Max Lucado Daily: Who Did the Work?
Humility is such an elusive virtue. Once you think you have it, you don't, or you wouldn't think you did. You've heard the story of the boy who received the "Most Humble Badge" and had it taken away because he wore it?
God hates arrogance-because we haven't done anything to be arrogant about. Can you imagine a scalpel growing smug after a successful heart transplant? Of course not. It's only a tool, it gets no credit for the accomplishment.
The message of the 23rd Psalm is that we have nothing to be proud about either. We have rest, salvation, blessings,, and a home in heaven-and we did nothing to earn any of it! Who did? Who did the work? The Psalmist says the Lord, our Shepherd, leads His sheep-not for our names' sake but-for His name's sake!
This is all done for God's glory!
From Traveling Light
Numbers 11
Camp Taberah
1-3 The people fell to grumbling over their hard life. God heard. When he heard his anger flared; then fire blazed up and burned the outer boundaries of the camp. The people cried out for help to Moses; Moses prayed to God and the fire died down. They named the place Taberah (Blaze) because fire from God had blazed up against them.
Camp Kibroth Hattaavah
4-6 The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “Why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt—and got it free!—to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna.”
7-9 Manna was a seedlike substance with a shiny appearance like resin. The people went around collecting it and ground it between stones or pounded it fine in a mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a delicacy cooked in olive oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna was right there with it.
10 Moses heard the whining, all those families whining in front of their tents. God’s anger blazed up. Moses saw that things were in a bad way.
11-15 Moses said to God, “Why are you treating me this way? What did I ever do to you to deserve this? Did I conceive them? Was I their mother? So why dump the responsibility of this people on me? Why tell me to carry them around like a nursing mother, carry them all the way to the land you promised to their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people who are whining to me, ‘Give us meat; we want meat.’ I can’t do this by myself—it’s too much, all these people. If this is how you intend to treat me, do me a favor and kill me. I’ve seen enough; I’ve had enough. Let me out of here.”
16-17 God said to Moses, “Gather together seventy men from among the leaders of Israel, men whom you know to be respected and responsible. Take them to the Tent of Meeting. I’ll meet you there. I’ll come down and speak with you. I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and place it on them; they’ll then be able to take some of the load of this people—you won’t have to carry the whole thing alone.
18-20 “Tell the people, Consecrate yourselves. Get ready for tomorrow when you’re going to eat meat. You’ve been whining to God, ‘We want meat; give us meat. We had a better life in Egypt.’ God has heard your whining and he’s going to give you meat. You’re going to eat meat. And it’s not just for a day that you’ll eat meat, and not two days, or five or ten or twenty, but for a whole month. You’re going to eat meat until it’s coming out your nostrils. You’re going to be so sick of meat that you’ll throw up at the mere mention of it. And here’s why: Because you have rejected God who is right here among you, whining to his face, ‘Oh, why did we ever have to leave Egypt?’”
21-22 Moses said, “I’m standing here surrounded by 600,000 men on foot and you say, ‘I’ll give them meat, meat every day for a month.’ So where’s it coming from? Even if all the flocks and herds were butchered, would that be enough? Even if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough?”
23 God answered Moses, “So, do you think I can’t take care of you? You’ll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not.”
24-25 So Moses went out and told the people what God had said. He called together seventy of the leaders and had them stand around the Tent. God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn’t continue; it was a onetime event.
26 Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn’t leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.
27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ right-hand man since his youth, said, “Moses, master! Stop them!”
29 But Moses said, “Are you jealous for me? Would that all God’s people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them.”
30-34 Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp. A wind set in motion by God swept quails in from the sea. They piled up to a depth of about three feet in the camp and as far out as a day’s walk in every direction. All that day and night and into the next day the people were out gathering the quail—huge amounts of quail; even the slowest person among them gathered at least sixty bushels. They spread them out all over the camp for drying. But while they were still chewing the quail and had hardly swallowed the first bites, God’s anger blazed out against the people. He hit them with a terrible plague. They ended up calling the place Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves-of-the-Craving). There they buried the people who craved meat.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah they marched on to Hazeroth. They remained at Hazeroth.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Read: Daniel 3:8–18
Just then, some Babylonian fortunetellers stepped up and accused the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Long live the king! You gave strict orders, O king, that when the big band started playing, everyone had to fall to their knees and worship the gold statue, and whoever did not go to their knees and worship it had to be pitched into a roaring furnace. Well, there are some Jews here—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have placed in high positions in the province of Babylon. These men are ignoring you, O king. They don’t respect your gods and they won’t worship the gold statue you set up.”
13-15 Furious, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in. When the men were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar asked, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t respect my gods and refuse to worship the gold statue that I have set up? I’m giving you a second chance—but from now on, when the big band strikes up you must go to your knees and worship the statue I have made. If you don’t worship it, you will be pitched into a roaring furnace, no questions asked. Who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”
16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
Even If
By Alyson Kieda
The God we serve is able to deliver us from [the fire] . . . . But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods. Daniel 3:17–18
Sometimes life deals us a tremendous blow. Other times the miraculous happens.
Three young men, captives in Babylon, stood in front of the fearsome king of that land and boldly proclaimed that under no circumstances would they worship the giant image of gold towering above them. Together they declared: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know . . . we will not . . . worship the image” (Daniel 3:17–18).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
These three men—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—were hurled into the fiery furnace; and God miraculously delivered them so that not a hair of their head was singed and their clothing was smoke-free (vv. 19–27). They had been prepared to die but their trust in God was unwavering—“even if” He had not saved them.
God desires that we cling to Him—even if our loved one isn’t healed, even if we lose our job, even if we are persecuted. Sometimes God rescues us from danger in this life, and sometimes He doesn’t. But the truth we can hold firmly is this: “The God we serve is able,” loves us, and is with us in every fiery trial, every even if.
Dear Lord, we love You! Please give us unwavering faith—and strength and hope for each day—no matter the circumstance.
God is able.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Out of the Wreck I Rise
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble…” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are more than conquerors…” (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.
“Shall tribulation…?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).
“Shall…distress…?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?
“Shall…famine…?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it— the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Friday, May 18, 2018
Numbers 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: COURTEOUS CONDUCT - May 18, 2018
Paul says in Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should.” Courteous conduct honors Christ. Those who don’t believe in Jesus note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind.
Courteous conduct also honors God’s child. When you surrender a parking place to someone, you honor them. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children. Romans 12:18 says, “Do your best to live in peace with everyone!” You can’t control their attitude, but you can manage yours!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 10
The Two Bugles
1-3 God spoke to Moses: “Make two bugles of hammered silver. Use them to call the congregation together and give marching orders to the camps. When you blow them, the whole community will meet you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
4-7 “When a bugle gives a single, short blast, that’s the signal for the leaders, the heads of the clans, to assemble. When it gives a long blast, that’s the signal to march. At the first blast the tribes who were camped on the east set out. At the second blast the camps on the south set out. The long blasts are the signals to march. The bugle call that gathers the assembly is different from the signal to march.
8-10 “The sons of Aaron, the priests, are in charge of blowing the bugles; it’s their assigned duty down through the generations. When you go to war against an aggressor, blow a long blast on the bugle so that God will notice you and deliver you from your enemies. Also at times of celebration, at the appointed feasts and New Moon festivals, blow the bugles over your Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings: they will keep your attention on God. I am God, your God.”
The March from Sinai to Paran
11-13 In the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the Cloud went up from over The Dwelling of The Testimony. At that the People of Israel set out on their travels from the Wilderness of Sinai until the Cloud finally settled in the Wilderness of Paran. They began their march at the command of God through Moses.
14-17 The flag of the camp of Judah led the way, rank after rank under the command of Nahshon son of Amminadab. Nethanel son of Zuar commanded the forces of the tribe of Issachar, and Eliab son of Helon commanded the forces of the tribe of Zebulun. As soon as The Dwelling was taken down, the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, carrying The Dwelling.
18-21 The flag of the camp of Reuben was next with Elizur son of Shedeur in command. Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai commanded the forces of the tribe of Simeon; Eliasaph son of Deuel commanded the forces of the tribe of Gad. Then the Kohathites left, carrying the holy things. By the time they arrived The Dwelling would be set up.
22-24 The flag of the tribe of Ephraim moved out next, commanded by Elishama son of Ammihud. Gamaliel son of Pedahzur commanded the forces of the tribe of Manasseh; Abidan son of Gideoni commanded the forces of the tribe of Benjamin.
25-27 Finally, under the flag of the tribe of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps marched out with Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai in command. Pagiel son of Ocran commanded the forces of the tribe of Asher; Ahira son of Enan commanded the forces of the tribe of Naphtali.
28 These were the marching units of the People of Israel. They were on their way.
29 Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We’re marching to the place about which God promised, ‘I’ll give it to you.’ Come with us; we’ll treat you well. God has promised good things for Israel.”
30 But Hobab said, “I’m not coming; I’m going back home to my own country, to my own family.”
31-32 Moses countered, “Don’t leave us. You know all the best places to camp in the wilderness. We need your eyes. If you come with us, we’ll make sure that you share in all the good things God will do for us.”
33-36 And so off they marched. From the Mountain of God they marched three days with the Chest of the Covenant of God in the lead to scout out a campsite. The Cloud of God was above them by day when they marched from the camp. With the Chest leading the way, Moses would say,
Get up, God!
Put down your enemies!
Chase those who hate you to the hills!
And when the Chest was set down, he would say,
Rest with us, God,
Stay with the many,
Many thousands of Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 18, 2018
Read: Romans 15:4–13
That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
INSIGHT
Hope is a central theme in Romans. Testing results in hope (5:4), we are saved in hope (8:24), we are to be joyful in hope (12:12), we draw hope from the Scriptures in the trials of life (15:4), and our lives can overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (15:13).
For more on hope, listen to the Discover the Word series Hope: The Missing Ingredient at discovertheword.org/series/hope-the-missing-ingredient. - Bill Crowder
Overflowing
By Adam Holz
No, No, No, spills are almost never a good thing. But there might be one exception. The apostle Paul uses that image of overflowing to describe a people so full of God’s Spirit that what naturally spills out of them is hope (Romans 15:13). I love that picture of being filled to the brim with joy, peace, and faith because of His powerful presence in our lives. So much so, in fact, that we can’t help but exude and express winsome confidence in our heavenly Father. That might be during the beautiful, sunny seasons of our lives. Or when the proverbial cup of our lives gets jostled. Either way, what sloshes out over the top is life-giving hope to those around us who are “drenched” by it.
Lord, spills happen in life. But when they do, help us to be so full of Your Spirit that what pours out of us is the kind of hope that others can’t help but notice and be blessed by.
The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like the Son.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. Romans 15:13
“No! No! No! NO!” I screamed. It didn’t help. Not one bit. My brilliant solution for our plugged problem—flushing again—accomplished exactly the opposite of what I’d intended. I knew I had made a mistake the second I pushed the lever down. And I stood helplessly as water overflowed.
How many times have our kids tried to pour milk and misjudged the process, with white liquid flowing everywhere. Or maybe we failed to remember that a two-liter bottle of soda just rolled around in the trunk . . . with explosively startling results.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 18, 2018
Living Simply— Yet Focused
Look at the birds of the air….Consider the lilies of the field… —Matthew 6:26, 28
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 18, 2018
Courage for the Unknown - #8180
I think some of our best family memories are from our camping vacations. See, we got real close - I mean, literally - sleeping together in our little tent. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, great outdoor-cooked meals, a peaceful environment, and living by the sun. Of course, there are a few downsides - like those very dark nights in very dark campgrounds.
I can remember our boys' ambivalence to walk to the bathroom on nights like those. They had the need to use the facilities and that was undeniable, but the dark path and the dark woods...well, they were scary, especially knowing there were bears in those woods. But one thing would un-paralyze them - when they reached up in the dark and found my hand. Once they were holding their father's hand, you know what? They could keep walking into the darkness.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Courage For The Unknown."
It's amazing the difference your Father's hand can make when you're walking into the unknown - which is exactly where God may be leading you right now. You've sensed His leading, and He's leading you out of the "tent" of your comfort zone, out of the light of the familiar and the safe and He's leading you into some new territory for your family, your security, maybe for your career, your location, maybe for your ministry. And the trail ahead is full of questions - maybe even bears.
Well, God has a wonderful promise to keep your feet moving on the scary road you're on - 12 little words that are the difference between moving ahead or chickening out. Our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Thessalonians 5:24. "The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it." Your Heavenly Father says, "Look, I got you onto this road. Take hold of My hand because I'm going to lead you and I'm going to take care of you all the way."
Now, if God has called you into something, God's going to do it, too! It's not up to you to make all this work; it's up to the One who got you into this! Which answers just about every fear that might make you want to slow down or turn back.
You're not the first child of God that He's led on a path that's full of uncertainty. He did it with His ancient children - 40 years in the wilderness. Listen to Moses' summary of what God does for us when He is leading us into the unknown. "Do not be terrified...the Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you. In the desert you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries His son...He went ahead of you on your journey...to show you the way you should go" (Deuteronomy 1:29-32).
Well, there's your guarantee. You can keep walking confidently into the unknown because your Father is committed to coach you as to where to step next, to carry you when you can't go any farther, to cover you with His protection from harm, and to care for you, providing every need. He's called you. He'll do it!
So no matter how dark the road ahead looks, no matter how many bears there are, no matter how scared you feel, would you just grab hold of your Father's hand and just keep walking in the direction that He is leading.
Paul says in Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should.” Courteous conduct honors Christ. Those who don’t believe in Jesus note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind.
Courteous conduct also honors God’s child. When you surrender a parking place to someone, you honor them. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children. Romans 12:18 says, “Do your best to live in peace with everyone!” You can’t control their attitude, but you can manage yours!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 10
The Two Bugles
1-3 God spoke to Moses: “Make two bugles of hammered silver. Use them to call the congregation together and give marching orders to the camps. When you blow them, the whole community will meet you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
4-7 “When a bugle gives a single, short blast, that’s the signal for the leaders, the heads of the clans, to assemble. When it gives a long blast, that’s the signal to march. At the first blast the tribes who were camped on the east set out. At the second blast the camps on the south set out. The long blasts are the signals to march. The bugle call that gathers the assembly is different from the signal to march.
8-10 “The sons of Aaron, the priests, are in charge of blowing the bugles; it’s their assigned duty down through the generations. When you go to war against an aggressor, blow a long blast on the bugle so that God will notice you and deliver you from your enemies. Also at times of celebration, at the appointed feasts and New Moon festivals, blow the bugles over your Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings: they will keep your attention on God. I am God, your God.”
The March from Sinai to Paran
11-13 In the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the Cloud went up from over The Dwelling of The Testimony. At that the People of Israel set out on their travels from the Wilderness of Sinai until the Cloud finally settled in the Wilderness of Paran. They began their march at the command of God through Moses.
14-17 The flag of the camp of Judah led the way, rank after rank under the command of Nahshon son of Amminadab. Nethanel son of Zuar commanded the forces of the tribe of Issachar, and Eliab son of Helon commanded the forces of the tribe of Zebulun. As soon as The Dwelling was taken down, the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, carrying The Dwelling.
18-21 The flag of the camp of Reuben was next with Elizur son of Shedeur in command. Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai commanded the forces of the tribe of Simeon; Eliasaph son of Deuel commanded the forces of the tribe of Gad. Then the Kohathites left, carrying the holy things. By the time they arrived The Dwelling would be set up.
22-24 The flag of the tribe of Ephraim moved out next, commanded by Elishama son of Ammihud. Gamaliel son of Pedahzur commanded the forces of the tribe of Manasseh; Abidan son of Gideoni commanded the forces of the tribe of Benjamin.
25-27 Finally, under the flag of the tribe of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps marched out with Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai in command. Pagiel son of Ocran commanded the forces of the tribe of Asher; Ahira son of Enan commanded the forces of the tribe of Naphtali.
28 These were the marching units of the People of Israel. They were on their way.
29 Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We’re marching to the place about which God promised, ‘I’ll give it to you.’ Come with us; we’ll treat you well. God has promised good things for Israel.”
30 But Hobab said, “I’m not coming; I’m going back home to my own country, to my own family.”
31-32 Moses countered, “Don’t leave us. You know all the best places to camp in the wilderness. We need your eyes. If you come with us, we’ll make sure that you share in all the good things God will do for us.”
33-36 And so off they marched. From the Mountain of God they marched three days with the Chest of the Covenant of God in the lead to scout out a campsite. The Cloud of God was above them by day when they marched from the camp. With the Chest leading the way, Moses would say,
Get up, God!
Put down your enemies!
Chase those who hate you to the hills!
And when the Chest was set down, he would say,
Rest with us, God,
Stay with the many,
Many thousands of Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 18, 2018
Read: Romans 15:4–13
That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
INSIGHT
Hope is a central theme in Romans. Testing results in hope (5:4), we are saved in hope (8:24), we are to be joyful in hope (12:12), we draw hope from the Scriptures in the trials of life (15:4), and our lives can overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (15:13).
For more on hope, listen to the Discover the Word series Hope: The Missing Ingredient at discovertheword.org/series/hope-the-missing-ingredient. - Bill Crowder
Overflowing
By Adam Holz
No, No, No, spills are almost never a good thing. But there might be one exception. The apostle Paul uses that image of overflowing to describe a people so full of God’s Spirit that what naturally spills out of them is hope (Romans 15:13). I love that picture of being filled to the brim with joy, peace, and faith because of His powerful presence in our lives. So much so, in fact, that we can’t help but exude and express winsome confidence in our heavenly Father. That might be during the beautiful, sunny seasons of our lives. Or when the proverbial cup of our lives gets jostled. Either way, what sloshes out over the top is life-giving hope to those around us who are “drenched” by it.
Lord, spills happen in life. But when they do, help us to be so full of Your Spirit that what pours out of us is the kind of hope that others can’t help but notice and be blessed by.
The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like the Son.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. Romans 15:13
“No! No! No! NO!” I screamed. It didn’t help. Not one bit. My brilliant solution for our plugged problem—flushing again—accomplished exactly the opposite of what I’d intended. I knew I had made a mistake the second I pushed the lever down. And I stood helplessly as water overflowed.
How many times have our kids tried to pour milk and misjudged the process, with white liquid flowing everywhere. Or maybe we failed to remember that a two-liter bottle of soda just rolled around in the trunk . . . with explosively startling results.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 18, 2018
Living Simply— Yet Focused
Look at the birds of the air….Consider the lilies of the field… —Matthew 6:26, 28
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 18, 2018
Courage for the Unknown - #8180
I think some of our best family memories are from our camping vacations. See, we got real close - I mean, literally - sleeping together in our little tent. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, great outdoor-cooked meals, a peaceful environment, and living by the sun. Of course, there are a few downsides - like those very dark nights in very dark campgrounds.
I can remember our boys' ambivalence to walk to the bathroom on nights like those. They had the need to use the facilities and that was undeniable, but the dark path and the dark woods...well, they were scary, especially knowing there were bears in those woods. But one thing would un-paralyze them - when they reached up in the dark and found my hand. Once they were holding their father's hand, you know what? They could keep walking into the darkness.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Courage For The Unknown."
It's amazing the difference your Father's hand can make when you're walking into the unknown - which is exactly where God may be leading you right now. You've sensed His leading, and He's leading you out of the "tent" of your comfort zone, out of the light of the familiar and the safe and He's leading you into some new territory for your family, your security, maybe for your career, your location, maybe for your ministry. And the trail ahead is full of questions - maybe even bears.
Well, God has a wonderful promise to keep your feet moving on the scary road you're on - 12 little words that are the difference between moving ahead or chickening out. Our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Thessalonians 5:24. "The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it." Your Heavenly Father says, "Look, I got you onto this road. Take hold of My hand because I'm going to lead you and I'm going to take care of you all the way."
Now, if God has called you into something, God's going to do it, too! It's not up to you to make all this work; it's up to the One who got you into this! Which answers just about every fear that might make you want to slow down or turn back.
You're not the first child of God that He's led on a path that's full of uncertainty. He did it with His ancient children - 40 years in the wilderness. Listen to Moses' summary of what God does for us when He is leading us into the unknown. "Do not be terrified...the Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you. In the desert you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries His son...He went ahead of you on your journey...to show you the way you should go" (Deuteronomy 1:29-32).
Well, there's your guarantee. You can keep walking confidently into the unknown because your Father is committed to coach you as to where to step next, to carry you when you can't go any farther, to cover you with His protection from harm, and to care for you, providing every need. He's called you. He'll do it!
So no matter how dark the road ahead looks, no matter how many bears there are, no matter how scared you feel, would you just grab hold of your Father's hand and just keep walking in the direction that He is leading.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Numbers 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHAT LOVE IS NOT - May 17, 2018
When Paul defined what love is not, he put rudeness on the list. Love is “not rude” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Some years ago an example of rudeness was taken before the courts in Minnesota. A man fell out of his canoe and lost his temper. Though the river was lined with vacationing families, he polluted the air with obscenities. Some of those families sued him. He said, “I have my rights!”
God calls us to a higher, more noble concern. Not, “What are my rights?” but “What is loving?” Do you have the right to pretend you don’t hear your wife speaking? Perhaps so, but is it loving?
Jesus always knocks before entering. He doesn’t have to. If anyone has the right to barge in, Christ does. But he doesn’t. That gentle tap you hear? It’s Christ…“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). And when you answer, he awaits your invitation to cross the threshold!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 9
Passover
1-3 God spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt: “Have the People of Israel celebrate Passover at the set time. Celebrate it on schedule, on the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, following all the rules and procedures.”
4-5 Moses told the People of Israel to celebrate the Passover and they did—in the Wilderness of Sinai at evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. The People of Israel did it all just as God had commanded Moses.
6-7 But some of them couldn’t celebrate the Passover on the assigned day because they were ritually unclean on account of a corpse. So they presented themselves before Moses and Aaron on Passover and told Moses, “We have become ritually unclean because of a corpse, but why should we be barred from bringing God’s offering along with other Israelites on the day set for Passover?”
8 Moses said, “Give me some time; I’ll find out what God says in your circumstances.”
9-12 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, If one or another of you is ritually unclean because of a corpse, or you happen to be off on a long trip, you may still celebrate God’s Passover. But celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at evening. Eat the lamb together with unraised bread and bitter herbs. Don’t leave any of it until morning. Don’t break any of its bones. Follow all the procedures.
13 “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.
14 “Any foreigner living among you who wants to celebrate God’s Passover is welcome to do it, but he must follow all the rules and procedures. The same procedures go for both foreigner and native-born.”
The Cloud
15-16 The day The Dwelling was set up, the Cloud covered The Dwelling of the Tent of Testimony. From sunset until daybreak it was over The Dwelling. It looked like fire. It was like that all the time, the Cloud over The Dwelling and at night looking like fire.
17-23 When the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the People of Israel marched out; and when the Cloud descended the people camped. The People of Israel marched at God’s command and they camped at his command. As long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, they camped. Even when the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for many days, they honored God’s command and wouldn’t march. They stayed in camp, obedient to God’s command, as long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, but the moment God issued orders they marched. If the Cloud stayed only from sunset to daybreak and then lifted at daybreak, they marched. Night or day, it made no difference—when the Cloud lifted, they marched. It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there. And when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God’s command and they marched at God’s command. They lived obediently by God’s orders as delivered by Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Read: Psalm 136:1-15
1-3 Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.
INSIGHT
As with Psalm 136, many of the psalms encourage us to remember and praise God’s goodness. In Psalm 42, when the writer’s soul is “downcast” (v. 5), he remembers “by day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me” (v. 8). He puts his “hope in God,” and praises his Savior and God (v. 11). The psalmist David remembers God in the desert and is comforted: “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings” (63:6–7). And in his distress the psalmist Asaph “[seeks] the Lord” and is prompted to “remember the deeds of the Lord; . . . [His] miracles of long ago . . . and meditate on all [His] mighty deeds” (77:2, 10–12).
What would you include in your psalm of remembrance? - Alyson Kieda
Praising God’s Goodness
By Lawrence Darmani
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1
Someone in our Bible-study group suggested, “Let’s write our own psalms!” Initially, some protested that they didn’t have the flair for writing, but after some encouragement everyone wrote a moving poetic song narrating how God had been working in their lives. Out of trials, protection, provision, and even pain and tears came enduring messages that gave our psalms fascinating themes. Like Psalm 136, each psalm revealed the truth that God’s love endures forever.
We all have a story to tell about God’s love—whether we write or sing or tell it. For some, our experiences may be dramatic or intense—like the writer of Psalm 136 who recounted how God delivered His people from captivity and conquered His enemies (vv. 10–15). Others may simply describe God’s marvelous creation: “who by his understanding made the heavens . . . spread out the earth upon the waters . . . made the great lights— . . . the sun to govern the day . . . the moon and stars to govern the night” (vv. 5–9).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
Remembering who God is and what He has done brings out praise and thanksgiving that glorifies Him. We can then “[speak] to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:19) about the goodness of the Lord whose love endures forever! Turn your experience of God’s love into a praise song of your own and enjoy an overflow of His never-ending goodness.
Lord, thank You for the world You made and for the blessings on my life. Fill my heart with gratitude and put words in my mouth to acknowledge and appreciate You.
For all eternity, God’s love endures forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 17, 2018
His Ascension and Our Access
It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. —Luke 24:51
We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.
The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Winning the Battle With the Animal Inside - #8179
Several years ago on an Indian reservation, a friend there told us about an elderly neighbor of hers who had taken an unusual pet into her house. It was a half wolf and half dog. Half wild and half domesticated, and as it turned out, big trouble. One morning that wolf dog picked up the lady's granddaughter and began to carry her away. The grandmother saw it, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. The animal stopped and froze in this moment of evident struggle between his wild side and his tame side. The wolf dog looked straight at this screaming lady, totally unafraid; his wild side wasn't scared at all. His wild side wanted that child. But then in one dramatic moment, the animal dropped the child and let her go. The tame side finally won, but there were still a lot of scars.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Winning the Battle With the Animal Inside."
The battle between the wild side and the tame side is a battle that we humans know all too well, because it seems they both live inside us and they're both strong. One Biblical writer, Paul, the apostle, wrote about this struggle in these words: "What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15).
If you're tired of that animal inside you winning, if you're tired of the scars it's left on you and the people you care about, then you're ready for our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 5, beginning with verse 16. You'll hear the struggle, but you'll hear the solution, too. "Live by the Spirit (that's God's Holy Spirit, who lives in everyone who belongs to Jesus), and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." Does that kind of struggle sound familiar at all?
Here are the two menus of the kind of person you're going to be, depending on which side wins. "The acts of the sinful nature (that's that animal inside) are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. Those who live like that will not inherit the kingdom of God." That's deadly stuff that comes from our wild side.
But it goes on to say, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
Here's the hard truth about the animal inside. You can't tame him; it's just too strong. You can strive all you want, you can make all the commitments to change that you want, the monster will still win very often. But when you get Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves into your life with all the power there is.
The winning secret is in Ephesians 5:18, "Be filled with the Spirit." That means controlled by, taken over by the Holy Spirit, which means you stop trying to change by your own efforts. You trade striving for surrendering all of you completely to the Holy Spirit of God.
If you lay my glove on this chair I'm sitting on and ask it to move the chair, the glove will just lay there. But if I put my hand in that glove, that glove will pick up the chair and do what a glove can't do by the power of the hand inside it. See, you're just God's glove, powerless to subdue your sinful side. But if you surrender all control of that glove and let God put His hand in there, His power will move what you've never been able to move and change, and He will change it.
The Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross to rescue us from the power and the penalty of the wild side of our sin. If you've never reached out to Him in faith and said, "Jesus, you're my only hope and I am Yours," would you do that today. Go to our website. There's so much more about this there. ANewStory.com.
Go to Him to be forgiven and you'll be clean, and you'll have inside you the power to finally be free from that animal inside.
When Paul defined what love is not, he put rudeness on the list. Love is “not rude” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Some years ago an example of rudeness was taken before the courts in Minnesota. A man fell out of his canoe and lost his temper. Though the river was lined with vacationing families, he polluted the air with obscenities. Some of those families sued him. He said, “I have my rights!”
God calls us to a higher, more noble concern. Not, “What are my rights?” but “What is loving?” Do you have the right to pretend you don’t hear your wife speaking? Perhaps so, but is it loving?
Jesus always knocks before entering. He doesn’t have to. If anyone has the right to barge in, Christ does. But he doesn’t. That gentle tap you hear? It’s Christ…“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). And when you answer, he awaits your invitation to cross the threshold!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 9
Passover
1-3 God spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt: “Have the People of Israel celebrate Passover at the set time. Celebrate it on schedule, on the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, following all the rules and procedures.”
4-5 Moses told the People of Israel to celebrate the Passover and they did—in the Wilderness of Sinai at evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. The People of Israel did it all just as God had commanded Moses.
6-7 But some of them couldn’t celebrate the Passover on the assigned day because they were ritually unclean on account of a corpse. So they presented themselves before Moses and Aaron on Passover and told Moses, “We have become ritually unclean because of a corpse, but why should we be barred from bringing God’s offering along with other Israelites on the day set for Passover?”
8 Moses said, “Give me some time; I’ll find out what God says in your circumstances.”
9-12 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, If one or another of you is ritually unclean because of a corpse, or you happen to be off on a long trip, you may still celebrate God’s Passover. But celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at evening. Eat the lamb together with unraised bread and bitter herbs. Don’t leave any of it until morning. Don’t break any of its bones. Follow all the procedures.
13 “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.
14 “Any foreigner living among you who wants to celebrate God’s Passover is welcome to do it, but he must follow all the rules and procedures. The same procedures go for both foreigner and native-born.”
The Cloud
15-16 The day The Dwelling was set up, the Cloud covered The Dwelling of the Tent of Testimony. From sunset until daybreak it was over The Dwelling. It looked like fire. It was like that all the time, the Cloud over The Dwelling and at night looking like fire.
17-23 When the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the People of Israel marched out; and when the Cloud descended the people camped. The People of Israel marched at God’s command and they camped at his command. As long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, they camped. Even when the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for many days, they honored God’s command and wouldn’t march. They stayed in camp, obedient to God’s command, as long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, but the moment God issued orders they marched. If the Cloud stayed only from sunset to daybreak and then lifted at daybreak, they marched. Night or day, it made no difference—when the Cloud lifted, they marched. It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there. And when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God’s command and they marched at God’s command. They lived obediently by God’s orders as delivered by Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Read: Psalm 136:1-15
1-3 Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.
INSIGHT
As with Psalm 136, many of the psalms encourage us to remember and praise God’s goodness. In Psalm 42, when the writer’s soul is “downcast” (v. 5), he remembers “by day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me” (v. 8). He puts his “hope in God,” and praises his Savior and God (v. 11). The psalmist David remembers God in the desert and is comforted: “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings” (63:6–7). And in his distress the psalmist Asaph “[seeks] the Lord” and is prompted to “remember the deeds of the Lord; . . . [His] miracles of long ago . . . and meditate on all [His] mighty deeds” (77:2, 10–12).
What would you include in your psalm of remembrance? - Alyson Kieda
Praising God’s Goodness
By Lawrence Darmani
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1
Someone in our Bible-study group suggested, “Let’s write our own psalms!” Initially, some protested that they didn’t have the flair for writing, but after some encouragement everyone wrote a moving poetic song narrating how God had been working in their lives. Out of trials, protection, provision, and even pain and tears came enduring messages that gave our psalms fascinating themes. Like Psalm 136, each psalm revealed the truth that God’s love endures forever.
We all have a story to tell about God’s love—whether we write or sing or tell it. For some, our experiences may be dramatic or intense—like the writer of Psalm 136 who recounted how God delivered His people from captivity and conquered His enemies (vv. 10–15). Others may simply describe God’s marvelous creation: “who by his understanding made the heavens . . . spread out the earth upon the waters . . . made the great lights— . . . the sun to govern the day . . . the moon and stars to govern the night” (vv. 5–9).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
Remembering who God is and what He has done brings out praise and thanksgiving that glorifies Him. We can then “[speak] to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:19) about the goodness of the Lord whose love endures forever! Turn your experience of God’s love into a praise song of your own and enjoy an overflow of His never-ending goodness.
Lord, thank You for the world You made and for the blessings on my life. Fill my heart with gratitude and put words in my mouth to acknowledge and appreciate You.
For all eternity, God’s love endures forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 17, 2018
His Ascension and Our Access
It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. —Luke 24:51
We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.
The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Winning the Battle With the Animal Inside - #8179
Several years ago on an Indian reservation, a friend there told us about an elderly neighbor of hers who had taken an unusual pet into her house. It was a half wolf and half dog. Half wild and half domesticated, and as it turned out, big trouble. One morning that wolf dog picked up the lady's granddaughter and began to carry her away. The grandmother saw it, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. The animal stopped and froze in this moment of evident struggle between his wild side and his tame side. The wolf dog looked straight at this screaming lady, totally unafraid; his wild side wasn't scared at all. His wild side wanted that child. But then in one dramatic moment, the animal dropped the child and let her go. The tame side finally won, but there were still a lot of scars.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Winning the Battle With the Animal Inside."
The battle between the wild side and the tame side is a battle that we humans know all too well, because it seems they both live inside us and they're both strong. One Biblical writer, Paul, the apostle, wrote about this struggle in these words: "What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15).
If you're tired of that animal inside you winning, if you're tired of the scars it's left on you and the people you care about, then you're ready for our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 5, beginning with verse 16. You'll hear the struggle, but you'll hear the solution, too. "Live by the Spirit (that's God's Holy Spirit, who lives in everyone who belongs to Jesus), and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." Does that kind of struggle sound familiar at all?
Here are the two menus of the kind of person you're going to be, depending on which side wins. "The acts of the sinful nature (that's that animal inside) are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. Those who live like that will not inherit the kingdom of God." That's deadly stuff that comes from our wild side.
But it goes on to say, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
Here's the hard truth about the animal inside. You can't tame him; it's just too strong. You can strive all you want, you can make all the commitments to change that you want, the monster will still win very often. But when you get Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves into your life with all the power there is.
The winning secret is in Ephesians 5:18, "Be filled with the Spirit." That means controlled by, taken over by the Holy Spirit, which means you stop trying to change by your own efforts. You trade striving for surrendering all of you completely to the Holy Spirit of God.
If you lay my glove on this chair I'm sitting on and ask it to move the chair, the glove will just lay there. But if I put my hand in that glove, that glove will pick up the chair and do what a glove can't do by the power of the hand inside it. See, you're just God's glove, powerless to subdue your sinful side. But if you surrender all control of that glove and let God put His hand in there, His power will move what you've never been able to move and change, and He will change it.
The Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross to rescue us from the power and the penalty of the wild side of our sin. If you've never reached out to Him in faith and said, "Jesus, you're my only hope and I am Yours," would you do that today. Go to our website. There's so much more about this there. ANewStory.com.
Go to Him to be forgiven and you'll be clean, and you'll have inside you the power to finally be free from that animal inside.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Mark 13:21-37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE HUMBLE HEART HONORS OTHERS - May 16, 2018
The humble heart honors others! Jesus is our example. Content to be known as a carpenter and happy to be mistaken for the gardener. He served his followers by washing their feet.
He serves us by doing the same. Each morning he gifts us with beauty. Each moment he dwells in our hearts. And does he not speak of the day when, according to Luke 12:37, “the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them?”
If Jesus is so willing to honor us, can we not do the same for others? Make people a priority. Accept your part in his plan. Be quick to share the applause. And, most of all, regard others as more important than yourself. Love does! For love “does not boast; it is not proud” (1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV).
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Mark 13:21-37
No One Knows the Day or Hour
21-23 “If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. So watch out. I’ve given you fair warning.
24-25 “Following those hard times,
Sun will fade out,
moon cloud over,
Stars fall out of the sky,
cosmic powers tremble.
26-27 “And then they’ll see the Son of Man enter in grand style, his Arrival filling the sky—no one will miss it! He’ll dispatch the angels; they will pull in the chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
28-31 “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. And so it is with you. When you see all these things, you know he is at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.
32-37 “But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. So keep a sharp lookout, for you don’t know the timetable. It’s like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. You don’t want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. I say it to you, and I’m saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Read: Matthew 11:25–30
Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”
27 Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
INSIGHT
“Following Jesus” may be the best way to describe the essence of the Christian life. Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 nkjv), which means He is both the starting point and the culmination of our rescue—a reality secured by the cross. His resurrection is part of this as well. Paul said, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The term firstfruits reminds us that Jesus secured our restoration to the Father through His death and subsequent victory over death. This victory is at the heart of His call to us: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Peter added of the Savior’s sufferings, “You have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21 nasb).
What better response to His sacrifice could we ever give than to simply and wholeheartedly follow Him? - Bill Crowder
Free to Follow
By Monica Brands
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
My high school cross-country coach once advised me before a race, “Don’t try to be in the lead. The leaders almost always burn out too quickly.” Instead, he suggested I stay close behind the fastest runners. By letting them set the pace, I could conserve the mental and physical strength I’d need to finish the race well.
Leading can be exhausting; following can be freeing. Knowing this improved my running, but it took me a lot longer to realize how this applies to Christian discipleship. In my own life, I was prone to think being a believer in Jesus meant trying really hard. By pursuing my own exhausting expectations for what a Christian should be, I was inadvertently missing the joy and freedom found in simply following Him (John 8:32, 36).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
But we weren’t meant to direct our own lives, and Jesus didn’t start a self-improvement program. Instead, He promised that in seeking Him we will find the rest we long for (Matthew 11:25–28). Unlike many other religious teachers’ emphasis on rigorous study of Scripture or an elaborate set of rules, Jesus taught that it’s simply through knowing Him that we know God (v. 27). In seeking Him, we find our heavy burdens lifted (vv. 28–30) and our lives transformed.
Because following Him, our gentle and humble Leader (v. 29), is never burdensome—it’s the way of hope and healing. Resting in His love, we are free.
Lord, I’m so thankful I don’t have to be in charge of my own life. Help me rest in You.
True freedom is found in following Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
…you may be partakers of the divine nature… —2 Peter 1:4
We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.” One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, “Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.” And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance…” (2 Corinthians 9:8)— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Showing Your Relationship - #8178
I was speaking for a youth camp, and I'd been pouring out my heart to those teenagers in service after service. At the end of the week, some kids came up to me and said, "Do you know what really affected us the most this week?" I was kind of waiting to hear which message, or which illustration, or which challenge had impacted them. It wasn't any of those things. These teenagers said, "You know, Ron, we've been watching you with your wife this week. We've seen how you treat her, how you put your arm around her, and how you talk to her. That's what impressed us."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Showing Your Relationship."
Well, I can tell you, my wife and I weren't trying to impress those teenagers. We were just having our relationship in front of them, and it touched their hearts. You know, there's something powerful about showing people your relationship, especially when it comes to life's most important relationship - your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The relationship the lost people in your world desperately need, because their lives - their eternities - depend on it.
In Acts 16:25 and following, our word for today from the Word of God, we have a clear example of how showing your Jesus-relationship can make people want that relationship. After Paul and Silas have been beaten and imprisoned for their Christian witness it says, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them."
Later, when crisis hits in the form of a violent earthquake, the Bible says, "The jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.'" He heard them praying; he heard them praising–just having their relationship with Jesus in front of him, right there in his jail. And he knew where to look when the crunch came.
Over the years, I've seen unbelievers touched by a promise that believers almost always take for granted, "I'll pray for you." You know, you may have a place to start in sharing and showing Jesus to them you don't even realize. If they share a concern with you about a family member or a health issue, a crisis, a hurt they're experiencing, or a financial need, then it's time for you to promise that you will talk to God about it.
And when you're alone with them, you can actually ask them if they mind if you start talking to God about it while you're still with them. In other words, don't just pray for them, pray with them. It's just a matter of gently asking, "Would you mind if I prayed about it right here, while we're still together?" Often I have asked people who don't have a relationship with Christ if I could pray with them. No one has ever told me no. In fact, it's not uncommon to open my eyes at the end of the prayer and see tears in their eyes.
See, that person you're praying with has probably never heard their name mentioned in a prayer in their entire life. And when you're talking to God in their presence, you're actually letting that person hear you have your personal relationship with God. God might even give you a green light then to tell them what it means to you to be able to go to God like this, and how there used to be a wall between you and God and you couldn't always talk to Him like this. But you found out how you could have a personal love relationship with Him; how that wall came down - what Jesus did for you.
In hurting times, lost people are generally far more ready to be prayed for than we are ready to pray for them. Your offer to pray with them is actually a nothing-to-lose deal, even if they turn you down. Either way, you've shown them that you care. And either way, you have demonstrated your personal love relationship with your God–the relationship you so want them to share.
The humble heart honors others! Jesus is our example. Content to be known as a carpenter and happy to be mistaken for the gardener. He served his followers by washing their feet.
He serves us by doing the same. Each morning he gifts us with beauty. Each moment he dwells in our hearts. And does he not speak of the day when, according to Luke 12:37, “the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them?”
If Jesus is so willing to honor us, can we not do the same for others? Make people a priority. Accept your part in his plan. Be quick to share the applause. And, most of all, regard others as more important than yourself. Love does! For love “does not boast; it is not proud” (1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV).
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Mark 13:21-37
No One Knows the Day or Hour
21-23 “If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. So watch out. I’ve given you fair warning.
24-25 “Following those hard times,
Sun will fade out,
moon cloud over,
Stars fall out of the sky,
cosmic powers tremble.
26-27 “And then they’ll see the Son of Man enter in grand style, his Arrival filling the sky—no one will miss it! He’ll dispatch the angels; they will pull in the chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
28-31 “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. And so it is with you. When you see all these things, you know he is at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.
32-37 “But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. So keep a sharp lookout, for you don’t know the timetable. It’s like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. You don’t want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. I say it to you, and I’m saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Read: Matthew 11:25–30
Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”
27 Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
INSIGHT
“Following Jesus” may be the best way to describe the essence of the Christian life. Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 nkjv), which means He is both the starting point and the culmination of our rescue—a reality secured by the cross. His resurrection is part of this as well. Paul said, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The term firstfruits reminds us that Jesus secured our restoration to the Father through His death and subsequent victory over death. This victory is at the heart of His call to us: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Peter added of the Savior’s sufferings, “You have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21 nasb).
What better response to His sacrifice could we ever give than to simply and wholeheartedly follow Him? - Bill Crowder
Free to Follow
By Monica Brands
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
My high school cross-country coach once advised me before a race, “Don’t try to be in the lead. The leaders almost always burn out too quickly.” Instead, he suggested I stay close behind the fastest runners. By letting them set the pace, I could conserve the mental and physical strength I’d need to finish the race well.
Leading can be exhausting; following can be freeing. Knowing this improved my running, but it took me a lot longer to realize how this applies to Christian discipleship. In my own life, I was prone to think being a believer in Jesus meant trying really hard. By pursuing my own exhausting expectations for what a Christian should be, I was inadvertently missing the joy and freedom found in simply following Him (John 8:32, 36).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
But we weren’t meant to direct our own lives, and Jesus didn’t start a self-improvement program. Instead, He promised that in seeking Him we will find the rest we long for (Matthew 11:25–28). Unlike many other religious teachers’ emphasis on rigorous study of Scripture or an elaborate set of rules, Jesus taught that it’s simply through knowing Him that we know God (v. 27). In seeking Him, we find our heavy burdens lifted (vv. 28–30) and our lives transformed.
Because following Him, our gentle and humble Leader (v. 29), is never burdensome—it’s the way of hope and healing. Resting in His love, we are free.
Lord, I’m so thankful I don’t have to be in charge of my own life. Help me rest in You.
True freedom is found in following Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
…you may be partakers of the divine nature… —2 Peter 1:4
We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.” One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, “Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.” And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance…” (2 Corinthians 9:8)— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Showing Your Relationship - #8178
I was speaking for a youth camp, and I'd been pouring out my heart to those teenagers in service after service. At the end of the week, some kids came up to me and said, "Do you know what really affected us the most this week?" I was kind of waiting to hear which message, or which illustration, or which challenge had impacted them. It wasn't any of those things. These teenagers said, "You know, Ron, we've been watching you with your wife this week. We've seen how you treat her, how you put your arm around her, and how you talk to her. That's what impressed us."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Showing Your Relationship."
Well, I can tell you, my wife and I weren't trying to impress those teenagers. We were just having our relationship in front of them, and it touched their hearts. You know, there's something powerful about showing people your relationship, especially when it comes to life's most important relationship - your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The relationship the lost people in your world desperately need, because their lives - their eternities - depend on it.
In Acts 16:25 and following, our word for today from the Word of God, we have a clear example of how showing your Jesus-relationship can make people want that relationship. After Paul and Silas have been beaten and imprisoned for their Christian witness it says, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them."
Later, when crisis hits in the form of a violent earthquake, the Bible says, "The jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.'" He heard them praying; he heard them praising–just having their relationship with Jesus in front of him, right there in his jail. And he knew where to look when the crunch came.
Over the years, I've seen unbelievers touched by a promise that believers almost always take for granted, "I'll pray for you." You know, you may have a place to start in sharing and showing Jesus to them you don't even realize. If they share a concern with you about a family member or a health issue, a crisis, a hurt they're experiencing, or a financial need, then it's time for you to promise that you will talk to God about it.
And when you're alone with them, you can actually ask them if they mind if you start talking to God about it while you're still with them. In other words, don't just pray for them, pray with them. It's just a matter of gently asking, "Would you mind if I prayed about it right here, while we're still together?" Often I have asked people who don't have a relationship with Christ if I could pray with them. No one has ever told me no. In fact, it's not uncommon to open my eyes at the end of the prayer and see tears in their eyes.
See, that person you're praying with has probably never heard their name mentioned in a prayer in their entire life. And when you're talking to God in their presence, you're actually letting that person hear you have your personal relationship with God. God might even give you a green light then to tell them what it means to you to be able to go to God like this, and how there used to be a wall between you and God and you couldn't always talk to Him like this. But you found out how you could have a personal love relationship with Him; how that wall came down - what Jesus did for you.
In hurting times, lost people are generally far more ready to be prayed for than we are ready to pray for them. Your offer to pray with them is actually a nothing-to-lose deal, even if they turn you down. Either way, you've shown them that you care. And either way, you have demonstrated your personal love relationship with your God–the relationship you so want them to share.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Numbers 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: TRUE HUMILITY - May 15, 2018
True humility is not thinking lowly of yourself but thinking accurately of yourself! When Paul writes “consider others better than yourselves” he uses a verb that means to calculate or to reckon (Philippians 2:3 NIV). It implies a conscious judgment resting on carefully weighed facts. To consider others better than yourself then is, not to say you have no place, but it is to say that you know your place. Scripture says, “Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you” (Romans 12:3 Phillips).
And be quick to applaud the success of others. Give each other more honor that you want for yourselves. The humble person does not say, “I can’t do anything.” But rather, “I can’t do everything; but I know my part and am happy to do it!”
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 8
The Lights
1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron, Install the seven lamps so they will throw light in front of the Lampstand.”
3-4 Aaron did just that. He installed the lamps so they threw light in front of the Lampstand, as God had instructed Moses. The Lampstand was made of hammered gold from its stem to its petals. It was made precisely to the design God had shown Moses.
Purifying the Levites
5-7 God spoke to Moses: “Take the Levites from the midst of the People of Israel and purify them for doing God’s work. This is the way you will do it: Sprinkle water of absolution on them; have them shave their entire bodies; have them scrub their clothes. Then they will have purified themselves.
8-11 “Have them take a young bull with its accompanying Grain-Offering of fine flour mixed with oil, plus a second young bull for an Absolution-Offering. Bring the Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and gather the entire community of Israel. Present the Levites before God as the People of Israel lay their hands on them. Aaron will present the Levites before God as a Wave-Offering from the People of Israel so that they will be ready to do God’s work.
12-14 “Have the Levites place their hands on the heads of the bulls, selecting one for the Absolution-Offering and another for the Whole-Burnt-Offering to God to make atonement for the Levites. Then have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present them as a Wave-Offering to God. This is the procedure for setting apart the Levites from the rest of the People of Israel; the Levites are exclusively for my use.
15-19 “After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a Wave-Offering to God, they can go to work in the Tent of Meeting. The Levites have been selected out of the People of Israel for my exclusive use; they function in place of every firstborn male born to an Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in Israel, animal or human, is set apart for my use. When I struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, I consecrated them for my holy uses. But now I take the Levites as stand-ins in place of every firstborn son in Israel, selected out of the People of Israel, and I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do all the work involved in the Tent of Meeting on behalf of all the People of Israel and to make atonement for them so that nothing bad will happen to them when they approach the Sanctuary.”
20-22 Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the People of Israel carried out these procedures with the Levites, just as God had commanded Moses. The Levites purified themselves and scrubbed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a Wave-Offering before God and made atonement for them to purify them. Only then did the Levites go to work at the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons supervised them following the directions God had given.
23-26 God spoke to Moses: “These are your instructions regarding the Levites: At the age of twenty-five they will join the workforce in the Tent of Meeting; at the age of fifty they must retire from the work. They can assist their brothers in the tasks in the Tent of Meeting, but they are not permitted to do the actual work themselves. These are the ground rules for the work of the Levites.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Read: Hebrews 13:20–21
Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon.
May God, who puts all things together,
makes all things whole,
Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
up and alive from the dead,
Now put you together, provide you
with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
All glory to Jesus forever and always!
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
INSIGHT
In Hebrews 13:20 Jesus is called the “great Shepherd of the sheep.” We see the shepherd metaphor used throughout the Bible. In Psalm 23, one of the most beloved of all Scripture passages, the Lord is referred to as “shepherd.” In Genesis 48 the term is used to describe the God of Israel: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys” (vv. 15–16).
The book of Revelation, with its breathtaking apocalyptic imagery, includes a reference to the combined shepherding care of God who sits on the throne (see 7:15) and the Lamb: “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’ ” (v. 17).
In between Genesis and Revelation, poets (Psalm 80:1), prophets (Isaiah 40:11), and apostles (1 Peter 5:4) employ this great metaphor to emphasize God’s gracious, caring work on behalf of those who belong to Him. - Arthur Jackson
God at Work
By Amy Boucher Pye
May he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:21
“How have you seen God at work lately?” I asked some friends. One replied, “I see Him at work as I read the Scriptures each morning; I see Him at work as He helps me face each new day; I see Him at work when I know that He has been with me every step of the way—I realize how He has helped me to face challenges while giving me joy.” I love his answer because it reflects how through God’s Word and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, God stays near to, and works in, those who love Him.
God working in His followers is a wonderful mystery that the writer to the Hebrews refers to as he draws his letter to a close in what’s known as a benediction: “. . . and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:21). With this conclusion, the writer reinforces the essential message of his letter—that God will equip His people to follow Him and that God will work in and through them for His glory.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
The gift of God working in us can take us by surprise; perhaps we forgive someone who wrongs us or show patience to someone we find difficult. Our “God of peace” (v. 20) spreads His love and peace in and through us. How have you seen God at work lately?
Lord Jesus Christ, You equip me to do Your works for Your glory. Open my eyes today, that I might understand how You are calling me to follow You.
Tell us how you have seen God at work. Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God works in and through His followers.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
…that you may know what is the hope of His calling… —Ephesians 1:18
Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.
You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must “work out your own salvation” which God has worked in you already (Philippians 2:12). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it “out”? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.
God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly— “By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you….” Rise to the occasion— do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.
May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality— a readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The Threshold of the Treasure - #8177
Roger was the father of a friend of mine, and he was a very successful businessman. That's probably why a neighbor approached Roger one day and asked him if he wanted to be involved in a new hamburger chain he was starting. It was a little outfit called McDonald's. Roger was offered the fourth franchise in this brand new venture and a founding share. Roger thought about it and then said, "No, thanks." Ouch! Later, another neighbor came to Roger and told him about this new business he was launching called Service Master. Would Roger like to get in the ground floor with an investment? Roger thought about it and said, "No, thanks." Double ouch! As McDonald's and Service Master grew to be some of the most successful companies in the world, I wonder what must have gone through Roger's mind. He had been on the brink of so much wealth, but he missed it because of one decision.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Threshold Of The Treasure."
Tragically, so many of God's children have made those same kinds of decisions. You might be on the edge of one right now. God is ready to include you in some wonderful blessing He wants to bring into your life, but whether or not you get what He wants to give you depends on a decision you make. You could be on the threshold of treasure He wants to give you. Maybe it's an emotional treasure, a financial blessing, the answer to a long-prayed prayer, a special relationship, or a new beginning, maybe even a greater impact in your ministry, or a breakthrough in some impossible situation. But, like that man who missed his share of Ronald McDonald's fortune, it may all come down to your making the right decision.
It did for God's ancient people in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Numbers 13, beginning with verse 30. The Jews are on the brink of incredible blessing as they stand at the border of the Promised Land. Twelve scouts return from that land with a bunch of grapes so large it takes two men to carry them on a pole - just a taste of the blessing God has in store. But, like most decisions that lead to great blessing, there are great challenges to face on the way to the blessing. In this case, walled cities and giants in the land.
One of the scouts, Caleb, says to the people, "'We should go up and take possession of the land.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't...'" There are the two voices that fight it out on the brink of great blessing - "We should." "We can't."
Caleb and Joshua see the people are ready to retreat. So, they tell them, "The land...is exceedingly good...the Lord will give it to us. Only do not rebel...do not be afraid...the Lord is with us" (Numbers 14:7-9). The giants looked bigger than the Lord to those people, and they make their decision. The challenge is just too great - we won't go for it. And God says - here are His words. "Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home. Your children will be suffering for your unfaithfulness. You will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you" (Numbers 14:30-34).
God said to His ancient people - and maybe to you and me, "There is so much I have wanted to give you, but you made the wrong choice. You focused on the obstacles, on your inadequacy, on the negative input, and not on My power and My promise. You will never see the great blessing I wanted you to have."
Just as a businessman learned when he passed up what turned out to be a golden - actually, golden arches opportunity, you can miss great treasure if you make the wrong decision. The decisions you make really matter. You may be standing on the edge of great blessing right now, but facing a great challenge.
Making the right decision means having the right focus - on your great God, not on the giants. "The land is exceedingly good...do not rebel...do not be afraid...the Lord is with you."
True humility is not thinking lowly of yourself but thinking accurately of yourself! When Paul writes “consider others better than yourselves” he uses a verb that means to calculate or to reckon (Philippians 2:3 NIV). It implies a conscious judgment resting on carefully weighed facts. To consider others better than yourself then is, not to say you have no place, but it is to say that you know your place. Scripture says, “Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you” (Romans 12:3 Phillips).
And be quick to applaud the success of others. Give each other more honor that you want for yourselves. The humble person does not say, “I can’t do anything.” But rather, “I can’t do everything; but I know my part and am happy to do it!”
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 8
The Lights
1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron, Install the seven lamps so they will throw light in front of the Lampstand.”
3-4 Aaron did just that. He installed the lamps so they threw light in front of the Lampstand, as God had instructed Moses. The Lampstand was made of hammered gold from its stem to its petals. It was made precisely to the design God had shown Moses.
Purifying the Levites
5-7 God spoke to Moses: “Take the Levites from the midst of the People of Israel and purify them for doing God’s work. This is the way you will do it: Sprinkle water of absolution on them; have them shave their entire bodies; have them scrub their clothes. Then they will have purified themselves.
8-11 “Have them take a young bull with its accompanying Grain-Offering of fine flour mixed with oil, plus a second young bull for an Absolution-Offering. Bring the Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and gather the entire community of Israel. Present the Levites before God as the People of Israel lay their hands on them. Aaron will present the Levites before God as a Wave-Offering from the People of Israel so that they will be ready to do God’s work.
12-14 “Have the Levites place their hands on the heads of the bulls, selecting one for the Absolution-Offering and another for the Whole-Burnt-Offering to God to make atonement for the Levites. Then have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present them as a Wave-Offering to God. This is the procedure for setting apart the Levites from the rest of the People of Israel; the Levites are exclusively for my use.
15-19 “After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a Wave-Offering to God, they can go to work in the Tent of Meeting. The Levites have been selected out of the People of Israel for my exclusive use; they function in place of every firstborn male born to an Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in Israel, animal or human, is set apart for my use. When I struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, I consecrated them for my holy uses. But now I take the Levites as stand-ins in place of every firstborn son in Israel, selected out of the People of Israel, and I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do all the work involved in the Tent of Meeting on behalf of all the People of Israel and to make atonement for them so that nothing bad will happen to them when they approach the Sanctuary.”
20-22 Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the People of Israel carried out these procedures with the Levites, just as God had commanded Moses. The Levites purified themselves and scrubbed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a Wave-Offering before God and made atonement for them to purify them. Only then did the Levites go to work at the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons supervised them following the directions God had given.
23-26 God spoke to Moses: “These are your instructions regarding the Levites: At the age of twenty-five they will join the workforce in the Tent of Meeting; at the age of fifty they must retire from the work. They can assist their brothers in the tasks in the Tent of Meeting, but they are not permitted to do the actual work themselves. These are the ground rules for the work of the Levites.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Read: Hebrews 13:20–21
Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon.
May God, who puts all things together,
makes all things whole,
Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
up and alive from the dead,
Now put you together, provide you
with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
All glory to Jesus forever and always!
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
INSIGHT
In Hebrews 13:20 Jesus is called the “great Shepherd of the sheep.” We see the shepherd metaphor used throughout the Bible. In Psalm 23, one of the most beloved of all Scripture passages, the Lord is referred to as “shepherd.” In Genesis 48 the term is used to describe the God of Israel: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys” (vv. 15–16).
The book of Revelation, with its breathtaking apocalyptic imagery, includes a reference to the combined shepherding care of God who sits on the throne (see 7:15) and the Lamb: “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’ ” (v. 17).
In between Genesis and Revelation, poets (Psalm 80:1), prophets (Isaiah 40:11), and apostles (1 Peter 5:4) employ this great metaphor to emphasize God’s gracious, caring work on behalf of those who belong to Him. - Arthur Jackson
God at Work
By Amy Boucher Pye
May he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:21
“How have you seen God at work lately?” I asked some friends. One replied, “I see Him at work as I read the Scriptures each morning; I see Him at work as He helps me face each new day; I see Him at work when I know that He has been with me every step of the way—I realize how He has helped me to face challenges while giving me joy.” I love his answer because it reflects how through God’s Word and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, God stays near to, and works in, those who love Him.
God working in His followers is a wonderful mystery that the writer to the Hebrews refers to as he draws his letter to a close in what’s known as a benediction: “. . . and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:21). With this conclusion, the writer reinforces the essential message of his letter—that God will equip His people to follow Him and that God will work in and through them for His glory.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
The gift of God working in us can take us by surprise; perhaps we forgive someone who wrongs us or show patience to someone we find difficult. Our “God of peace” (v. 20) spreads His love and peace in and through us. How have you seen God at work lately?
Lord Jesus Christ, You equip me to do Your works for Your glory. Open my eyes today, that I might understand how You are calling me to follow You.
Tell us how you have seen God at work. Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God works in and through His followers.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
…that you may know what is the hope of His calling… —Ephesians 1:18
Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.
You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must “work out your own salvation” which God has worked in you already (Philippians 2:12). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it “out”? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.
God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly— “By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you….” Rise to the occasion— do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.
May God not find complaints in us anymore, but spiritual vitality— a readiness to face anything He brings our way. The only proper goal of life is that we manifest the Son of God; and when this occurs, all of our dictating of our demands to God disappears. Our Lord never dictated demands to His Father, and neither are we to make demands on God. We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The Threshold of the Treasure - #8177
Roger was the father of a friend of mine, and he was a very successful businessman. That's probably why a neighbor approached Roger one day and asked him if he wanted to be involved in a new hamburger chain he was starting. It was a little outfit called McDonald's. Roger was offered the fourth franchise in this brand new venture and a founding share. Roger thought about it and then said, "No, thanks." Ouch! Later, another neighbor came to Roger and told him about this new business he was launching called Service Master. Would Roger like to get in the ground floor with an investment? Roger thought about it and said, "No, thanks." Double ouch! As McDonald's and Service Master grew to be some of the most successful companies in the world, I wonder what must have gone through Roger's mind. He had been on the brink of so much wealth, but he missed it because of one decision.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Threshold Of The Treasure."
Tragically, so many of God's children have made those same kinds of decisions. You might be on the edge of one right now. God is ready to include you in some wonderful blessing He wants to bring into your life, but whether or not you get what He wants to give you depends on a decision you make. You could be on the threshold of treasure He wants to give you. Maybe it's an emotional treasure, a financial blessing, the answer to a long-prayed prayer, a special relationship, or a new beginning, maybe even a greater impact in your ministry, or a breakthrough in some impossible situation. But, like that man who missed his share of Ronald McDonald's fortune, it may all come down to your making the right decision.
It did for God's ancient people in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Numbers 13, beginning with verse 30. The Jews are on the brink of incredible blessing as they stand at the border of the Promised Land. Twelve scouts return from that land with a bunch of grapes so large it takes two men to carry them on a pole - just a taste of the blessing God has in store. But, like most decisions that lead to great blessing, there are great challenges to face on the way to the blessing. In this case, walled cities and giants in the land.
One of the scouts, Caleb, says to the people, "'We should go up and take possession of the land.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't...'" There are the two voices that fight it out on the brink of great blessing - "We should." "We can't."
Caleb and Joshua see the people are ready to retreat. So, they tell them, "The land...is exceedingly good...the Lord will give it to us. Only do not rebel...do not be afraid...the Lord is with us" (Numbers 14:7-9). The giants looked bigger than the Lord to those people, and they make their decision. The challenge is just too great - we won't go for it. And God says - here are His words. "Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home. Your children will be suffering for your unfaithfulness. You will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you" (Numbers 14:30-34).
God said to His ancient people - and maybe to you and me, "There is so much I have wanted to give you, but you made the wrong choice. You focused on the obstacles, on your inadequacy, on the negative input, and not on My power and My promise. You will never see the great blessing I wanted you to have."
Just as a businessman learned when he passed up what turned out to be a golden - actually, golden arches opportunity, you can miss great treasure if you make the wrong decision. The decisions you make really matter. You may be standing on the edge of great blessing right now, but facing a great challenge.
Making the right decision means having the right focus - on your great God, not on the giants. "The land is exceedingly good...do not rebel...do not be afraid...the Lord is with you."
Monday, May 14, 2018
Numbers 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: NO PECKING ORDERS WITH JESUS - May 14, 2018
Love does not boast, it is not proud (1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV). Jesus has no room for pecking orders. His solution to man-made caste systems? A change of direction. In a world of upward mobility, choose downward servility. “Regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3 NASB). Jesus flip-flopped the pecking order.
Would you do what Jesus did? He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers. If you knew that only a few could care that you came, would you still come? If you knew that those you loved would laugh in your face, would you still care? The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier. Why? Because that’s what love does! He loves you that much! Drink deeply of God’s love for you—and ask him to fill your heart with a love worth giving!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 7
Offerings for the Dedication
When Moses finished setting up The Dwelling, he anointed it and consecrated it along with all that went with it. At the same time he anointed and consecrated the Altar and its accessories.
2-3 The leaders of Israel, the heads of the ancestral tribes who had carried out the census, brought offerings. They presented before God six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon from each pair of leaders and an ox from each leader.
4-5 God spoke to Moses: ‘‘Receive these so that they can be used to transport the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites according to what they need for their work.”
6-9 Moses took the wagons and oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites for their work and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites for their work. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. Moses didn’t give any to the Kohathites because they had to carry the holy things for which they were responsible on their shoulders.
10-11 When the Altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the Altar because God had instructed Moses, “Each day one leader is to present his offering for the dedication of the Altar.”
12-13 On the first day, Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
14 a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
15 a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
16 a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
17 This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.
18-23 On the second day, Nethanel son of Zuar, the leader of Issachar, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.
24-29 On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, the leader of the people of Zebulun, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.
30-35 On the fourth day, Elizur son of Shedeur, the leader of the people of Reuben, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.
36-41 On the fifth day, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, the leader of the people of Simeon, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
42-47 On the sixth day, Eliasaph son of Deuel, the leader of the people of Gad, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.
48-53 On the seventh day, Elishama son of Ammihud, the leader of the people of Ephraim, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.
54-59 On the eighth day, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, the leader of the people of Manasseh, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
60-65 On the ninth day, Abidan son of Gideoni, the leader of the people of Benjamin, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.
66-71 On the tenth day, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the people of Dan, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
72-77 On the eleventh day, Pagiel son of Ocran, the leader of the people of Asher, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ocran.
78-83 On the twelfth day, Ahira son of Enan, the leader of the people of Naphtali, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.
84 These were the dedication offerings of the leaders of Israel for the anointing of the Altar:
twelve silver plates,
twelve silver bowls,
twelve gold vessels.
85-86 Each plate weighed three and a quarter pounds and each bowl one and three-quarter pounds. All the plates and bowls together weighed about sixty pounds (using the official Sanctuary weight). The twelve gold vessels filled with incense weighed four ounces each (using the official Sanctuary weight). Altogether the gold vessels weighed about three pounds.
87 The sum total of animals used for the Whole-Burnt-Offering together with the Grain-Offering:
twelve bulls,
twelve rams,
twelve yearling lambs.
For the Absolution-Offering:
twelve he-goats.
88 The sum total of animals used for the sacrifice of the Peace-Offering:
twenty-four bulls,
sixty rams,
sixty he-goats,
sixty yearling lambs.
These were the offerings for the dedication of the Altar after it was anointed.
89 When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with God, he heard the Voice speaking to him from between the two angel-cherubim above the Atonement-Cover on the Chest of The Testimony. He spoke with him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 14, 2018
Read: 2 Kings 19:29–37
And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:
This year you’ll eat the gleanings, next year
whatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;
But the third year you’ll sow and harvest,
plant vineyards and eat grapes.
30 A remnant of the family of Judah yet again
will sink down roots and raise up fruit.
31 The remnant will come from Jerusalem,
the survivors from Mount Zion.
The Zeal of God
will make it happen.
32 To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:
He won’t enter this city,
nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;
Won’t brandish a shield,
won’t even begin to set siege;
33 He’ll go home by the same road he came;
he won’t enter this city. God’s word!
34 I’ll shield this city, I’ll save this city,
for my sake and for David’s sake.
35 And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses!
36-37 Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king.
INSIGHT
For further study on discerning truth from error, read Dangers of False Teachers at discoveryseries.org/q0909.
Not What It Seems
By Tim Gustafson
Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. 1 John 4:1
“Listen!” my wife said to me over the phone. “There’s a monkey in our yard!” She held up the phone so I could hear. And yes, it sounded just like a monkey. Which is weird, because the nearest wild monkey was 2,000 miles away.
Later, my father-in-law burst our bubble. “That’s a barred owl,” he explained. Reality was not what it had seemed.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
When King Sennacherib’s armies had Judah’s King Hezekiah trapped inside Jerusalem’s walls, the Assyrians thought victory was theirs. Reality proved different. Although the Assyrian field commander used smooth words and pretended to speak for God, the Lord had His hand on His people.
“Have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?” the commander asked (2 Kings 18:25). As he tried to entice Jerusalem to surrender, he even said, “Choose life and not death!” (v. 32).
That sounds like something God would say. But the prophet Isaiah told the Israelites the true words of the Lord. “[Sennacherib] will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here,” God said. “I will defend this city and save it” (19:32–34; Isaiah 37:35). That very night “the angel of the Lord” destroyed the Assyrians (v. 35).
From time to time, we’ll encounter smooth-talking people who “advise” us while denying God’s power. That isn’t God’s voice. He speaks to us through His Word. He guides us with His Spirit. His hand is on those who follow Him, and He will never abandon us.
Teach us to discern Your voice, Lord.
God is always trustworthy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 14, 2018
The Habit of Enjoying Adversity
…that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:10
We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of “myself” that I would have apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy adversity is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to evidence itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, “Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this.” Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.
You must not debate. The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if you debate with God, you grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30). You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose adversity, and quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts you into adversity, He is adequately sufficient to “supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19).
Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Conformed to His Image, 354 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 14, 2018
Never Too Old For His Lap - #8176
You hear a lot of talk about Biblical prophecies being fulfilled and about the signs that precede Christ's return. But when you're little, all this talk about how things are going to end can have an interesting effect. One friend of ours told me recently about his little boy. He said, "Daddy, I sure hope Jesus comes real soon." His Dad asked him why, and the little boy responded, "Well, I'm really looking forward to sitting on Jesus' lap, and I'll be seven pretty soon. If Jesus doesn't come soon, I might be too old to sit on His lap!" Dad was able to give his son the good news, "Son, you are never too old for Jesus' lap." Oh, I love it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Too Old For His Lap."
Now, for someone who's listening today, that's a reminder of a fact that could be crucial for your emotional survival right now.
Maybe you've been wounded in a relationship lately, or you've experienced a very painful loss. Or a security blanket you've depended on has just been taken away. Someone who's listening today is feeling very lonely, or broken, confused, maybe unlovable, or even unloved. When you were little and felt like this, maybe you had a parent's lap you could run to for safety and comfort. But you're all grown up now, and you're really hurting inside.
What a father told his little boy is very important for you right now, "You are never too old for Jesus' lap." There is wonderful news in our word for today from the Word of God – for all of us who have had human love let us down sometime – which is every one of us. In Zephaniah 3:17, God says, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
The children understand it best I think. You can see it in their faces when they sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know." Years ago one of the world's leading theologians was lecturing at a seminary, and he concluded with a question-and-answer session. One of the seminary students – thinking he was being profound – asked the theologian what was the deepest spiritual truth he had ever studied. The theologian paused momentarily and then he answered, "Jesus loves me, this I know." It's that simple fact that needs to be the refuge for your hurting heart, for your broken heart right now.
The Lord your God is with you! He is mighty to save you! "He will quiet you with His love." He is the loving Lord who wants to gather you up in His lap and remind you how much He cares about you; that there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more, and there's nothing you can do to make Him love you less. He just loves you, no strings attached. It has nothing to do with deserving His love. You can't. He just loves you.
But because you're all grown up now – you're tough and sophisticated, self-sufficient, you can handle it – you may not be allowing yourself to crawl into Jesus' lap, to pour out your deepest feelings to Him, to open yourself up to a healing flood of His grace. If you don't, the hurt you're feeling is probably moving you to one of four emotionally tragic alternatives: you're either starting to turn hard, to pity yourself, to shut down, or to give up. All of which will just make you more lonely and isolated.
Now, this is a time for you to allow yourself to be that wounded child, crawling into the lap of the One who loves you most. As Corrie ten Boom said, "Don't wrestle, just nestle." Let Jesus remind you of who you really are because you belong to Him, of how much you're really worth and of His power to heal earth's deepest hurts. You really are never too big for His lap.
Love does not boast, it is not proud (1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV). Jesus has no room for pecking orders. His solution to man-made caste systems? A change of direction. In a world of upward mobility, choose downward servility. “Regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3 NASB). Jesus flip-flopped the pecking order.
Would you do what Jesus did? He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers. If you knew that only a few could care that you came, would you still come? If you knew that those you loved would laugh in your face, would you still care? The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier. Why? Because that’s what love does! He loves you that much! Drink deeply of God’s love for you—and ask him to fill your heart with a love worth giving!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 7
Offerings for the Dedication
When Moses finished setting up The Dwelling, he anointed it and consecrated it along with all that went with it. At the same time he anointed and consecrated the Altar and its accessories.
2-3 The leaders of Israel, the heads of the ancestral tribes who had carried out the census, brought offerings. They presented before God six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon from each pair of leaders and an ox from each leader.
4-5 God spoke to Moses: ‘‘Receive these so that they can be used to transport the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites according to what they need for their work.”
6-9 Moses took the wagons and oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites for their work and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites for their work. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. Moses didn’t give any to the Kohathites because they had to carry the holy things for which they were responsible on their shoulders.
10-11 When the Altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the Altar because God had instructed Moses, “Each day one leader is to present his offering for the dedication of the Altar.”
12-13 On the first day, Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
14 a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
15 a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
16 a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
17 This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.
18-23 On the second day, Nethanel son of Zuar, the leader of Issachar, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.
24-29 On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, the leader of the people of Zebulun, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.
30-35 On the fourth day, Elizur son of Shedeur, the leader of the people of Reuben, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.
36-41 On the fifth day, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, the leader of the people of Simeon, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
42-47 On the sixth day, Eliasaph son of Deuel, the leader of the people of Gad, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.
48-53 On the seventh day, Elishama son of Ammihud, the leader of the people of Ephraim, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.
54-59 On the eighth day, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, the leader of the people of Manasseh, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
60-65 On the ninth day, Abidan son of Gideoni, the leader of the people of Benjamin, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.
66-71 On the tenth day, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the people of Dan, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
72-77 On the eleventh day, Pagiel son of Ocran, the leader of the people of Asher, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ocran.
78-83 On the twelfth day, Ahira son of Enan, the leader of the people of Naphtali, brought his offering. His offering was:
a silver plate weighing three and a quarter pounds and a silver bowl weighing one and three-quarter pounds (according to the standard Sanctuary weights), each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a Grain-Offering;
a gold vessel weighing four ounces, filled with incense;
a young bull, a ram, and a yearling lamb for a Whole-Burnt-Offering;
a he-goat for an Absolution-Offering;
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five yearling lambs to be sacrificed as a Peace-Offering.
This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.
84 These were the dedication offerings of the leaders of Israel for the anointing of the Altar:
twelve silver plates,
twelve silver bowls,
twelve gold vessels.
85-86 Each plate weighed three and a quarter pounds and each bowl one and three-quarter pounds. All the plates and bowls together weighed about sixty pounds (using the official Sanctuary weight). The twelve gold vessels filled with incense weighed four ounces each (using the official Sanctuary weight). Altogether the gold vessels weighed about three pounds.
87 The sum total of animals used for the Whole-Burnt-Offering together with the Grain-Offering:
twelve bulls,
twelve rams,
twelve yearling lambs.
For the Absolution-Offering:
twelve he-goats.
88 The sum total of animals used for the sacrifice of the Peace-Offering:
twenty-four bulls,
sixty rams,
sixty he-goats,
sixty yearling lambs.
These were the offerings for the dedication of the Altar after it was anointed.
89 When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with God, he heard the Voice speaking to him from between the two angel-cherubim above the Atonement-Cover on the Chest of The Testimony. He spoke with him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 14, 2018
Read: 2 Kings 19:29–37
And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:
This year you’ll eat the gleanings, next year
whatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;
But the third year you’ll sow and harvest,
plant vineyards and eat grapes.
30 A remnant of the family of Judah yet again
will sink down roots and raise up fruit.
31 The remnant will come from Jerusalem,
the survivors from Mount Zion.
The Zeal of God
will make it happen.
32 To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:
He won’t enter this city,
nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;
Won’t brandish a shield,
won’t even begin to set siege;
33 He’ll go home by the same road he came;
he won’t enter this city. God’s word!
34 I’ll shield this city, I’ll save this city,
for my sake and for David’s sake.
35 And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses!
36-37 Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king.
INSIGHT
For further study on discerning truth from error, read Dangers of False Teachers at discoveryseries.org/q0909.
Not What It Seems
By Tim Gustafson
Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. 1 John 4:1
“Listen!” my wife said to me over the phone. “There’s a monkey in our yard!” She held up the phone so I could hear. And yes, it sounded just like a monkey. Which is weird, because the nearest wild monkey was 2,000 miles away.
Later, my father-in-law burst our bubble. “That’s a barred owl,” he explained. Reality was not what it had seemed.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
When King Sennacherib’s armies had Judah’s King Hezekiah trapped inside Jerusalem’s walls, the Assyrians thought victory was theirs. Reality proved different. Although the Assyrian field commander used smooth words and pretended to speak for God, the Lord had His hand on His people.
“Have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?” the commander asked (2 Kings 18:25). As he tried to entice Jerusalem to surrender, he even said, “Choose life and not death!” (v. 32).
That sounds like something God would say. But the prophet Isaiah told the Israelites the true words of the Lord. “[Sennacherib] will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here,” God said. “I will defend this city and save it” (19:32–34; Isaiah 37:35). That very night “the angel of the Lord” destroyed the Assyrians (v. 35).
From time to time, we’ll encounter smooth-talking people who “advise” us while denying God’s power. That isn’t God’s voice. He speaks to us through His Word. He guides us with His Spirit. His hand is on those who follow Him, and He will never abandon us.
Teach us to discern Your voice, Lord.
God is always trustworthy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 14, 2018
The Habit of Enjoying Adversity
…that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:10
We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of “myself” that I would have apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy adversity is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to evidence itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, “Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this.” Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.
You must not debate. The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if you debate with God, you grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30). You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose adversity, and quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts you into adversity, He is adequately sufficient to “supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19).
Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Conformed to His Image, 354 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 14, 2018
Never Too Old For His Lap - #8176
You hear a lot of talk about Biblical prophecies being fulfilled and about the signs that precede Christ's return. But when you're little, all this talk about how things are going to end can have an interesting effect. One friend of ours told me recently about his little boy. He said, "Daddy, I sure hope Jesus comes real soon." His Dad asked him why, and the little boy responded, "Well, I'm really looking forward to sitting on Jesus' lap, and I'll be seven pretty soon. If Jesus doesn't come soon, I might be too old to sit on His lap!" Dad was able to give his son the good news, "Son, you are never too old for Jesus' lap." Oh, I love it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Too Old For His Lap."
Now, for someone who's listening today, that's a reminder of a fact that could be crucial for your emotional survival right now.
Maybe you've been wounded in a relationship lately, or you've experienced a very painful loss. Or a security blanket you've depended on has just been taken away. Someone who's listening today is feeling very lonely, or broken, confused, maybe unlovable, or even unloved. When you were little and felt like this, maybe you had a parent's lap you could run to for safety and comfort. But you're all grown up now, and you're really hurting inside.
What a father told his little boy is very important for you right now, "You are never too old for Jesus' lap." There is wonderful news in our word for today from the Word of God – for all of us who have had human love let us down sometime – which is every one of us. In Zephaniah 3:17, God says, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
The children understand it best I think. You can see it in their faces when they sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know." Years ago one of the world's leading theologians was lecturing at a seminary, and he concluded with a question-and-answer session. One of the seminary students – thinking he was being profound – asked the theologian what was the deepest spiritual truth he had ever studied. The theologian paused momentarily and then he answered, "Jesus loves me, this I know." It's that simple fact that needs to be the refuge for your hurting heart, for your broken heart right now.
The Lord your God is with you! He is mighty to save you! "He will quiet you with His love." He is the loving Lord who wants to gather you up in His lap and remind you how much He cares about you; that there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more, and there's nothing you can do to make Him love you less. He just loves you, no strings attached. It has nothing to do with deserving His love. You can't. He just loves you.
But because you're all grown up now – you're tough and sophisticated, self-sufficient, you can handle it – you may not be allowing yourself to crawl into Jesus' lap, to pour out your deepest feelings to Him, to open yourself up to a healing flood of His grace. If you don't, the hurt you're feeling is probably moving you to one of four emotionally tragic alternatives: you're either starting to turn hard, to pity yourself, to shut down, or to give up. All of which will just make you more lonely and isolated.
Now, this is a time for you to allow yourself to be that wounded child, crawling into the lap of the One who loves you most. As Corrie ten Boom said, "Don't wrestle, just nestle." Let Jesus remind you of who you really are because you belong to Him, of how much you're really worth and of His power to heal earth's deepest hurts. You really are never too big for His lap.
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Numbers 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Leads Us
How can a person deal with anxiety? One fellow decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to do so for a salary of $200,000 a year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was, "Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?" To which the man responded, "That's your worry!" Worrying is one job you can't farm out-but you can overcome it.
David declares in Psalm 23:2, "He leads me beside the still waters." He leads me! God isn't behind me, yelling, "Go!" He's ahead of me bidding, "Come!" He leads us. He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. Hebrews 4:16 says, "We will find grace to help us when we need it!"
God leads us. God will do the right thing at the right time. What a difference that makes!
From Traveling Light
Numbers 6
Nazirite Vows
1-4 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel; tell them, If any of you, man or woman, wants to make a special Nazirite vow, consecrating yourself totally to God, you must not drink any wine or beer, no intoxicating drink of any kind, not even the juice of grapes—in fact, you must not even eat grapes or raisins. For the duration of the consecration, nothing from the grapevine—not even the seeds, not even the skin—may be eaten.
5 “Also, for the duration of the consecration you must not have your hair cut. Your long hair will be a continuing sign of holy separation to God.
6-7 “Also, for the duration of the consecration to God, you must not go near a corpse. Even if it’s the body of your father or mother, brother or sister, you must not ritually defile yourself because the sign of consecration to God is on your head.
8 “For the entire duration of your consecration you are holy to God.
9-12 “If someone should die suddenly in your presence, so that your consecrated head is ritually defiled, you must shave your head on the day of your purifying, that is, the seventh day. Then on the eighth day bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest will offer one for the Absolution-Offering and one for the Whole-Burnt-Offering, purifying you from the ritual contamination of the corpse. You resanctify your hair on that day and reconsecrate your Nazirite consecration to God by bringing a yearling lamb for a Compensation-Offering. You start over; the previous days don’t count because your consecration was ritually defiled.
13-17 “These are the instructions for the time set when your special consecration to God is up. First, you are to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then you will present your offerings to God: a healthy yearling lamb for the Whole-Burnt-Offering, a healthy yearling ewe for an Absolution-Offering, a healthy ram for a Peace-Offering, a basket of unraised bread made of fine flour, loaves mixed with oil, and crackers spread with oil, along with your Grain-Offerings and Drink-Offerings. The priest will approach God and offer up your Absolution-Offering and Whole-Burnt-Offering. He will sacrifice the ram as a Peace-Offering to God with the basket of unraised bread, and, last of all, the Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering.
18 “At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, shave off the hair you consecrated and put it in the fire that is burning under the Peace-Offering.
19-20 “After you have shaved the hair of your consecration, the priest will take a shoulder from the ram, boiled, and a piece of unraised bread and a cracker from the basket and place them in your hands. The priest will then wave them before God, a Wave-Offering. They are holy and belong to the priest, along with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was offered.
“Now you are free to drink wine.
21 “These are the instructions for Nazirites as they bring offerings to God in their vow of consecration, beyond their other offerings. They must carry out the vow they have vowed following the instructions for the Nazirite.”
The Aaronic Blessing
22-23 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them,
24 God bless you and keep you,
25 God smile on you and gift you,
26 God look you full in the face
and make you prosper.
27 In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel—
I will confirm it by blessing them.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Read: Matthew 6:19–21
A Life of God-Worship
19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
INSIGHT
According to Jesus in today’s passage, we are to “store up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). What are these treasures? They’re the blessings that will be ours in heaven (1 Peter 1:4) but that we get a preview of in this life when we follow Christ. William Hendriksen, in his commentary on Matthew, lists many of those Jesus Himself described: “Our standing with God as being fully pardoned (Matt. 6:14), answered prayer (7:7), the enrolment of our names in heaven (Luke 10:20), the Father’s love (John 16:27), a welcome not only to the ‘mansions’ of heaven but to the Savior’s own heart (14:2, 3). [We also have a] life that will never end (John 3:16) . . . a hand out of which the Good Shepherd’s sheep will never be snatched (John 10:28) . . . [and] a love from which we shall never be separated (Rom. 8:39).” - Alyson Kieda
Treasure in Heaven
By Cindy Hess Kasper
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
When I was growing up, my two sisters and I liked to sit side-by-side on top of my mother’s large cedar-lined chest. My mom kept our wool sweaters in it and handiwork that was embroidered or crocheted by my grandmother. She valued the contents of the chest and relied on the pungent odor of the cedar wood to discourage moths from destroying what was inside.
Most earthly possessions can easily be destroyed by insects or rust, or can even be stolen. Matthew 6 encourages us to place a special focus—not on things that have a limited lifespan but on those that have eternal value. When my mom died at fifty-seven, she had not accumulated a lot of earthly possessions, but I like to think about the treasure she stored up in heaven (vv. 19–20).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
LEARN MORE»
I recall how much she loved God and served Him in quiet ways: caring faithfully for her family, teaching children in Sunday school, befriending a woman abandoned by her husband, comforting a young mother who had lost her baby. And she prayed. . . . Even after she lost her sight and became confined to a wheelchair, she continued to love and pray for others.
Our real treasure isn’t measured in what we accumulate—but in what or whom we invest our time and our passions. What “treasures” are we storing up in heaven by serving and following Jesus?
Dear Father, help me to choose to invest my life in things that are eternal.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 13, 2018
…strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. —Acts 24:16
God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.
Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God’s Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2 ; also see Ephesians 4:23).
God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…” (Ephesians 4:30). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don’t ask, “Why can’t I do this?” You are on the wrong track. There is no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is— drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
How can a person deal with anxiety? One fellow decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to do so for a salary of $200,000 a year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was, "Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?" To which the man responded, "That's your worry!" Worrying is one job you can't farm out-but you can overcome it.
David declares in Psalm 23:2, "He leads me beside the still waters." He leads me! God isn't behind me, yelling, "Go!" He's ahead of me bidding, "Come!" He leads us. He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. Hebrews 4:16 says, "We will find grace to help us when we need it!"
God leads us. God will do the right thing at the right time. What a difference that makes!
From Traveling Light
Numbers 6
Nazirite Vows
1-4 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel; tell them, If any of you, man or woman, wants to make a special Nazirite vow, consecrating yourself totally to God, you must not drink any wine or beer, no intoxicating drink of any kind, not even the juice of grapes—in fact, you must not even eat grapes or raisins. For the duration of the consecration, nothing from the grapevine—not even the seeds, not even the skin—may be eaten.
5 “Also, for the duration of the consecration you must not have your hair cut. Your long hair will be a continuing sign of holy separation to God.
6-7 “Also, for the duration of the consecration to God, you must not go near a corpse. Even if it’s the body of your father or mother, brother or sister, you must not ritually defile yourself because the sign of consecration to God is on your head.
8 “For the entire duration of your consecration you are holy to God.
9-12 “If someone should die suddenly in your presence, so that your consecrated head is ritually defiled, you must shave your head on the day of your purifying, that is, the seventh day. Then on the eighth day bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest will offer one for the Absolution-Offering and one for the Whole-Burnt-Offering, purifying you from the ritual contamination of the corpse. You resanctify your hair on that day and reconsecrate your Nazirite consecration to God by bringing a yearling lamb for a Compensation-Offering. You start over; the previous days don’t count because your consecration was ritually defiled.
13-17 “These are the instructions for the time set when your special consecration to God is up. First, you are to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then you will present your offerings to God: a healthy yearling lamb for the Whole-Burnt-Offering, a healthy yearling ewe for an Absolution-Offering, a healthy ram for a Peace-Offering, a basket of unraised bread made of fine flour, loaves mixed with oil, and crackers spread with oil, along with your Grain-Offerings and Drink-Offerings. The priest will approach God and offer up your Absolution-Offering and Whole-Burnt-Offering. He will sacrifice the ram as a Peace-Offering to God with the basket of unraised bread, and, last of all, the Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering.
18 “At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, shave off the hair you consecrated and put it in the fire that is burning under the Peace-Offering.
19-20 “After you have shaved the hair of your consecration, the priest will take a shoulder from the ram, boiled, and a piece of unraised bread and a cracker from the basket and place them in your hands. The priest will then wave them before God, a Wave-Offering. They are holy and belong to the priest, along with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was offered.
“Now you are free to drink wine.
21 “These are the instructions for Nazirites as they bring offerings to God in their vow of consecration, beyond their other offerings. They must carry out the vow they have vowed following the instructions for the Nazirite.”
The Aaronic Blessing
22-23 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them,
24 God bless you and keep you,
25 God smile on you and gift you,
26 God look you full in the face
and make you prosper.
27 In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel—
I will confirm it by blessing them.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Read: Matthew 6:19–21
A Life of God-Worship
19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
INSIGHT
According to Jesus in today’s passage, we are to “store up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). What are these treasures? They’re the blessings that will be ours in heaven (1 Peter 1:4) but that we get a preview of in this life when we follow Christ. William Hendriksen, in his commentary on Matthew, lists many of those Jesus Himself described: “Our standing with God as being fully pardoned (Matt. 6:14), answered prayer (7:7), the enrolment of our names in heaven (Luke 10:20), the Father’s love (John 16:27), a welcome not only to the ‘mansions’ of heaven but to the Savior’s own heart (14:2, 3). [We also have a] life that will never end (John 3:16) . . . a hand out of which the Good Shepherd’s sheep will never be snatched (John 10:28) . . . [and] a love from which we shall never be separated (Rom. 8:39).” - Alyson Kieda
Treasure in Heaven
By Cindy Hess Kasper
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
When I was growing up, my two sisters and I liked to sit side-by-side on top of my mother’s large cedar-lined chest. My mom kept our wool sweaters in it and handiwork that was embroidered or crocheted by my grandmother. She valued the contents of the chest and relied on the pungent odor of the cedar wood to discourage moths from destroying what was inside.
Most earthly possessions can easily be destroyed by insects or rust, or can even be stolen. Matthew 6 encourages us to place a special focus—not on things that have a limited lifespan but on those that have eternal value. When my mom died at fifty-seven, she had not accumulated a lot of earthly possessions, but I like to think about the treasure she stored up in heaven (vv. 19–20).
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
LEARN MORE»
I recall how much she loved God and served Him in quiet ways: caring faithfully for her family, teaching children in Sunday school, befriending a woman abandoned by her husband, comforting a young mother who had lost her baby. And she prayed. . . . Even after she lost her sight and became confined to a wheelchair, she continued to love and pray for others.
Our real treasure isn’t measured in what we accumulate—but in what or whom we invest our time and our passions. What “treasures” are we storing up in heaven by serving and following Jesus?
Dear Father, help me to choose to invest my life in things that are eternal.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 13, 2018
…strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. —Acts 24:16
God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.
Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God’s Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2 ; also see Ephesians 4:23).
God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…” (Ephesians 4:30). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don’t ask, “Why can’t I do this?” You are on the wrong track. There is no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is— drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
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