courtyard all around The Dwelling and the Altar, and put up the screen for the Courtyard entrance.
Moses finished the work.
34-35 The Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling. Moses couldn’t enter the Tent of Meeting because the Cloud was upon it, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling.
36-38 Whenever the Cloud lifted from The Dwelling, the People of Israel set out on their travels, but if the Cloud did not lift, they wouldn’t set out until it did lift. The Cloud of God was over The Dwelling during the day and the fire was in it at night, visible to all the Israelites in all their travels.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Read: Psalm 79:8–13
Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.
9 Help us, God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes, make known among the nations
that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times
the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.
INSIGHT
The prayer of Psalm 79 for God to restore His people was voiced in the context of great loss—perhaps when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 587 bc. Although the psalmist recognized that much of Israel’s suffering was caused by their sin, he pleaded for God to restore anyway—because of how it would look to unbelieving nations if Israel seemed abandoned by Him.
This idea—that God can be expected to be faithful even when His people are not—is pervasive throughout Scripture. Prayers often plead with God to consider that even if suffering seems deserved, human suffering and death does not bring Him glory the same way His gracious restoration does (see Psalm 30:9). And God confirmed this truth, pleading with His people to return to Him and assuring them that because He is “God, and not a man” (Hosea 11:9), He could be trusted to be merciful.
As dark as our sin can be, God’s grace is deeper still. Do you feel unworthy of God’s forgiveness? Turn to Him anyway, and experience the joy of new life (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Our sin does not prevent God from bringing hope, restoration, and an ongoing legacy of faith. -Monica Brands
Passing on the Legacy
By Elisa Morgan
Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise. Psalm 79:13
My phone beeped, indicating an incoming text. My daughter wanted my grandmother’s recipe for Peppermint Ice Cream Pie. As I thumbed through the yellowed cards in my aged recipe box, my eyes spotted the unique handwriting of my grandmother—and several jotted notes in the small cursive of my mother. It occurred to me that with my daughter’s request, Peppermint Ice Cream Pie would make its entrance into a fourth generation within my family.
I wondered, What other family heirlooms might be handed down generation to generation? What about choices regarding faith? Besides the pie, would the faith of my grandmother—and my own—play out in the lives of my daughter and her offspring?
Sharing and living out our faith is the best way to leave a legacy.
In Psalm 79, the psalmist bemoans a wayward Israel, which has lost its faith moorings. He begs God to rescue His people from the ungodly and to restore Jerusalem to safety. This done, he promises a restored—and ongoing—commitment to God’s ways. “Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise” (v. 13).
I eagerly shared the recipe, knowing my grandmother’s dessert legacy would enjoy a new layer in our family. And I prayed sincerely for the most lasting hand-me-down of all: the influence of our family’s faith on one generation to the next.
What is your family passing down to the next generation? Share with us on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Sharing and living out our faith is the best way to leave a legacy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 22, 2018
The Burning Heart
Did not our heart burn within us…? —Luke 24:32
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the “mount of transfiguration,” basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours of insight willed
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
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
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Super-Sized Praying - #8139
Well, we've been wrong. Yeah, our science books tell us that there are 100 billion galaxies. We look at our Milky Way, and we see the one galaxy we're in. We're all excited because we've been able to get an unmanned spacecraft to the edge of our solar system! Hey, Hey!!! Our solar system is just one small part of our one galaxy, and they're still counting galaxies. They did say there were 100 billion. Now, with the Hubble telescope, they're saying there may be as many as two trillion galaxies. Don't even try to comprehend what God has put out there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Super-Sized Praying."
You remember a few years ago when the fast food restaurants would ask if you wanted to "super-size" your fries or your drink - you know, go for something bigger. Probably that ended up super-sizing us. Don't you think it's time we "super-size" the way we pray - in light of the size of the One we're praying to? He's the God who invites us to "come boldly to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). That's the throne from which billions of galaxies are governed! Do you pray like that?
Paul understood the size of the One who we're with when we pray and the size of what we should pray for. In our word for today from the Word of God, from Ephesians 3 beginning in verse 14, Paul captures the wonder of it all when he says, "I kneel before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power . . . I pray that you . . . may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ . . . and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."
Man! Immeasurable love. Incomparable power. All poured out on those who belong to Him. Wow! Well, in this next verse, Ephesians 3:20, Paul says our God is the One "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us." There are many times I think we should "3:20" our prayer, Ephesians 3:20 that is; enlarging our request in light of this promise that God can do "immeasurably more." I wonder if God's listening as we come to Him with our little man-sized requests and saying, "Would you like Me to super-size that?"
I think we forget Who we're with when we pray. I was reminded again of how big our God really is when I heard the slight correction of the number of galaxies from billions to trillions! Your Heavenly Father is the One who controls them all, and prayer brings you into His holy, omnipotent presence.
It’s no wonder we are encouraged to "come boldly". Not because we deserve to be there, but because Jesus has removed every obstacle to being there by shedding His blood for us. So why do we come so timidly? When is the last time you trusted God for something so big only God could do it? He's told us He wants to show us "great and mighty things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
God has so much more He wants to do for us than we're willing to believe Him for. We're under-living because we're under-praying and under-trusting. Before you begin to praise Him and petition Him in prayer, take just a moment to remember how big your God really is. You won't pray the same. You'll be humbled. You'll be amazed, and you'll be bold.
The universe is bigger than we thought it was, and the God who made all those galaxies in a moment is much bigger than we think He is. It's time we super-size our praying!
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Exodus 39, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A TABULATED LIST OF GRACE
A couple who resorted to do-it-yourself marriage counseling resolved to list each others’ faults and then read them aloud. The wife gave her list and he read: You snore; you eat in bed; the list continued. When the husband gave her his list, she smiled. He’d written his grievances, but next to each he’d written– I forgive this. The result was a tabulated list of grace.
Imagine you are before the judgment seat of Christ. The book is opened and the reading begins—each sin, each deceit, and each occasion of greed. But as soon as the infraction is read, grace is proclaimed. Jesus says, I forgive this. Registered forgiveness! No humiliation! No shame! Because in heaven you will be in your sinless state—happy to let God do in heaven what he did on earth. He will be honored in your weakness!
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 39
Vestments. Using the blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics, they made the woven vestments for ministering in the Sanctuary. Also they made the sacred vestments for Aaron, as God had commanded Moses.
2-5 Ephod. They made the Ephod using gold and blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics and finely twisted linen. They hammered out gold leaf and sliced it into threads that were then worked into designs in the blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and fine linen. They made shoulder pieces fastened at the two ends. The decorated band was made of the same material—gold, blue, purple, and scarlet material, and of fine twisted linen—and of one piece with it, just as God had commanded Moses.
6-7 They mounted the onyx stones in a setting of filigreed gold and engraved the names of the sons of Israel on them, then fastened them on the shoulder pieces of the Ephod as memorial stones for the Israelites, just as God had commanded Moses.
8-10 Breastpiece. They made a Breastpiece designed like the Ephod from gold, blue, purple, and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen. Doubled, the Breastpiece was nine inches square. They mounted four rows of precious gemstones on it.
First row: carnelian, topaz, emerald.
11 Second row: ruby, sapphire, crystal.
12 Third row: jacinth, agate, amethyst.
13-14 Fourth row: beryl, onyx, jasper.
The stones were mounted in a gold filigree. The twelve stones corresponded to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve names engraved as on a seal, one for each of the twelve tribes.
15-21 They made braided chains of pure gold for the Breastpiece, like cords. They made two settings of gold filigree and two rings of gold, put the two rings at the two ends of the Breastpiece, and fastened the two ends of the cords to the two rings at the end of the Breastpiece. Then they fastened the cords to the settings of filigree, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the Ephod in front. Then they made two rings of gold and fastened them to the two ends of the Breastpiece on its inside edge facing the Ephod. They made two more rings of gold and fastened them in the front of the Ephod to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces, near the seam above the decorated band of the Ephod. The Breastpiece was fastened by running a cord of blue through its rings to the rings of the Ephod so that it rested secure on the decorated band of the Ephod and wouldn’t come loose, just as God had commanded Moses.
22-26 Robe. They made the robe for the Ephod entirely of blue. The opening of the robe at the center was like a collar, the edge hemmed so that it wouldn’t tear. On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. They also made bells of pure gold and alternated the bells and pomegranates—a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate—all around the hem of the robe that was worn for ministering, just as God had commanded Moses.
27-29 They also made the tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and his sons, the turban of fine linen, the linen hats, the linen underwear made of fine twisted linen, and sashes of fine twisted linen, blue, purple, and scarlet material and embroidered, just as God had commanded Moses.
30-31 They made the plate, the sacred crown, of pure gold and engraved on it as on a seal: “Holy to God.” They attached a blue cord to it and fastened it to the turban, just as God had commanded Moses.
32 That completed the work of The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting. The People of Israel did what God had commanded Moses. They did it all.
33-41 They presented The Dwelling to Moses, the Tent and all its furnishings:
fastening hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, bases, tenting of tanned ram skins, tenting of dolphin skins
veil of the screen.
Chest of The Testimony with its poles and Atonement-Cover
Table with its utensils and the Bread of the Presence
Lampstand of pure gold and its lamps all fitted out
and all its utensils
and the oil for the light
Gold Altar
anointing oil
fragrant incense
screen for the entrance to the Tent
Bronze Altar
with its bronze grate
its poles and all its utensils
Washbasin
and its base
hangings for the Courtyard
its posts and bases
screen for the gate of the Courtyard
its cords and its pegs
utensils for ministry in The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting
woven vestments for ministering in the Sanctuary
sacred vestments for Aaron the priest,
and his sons when serving as priests
42-43 The Israelites completed all the work, just as God had commanded. Moses saw that they had done all the work and done it exactly as God had commanded. Moses blessed them.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Read: Matthew 14:25–33
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
INSIGHT
The fact that Jesus Christ walked on water carries with it a powerful message about His deity. In John’s gospel Christ refers to Himself as the great “I am” (John 6:35, 48; 8:12, 58; 9:5; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). Biblical theologians see these “I am” statements as clear references to the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asked God by what name He should be called, He answered: “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you’ ” (Exodus 3:14).
When we feel like we are in the storm of an impossible situation, we can take courage that Christ—the Creator of the world—is present with us and in control.
For further study on the deity of Christ, see Is Jesus God? at discoveryseries.org/q0205. - Dennis Fisher
Walking on Water
By Lisa Samra
Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27
During an especially cold winter, I ventured out to Lake Michigan, the fifth largest lake in the world, to see it frozen over. Bundled up on the beach where I usually enjoy soaking up the sun, the view was breathtaking. The water was actually frozen in waves creating an icy masterpiece.
Because the water was frozen solid next to the shore, I had the opportunity to “walk on water.” Even with the knowledge that the ice was thick enough to support me, I took the first few steps tentatively. I was fearful the ice wouldn’t continue to hold me. As I cautiously explored this unfamiliar terrain, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus calling Peter out of the boat onto the Sea of Galilee.
Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are always with us.
When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, their response was also fear. But Jesus responded, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14:26–27). Peter was able to overcome his fear and step out onto the water because he knew Jesus was present. When his courageous steps faltered because of the wind and waves, Peter cried out to Jesus. Jesus was still there, near enough to simply reach out His hand to rescue him.
If you are facing a situation today where Jesus is calling you to do something that may seem as impossible as walking on water, take courage. The one who calls you will be present with you.
Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are always with us.
When we call out to God, He hears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Identified or Simply Interested?
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him” —but— “I have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
“…it is no longer I who live….” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.
“…and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh— the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God….” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits— a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Behind the Painting - #8138
Just when you think little kids are pretty much all about their toys, TV, and what’s to eat, they amaze you again. Our daughter had one of those times when our grandson was puttering around the house in his jammies one early morning, and he wandered over to an East window. He stared out at the brightening early morning sky for a few moments and then he suddenly launched a question Mommy’s way, "Mommy, who painted the sky?" Before his mother could answer, our grandson answered his own question, "Jesus did."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Behind the Painting."
That little guy saw something in the beauty of creation that morning that many grownup people tragically miss: that there’s someone behind the beauty, and He is the point of it all! I mean, a two-year-old seemed to understand, in his own way, what many of us miss if we just admire the painting. The point is to know the Painter! If you consider yourself a spiritual seeker, it’s important to realize that God has, throughout your life and even now, been putting life experiences and life scenery in front of you for one reason. To get your attention, so you would give yourself to the One who does such awesome things. But so far, maybe you’ve missed Him.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 1, beginning with verse 19, God says of us: "What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." God says here, "After all the ways I’ve displayed My greatness and My power to you, you have no excuse for not having a personal relationship with Me." He then spells out the tragic mistake that so many of us have made without ever realizing it: "They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator." We’ve gotten hung up on what He made for us and missed Him.
You’ve had a number of God-sightings in your life, even if you don’t realize it or acknowledge it. You got a glimpse of His power and love in the birth of a baby, in a time your life was spared, in encountering the amazing engineering of the human body, in the majesty of the ocean that you felt, the mountains, the skies, or some scenic rush you felt. You brushed close to your Creator when you were thinking about death and that it's inevitable; when you looked at the way a follower of Jesus lived or died, or in the question or insight of a little child.
Over and over, your Creator has been trying to get your attention, trying to direct you to the one way you can have a love relationship with Him that you were made for. The Bible says, "Christ died for sins...to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18).
The ultimate reach of God for you was the sending of His one and only Son to love you enough to die for the sin that has been the wall between you and Him. You may say, "Well, I believe in God." The Bible says, "Even the demons believe (in God) and shudder" (James 2:19). No, the issue isn’t believing in God-it’s belonging to God. He’s the belonging you’ve been looking for your whole life.
Here’s how it begins according to the Bible: "To all who received (Jesus)...He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Imagine, born into God’s family, loved and protected by Him forever. That’s the possibility God’s putting in front of you today.
Your personal love relationship with Almighty God begins when you tell Jesus that you're putting your total trust in Him to remove the wall between you and your Creator. Why? Because He’s the only one who died to pay for your sin. He’s the only one with the power to walk out of His grave under His own power and deliver eternal life to your soul.
Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I've been seeing in my life without even realizing it, you've been all over the place trying to get my attention. Today you have it. Today, Jesus, you have me, because nobody ever loved me like you do." Our website's called ANewStory.com, because a new story for your life could begin then. I hope you'll go there today.
This painter of all that’s beautiful and awe-inspiring can make a masterpiece out of the rest of your life.
A couple who resorted to do-it-yourself marriage counseling resolved to list each others’ faults and then read them aloud. The wife gave her list and he read: You snore; you eat in bed; the list continued. When the husband gave her his list, she smiled. He’d written his grievances, but next to each he’d written– I forgive this. The result was a tabulated list of grace.
Imagine you are before the judgment seat of Christ. The book is opened and the reading begins—each sin, each deceit, and each occasion of greed. But as soon as the infraction is read, grace is proclaimed. Jesus says, I forgive this. Registered forgiveness! No humiliation! No shame! Because in heaven you will be in your sinless state—happy to let God do in heaven what he did on earth. He will be honored in your weakness!
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 39
Vestments. Using the blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics, they made the woven vestments for ministering in the Sanctuary. Also they made the sacred vestments for Aaron, as God had commanded Moses.
2-5 Ephod. They made the Ephod using gold and blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics and finely twisted linen. They hammered out gold leaf and sliced it into threads that were then worked into designs in the blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and fine linen. They made shoulder pieces fastened at the two ends. The decorated band was made of the same material—gold, blue, purple, and scarlet material, and of fine twisted linen—and of one piece with it, just as God had commanded Moses.
6-7 They mounted the onyx stones in a setting of filigreed gold and engraved the names of the sons of Israel on them, then fastened them on the shoulder pieces of the Ephod as memorial stones for the Israelites, just as God had commanded Moses.
8-10 Breastpiece. They made a Breastpiece designed like the Ephod from gold, blue, purple, and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen. Doubled, the Breastpiece was nine inches square. They mounted four rows of precious gemstones on it.
First row: carnelian, topaz, emerald.
11 Second row: ruby, sapphire, crystal.
12 Third row: jacinth, agate, amethyst.
13-14 Fourth row: beryl, onyx, jasper.
The stones were mounted in a gold filigree. The twelve stones corresponded to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve names engraved as on a seal, one for each of the twelve tribes.
15-21 They made braided chains of pure gold for the Breastpiece, like cords. They made two settings of gold filigree and two rings of gold, put the two rings at the two ends of the Breastpiece, and fastened the two ends of the cords to the two rings at the end of the Breastpiece. Then they fastened the cords to the settings of filigree, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the Ephod in front. Then they made two rings of gold and fastened them to the two ends of the Breastpiece on its inside edge facing the Ephod. They made two more rings of gold and fastened them in the front of the Ephod to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces, near the seam above the decorated band of the Ephod. The Breastpiece was fastened by running a cord of blue through its rings to the rings of the Ephod so that it rested secure on the decorated band of the Ephod and wouldn’t come loose, just as God had commanded Moses.
22-26 Robe. They made the robe for the Ephod entirely of blue. The opening of the robe at the center was like a collar, the edge hemmed so that it wouldn’t tear. On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. They also made bells of pure gold and alternated the bells and pomegranates—a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate—all around the hem of the robe that was worn for ministering, just as God had commanded Moses.
27-29 They also made the tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and his sons, the turban of fine linen, the linen hats, the linen underwear made of fine twisted linen, and sashes of fine twisted linen, blue, purple, and scarlet material and embroidered, just as God had commanded Moses.
30-31 They made the plate, the sacred crown, of pure gold and engraved on it as on a seal: “Holy to God.” They attached a blue cord to it and fastened it to the turban, just as God had commanded Moses.
32 That completed the work of The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting. The People of Israel did what God had commanded Moses. They did it all.
33-41 They presented The Dwelling to Moses, the Tent and all its furnishings:
fastening hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, bases, tenting of tanned ram skins, tenting of dolphin skins
veil of the screen.
Chest of The Testimony with its poles and Atonement-Cover
Table with its utensils and the Bread of the Presence
Lampstand of pure gold and its lamps all fitted out
and all its utensils
and the oil for the light
Gold Altar
anointing oil
fragrant incense
screen for the entrance to the Tent
Bronze Altar
with its bronze grate
its poles and all its utensils
Washbasin
and its base
hangings for the Courtyard
its posts and bases
screen for the gate of the Courtyard
its cords and its pegs
utensils for ministry in The Dwelling, the Tent of Meeting
woven vestments for ministering in the Sanctuary
sacred vestments for Aaron the priest,
and his sons when serving as priests
42-43 The Israelites completed all the work, just as God had commanded. Moses saw that they had done all the work and done it exactly as God had commanded. Moses blessed them.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Read: Matthew 14:25–33
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
INSIGHT
The fact that Jesus Christ walked on water carries with it a powerful message about His deity. In John’s gospel Christ refers to Himself as the great “I am” (John 6:35, 48; 8:12, 58; 9:5; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). Biblical theologians see these “I am” statements as clear references to the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asked God by what name He should be called, He answered: “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you’ ” (Exodus 3:14).
When we feel like we are in the storm of an impossible situation, we can take courage that Christ—the Creator of the world—is present with us and in control.
For further study on the deity of Christ, see Is Jesus God? at discoveryseries.org/q0205. - Dennis Fisher
Walking on Water
By Lisa Samra
Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27
During an especially cold winter, I ventured out to Lake Michigan, the fifth largest lake in the world, to see it frozen over. Bundled up on the beach where I usually enjoy soaking up the sun, the view was breathtaking. The water was actually frozen in waves creating an icy masterpiece.
Because the water was frozen solid next to the shore, I had the opportunity to “walk on water.” Even with the knowledge that the ice was thick enough to support me, I took the first few steps tentatively. I was fearful the ice wouldn’t continue to hold me. As I cautiously explored this unfamiliar terrain, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus calling Peter out of the boat onto the Sea of Galilee.
Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are always with us.
When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, their response was also fear. But Jesus responded, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14:26–27). Peter was able to overcome his fear and step out onto the water because he knew Jesus was present. When his courageous steps faltered because of the wind and waves, Peter cried out to Jesus. Jesus was still there, near enough to simply reach out His hand to rescue him.
If you are facing a situation today where Jesus is calling you to do something that may seem as impossible as walking on water, take courage. The one who calls you will be present with you.
Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are always with us.
When we call out to God, He hears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Identified or Simply Interested?
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him” —but— “I have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
“…it is no longer I who live….” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.
“…and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh— the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God….” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits— a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Behind the Painting - #8138
Just when you think little kids are pretty much all about their toys, TV, and what’s to eat, they amaze you again. Our daughter had one of those times when our grandson was puttering around the house in his jammies one early morning, and he wandered over to an East window. He stared out at the brightening early morning sky for a few moments and then he suddenly launched a question Mommy’s way, "Mommy, who painted the sky?" Before his mother could answer, our grandson answered his own question, "Jesus did."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Behind the Painting."
That little guy saw something in the beauty of creation that morning that many grownup people tragically miss: that there’s someone behind the beauty, and He is the point of it all! I mean, a two-year-old seemed to understand, in his own way, what many of us miss if we just admire the painting. The point is to know the Painter! If you consider yourself a spiritual seeker, it’s important to realize that God has, throughout your life and even now, been putting life experiences and life scenery in front of you for one reason. To get your attention, so you would give yourself to the One who does such awesome things. But so far, maybe you’ve missed Him.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 1, beginning with verse 19, God says of us: "What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." God says here, "After all the ways I’ve displayed My greatness and My power to you, you have no excuse for not having a personal relationship with Me." He then spells out the tragic mistake that so many of us have made without ever realizing it: "They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator." We’ve gotten hung up on what He made for us and missed Him.
You’ve had a number of God-sightings in your life, even if you don’t realize it or acknowledge it. You got a glimpse of His power and love in the birth of a baby, in a time your life was spared, in encountering the amazing engineering of the human body, in the majesty of the ocean that you felt, the mountains, the skies, or some scenic rush you felt. You brushed close to your Creator when you were thinking about death and that it's inevitable; when you looked at the way a follower of Jesus lived or died, or in the question or insight of a little child.
Over and over, your Creator has been trying to get your attention, trying to direct you to the one way you can have a love relationship with Him that you were made for. The Bible says, "Christ died for sins...to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18).
The ultimate reach of God for you was the sending of His one and only Son to love you enough to die for the sin that has been the wall between you and Him. You may say, "Well, I believe in God." The Bible says, "Even the demons believe (in God) and shudder" (James 2:19). No, the issue isn’t believing in God-it’s belonging to God. He’s the belonging you’ve been looking for your whole life.
Here’s how it begins according to the Bible: "To all who received (Jesus)...He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Imagine, born into God’s family, loved and protected by Him forever. That’s the possibility God’s putting in front of you today.
Your personal love relationship with Almighty God begins when you tell Jesus that you're putting your total trust in Him to remove the wall between you and your Creator. Why? Because He’s the only one who died to pay for your sin. He’s the only one with the power to walk out of His grave under His own power and deliver eternal life to your soul.
Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I've been seeing in my life without even realizing it, you've been all over the place trying to get my attention. Today you have it. Today, Jesus, you have me, because nobody ever loved me like you do." Our website's called ANewStory.com, because a new story for your life could begin then. I hope you'll go there today.
This painter of all that’s beautiful and awe-inspiring can make a masterpiece out of the rest of your life.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Exodus 38, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: NO SECRETS ABOUT THIS LIFE
God has kept no secrets about this life. He has told us that we will experience trouble. Disease will afflict bodies. Divorce will break hearts. Death will make widows and devastation will destroy countries. We shouldn’t expect any less.
Yet just because the devil shows up and cackles, we needn’t panic. Jesus says in John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He speaks of an accomplished deed. “I HAVE overcome the world” It’s finished! The battle is over.
Be alert but don’t be alarmed. Satan is loosed for a season, but the season is oh, so brief. The devil knows this and in Revelation 12:12 we are told, “he is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short.” Just a few more turns in the road, and his end will come! And we will have a new beginning.
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 38
The Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering
1-7 He made the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering from acacia wood. He made it seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high. He made horns at each of the four corners. The horns were made of one piece with the Altar and covered with a veneer of bronze. He made from bronze all the utensils for the Altar: the buckets for removing the ashes, shovels, basins, forks, and fire pans. He made a grate of bronze mesh under the ledge halfway up the Altar. He cast four rings at each of the four corners of the bronze grating to hold the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of bronze. He inserted the poles through the rings on the two sides of the Altar for carrying it. The Altar was made out of boards; it was hollow.
The Washbasin
8 He made the Bronze Washbasin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women’s work group who were assigned to serve at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
The Courtyard
9-11 And he made the Courtyard. On the south side the hangings for the Courtyard, woven from fine twisted linen, were 150 feet long, with their twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and fastening hooks and bands of silver. The north side was exactly the same.
12-20 The west end of the Courtyard had seventy-five feet of hangings with ten posts and bases, and fastening hooks and bands of silver. Across the seventy-five feet at the front, or east end, were twenty-two and a half feet of hangings, with their three posts and bases on one side and the same for the other side. All the hangings around the Courtyard were of fine twisted linen. The bases for the posts were bronze and the fastening hooks and bands on the posts were of silver. The posts of the Courtyard were both capped and banded with silver. The screen at the door of the Courtyard was embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet fabric with fine twisted linen. It was thirty feet long and seven and a half feet high, matching the hangings of the Courtyard. There were four posts with bases of bronze and fastening hooks of silver; they were capped and banded in silver. All the pegs for The Dwelling and the Courtyard were made of bronze.
21-23 This is an inventory of The Dwelling that housed The Testimony drawn up by order of Moses for the work of the Levites under Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that God had commanded Moses. Working with Bezalel was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an artisan, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics and fine linen.
24 Gold. The total amount of gold used in construction of the Sanctuary, all of it contributed freely, weighed out at 1,900 pounds according to the Sanctuary standard.
25-28 Silver. The silver from those in the community who were registered in the census came to 6,437 pounds according to the Sanctuary standard—that amounted to a beka, or half-shekel, for every registered person aged twenty and over, a total of 603,550 men. They used the three and one-quarter tons of silver to cast the bases for the Sanctuary and for the hangings, one hundred bases at sixty-four pounds each. They used the remaining thirty-seven pounds to make the connecting hooks on the posts, and the caps and bands for the posts.
29-31 Bronze. The bronze that was brought in weighed 4,522 pounds. It was used to make the door of the Tent of Meeting, the Bronze Altar with its bronze grating, all the utensils of the Altar, the bases around the Courtyard, the bases for the gate of the Courtyard, and all the pegs for The Dwelling and the Courtyard.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1–11
A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Footnotes:
Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
INSIGHT
Many believe King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes because the author refers to himself as the “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1) and “king over Israel in Jerusalem” (v. 12) who had more wisdom and possessions “than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before [him]” (v. 16; 2:7). The book’s purpose seems clear: “It defends the life of faith in a generous God by pointing to the grimness of the alternative” (Michael Easton, Ecclesiastes). Ecclesiastes underscores the necessity and desirability of following God in a fallen and frustrating world today (12:1)—no matter our season in life. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments” (v. 13).
What has helped you to understand the wisdom of following God in various seasons of your life?
A Good Season
By Dave Branon
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1
Today is the first day of spring in the northern half of the world. If you live in Australia, it’s the first day of autumn—the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere. Today, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the hours of daylight and nighttime are nearly equal around the world.
New seasons are important for many people. Some count down the day because of what they hope the new season will bring. Perhaps you’ve been marking off a calendar for spring in Wisconsin to signal the end of another winter. Or maybe you live in Melbourne, and you can’t wait for autumn to bring relief from the Australian sun.
Give thanks to God for His greatness, His help, and His companionship.
We also go through seasons of life that don’t have to do with the weather. The author of Ecclesiastes told us there is a season for every activity under the sun—a time appointed by God during which we live our lives (3:1–11).
Moses spoke of a new season in his life after he led the people of Israel through the wilderness (Deuteronomy 31:2), and he had to give up his leadership role to Joshua. And Paul faced a lonely season while he was under house arrest in Rome—asking for visitors but realizing that God was “at my side” (2 Timothy 4:17).
Regardless of the season of life, let’s give thanks to God for His greatness, His help, and His companionship.
Thank You, Father, for the promise of Your care during this season of my life. You have allowed this circumstance for a good reason. Help me to use this time appointed by You in a way that deepens my trust in You.
Every season brings a reason to rejoice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
A Little More Time To Harvest - #8137
There's a stretch of nights in the fall when the moon is absolutely incredible! It's usually in October - harvest time for farmers. And when it's full moon time, you can see this huge, brilliant, yellowish moon rising in the eastern sky. It just makes you stop and almost catch your breath. I think it was in the days before electricity that farmers started calling it a "harvest moon." With so much depending on the harvest and so little time to bring it in, every hour had to count. And the days never seemed quite long enough to get it all in. So a bright full moon was more than just a beautiful view...it meant something much more important. With that extra light, God was giving them a little more time to harvest!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Little More Time To Harvest."
Maybe you and I are living right now in the light of a spiritual harvest moon-to bring to Jesus some of the lives around us that He died to rescue. Maybe that's why He's giving you a little more time.
There's a powerful illustration of this in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 13:6. "Then (Jesus) told this parable: 'A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"
I wonder how many of our lives this parable might be describing? Jesus comes looking for some fruit on a believer's life, especially in the form of some people that you've introduced to Him and He finds none. Why should He leave us here any longer, just soaking up the nutrients in our spiritual soil? But the answer comes, "Give him/give her a little more time to make a difference." By virtue of the fact that you and I are still here, Jesus has decided to let us have at least a little more time to take some people to heaven with us.
I'll tell you, you feel it deeply when the time for you to bring someone home runs out-when harvest time is over. I still remember my high school friend Cathy. It's not somebody I dated; we were just good friends.
One morning, during my freshman year of college, I remember waking up to a news story that mentioned her name. I woke up fast! The night before, a gunman had walked into the Student Union at the university Cathy attended, pulled out a gun, and shot her in cold blood. Suddenly, I was out of chances to tell Cathy about how she could go to heaven. We had talked about everything except Jesus! I had slept through the harvest, and time had run out.
That's why the Bible says that when it comes to talking about Jesus, "Make the most of every opportunity" (Colossians 4:4). This spiritual harvest business; this is urgent stuff. Harvest always is. You know the opportunity isn't going to last long. You drop everything to bring it in, and if you wait, you miss it. God wants us to feel that kind of urgency about telling the people we know about the man who loved them enough to die for them. We never know when their time or our time will run out.
So, like the farmer toiling feverishly in the extended light of a harvest moon, God has given you a little more time to bring in someone that His Son died for. Please don't keep putting it off. Don't let your life be so full of un-eternal stuff that you miss the mission that matters the most.
Someone you know desperately needs your Jesus, and Jesus has given you a little more time to bring them home.
God has kept no secrets about this life. He has told us that we will experience trouble. Disease will afflict bodies. Divorce will break hearts. Death will make widows and devastation will destroy countries. We shouldn’t expect any less.
Yet just because the devil shows up and cackles, we needn’t panic. Jesus says in John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He speaks of an accomplished deed. “I HAVE overcome the world” It’s finished! The battle is over.
Be alert but don’t be alarmed. Satan is loosed for a season, but the season is oh, so brief. The devil knows this and in Revelation 12:12 we are told, “he is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short.” Just a few more turns in the road, and his end will come! And we will have a new beginning.
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 38
The Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering
1-7 He made the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering from acacia wood. He made it seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high. He made horns at each of the four corners. The horns were made of one piece with the Altar and covered with a veneer of bronze. He made from bronze all the utensils for the Altar: the buckets for removing the ashes, shovels, basins, forks, and fire pans. He made a grate of bronze mesh under the ledge halfway up the Altar. He cast four rings at each of the four corners of the bronze grating to hold the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of bronze. He inserted the poles through the rings on the two sides of the Altar for carrying it. The Altar was made out of boards; it was hollow.
The Washbasin
8 He made the Bronze Washbasin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women’s work group who were assigned to serve at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
The Courtyard
9-11 And he made the Courtyard. On the south side the hangings for the Courtyard, woven from fine twisted linen, were 150 feet long, with their twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and fastening hooks and bands of silver. The north side was exactly the same.
12-20 The west end of the Courtyard had seventy-five feet of hangings with ten posts and bases, and fastening hooks and bands of silver. Across the seventy-five feet at the front, or east end, were twenty-two and a half feet of hangings, with their three posts and bases on one side and the same for the other side. All the hangings around the Courtyard were of fine twisted linen. The bases for the posts were bronze and the fastening hooks and bands on the posts were of silver. The posts of the Courtyard were both capped and banded with silver. The screen at the door of the Courtyard was embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet fabric with fine twisted linen. It was thirty feet long and seven and a half feet high, matching the hangings of the Courtyard. There were four posts with bases of bronze and fastening hooks of silver; they were capped and banded in silver. All the pegs for The Dwelling and the Courtyard were made of bronze.
21-23 This is an inventory of The Dwelling that housed The Testimony drawn up by order of Moses for the work of the Levites under Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that God had commanded Moses. Working with Bezalel was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an artisan, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics and fine linen.
24 Gold. The total amount of gold used in construction of the Sanctuary, all of it contributed freely, weighed out at 1,900 pounds according to the Sanctuary standard.
25-28 Silver. The silver from those in the community who were registered in the census came to 6,437 pounds according to the Sanctuary standard—that amounted to a beka, or half-shekel, for every registered person aged twenty and over, a total of 603,550 men. They used the three and one-quarter tons of silver to cast the bases for the Sanctuary and for the hangings, one hundred bases at sixty-four pounds each. They used the remaining thirty-seven pounds to make the connecting hooks on the posts, and the caps and bands for the posts.
29-31 Bronze. The bronze that was brought in weighed 4,522 pounds. It was used to make the door of the Tent of Meeting, the Bronze Altar with its bronze grating, all the utensils of the Altar, the bases around the Courtyard, the bases for the gate of the Courtyard, and all the pegs for The Dwelling and the Courtyard.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1–11
A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Footnotes:
Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
INSIGHT
Many believe King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes because the author refers to himself as the “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1) and “king over Israel in Jerusalem” (v. 12) who had more wisdom and possessions “than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before [him]” (v. 16; 2:7). The book’s purpose seems clear: “It defends the life of faith in a generous God by pointing to the grimness of the alternative” (Michael Easton, Ecclesiastes). Ecclesiastes underscores the necessity and desirability of following God in a fallen and frustrating world today (12:1)—no matter our season in life. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments” (v. 13).
What has helped you to understand the wisdom of following God in various seasons of your life?
A Good Season
By Dave Branon
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1
Today is the first day of spring in the northern half of the world. If you live in Australia, it’s the first day of autumn—the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere. Today, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the hours of daylight and nighttime are nearly equal around the world.
New seasons are important for many people. Some count down the day because of what they hope the new season will bring. Perhaps you’ve been marking off a calendar for spring in Wisconsin to signal the end of another winter. Or maybe you live in Melbourne, and you can’t wait for autumn to bring relief from the Australian sun.
Give thanks to God for His greatness, His help, and His companionship.
We also go through seasons of life that don’t have to do with the weather. The author of Ecclesiastes told us there is a season for every activity under the sun—a time appointed by God during which we live our lives (3:1–11).
Moses spoke of a new season in his life after he led the people of Israel through the wilderness (Deuteronomy 31:2), and he had to give up his leadership role to Joshua. And Paul faced a lonely season while he was under house arrest in Rome—asking for visitors but realizing that God was “at my side” (2 Timothy 4:17).
Regardless of the season of life, let’s give thanks to God for His greatness, His help, and His companionship.
Thank You, Father, for the promise of Your care during this season of my life. You have allowed this circumstance for a good reason. Help me to use this time appointed by You in a way that deepens my trust in You.
Every season brings a reason to rejoice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
A Little More Time To Harvest - #8137
There's a stretch of nights in the fall when the moon is absolutely incredible! It's usually in October - harvest time for farmers. And when it's full moon time, you can see this huge, brilliant, yellowish moon rising in the eastern sky. It just makes you stop and almost catch your breath. I think it was in the days before electricity that farmers started calling it a "harvest moon." With so much depending on the harvest and so little time to bring it in, every hour had to count. And the days never seemed quite long enough to get it all in. So a bright full moon was more than just a beautiful view...it meant something much more important. With that extra light, God was giving them a little more time to harvest!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Little More Time To Harvest."
Maybe you and I are living right now in the light of a spiritual harvest moon-to bring to Jesus some of the lives around us that He died to rescue. Maybe that's why He's giving you a little more time.
There's a powerful illustration of this in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 13:6. "Then (Jesus) told this parable: 'A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"
I wonder how many of our lives this parable might be describing? Jesus comes looking for some fruit on a believer's life, especially in the form of some people that you've introduced to Him and He finds none. Why should He leave us here any longer, just soaking up the nutrients in our spiritual soil? But the answer comes, "Give him/give her a little more time to make a difference." By virtue of the fact that you and I are still here, Jesus has decided to let us have at least a little more time to take some people to heaven with us.
I'll tell you, you feel it deeply when the time for you to bring someone home runs out-when harvest time is over. I still remember my high school friend Cathy. It's not somebody I dated; we were just good friends.
One morning, during my freshman year of college, I remember waking up to a news story that mentioned her name. I woke up fast! The night before, a gunman had walked into the Student Union at the university Cathy attended, pulled out a gun, and shot her in cold blood. Suddenly, I was out of chances to tell Cathy about how she could go to heaven. We had talked about everything except Jesus! I had slept through the harvest, and time had run out.
That's why the Bible says that when it comes to talking about Jesus, "Make the most of every opportunity" (Colossians 4:4). This spiritual harvest business; this is urgent stuff. Harvest always is. You know the opportunity isn't going to last long. You drop everything to bring it in, and if you wait, you miss it. God wants us to feel that kind of urgency about telling the people we know about the man who loved them enough to die for them. We never know when their time or our time will run out.
So, like the farmer toiling feverishly in the extended light of a harvest moon, God has given you a little more time to bring in someone that His Son died for. Please don't keep putting it off. Don't let your life be so full of un-eternal stuff that you miss the mission that matters the most.
Someone you know desperately needs your Jesus, and Jesus has given you a little more time to bring them home.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Exodus 37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS IS PRAYING FOR YOU
While we wait for Christ’s return, we can be encouraged because Jesus is praying for us! As recorded in Luke 22:31, Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to test all of you as a farmer sifts his wheat.” Loose translation– Satan is gonna slap your faith like a farmer slaps wheat on the threshing floor!
You would expect Jesus’ next words to be, So get out of town! But Jesus shows no panic. In verse 32, He says, “I have prayed that you will not lose your faith. Help your brothers be stronger when you come back to me.”
Everything changes when Jesus prays for us. The devil may land a punch or two, but he never wins the fight. Jesus protected Peter, and Jesus is protecting you.
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 37
The Chest
1-5 Bezalel made the Chest using acacia wood: He made it three and three-quarters feet long and two and a quarter feet wide and deep. He covered it inside and out with a veneer of pure gold and made a molding of gold all around it. He cast four gold rings and attached them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. He made poles from acacia wood, covered them with a veneer of gold, and inserted the poles for carrying the Chest into the rings on the sides.
6 Next he made a lid of pure gold for the Chest, an Atonement-Cover, three and three-quarters feet long and two and a quarter feet wide.
7-9 He sculpted two winged angel-cherubim out of hammered gold for the ends of the Atonement-Cover, one angel at one end, one angel at the other. He made them of one piece with the Atonement-Cover. The angels had outstretched wings and appeared to hover over the Atonement-Cover, facing one another but looking down on the Atonement-Cover.
The Table
10-15 He made the Table from acacia wood. He made it three feet long, one and a half feet wide and two and a quarter feet high. He covered it with a veneer of pure gold and made a molding of gold all around it. He made a border a handbreadth wide all around it and a rim of gold for the border. He cast four rings of gold for it and attached the rings to the four legs parallel to the tabletop. They will serve as holders for the poles used to carry the Table. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of gold. They will be used to carry the Table.
16 Out of pure gold he made the utensils for the Table: its plates, bowls, jars, and jugs used for pouring.
The Lampstand
17-23 He made a Lampstand of pure hammered gold, making its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece. It had six branches, three from one side and three from the other; three cups shaped like almond blossoms with calyxes 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, there were four cups shaped like almonds, with calyxes and petals, a calyx extending from under each pair of the six branches. The entire Lampstand with its calyxes and stems was fashioned from one piece of hammered pure gold. He made seven of these lamps with their candle snuffers, all out of pure gold.
24 He used a seventy-five-pound brick of pure gold to make the Lampstand and its accessories.
The Altar of Incense
25-28 He made an Altar for burning incense from acacia wood. He made it a foot and a half square and three feet high, with its horns of one piece with it. He covered it with a veneer of pure gold, its top, sides, and horns, and made a gold molding around it with two rings of gold beneath the molding. He placed the rings on the two opposing sides to serve as holders for poles by which it will be carried. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of gold.
29 He also prepared with the art of a perfumer the holy anointing oil and the pure aromatic incense.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 19, 2018
Read: Psalm 118:1–14, 26–29
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[a];
he has become my salvation.
Footnotes:
Psalm 118:14 Or song
Psalm 118:26-29 New International Version (NIV)
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.[a]
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up[b] to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Footnotes:
Psalm 118:26 The Hebrew is plural.
Psalm 118:27 Or Bind the festal sacrifice with ropes / and take it
INSIGHT
The writer of Psalm 118 knew about the struggles of living in a fallen world. Even when surrounded by enemies, the psalmist’s confidence in the Lord remained strong (vv. 8–9, 13–14, 28). Note the opening and closing verses. Despite the dangers he faced, the psalmist begins and ends by choosing to praise God: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Are you in the midst of a trial? Meditate on the Lord’s goodness and His enduring love.
The Art of a Grateful Heart
By Joe Stowell
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:1
On our wedding day, Martie and I gladly vowed to be faithful “in good times as well as in bad, in sickness as well as in health, for richer or for poorer.” In a way it may seem strange to include vows about the bleak reality of bad times, sickness, and poverty on a cheerful wedding day. But it underscores the fact that life often has “bad” times.
So what are we to do when we face life’s inevitable difficulties? Paul urges us on behalf of Christ to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As difficult as that may sound, there is good reason why God encourages us to embrace a spirit of gratitude. Gratitude is grounded in the truth that our Lord “is good” and “his love endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). He is present with us and strengthens us in the midst of trouble (Hebrews 13:5–6), and He lovingly uses our trials to grow our character into His likeness (Romans 5:3–4).
God, teach me to have a grateful heart.
When life hits us with hard times, choosing to be grateful focuses our attention on the goodness of God and gives us the strength to make it through our struggles. With the psalmist, we can sing, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 118:29).
Lord, I realize that focusing on my troubles causes me to forget that even in the midst of trials You are good. Teach me the art of a grateful heart.
Thanksgiving is a virtue that grows through practice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 19, 2018
Abraham’s Life of Faith
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried. He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 19, 2018
Never Forget Who You're Fighting - #8136
I was watching the History Channel one day, and I was reminded of something I had heard about one of World War II's most dramatic confrontations. British General Montgomery went face-to-face with Hitler's best, General Rommel. They called him "The Desert Fox." He was a brilliant strategist in his campaign to take and then to keep North Africa for the Fuehrer. Well, Montgomery finally defeated the Desert Fox at the Battle of El Alamein. But history also tells us one reason why he did. See, General Montgomery had a picture hanging in his command tent where he could see it every day. No, it wasn't Winston Churchill. It wasn't the King of England. It was a picture of General Rommel. Montgomery said he didn't ever want to forget who he was fighting.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Forget Who You’re Fighting."
Actually, that's an important secret of spiritual victory, too - never forgetting who your real enemy is. That's why the Bible warns us to be alert because "your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). We're told to "take your stand against the devil's schemes" because "our struggle is not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:11-12). Now, it's easy to fall into thinking that we're fighting just certain people or problems or obstacles, but we've got to keep our real enemy in front of us.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 22:31, Jesus gives Peter - and us -this warning and this promise. "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail." Don't you love those words, "Satan has asked to sift you"? See, there's nothing the enemy can do to you without your Savior's permission. God will only allow what He knows you can handle, what can make you stronger, and what can boomerang in Satan's face. And as in Peter's life, Jesus is really planning to use you. So Satan is really trying to sift you.
General Montgomery made sure he knew his enemy's tactics. You need to know that about your enemy. Obviously, he isn't going to come to you and openly say, "Hi, I'm the Devil. Come with me." No, he wants you to forget him so you don't resist him. He wants you to fight this as a flesh-and-blood battle. Then he's got you.
So what are some of the strategies Satan might be using to stop you? For one thing, worry. He's trying to get you to worry about things so you'll be slowed down, discouraged, paralyzed. And then there are wounds. Your enemy will try to use hurts and slights and disappointments to get you to focus on how you've been hurt, which is really getting you to focus on yourself.
Your enemy also uses walls to defeat you - walls that you allow to develop between you and another person. You resist the devil when you go immediately to a person to get things right before a wall can even develop.
Your enemy might try to use work to sink you, just getting you overwhelmed by that mountain of work you have, getting you to focus on your load instead of your Lord. Another enemy target - your weaknesses. He's appealing to some of your vulnerable spots to get you to fall there again. You have to consciously face your weakness each morning, and declare that it is Jesus' territory now.
Finally, Satan will try to use the wilderness to bring you down - using a spiritually dry spell to pull you away from Jesus. And your response? Resist him! You tell him with Holy Spirit defiance, "I know who this is, and I'm not falling for this!" Why should you? You belong to Jesus, at whose Name every knee will bow!
While we wait for Christ’s return, we can be encouraged because Jesus is praying for us! As recorded in Luke 22:31, Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to test all of you as a farmer sifts his wheat.” Loose translation– Satan is gonna slap your faith like a farmer slaps wheat on the threshing floor!
You would expect Jesus’ next words to be, So get out of town! But Jesus shows no panic. In verse 32, He says, “I have prayed that you will not lose your faith. Help your brothers be stronger when you come back to me.”
Everything changes when Jesus prays for us. The devil may land a punch or two, but he never wins the fight. Jesus protected Peter, and Jesus is protecting you.
From When Christ Comes
Exodus 37
The Chest
1-5 Bezalel made the Chest using acacia wood: He made it three and three-quarters feet long and two and a quarter feet wide and deep. He covered it inside and out with a veneer of pure gold and made a molding of gold all around it. He cast four gold rings and attached them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. He made poles from acacia wood, covered them with a veneer of gold, and inserted the poles for carrying the Chest into the rings on the sides.
6 Next he made a lid of pure gold for the Chest, an Atonement-Cover, three and three-quarters feet long and two and a quarter feet wide.
7-9 He sculpted two winged angel-cherubim out of hammered gold for the ends of the Atonement-Cover, one angel at one end, one angel at the other. He made them of one piece with the Atonement-Cover. The angels had outstretched wings and appeared to hover over the Atonement-Cover, facing one another but looking down on the Atonement-Cover.
The Table
10-15 He made the Table from acacia wood. He made it three feet long, one and a half feet wide and two and a quarter feet high. He covered it with a veneer of pure gold and made a molding of gold all around it. He made a border a handbreadth wide all around it and a rim of gold for the border. He cast four rings of gold for it and attached the rings to the four legs parallel to the tabletop. They will serve as holders for the poles used to carry the Table. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of gold. They will be used to carry the Table.
16 Out of pure gold he made the utensils for the Table: its plates, bowls, jars, and jugs used for pouring.
The Lampstand
17-23 He made a Lampstand of pure hammered gold, making its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece. It had six branches, three from one side and three from the other; three cups shaped like almond blossoms with calyxes 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, there were four cups shaped like almonds, with calyxes and petals, a calyx extending from under each pair of the six branches. The entire Lampstand with its calyxes and stems was fashioned from one piece of hammered pure gold. He made seven of these lamps with their candle snuffers, all out of pure gold.
24 He used a seventy-five-pound brick of pure gold to make the Lampstand and its accessories.
The Altar of Incense
25-28 He made an Altar for burning incense from acacia wood. He made it a foot and a half square and three feet high, with its horns of one piece with it. He covered it with a veneer of pure gold, its top, sides, and horns, and made a gold molding around it with two rings of gold beneath the molding. He placed the rings on the two opposing sides to serve as holders for poles by which it will be carried. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of gold.
29 He also prepared with the art of a perfumer the holy anointing oil and the pure aromatic incense.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 19, 2018
Read: Psalm 118:1–14, 26–29
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[a];
he has become my salvation.
Footnotes:
Psalm 118:14 Or song
Psalm 118:26-29 New International Version (NIV)
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.[a]
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up[b] to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Footnotes:
Psalm 118:26 The Hebrew is plural.
Psalm 118:27 Or Bind the festal sacrifice with ropes / and take it
INSIGHT
The writer of Psalm 118 knew about the struggles of living in a fallen world. Even when surrounded by enemies, the psalmist’s confidence in the Lord remained strong (vv. 8–9, 13–14, 28). Note the opening and closing verses. Despite the dangers he faced, the psalmist begins and ends by choosing to praise God: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Are you in the midst of a trial? Meditate on the Lord’s goodness and His enduring love.
The Art of a Grateful Heart
By Joe Stowell
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:1
On our wedding day, Martie and I gladly vowed to be faithful “in good times as well as in bad, in sickness as well as in health, for richer or for poorer.” In a way it may seem strange to include vows about the bleak reality of bad times, sickness, and poverty on a cheerful wedding day. But it underscores the fact that life often has “bad” times.
So what are we to do when we face life’s inevitable difficulties? Paul urges us on behalf of Christ to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As difficult as that may sound, there is good reason why God encourages us to embrace a spirit of gratitude. Gratitude is grounded in the truth that our Lord “is good” and “his love endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). He is present with us and strengthens us in the midst of trouble (Hebrews 13:5–6), and He lovingly uses our trials to grow our character into His likeness (Romans 5:3–4).
God, teach me to have a grateful heart.
When life hits us with hard times, choosing to be grateful focuses our attention on the goodness of God and gives us the strength to make it through our struggles. With the psalmist, we can sing, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 118:29).
Lord, I realize that focusing on my troubles causes me to forget that even in the midst of trials You are good. Teach me the art of a grateful heart.
Thanksgiving is a virtue that grows through practice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 19, 2018
Abraham’s Life of Faith
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried. He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 19, 2018
Never Forget Who You're Fighting - #8136
I was watching the History Channel one day, and I was reminded of something I had heard about one of World War II's most dramatic confrontations. British General Montgomery went face-to-face with Hitler's best, General Rommel. They called him "The Desert Fox." He was a brilliant strategist in his campaign to take and then to keep North Africa for the Fuehrer. Well, Montgomery finally defeated the Desert Fox at the Battle of El Alamein. But history also tells us one reason why he did. See, General Montgomery had a picture hanging in his command tent where he could see it every day. No, it wasn't Winston Churchill. It wasn't the King of England. It was a picture of General Rommel. Montgomery said he didn't ever want to forget who he was fighting.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Forget Who You’re Fighting."
Actually, that's an important secret of spiritual victory, too - never forgetting who your real enemy is. That's why the Bible warns us to be alert because "your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). We're told to "take your stand against the devil's schemes" because "our struggle is not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:11-12). Now, it's easy to fall into thinking that we're fighting just certain people or problems or obstacles, but we've got to keep our real enemy in front of us.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 22:31, Jesus gives Peter - and us -this warning and this promise. "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail." Don't you love those words, "Satan has asked to sift you"? See, there's nothing the enemy can do to you without your Savior's permission. God will only allow what He knows you can handle, what can make you stronger, and what can boomerang in Satan's face. And as in Peter's life, Jesus is really planning to use you. So Satan is really trying to sift you.
General Montgomery made sure he knew his enemy's tactics. You need to know that about your enemy. Obviously, he isn't going to come to you and openly say, "Hi, I'm the Devil. Come with me." No, he wants you to forget him so you don't resist him. He wants you to fight this as a flesh-and-blood battle. Then he's got you.
So what are some of the strategies Satan might be using to stop you? For one thing, worry. He's trying to get you to worry about things so you'll be slowed down, discouraged, paralyzed. And then there are wounds. Your enemy will try to use hurts and slights and disappointments to get you to focus on how you've been hurt, which is really getting you to focus on yourself.
Your enemy also uses walls to defeat you - walls that you allow to develop between you and another person. You resist the devil when you go immediately to a person to get things right before a wall can even develop.
Your enemy might try to use work to sink you, just getting you overwhelmed by that mountain of work you have, getting you to focus on your load instead of your Lord. Another enemy target - your weaknesses. He's appealing to some of your vulnerable spots to get you to fall there again. You have to consciously face your weakness each morning, and declare that it is Jesus' territory now.
Finally, Satan will try to use the wilderness to bring you down - using a spiritually dry spell to pull you away from Jesus. And your response? Resist him! You tell him with Holy Spirit defiance, "I know who this is, and I'm not falling for this!" Why should you? You belong to Jesus, at whose Name every knee will bow!
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Exodus 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Make it Personal
Christ took away your sins. He endured not just the nails of the Romans, the mockery of the crowd, and the spear of the soldier, but he endured the anger of God! God didn't overlook your sins, lest he endorse them. He didn't punish you lest he destroy you. He instead found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner. Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you credit for Jesus' perfection.
As long as the cross is God's gift to the world, it will touch you but it will not change you. Precious as it is to proclaim, "Christ died for the world," even sweeter it is to whisper, "Christ died for me!" For my sins he died. He took my place on the cross. He felt my shame and spoke my name. Thank God for the day Jesus took your place, for the day that grace happened to you!
From GRACE
Exodus 36
“Bezalel and Oholiab, along with everyone whom God has given the skill and know-how for making everything involved in the worship of the Sanctuary as commanded by God, are to start to work.”
2-3 Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab along with all whom God had gifted with the ability to work skillfully with their hands. The men were eager to get started and engage in the work. They took from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the Sanctuary. The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning.
4-5 All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the Sanctuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!”
6-7 So Moses sent out orders through the camp: “Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!”
The people were ordered to stop bringing offerings! There was plenty of material for all the work to be done. Enough and more than enough.
The Tapestries
8-13 Then all the skilled artisans on The Dwelling made ten tapestries of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric with an angel-cherubim design worked into the material. Each panel of tapestry was forty-six feet long and six feet wide. Five of the panels were joined together, and then the other five. Loops of blue were made along the edge of the outside panel of the first set, and the same on the outside panel of the second set. They made fifty loops on each panel, with the loops opposite each other. Then they made fifty gold clasps and joined the tapestries together so that The Dwelling was one whole.
14-19 Next they made tapestries of woven goat hair for a tent that would cover The Dwelling. They made eleven panels of these tapestries. The length of each panel was forty-five feet long and six feet wide. They joined five of the panels together, and then the other six, by making fifty loops along the edge of the end panel and fifty loops along the edge of the joining panel, then making fifty clasps of bronze, connecting the clasps to the loops, bringing the tent together. They finished it off by covering the tapestries with tanned rams’ skins dyed red, and covered that with dolphin skins.
The Framing
20-30 They framed The Dwelling with vertical planks of acacia wood, each section of frame fifteen feet long and two and a quarter feet wide, with two pegs for securing them. They made all the frames identical: twenty frames for the south side, with forty silver sockets to receive the two tenons from each of the twenty frames; they repeated that construction on the north side of The Dwelling. For the rear of The Dwelling facing west, they made six frames, with two additional frames for the rear corners. Both of the two corner frames were 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.
31-34 They made 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 ran from end to end halfway up the frames. They covered the frames with a veneer of gold, made gold rings to hold the crossbars, and covered the crossbars with a veneer of gold.
35-36 They made the curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. They wove a design of angel-cherubim into it. They made four posts of acacia wood, covered them with a veneer of gold, and cast four silver bases for them.
37-38 They made a screen for the door of the tent, woven from blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen with embroidery. They framed the weaving with five poles of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold, and made gold hooks to hang the weaving and five bronze bases for the poles.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Read: Nehemiah 8:5–12
5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear[a] and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”
12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Footnotes:
Nehemiah 8:8 Or God, translating it
INSIGHT
What have you learned about the character of God in the Scriptures?
For further study, read How Can I Know God through His Book? at discoveryseries.org/q0404.
Letters Home
By Tim Gustafson
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read. Nehemiah 8:8
Far from home and training for World War II, American recruits in basic training turned to humor and correspondence to cope with the challenges they faced. In one letter home a young man described the vaccination process with wonderful exaggeration: “Two medical officers chased us with harpoons. They grabbed us and pinned us to the floor and stuck one in each arm.”
Yet one soldier began to realize that humor could only take him so far. Then he received a Bible. “I enjoy it very much and I read it every night,” he wrote. “I never realized you could learn so much from a Bible.”
The Bible is where we learn about God's character, His forgiveness, and His comfort.
Long ago, the Jewish exiles returned home after years of slavery in Babylon to find their problems came with them. As they struggled to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, they faced opposition from enemies, famine, and their own sin. Amid their trouble, they turned to God’s Word. They were surprised at what they learned. When the priests read from the Book of the Law of God, the people were moved to tears (Nehemiah 8:9). But they also found comfort. Nehemiah the governor told them, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (v. 10).
We don’t need to wait for trouble to hear from God. The Bible is where we learn about His character, His forgiveness, and His comfort. As we read it, we’ll be surprised at what God’s Spirit will show us in its pages.
The Bible helps us see ourselves as we really are, and also helps us see how much God loves us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
…perfecting holiness in the fear of God. —2 Corinthians 7:1
“Therefore, having these promises….” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
Christ took away your sins. He endured not just the nails of the Romans, the mockery of the crowd, and the spear of the soldier, but he endured the anger of God! God didn't overlook your sins, lest he endorse them. He didn't punish you lest he destroy you. He instead found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner. Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you credit for Jesus' perfection.
As long as the cross is God's gift to the world, it will touch you but it will not change you. Precious as it is to proclaim, "Christ died for the world," even sweeter it is to whisper, "Christ died for me!" For my sins he died. He took my place on the cross. He felt my shame and spoke my name. Thank God for the day Jesus took your place, for the day that grace happened to you!
From GRACE
Exodus 36
“Bezalel and Oholiab, along with everyone whom God has given the skill and know-how for making everything involved in the worship of the Sanctuary as commanded by God, are to start to work.”
2-3 Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab along with all whom God had gifted with the ability to work skillfully with their hands. The men were eager to get started and engage in the work. They took from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the Sanctuary. The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning.
4-5 All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the Sanctuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!”
6-7 So Moses sent out orders through the camp: “Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!”
The people were ordered to stop bringing offerings! There was plenty of material for all the work to be done. Enough and more than enough.
The Tapestries
8-13 Then all the skilled artisans on The Dwelling made ten tapestries of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet fabric with an angel-cherubim design worked into the material. Each panel of tapestry was forty-six feet long and six feet wide. Five of the panels were joined together, and then the other five. Loops of blue were made along the edge of the outside panel of the first set, and the same on the outside panel of the second set. They made fifty loops on each panel, with the loops opposite each other. Then they made fifty gold clasps and joined the tapestries together so that The Dwelling was one whole.
14-19 Next they made tapestries of woven goat hair for a tent that would cover The Dwelling. They made eleven panels of these tapestries. The length of each panel was forty-five feet long and six feet wide. They joined five of the panels together, and then the other six, by making fifty loops along the edge of the end panel and fifty loops along the edge of the joining panel, then making fifty clasps of bronze, connecting the clasps to the loops, bringing the tent together. They finished it off by covering the tapestries with tanned rams’ skins dyed red, and covered that with dolphin skins.
The Framing
20-30 They framed The Dwelling with vertical planks of acacia wood, each section of frame fifteen feet long and two and a quarter feet wide, with two pegs for securing them. They made all the frames identical: twenty frames for the south side, with forty silver sockets to receive the two tenons from each of the twenty frames; they repeated that construction on the north side of The Dwelling. For the rear of The Dwelling facing west, they made six frames, with two additional frames for the rear corners. Both of the two corner frames were 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.
31-34 They made 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 ran from end to end halfway up the frames. They covered the frames with a veneer of gold, made gold rings to hold the crossbars, and covered the crossbars with a veneer of gold.
35-36 They made the curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. They wove a design of angel-cherubim into it. They made four posts of acacia wood, covered them with a veneer of gold, and cast four silver bases for them.
37-38 They made a screen for the door of the tent, woven from blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen with embroidery. They framed the weaving with five poles of acacia wood covered with a veneer of gold, and made gold hooks to hang the weaving and five bronze bases for the poles.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Read: Nehemiah 8:5–12
5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear[a] and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”
12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Footnotes:
Nehemiah 8:8 Or God, translating it
INSIGHT
What have you learned about the character of God in the Scriptures?
For further study, read How Can I Know God through His Book? at discoveryseries.org/q0404.
Letters Home
By Tim Gustafson
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read. Nehemiah 8:8
Far from home and training for World War II, American recruits in basic training turned to humor and correspondence to cope with the challenges they faced. In one letter home a young man described the vaccination process with wonderful exaggeration: “Two medical officers chased us with harpoons. They grabbed us and pinned us to the floor and stuck one in each arm.”
Yet one soldier began to realize that humor could only take him so far. Then he received a Bible. “I enjoy it very much and I read it every night,” he wrote. “I never realized you could learn so much from a Bible.”
The Bible is where we learn about God's character, His forgiveness, and His comfort.
Long ago, the Jewish exiles returned home after years of slavery in Babylon to find their problems came with them. As they struggled to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, they faced opposition from enemies, famine, and their own sin. Amid their trouble, they turned to God’s Word. They were surprised at what they learned. When the priests read from the Book of the Law of God, the people were moved to tears (Nehemiah 8:9). But they also found comfort. Nehemiah the governor told them, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (v. 10).
We don’t need to wait for trouble to hear from God. The Bible is where we learn about His character, His forgiveness, and His comfort. As we read it, we’ll be surprised at what God’s Spirit will show us in its pages.
The Bible helps us see ourselves as we really are, and also helps us see how much God loves us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
…perfecting holiness in the fear of God. —2 Corinthians 7:1
“Therefore, having these promises….” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Mark 4:1-20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Grace Happened
We are incarcerated by our past. We have been found guilty! Our executioner's footsteps echo against the stone walls. We sit on the floor of the dusty cell, awaiting our final moment. We don't look up as he opens the door. We know what he's going to say. "Time to pay for your sins." But we hear something else! "You're free to go. They took Jesus instead of you!"
The door swings open, the guard barks, "Get out!" And we find ourselves shackles gone, crimes pardoned, wondering, what just happened? Grace just happened! Christ took away your sins.
Romans 3 says that God, in his gracious kindness, declares us not guilty. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.
What happened? Grace happened!
From GRACE
Mark 4:1-20
The Story of the Scattered Seed
1-2 He went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water’s edge. He taught by using stories, many stories.
3-8 “Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.
9 “Are you listening to this? Really listening?”
10-12 When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight. These are people—
Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing,
Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word,
Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven.”
13 He continued, “Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way.
14-15 “The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.
16-17 “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
18-19 “The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
20 “But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Read: Ephesians 4:22–32
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Footnotes:
Ephesians 4:26 Psalm 4:4 (see Septuagint)
INSIGHT
The power of our words is a theme throughout Scripture. The admonition in Ephesians 4:29 is to build each other up through our speech. The book of Proverbs encourages its readers to get a grip on wisdom, and part of wisdom living is the right use of our words. That’s why many Proverbs speak about “words,” “speech,” the “mouth,” and “lips.” Proverbs 10:11 describes the tremendous power of words to invigorate and enrich others: “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.”
How can you build someone up today with your words?
Whispering Words
By Anne Cetas
[Build] others up according to their needs. Ephesians 4:29
The young man fidgeted as he sat down for his flight. His eyes darted back and forth to the aircraft windows. Then he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself—but it didn’t work. As the plane took off, he slowly rocked back and forth. An older woman across the aisle from him put her hand on his arm and gently engaged him in conversation to divert his attention from his stress. “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” “We’re going to be okay,” and “You’re doing well” were a few things she whispered. She could have been irritated with him or ignored him. But she chose a touch and a few words. Little things. When they landed three hours later, he said, “Thank you so much for helping me.”
Such beautiful pictures of tenderheartedness can be hard to find. Kindness does not come naturally to many of us; our primary concern is often ourselves. But when the apostle Paul urged, “Be kind and compassionate to one another” (Ephesians 4:32), he was not saying it all depends on us. After we’ve been given a new life by our faith in Jesus, the Spirit begins a transformation. Kindness is the ongoing work of the Spirit renewing our thoughts and attitudes (v. 23).
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others and reaching out.
The God of compassion is at work in our hearts, allowing us in turn to touch others’ lives by reaching out and whispering words of encouragement.
Lord, use me today to bring someone hope, a lighter burden, encouragement.
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others and reaching out.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 17, 2018
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9
“We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest…I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R
We are incarcerated by our past. We have been found guilty! Our executioner's footsteps echo against the stone walls. We sit on the floor of the dusty cell, awaiting our final moment. We don't look up as he opens the door. We know what he's going to say. "Time to pay for your sins." But we hear something else! "You're free to go. They took Jesus instead of you!"
The door swings open, the guard barks, "Get out!" And we find ourselves shackles gone, crimes pardoned, wondering, what just happened? Grace just happened! Christ took away your sins.
Romans 3 says that God, in his gracious kindness, declares us not guilty. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.
What happened? Grace happened!
From GRACE
Mark 4:1-20
The Story of the Scattered Seed
1-2 He went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water’s edge. He taught by using stories, many stories.
3-8 “Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.
9 “Are you listening to this? Really listening?”
10-12 When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight. These are people—
Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing,
Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word,
Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven.”
13 He continued, “Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way.
14-15 “The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.
16-17 “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
18-19 “The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
20 “But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Read: Ephesians 4:22–32
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Footnotes:
Ephesians 4:26 Psalm 4:4 (see Septuagint)
INSIGHT
The power of our words is a theme throughout Scripture. The admonition in Ephesians 4:29 is to build each other up through our speech. The book of Proverbs encourages its readers to get a grip on wisdom, and part of wisdom living is the right use of our words. That’s why many Proverbs speak about “words,” “speech,” the “mouth,” and “lips.” Proverbs 10:11 describes the tremendous power of words to invigorate and enrich others: “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.”
How can you build someone up today with your words?
Whispering Words
By Anne Cetas
[Build] others up according to their needs. Ephesians 4:29
The young man fidgeted as he sat down for his flight. His eyes darted back and forth to the aircraft windows. Then he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself—but it didn’t work. As the plane took off, he slowly rocked back and forth. An older woman across the aisle from him put her hand on his arm and gently engaged him in conversation to divert his attention from his stress. “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” “We’re going to be okay,” and “You’re doing well” were a few things she whispered. She could have been irritated with him or ignored him. But she chose a touch and a few words. Little things. When they landed three hours later, he said, “Thank you so much for helping me.”
Such beautiful pictures of tenderheartedness can be hard to find. Kindness does not come naturally to many of us; our primary concern is often ourselves. But when the apostle Paul urged, “Be kind and compassionate to one another” (Ephesians 4:32), he was not saying it all depends on us. After we’ve been given a new life by our faith in Jesus, the Spirit begins a transformation. Kindness is the ongoing work of the Spirit renewing our thoughts and attitudes (v. 23).
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others and reaching out.
The God of compassion is at work in our hearts, allowing us in turn to touch others’ lives by reaching out and whispering words of encouragement.
Lord, use me today to bring someone hope, a lighter burden, encouragement.
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others and reaching out.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 17, 2018
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9
“We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest…I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R
Friday, March 16, 2018
Mark 3:20-35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: HEAVEN WILL BE SIN FREE
What prevents us from being rightly related to God? It is sin! And since heaven promises a right relationship with God, what’s missing in heaven? You got it—Sin. Heaven will be sin-free. Both death and sin will be things of the past.
Can you imagine a world minus sin? Have you done anything recently because of sin? At the very least, you’ve complained. You’ve worried…you’ve grumbled…hoarded when you should have shared…second-guessed and covered up. But you won’t do that in heaven. Sin has sired a thousand heartaches and broken a million promises. Your addiction can be traced back to sin. Your mistrust can be traced back to sin. Bigotry, robbery, adultery—all because of sin.
But in heaven, all of this will end. So. . .can you imagine a world without sin? If so, you can imagine heaven!
From When Christ Comes
Mark 3:20-35
Satan Fighting Satan?
20-21 Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was getting carried away with himself.
22-27 The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working black magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power. Jesus confronted their slander with a story: “Does it make sense to send a devil to catch a devil, to use Satan to get rid of Satan? A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn’t be any Satan left. Do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man, and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.
28-30 “Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31-32 Just then his mother and brothers showed up. Standing outside, they relayed a message that they wanted a word with him. He was surrounded by the crowd when he was given the message, “Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside looking for you.”
33-35 Jesus responded, “Who do you think are my mother and brothers?” Looking around, taking in everyone seated around him, he said, “Right here, right in front of you—my mother and my brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 16, 2018
Read: Job 38:1–18
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
Footnotes:
Job 38:7 Hebrew the sons of God
INSIGHT
Job had heard many “answers” to the problem of his pain, but he wanted to hear from the Lord. When he did, God asked Job a series of questions that revealed His infinite superiority. And His questions pointed to the wonders of creation.
All creation points to God. A key way He speaks to us is through that creation. How refreshing to commune with our Lord as we enjoy His handiwork!
Wonders in Focus
By Mart DeHaan
For from him and through him and for him are all things. Romans 11:36
Some of us are inclined to look at the world and see only what’s wrong. DeWitt Jones is a National Geographic photographer who has used his profession to celebrate what’s right about the world. He waits and watches until a shaft of light or turn of perspective suddenly reveals a wonder that had been there all along. He uses his camera to find beauty in the most common faces of people and nature.
If anyone had reason to focus on the wrongs of the world, Job did. After losing all that had given him joy, even his friends became his accusers. Together their voices taunted him for not admitting that he was suffering for sins he was hiding. When Job cried out to the heavens for help, God remained silent.
All creation points to God.
Finally, from within the chaos of a whirlwind and the darkness of a storm, God asked Job to consider wonders of nature that reflect a wisdom and power far beyond our own (Job 38:2–4).
Would He now ask us? What about something as natural as the ways of a dog, cat, fluttering leaf, or blade of grass? Could a shaft of light, or a turn of perspective, reveal—even in our pain—the mind and heart of a Creator who has been with us and for us all along?
Father in heaven, we’ve spent too much time thinking only about what is wrong and broken with our world. Please help us to see evidence of Your presence in the wonder of what only You could have done.
In the faces of nature there are wonders that never cease.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 16, 2018
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 16, 2018
The Ring and the King - #8135
For years, the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien's "Middle-Earth" were contained in his "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy and enjoyed by a relatively small number of people who loved those stories passionately. But since the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy exploded from books to blockbuster Hollywood movies, millions became enthusiastic fans. The engaging fantasy world of Tolkien's "Middle-Earth," the unique characters, the epic battles, and the spiritual themes that run through the stories; there are many layers that have blended into an experience that has magnetized millions of people. It's a great story, but for many, this is a story that seems to say something - something important. Tolkien, the author of the "Lord of the Rings," was a man with a deep Christian faith, and that faith helped to shape the provocative spiritual themes that many find in "Return of the King," the finale of the trilogy. There is this ring. There is this king. And there, somewhere tied to both, are many of us.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Ring and the King."
At the center of "The Return of the King," is the ring; the gold ring that many want to possess, no matter what the cost. The dark secret of owning that ring and its power is that the power ultimately comes to own you. It's called by one of its owners, "The Precious" - demonstrating its perverse value to the one who has it. You can't let go of it, even when it begins to destroy you...as it always does.
That image suggests a disturbing reality about our lives here on Real-Earth. There are life-pursuits that we believe will fulfill us, answer our questions and give us the love we're looking for, or the spiritual power that the human soul is hungry for. We want the power of whatever "ring" we feel compelled to pursue; someone who will love us, something we define as success, something that will relieve our pain, something that will make us feel significant. We all have our "Precious." Sadly, our "Precious" ends up being less than we had hoped, but often something we can't let go of.
Two words ultimately define the essence of all our "Precious" pursuits - my way or "sin," as the Bible calls it. Time after time, the road marked "My Way" has turned out to be a dead-end street hasn't it? And all too often, the ring that we have selfishly fought for has ended up hurting us and hurting those we love. That's the point at which "The Return of the King" intersects the life of a real king; the one described in the Bible as the "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16). The one in whose honor we stand when we hear the "Hallelujah Chorus."
The battles of Tolkien's "Middle-Earth" culminate with the return and the victory of a liberating king named Aragorn. The battles of Real-Earth culminate with the coming, and the victory, of the King of all kings - King Jesus.
The same book of the Bible that shows Jesus as this King of kings says of Him in Revelation 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God, "He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood." The King died for you because you have grabbed the "ring" of a self-run life; not realizing the ring will ultimately cost you everything including heaven. But heaven's King loves you so much He paid that price himself for you on the cross. And then His ultimate victory came three days later when He walked right out of His grave.
The life-or-death choice before you is whether you will continue to grasp that life-sapping ring or release the ring so you can follow your King. The day you say, "Jesus, You died for me. I'm Yours" is the day the King of billions of galaxies moves into your life and does with it what you could never do. The rightful King of your life is coming to you today, because for Jesus, you are "The Precious."
Are you ready to have that love; to experience that love for yourself? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website. That's where you could find the information that will help you be sure you finally belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.
Jesus is the King who has never lost a battle, and you need Him.
What prevents us from being rightly related to God? It is sin! And since heaven promises a right relationship with God, what’s missing in heaven? You got it—Sin. Heaven will be sin-free. Both death and sin will be things of the past.
Can you imagine a world minus sin? Have you done anything recently because of sin? At the very least, you’ve complained. You’ve worried…you’ve grumbled…hoarded when you should have shared…second-guessed and covered up. But you won’t do that in heaven. Sin has sired a thousand heartaches and broken a million promises. Your addiction can be traced back to sin. Your mistrust can be traced back to sin. Bigotry, robbery, adultery—all because of sin.
But in heaven, all of this will end. So. . .can you imagine a world without sin? If so, you can imagine heaven!
From When Christ Comes
Mark 3:20-35
Satan Fighting Satan?
20-21 Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was getting carried away with himself.
22-27 The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working black magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power. Jesus confronted their slander with a story: “Does it make sense to send a devil to catch a devil, to use Satan to get rid of Satan? A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn’t be any Satan left. Do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man, and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.
28-30 “Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31-32 Just then his mother and brothers showed up. Standing outside, they relayed a message that they wanted a word with him. He was surrounded by the crowd when he was given the message, “Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside looking for you.”
33-35 Jesus responded, “Who do you think are my mother and brothers?” Looking around, taking in everyone seated around him, he said, “Right here, right in front of you—my mother and my brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 16, 2018
Read: Job 38:1–18
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
Footnotes:
Job 38:7 Hebrew the sons of God
INSIGHT
Job had heard many “answers” to the problem of his pain, but he wanted to hear from the Lord. When he did, God asked Job a series of questions that revealed His infinite superiority. And His questions pointed to the wonders of creation.
All creation points to God. A key way He speaks to us is through that creation. How refreshing to commune with our Lord as we enjoy His handiwork!
Wonders in Focus
By Mart DeHaan
For from him and through him and for him are all things. Romans 11:36
Some of us are inclined to look at the world and see only what’s wrong. DeWitt Jones is a National Geographic photographer who has used his profession to celebrate what’s right about the world. He waits and watches until a shaft of light or turn of perspective suddenly reveals a wonder that had been there all along. He uses his camera to find beauty in the most common faces of people and nature.
If anyone had reason to focus on the wrongs of the world, Job did. After losing all that had given him joy, even his friends became his accusers. Together their voices taunted him for not admitting that he was suffering for sins he was hiding. When Job cried out to the heavens for help, God remained silent.
All creation points to God.
Finally, from within the chaos of a whirlwind and the darkness of a storm, God asked Job to consider wonders of nature that reflect a wisdom and power far beyond our own (Job 38:2–4).
Would He now ask us? What about something as natural as the ways of a dog, cat, fluttering leaf, or blade of grass? Could a shaft of light, or a turn of perspective, reveal—even in our pain—the mind and heart of a Creator who has been with us and for us all along?
Father in heaven, we’ve spent too much time thinking only about what is wrong and broken with our world. Please help us to see evidence of Your presence in the wonder of what only You could have done.
In the faces of nature there are wonders that never cease.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 16, 2018
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 16, 2018
The Ring and the King - #8135
For years, the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien's "Middle-Earth" were contained in his "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy and enjoyed by a relatively small number of people who loved those stories passionately. But since the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy exploded from books to blockbuster Hollywood movies, millions became enthusiastic fans. The engaging fantasy world of Tolkien's "Middle-Earth," the unique characters, the epic battles, and the spiritual themes that run through the stories; there are many layers that have blended into an experience that has magnetized millions of people. It's a great story, but for many, this is a story that seems to say something - something important. Tolkien, the author of the "Lord of the Rings," was a man with a deep Christian faith, and that faith helped to shape the provocative spiritual themes that many find in "Return of the King," the finale of the trilogy. There is this ring. There is this king. And there, somewhere tied to both, are many of us.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Ring and the King."
At the center of "The Return of the King," is the ring; the gold ring that many want to possess, no matter what the cost. The dark secret of owning that ring and its power is that the power ultimately comes to own you. It's called by one of its owners, "The Precious" - demonstrating its perverse value to the one who has it. You can't let go of it, even when it begins to destroy you...as it always does.
That image suggests a disturbing reality about our lives here on Real-Earth. There are life-pursuits that we believe will fulfill us, answer our questions and give us the love we're looking for, or the spiritual power that the human soul is hungry for. We want the power of whatever "ring" we feel compelled to pursue; someone who will love us, something we define as success, something that will relieve our pain, something that will make us feel significant. We all have our "Precious." Sadly, our "Precious" ends up being less than we had hoped, but often something we can't let go of.
Two words ultimately define the essence of all our "Precious" pursuits - my way or "sin," as the Bible calls it. Time after time, the road marked "My Way" has turned out to be a dead-end street hasn't it? And all too often, the ring that we have selfishly fought for has ended up hurting us and hurting those we love. That's the point at which "The Return of the King" intersects the life of a real king; the one described in the Bible as the "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16). The one in whose honor we stand when we hear the "Hallelujah Chorus."
The battles of Tolkien's "Middle-Earth" culminate with the return and the victory of a liberating king named Aragorn. The battles of Real-Earth culminate with the coming, and the victory, of the King of all kings - King Jesus.
The same book of the Bible that shows Jesus as this King of kings says of Him in Revelation 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God, "He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood." The King died for you because you have grabbed the "ring" of a self-run life; not realizing the ring will ultimately cost you everything including heaven. But heaven's King loves you so much He paid that price himself for you on the cross. And then His ultimate victory came three days later when He walked right out of His grave.
The life-or-death choice before you is whether you will continue to grasp that life-sapping ring or release the ring so you can follow your King. The day you say, "Jesus, You died for me. I'm Yours" is the day the King of billions of galaxies moves into your life and does with it what you could never do. The rightful King of your life is coming to you today, because for Jesus, you are "The Precious."
Are you ready to have that love; to experience that love for yourself? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website. That's where you could find the information that will help you be sure you finally belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.
Jesus is the King who has never lost a battle, and you need Him.
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