Max Lucado Daily: MAKING A BIG “TO DO” OF GOD - June 5, 2018
God endows us with gifts so we can make him known. Period! God endues the Olympian with speed, the salesman with savvy, the surgeon with skill. Why? The big answer is to make a big to-do out of God. To brandish him…to herald him.
God has given gifts to each of us from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well, then God will be given glory. Make it your life’s encore to the end of time that “he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything! (I Peter 4:10-11). When you magnify your Maker with your strengths, your days will grow suddenly sweet. And to really sweeten your world, use your uniqueness to make a big deal about God—every day of your life!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Mark 16
The Resurrection
1-3 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”
4-5 Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.
6-7 He said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”
8 They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.
9-11 [After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, whom he had delivered from seven demons. She went to his former companions, now weeping and carrying on, and told them. When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn’t believe her.
12-13 Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them out walking in the countryside. They went back and told the rest, but they weren’t believed either.
14-16 Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.
17-18 “These are some of the signs that will accompany believers: They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well.”
19-20 Then the Master Jesus, after briefing them, was taken up to heaven, and he sat down beside God in the place of honor. And the disciples went everywhere preaching, the Master working right with them, validating the Message with indisputable evidence.]
Note: Mark 16:9-20 [the portion in brackets] is contained only in later manuscripts.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Read: Luke 18:35–43
35-37 He came to the outskirts of Jericho. A blind man was sitting beside the road asking for handouts. When he heard the rustle of the crowd, he asked what was going on. They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is going by.”
38 He yelled, “Jesus! Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!”
39 Those ahead of Jesus told the man to shut up, but he only yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered him to be brought over. When he had come near, Jesus asked, “What do you want from me?”
41 He said, “Master, I want to see again.”
42-43 Jesus said, “Go ahead—see again! Your faith has saved and healed you!” The healing was instant: He looked up, seeing—and then followed Jesus, glorifying God. Everyone in the street joined in, shouting praise to God.
INSIGHT
From the gospel of Mark we learn the blind man’s name is Bartimaeus (10:46). Bible scholar Kenneth Bailey, in Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, tells us that Bartimaeus’s story is best understood in the context of what happens next—Jesus’s encounter with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of Jericho (Luke 19). With these two men, Jesus is reaching out to the extremes of the social context of first-century Israel—a blind beggar and a wealthy publican. Christ shows profound grace to both by giving Bartimaeus his sight and bringing salvation to the house of Zacchaeus (19:9–10).
A key element that connects these stories is the word son. Bartimaeus calls Jesus “Son of David,” a title identifying Jesus as the Messiah that Israel had longed for. Jesus calls Zacchaeus a “son of Abraham” (v. 9). This was not an ethnic description but an affirmation that Zacchaeus had come to faith (Galatians 3:7). The stories close with Jesus’s self-identification as “the Son of Man”—another title with Messianic implications (Luke 19:10).
On the cross Christ would complete His work of seeking and saving those who are lost—like Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus, and us. - Bill Crowder
A Blind Man’s Plea
By Arthur Jackson
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Luke 18:38
Some years ago a traveling companion noticed I was straining to see objects at a distance. What he did next was simple but life changing. He took off his glasses and said, “Try these.” When I put his glasses on, surprisingly my blurred vision cleared up. Eventually I went to an optometrist who prescribed glasses to correct my vision problem.
Today’s reading in Luke 18 features a man with no vision at all, and living in total darkness had forced him to beg for a living. News about Jesus, the popular teacher and miracle worker, had reached the blind beggar’s ears. So when Jesus’s travel route took Him by where the blind man was sitting, hope was ignited in his heart. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 38) he called. Though without sight physically, the man possessed spiritual insight into Jesus’s true identity and faith in Him to meet his need. Compelled by this faith, “He shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (v. 39). The result? His blindness was banished, and he went from begging for his living to blessing God because he could see (v. 43).
In moments or seasons of darkness, where do you turn? Upon what or to whom do you call? Eyeglass prescriptions help improve vision, but it’s the merciful touch of Jesus, God’s Son, that brings people from spiritual darkness to light.
Father, open the eyes of my heart to clearly see who Jesus is and what He can do.
The Father’s delight is to give sight to those who ask Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
God’s Assurance
He Himself has said….So we may boldly say… —Hebrews 13:5-6
My assurance is to be built upon God’s assurance to me. God says, “I will never leave you,” so that then I “may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6). In other words, I will not be obsessed with apprehension. This does not mean that I will not be tempted to fear, but I will remember God’s words of assurance. I will be full of courage, like a child who strives to reach the standard his father has set for him. The faith of many people begins to falter when apprehensions enter their thinking, and they forget the meaning of God’s assurance— they forget to take a deep spiritual breath. The only way to remove the fear from our lives is to listen to God’s assurance to us.
What are you fearing? Whatever it may be, you are not a coward about it— you are determined to face it, yet you still have a feeling of fear. When it seems that there is nothing and no one to help you, say to yourself, “But ‘The Lord is my helper’ this very moment, even in my present circumstance.” Are you learning to listen to God before you speak, or are you saying things and then trying to make God’s Word fit what you have said? Take hold of the Father’s assurance, and then say with strong courage, “I will not fear.” It does not matter what evil or wrong may be in our way, because “He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you….’ ”
Human frailty is another thing that gets between God’s words of assurance and our own words and thoughts. When we realize how feeble we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God seems to be nonexistent. But remember God’s assurance to us— “I will never…forsake you.” Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s keynote? Are we continually filled with enough courage to say, “The Lord is my helper,” or are we yielding to fear?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Virus Scan - #8192
Well, I used to be concerned just about me or someone I love picking up a virus. Now I've got to be worried about my computer picking up a virus! And more and more of them are infecting various computer systems. We hear about it on the news a lot. Now, if one of those viruses contaminates your computer, of course it could cause you to lose valuable data. It can even cause your computer to crash. But, thankfully, I have this special software feature that's called a virus scan. You probably do too. When I turn on my computer, basically the virus scan checks to see if any of those destructive little critters have gotten in, and it warns me if they have. And that's a good thing, because you want to get that virus before it infects everything. Right?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Virus Scan."
Did you know your soul can pick up viruses, too? And if you don't catch them right away, they can spread throughout your system and infect everything. That's why you need to install God's virus scan. David talks about it in our word for today from the Word of God from Psalm 139:23-24. He says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." David knew the subtle, infectious way that sin can creep into the human heart. And he knew all too well the damage it can do. So He prays that God will see if some spiritual virus has found a place in his heart and then to reveal it to him as my virus scan reveals to me what is threatening my computer.
This has to be a prayer that we pray at least once a day. A spiritual system that may have been virus-free yesterday may have picked up something damaging in the meantime. So, each new day--every time you turn your mental computer on--you need to ask God to reveal any trash that has invaded your system. Preachers call it the "conviction of the Holy Spirit"--God, who lives inside you, revealing what's out-of-line in you and moving you to do something about it.
As you open yourself up to the Holy Spirit's searching of your heart, you might see a bad attitude that is just starting to take root, a little resentment, a little jealousy, a little complaining, a little negativity. Oh, it's little now. It won't stay that way. That's why you need to recognize it and repent of it right away while it's still small and it's not doing a lot of damage. For example, God warns us to "see to it that...no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15). In other words, catch the bad attitude while it's still small before it deepens into something very expensive and very damaging.
God's scanning of the viruses in you might expose some 'trash talking' you've been doing--words that have hurt people. Critical words, backstabbing words, angry words, gossiping words. Or God may show you that some lustful fantasies have been allowed to infect your heart and mind. You may have watched something you never should have watched, listened to something you never should have listened to, lingered on something you should have turned away from, or maybe you've flirted with something you should have fled from.
Or it could be that you've told some lies lately or at least spoken less than--or more than--the truth. God wants to confront those now so you don't get into a damaging pattern of deceit. In fact, that's the reason we need to see and attack any sin right away. Because sin unconfessed becomes sin repeated and repeated until it starts poisoning a lot that we care about.
So invite God often to scan for viruses that you may have allowed into your heart. Computer viruses not dealt with can make a computer crash. Spiritual viruses not dealt with? Yeah, they can make you crash.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Monday, June 4, 2018
Mark 15:26-47, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: SHOWING WHO GOD IS - June 4, 2018
The Bible says that each person is given something to do that shows who God is! (1 Corinthians 12:7). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Look at your life. What do you consistently do well? What do you love to do? And what do others love for you to do?
So much for the excuse, I don’t have anything to offer. Enough of the self-deprecating, I can’t do anything. And enough of its arrogant opposite, “I have to do everything.” Imitate the Apostle Paul who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Corinthians 10:13). Extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you!” (2 Timothy 1:6). And do so to make a big deal out of God!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Mark 15:26-47
25-30 They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was printed on a poster. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
31-32 The high priests, along with the religion scholars, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—but he can’t save himself! Messiah, is he? King of Israel? Then let him climb down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then!” Even the men crucified alongside him joined in the mockery.
33-34 At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
35-36 Some of the bystanders who heard him said, “Listen, he’s calling for Elijah.” Someone ran off, soaked a sponge in sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
37-39 But Jesus, with a loud cry, gave his last breath. At that moment the Temple curtain ripped right down the middle. When the Roman captain standing guard in front of him saw that he had quit breathing, he said, “This has to be the Son of God!”
Taken to a Tomb
40-41 There were women watching from a distance, among them Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and Joses, and Salome. When Jesus was in Galilee, these women followed and served him, and had come up with him to Jerusalem.
42-45 Late in the afternoon, since it was the Day of Preparation (that is, Sabbath eve), Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Jewish Council, came. He was one who lived expectantly, on the lookout for the kingdom of God. Working up his courage, he went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate questioned whether he could be dead that soon and called for the captain to verify that he was really dead. Assured by the captain, he gave Joseph the corpse.
46-47 Having already purchased a linen shroud, Joseph took him down, wrapped him in the shroud, placed him in a tomb that had been cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the opening. Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Joses, watched the burial.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 04, 2018
Read: John 14:23–31
“Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.
25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.
28 “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.
29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.
“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”
INSIGHT
Did you do connect-the-dot puzzles as a child?
When Jesus spoke in John 14:23–31 about giving His Spirit to show His disciples all they needed to know, they couldn’t yet see the picture. What He said about love, obedience, and the Spirit who would help them put it all together were still just words.
Imagine what it was like to be one of Jesus’s disciples for whom what He was saying was such a mystery and a puzzle on that Passover night. Then the Spirit came and began to reveal truth. Think about how the Spirit is now, through the Scriptures, connecting the dots for you. - Mart DeHaan
Open My Eyes
By Keila Ochoa
The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things. John 14:26
The first time I went to the gorgeous Chora Church in Istanbul, I was able to figure out some Bible stories from the Byzantine frescos and mosaics on the ceiling. But there was much I missed. The second time, however, I had a guide. He pointed to all the details I had previously missed, and suddenly everything made perfect sense! The first aisle, for instance, depicted the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Luke.
Sometimes when we read the Bible we understand the basic stories, but what about the connections—those details that weave Scripture into the one perfect story? We have Bible commentaries and study tools, yes, but we also need a guide—someone to open our eyes and help us see the wonders of God’s written revelation. Our guide is the Holy Spirit who teaches us “all things” (John 14:26). Paul wrote that He explains “spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Corinthians 2:13).
How wonderful to have the Author of the Book to show us the wonders of it! God has not only given us His written Word and His revelation but He also helps us to understand it and learn from it. So let us pray with the psalmist, saying, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18).
Dear Lord, as I read Your Word, open my eyes that I may discover the wonders of Your revelation.
Study more at basics.christianuniversity.org/courses/SF105.
We need God in order to understand Scripture.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 04, 2018
The Never-forsaking God
He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." —Hebrews 13:5
What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
“I will never leave you…”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.
“I will never…forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?
We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 04, 2018
The Problem With Mt. Happiness - #8191
Okay, the plan was flawless. They told me that Cadillac Mountain was the first place you could see the sunrise in the United States. And my job, of course, was to provide wonderful memories and special experiences for my children. We were vacationing in Maine, and I was determined to let them have this thrill. Somehow, they didn't seem as excited about it as I was; must have been a maturity thing I guess. Well, why wasn't my wife excited then? Anyway, I carefully checked the weather forecast every day until I was sure we would have a clear morning to see the sunrise. I made everyone go to sleep early. I woke everybody up at 3:00 A. M. We were in a campground and I was afraid the kids would wake up complaining and waking up the neighbors, so I had a doughnut ready to stuff into each little mouth-including mine. I bundled everyone into the car and up we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain. I kept checking my watch, waiting for that magic moment of the scheduled sunrise, and the moment came. No sun. We waited and we waited. Surprise! The weatherman was wrong. We saw a distinctly unmemorable cloudrise.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem With Mt. Happiness."
We're on Indian reservations a lot, working with a wonderful team of young Native Americans, our On Eagles' Wings team. And the operative word you often hear to describe reservation young people is "hopelessness." They feel like there's no hope of things ever changing. Not long ago, I was in a very different setting, speaking to some wealthy and powerful business leaders. Later, I spoke at a meeting of their wives. I mean, we were in one of the wealthiest counties in America. After I spoke, one of the ladies there said, "Ron, I can describe what life is really like here in two words: hopelessness and despair."
Amazing. Despair at what many would consider the bottom of Mt. Happiness, and despair at the top, too. If you're at the bottom, you assume you're not happy because you don't even have a chance on Mt. Happiness. If you're halfway up, you figure you're unfulfilled because you're not all the way there yet. But what if you're at the top and you still don't have what you thought was at the top? You either sedate yourself so you don't have to think about it, or you jump off. That's what the leading physician in a major city did just a few years ago. He literally jumped off the highest building in the city.
I don't know where you are in climbing Mt. Happiness. But if that hole in your heart is still there, if you know deep inside that something you were made for is still missing, then our word for today from the Word of God is for you. In Isaiah 55, beginning with verse 2, God says: "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare...Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." See, it's God we're made for. It's God we've been needing all along. He's the only One who can fill the God-shaped hole in your heart.
And He's only reachable one way - through His Son, Jesus Christ. Because it took His Son's death on the cross to pay for a lifetime of running your life your way instead of doing it God's way. He died for your sin so you don't have to. So your sins can be erased from God's book, you can finally experience the love and the wholeness that only He can give you.
Ultimately, there are no answers on Mt. Happiness. It's the wrong mountain. There's only one mountain where you can find what you've spent a lifetime looking for. It's called Skull Hill in the Bible. It's the place where Jesus' cross was, where He died for you. When you surrender your life to Him there, everything God has for you comes flooding into your heart.
If you're tired of the hole in your heart, if you're tired of climbing mountains to nowhere, let today be your Jesus-day. Say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Check out our website. It's ANewStory.com, because it's there to help you be sure you belong to Him and know how you can.
Look, you've been searching an awful long time. It's time to find what you've been looking for; to find Who you've been looking for. I'll tell you, He's been waiting for you a long time.
The Bible says that each person is given something to do that shows who God is! (1 Corinthians 12:7). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Look at your life. What do you consistently do well? What do you love to do? And what do others love for you to do?
So much for the excuse, I don’t have anything to offer. Enough of the self-deprecating, I can’t do anything. And enough of its arrogant opposite, “I have to do everything.” Imitate the Apostle Paul who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Corinthians 10:13). Extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you!” (2 Timothy 1:6). And do so to make a big deal out of God!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Mark 15:26-47
25-30 They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was printed on a poster. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
31-32 The high priests, along with the religion scholars, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—but he can’t save himself! Messiah, is he? King of Israel? Then let him climb down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then!” Even the men crucified alongside him joined in the mockery.
33-34 At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
35-36 Some of the bystanders who heard him said, “Listen, he’s calling for Elijah.” Someone ran off, soaked a sponge in sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
37-39 But Jesus, with a loud cry, gave his last breath. At that moment the Temple curtain ripped right down the middle. When the Roman captain standing guard in front of him saw that he had quit breathing, he said, “This has to be the Son of God!”
Taken to a Tomb
40-41 There were women watching from a distance, among them Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and Joses, and Salome. When Jesus was in Galilee, these women followed and served him, and had come up with him to Jerusalem.
42-45 Late in the afternoon, since it was the Day of Preparation (that is, Sabbath eve), Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Jewish Council, came. He was one who lived expectantly, on the lookout for the kingdom of God. Working up his courage, he went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate questioned whether he could be dead that soon and called for the captain to verify that he was really dead. Assured by the captain, he gave Joseph the corpse.
46-47 Having already purchased a linen shroud, Joseph took him down, wrapped him in the shroud, placed him in a tomb that had been cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the opening. Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Joses, watched the burial.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 04, 2018
Read: John 14:23–31
“Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.
25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.
28 “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.
29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.
“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”
INSIGHT
Did you do connect-the-dot puzzles as a child?
When Jesus spoke in John 14:23–31 about giving His Spirit to show His disciples all they needed to know, they couldn’t yet see the picture. What He said about love, obedience, and the Spirit who would help them put it all together were still just words.
Imagine what it was like to be one of Jesus’s disciples for whom what He was saying was such a mystery and a puzzle on that Passover night. Then the Spirit came and began to reveal truth. Think about how the Spirit is now, through the Scriptures, connecting the dots for you. - Mart DeHaan
Open My Eyes
By Keila Ochoa
The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things. John 14:26
The first time I went to the gorgeous Chora Church in Istanbul, I was able to figure out some Bible stories from the Byzantine frescos and mosaics on the ceiling. But there was much I missed. The second time, however, I had a guide. He pointed to all the details I had previously missed, and suddenly everything made perfect sense! The first aisle, for instance, depicted the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Luke.
Sometimes when we read the Bible we understand the basic stories, but what about the connections—those details that weave Scripture into the one perfect story? We have Bible commentaries and study tools, yes, but we also need a guide—someone to open our eyes and help us see the wonders of God’s written revelation. Our guide is the Holy Spirit who teaches us “all things” (John 14:26). Paul wrote that He explains “spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Corinthians 2:13).
How wonderful to have the Author of the Book to show us the wonders of it! God has not only given us His written Word and His revelation but He also helps us to understand it and learn from it. So let us pray with the psalmist, saying, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18).
Dear Lord, as I read Your Word, open my eyes that I may discover the wonders of Your revelation.
Study more at basics.christianuniversity.org/courses/SF105.
We need God in order to understand Scripture.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 04, 2018
The Never-forsaking God
He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." —Hebrews 13:5
What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
“I will never leave you…”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.
“I will never…forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?
We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 04, 2018
The Problem With Mt. Happiness - #8191
Okay, the plan was flawless. They told me that Cadillac Mountain was the first place you could see the sunrise in the United States. And my job, of course, was to provide wonderful memories and special experiences for my children. We were vacationing in Maine, and I was determined to let them have this thrill. Somehow, they didn't seem as excited about it as I was; must have been a maturity thing I guess. Well, why wasn't my wife excited then? Anyway, I carefully checked the weather forecast every day until I was sure we would have a clear morning to see the sunrise. I made everyone go to sleep early. I woke everybody up at 3:00 A. M. We were in a campground and I was afraid the kids would wake up complaining and waking up the neighbors, so I had a doughnut ready to stuff into each little mouth-including mine. I bundled everyone into the car and up we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain. I kept checking my watch, waiting for that magic moment of the scheduled sunrise, and the moment came. No sun. We waited and we waited. Surprise! The weatherman was wrong. We saw a distinctly unmemorable cloudrise.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem With Mt. Happiness."
We're on Indian reservations a lot, working with a wonderful team of young Native Americans, our On Eagles' Wings team. And the operative word you often hear to describe reservation young people is "hopelessness." They feel like there's no hope of things ever changing. Not long ago, I was in a very different setting, speaking to some wealthy and powerful business leaders. Later, I spoke at a meeting of their wives. I mean, we were in one of the wealthiest counties in America. After I spoke, one of the ladies there said, "Ron, I can describe what life is really like here in two words: hopelessness and despair."
Amazing. Despair at what many would consider the bottom of Mt. Happiness, and despair at the top, too. If you're at the bottom, you assume you're not happy because you don't even have a chance on Mt. Happiness. If you're halfway up, you figure you're unfulfilled because you're not all the way there yet. But what if you're at the top and you still don't have what you thought was at the top? You either sedate yourself so you don't have to think about it, or you jump off. That's what the leading physician in a major city did just a few years ago. He literally jumped off the highest building in the city.
I don't know where you are in climbing Mt. Happiness. But if that hole in your heart is still there, if you know deep inside that something you were made for is still missing, then our word for today from the Word of God is for you. In Isaiah 55, beginning with verse 2, God says: "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare...Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." See, it's God we're made for. It's God we've been needing all along. He's the only One who can fill the God-shaped hole in your heart.
And He's only reachable one way - through His Son, Jesus Christ. Because it took His Son's death on the cross to pay for a lifetime of running your life your way instead of doing it God's way. He died for your sin so you don't have to. So your sins can be erased from God's book, you can finally experience the love and the wholeness that only He can give you.
Ultimately, there are no answers on Mt. Happiness. It's the wrong mountain. There's only one mountain where you can find what you've spent a lifetime looking for. It's called Skull Hill in the Bible. It's the place where Jesus' cross was, where He died for you. When you surrender your life to Him there, everything God has for you comes flooding into your heart.
If you're tired of the hole in your heart, if you're tired of climbing mountains to nowhere, let today be your Jesus-day. Say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Check out our website. It's ANewStory.com, because it's there to help you be sure you belong to Him and know how you can.
Look, you've been searching an awful long time. It's time to find what you've been looking for; to find Who you've been looking for. I'll tell you, He's been waiting for you a long time.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Numbers 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily:Desperate Dads Go to Jesus
In Mark 5:23 we meet Jairus-a leader of the synagogue-one of the most important men in the community. But the man in this story is a humble man, saying again and again, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." He doesn't barter with Jesus. He doesn't negotiate. He doesn't make excuses. He just pleads!
There are times when everything you have to offer is nothing compared to what you're asking to receive. What could a man offer in exchange for his child's life? So there are no games, no haggling. Jairus asks for help. Jesus, who loves the honest heart, goes to give it. And God, who knows what it's like to lose a child, empowers His Son!
From Dad Time
Numbers 22
Balaam
The People of Israel marched on and camped on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.
2-3 Balak son of Zippor learned of all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The people of Moab were in a total panic because of Israel. There were so many of them! They were terrorized.
4-5 Moab spoke to the leaders of Midian: “Look, this mob is going to clean us out—a bunch of crows picking a carcass clean.”
Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent emissaries to get Balaam son of Beor, who lived at Pethor on the banks of the Euphrates River, his homeland.
5-6 Balak’s emissaries said, “Look. A people has come up out of Egypt, and they’re all over the place! And they’re pressing hard on me. Come and curse them for me—they’re too much for me. Maybe then I can beat them; we’ll attack and drive them out of the country. You have a reputation: Those you bless stay blessed; those you curse stay cursed.”
7-8 The leaders of Moab and Midian were soon on their way, with the fee for the cursing tucked safely in their wallets. When they got to Balaam, they gave him Balak’s message.
“Stay here for the night,” Balaam said. “In the morning I’ll deliver the answer that God gives me.”
The Moabite nobles stayed with him.
9 Then God came to Balaam. He asked, “So who are these men here with you?”
10-11 Balaam answered, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent them with a message: ‘Look, the people that came up out of Egypt are all over the place! Come and curse them for me. Maybe then I’ll be able to attack and drive them out of the country.’”
12 God said to Balaam, “Don’t go with them. And don’t curse the others—they are a blessed people.”
13 The next morning Balaam got up and told Balak’s nobles, “Go back home; God refuses to give me permission to go with you.”
14 So the Moabite nobles left, came back to Balak, and said, “Balaam wouldn’t come with us.”
15-17 Balak sent another group of nobles, higher ranking and more distinguished. They came to Balaam and said, “Balak son of Zippor says, ‘Please, don’t refuse to come to me. I will honor and reward you lavishly—anything you tell me to do, I’ll do; I’ll pay anything—only come and curse this people.’”
18-19 Balaam answered Balak’s servants: “Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn’t be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little. But come along and stay with me tonight as the others did; I’ll see what God will say to me this time.”
20 God came to Balaam that night and said, “Since these men have come all this way to see you, go ahead and go with them. But make sure you do absolutely nothing other than what I tell you.”
21-23 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went off with the noblemen from Moab. As he was going, though, God’s anger flared. The angel of God stood in the road to block his way. Balaam was riding his donkey, accompanied by his two servants. When the donkey saw the angel blocking the road and brandishing a sword, she veered off the road into the ditch. Balaam beat the donkey and got her back on the road.
24-25 But as they were going through a vineyard, with a fence on either side, the donkey again saw God’s angel blocking the way and veered into the fence, crushing Balaam’s foot against the fence. Balaam hit her again.
26-27 God’s angel blocked the way yet again—a very narrow passage this time; there was no getting through on the right or left. Seeing the angel, Balaam’s donkey sat down under him. Balaam lost his temper; he beat the donkey with his stick.
28 Then God gave speech to the donkey. She said to Balaam: “What have I ever done to you that you have beat me these three times?”
29 Balaam said, “Because you’ve been playing games with me! If I had a sword I would have killed you by now.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your trusty donkey on whom you’ve ridden for years right up until now? Have I ever done anything like this to you before? Have I?”
He said, “No.”
31 Then God helped Balaam see what was going on: He saw God’s angel blocking the way, brandishing a sword. Balaam fell to the ground, his face in the dirt.
32-33 God’s angel said to him: “Why have you beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come here to block your way because you’re getting way ahead of yourself. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she hadn’t, I would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey. I would have let her off.”
34 Balaam said to God’s angel, “I have sinned. I had no idea you were standing in the road blocking my way. If you don’t like what I’m doing, I’ll head back.”
35 But God’s angel said to Balaam, “Go ahead and go with them. But only say what I tell you to say—absolutely no other word.”
And so Balaam continued to go with Balak’s nobles.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him in the Moabite town that was on the banks of the Arnon, right on the boundary of his land.
37 Balak said to Balaam, “Didn’t I send an urgent message for help? Why didn’t you come when I called? Do you think I can’t pay you enough?”
38 Balaam said to Balak, “Well, I’m here now. But I can’t tell you just anything. I can speak only words that God gives me—no others.”
39-40 Balaam then accompanied Balak to Kiriath Huzoth (Street-Town). Balak slaughtered cattle and sheep for sacrifices and presented them to Balaam and the nobles who were with him.
41 At daybreak Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal (The Heights of Baal) so that he could get a good view of some of the people.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 03, 2018
Read: Psalm 62
1-2 God, the one and only—
I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
I’m set for life.
3-4 How long will you gang up on me?
How long will you run with the bullies?
There’s nothing to you, any of you—
rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,
Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,
far gone in make-believe.
You talk a good line,
but every “blessing” breathes a curse.
5-6 God, the one and only—
I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I hope for comes from him,
so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
I’m set for life.
7-8 My help and glory are in God
—granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
So trust him absolutely, people;
lay your lives on the line for him.
God is a safe place to be.
9 Man as such is smoke,
woman as such, a mirage.
Put them together, they’re nothing;
two times nothing is nothing.
10 And a windfall, if it comes—
don’t make too much of it.
11 God said this once and for all;
how many times
Have I heard it repeated?
“Strength comes
Straight from God.”
12 Love to you, Lord God!
You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!
INSIGHT
Slowing down to consider what Psalm 62 tells us (or at least implies) about the situation that prompted the psalmist to write it can deepen our understanding of God. It helps us internalize the psalm’s teaching in a way that transforms us rather than simply informs us. These are not the blissful words of reflection from an untroubled soul. David writes from the tired depths of someone maligned and assaulted. Saying that hope comes from the Lord is simple when hope is a luxury. To say that you will not be shaken when even your friends are secretly cursing you (v. 4) is an expression of trust before, during, and after all other hopes have failed.
How can you express hope in God? - J.R. Hudberg
Clocks and Calendars
By Bill Crowder
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8
My father died at 58 years of age. Ever since then, I pause on the date he died to remember Dad and reflect on his influence in my life. When I realized I had lived more of life without my dad than with him, I began pondering the brevity of my own life.
On reflection, we may wrestle with both an event in time and the feelings it stirs within us. Though we measure time with clocks and calendars, we remember times because of events. In the moments of life that trigger our deepest emotions, we can experience joy, loss, blessing, pain, success, failure.
The Scriptures encourage us: “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8). This confident statement did not occur in a time of ease. David wrote these words while surrounded by enemies (vv. 3–4). Still, he waited quietly before God (vv. 1, 5) reminding us that God’s unfailing love (v. 12) is greater than any of the times of struggle we may face.
In every event, we have this confidence: Our God stands with us, and He is more than adequate to carry us through all of life’s moments. When the times of life threaten to overwhelm us, His help will be right on time.
We’re grateful that You are always and will always be faithful to us, Father.
Listen to the Discover the Word series, “Remembering Who God Is” at discovertheword.org/series/remembering-who-god-is/.
Our God is ready to be with us in all the times of life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 03, 2018
“The Secret of the Lord”
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him… —Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.
“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
In Mark 5:23 we meet Jairus-a leader of the synagogue-one of the most important men in the community. But the man in this story is a humble man, saying again and again, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." He doesn't barter with Jesus. He doesn't negotiate. He doesn't make excuses. He just pleads!
There are times when everything you have to offer is nothing compared to what you're asking to receive. What could a man offer in exchange for his child's life? So there are no games, no haggling. Jairus asks for help. Jesus, who loves the honest heart, goes to give it. And God, who knows what it's like to lose a child, empowers His Son!
From Dad Time
Numbers 22
Balaam
The People of Israel marched on and camped on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.
2-3 Balak son of Zippor learned of all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The people of Moab were in a total panic because of Israel. There were so many of them! They were terrorized.
4-5 Moab spoke to the leaders of Midian: “Look, this mob is going to clean us out—a bunch of crows picking a carcass clean.”
Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent emissaries to get Balaam son of Beor, who lived at Pethor on the banks of the Euphrates River, his homeland.
5-6 Balak’s emissaries said, “Look. A people has come up out of Egypt, and they’re all over the place! And they’re pressing hard on me. Come and curse them for me—they’re too much for me. Maybe then I can beat them; we’ll attack and drive them out of the country. You have a reputation: Those you bless stay blessed; those you curse stay cursed.”
7-8 The leaders of Moab and Midian were soon on their way, with the fee for the cursing tucked safely in their wallets. When they got to Balaam, they gave him Balak’s message.
“Stay here for the night,” Balaam said. “In the morning I’ll deliver the answer that God gives me.”
The Moabite nobles stayed with him.
9 Then God came to Balaam. He asked, “So who are these men here with you?”
10-11 Balaam answered, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent them with a message: ‘Look, the people that came up out of Egypt are all over the place! Come and curse them for me. Maybe then I’ll be able to attack and drive them out of the country.’”
12 God said to Balaam, “Don’t go with them. And don’t curse the others—they are a blessed people.”
13 The next morning Balaam got up and told Balak’s nobles, “Go back home; God refuses to give me permission to go with you.”
14 So the Moabite nobles left, came back to Balak, and said, “Balaam wouldn’t come with us.”
15-17 Balak sent another group of nobles, higher ranking and more distinguished. They came to Balaam and said, “Balak son of Zippor says, ‘Please, don’t refuse to come to me. I will honor and reward you lavishly—anything you tell me to do, I’ll do; I’ll pay anything—only come and curse this people.’”
18-19 Balaam answered Balak’s servants: “Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn’t be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little. But come along and stay with me tonight as the others did; I’ll see what God will say to me this time.”
20 God came to Balaam that night and said, “Since these men have come all this way to see you, go ahead and go with them. But make sure you do absolutely nothing other than what I tell you.”
21-23 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went off with the noblemen from Moab. As he was going, though, God’s anger flared. The angel of God stood in the road to block his way. Balaam was riding his donkey, accompanied by his two servants. When the donkey saw the angel blocking the road and brandishing a sword, she veered off the road into the ditch. Balaam beat the donkey and got her back on the road.
24-25 But as they were going through a vineyard, with a fence on either side, the donkey again saw God’s angel blocking the way and veered into the fence, crushing Balaam’s foot against the fence. Balaam hit her again.
26-27 God’s angel blocked the way yet again—a very narrow passage this time; there was no getting through on the right or left. Seeing the angel, Balaam’s donkey sat down under him. Balaam lost his temper; he beat the donkey with his stick.
28 Then God gave speech to the donkey. She said to Balaam: “What have I ever done to you that you have beat me these three times?”
29 Balaam said, “Because you’ve been playing games with me! If I had a sword I would have killed you by now.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your trusty donkey on whom you’ve ridden for years right up until now? Have I ever done anything like this to you before? Have I?”
He said, “No.”
31 Then God helped Balaam see what was going on: He saw God’s angel blocking the way, brandishing a sword. Balaam fell to the ground, his face in the dirt.
32-33 God’s angel said to him: “Why have you beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come here to block your way because you’re getting way ahead of yourself. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she hadn’t, I would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey. I would have let her off.”
34 Balaam said to God’s angel, “I have sinned. I had no idea you were standing in the road blocking my way. If you don’t like what I’m doing, I’ll head back.”
35 But God’s angel said to Balaam, “Go ahead and go with them. But only say what I tell you to say—absolutely no other word.”
And so Balaam continued to go with Balak’s nobles.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him in the Moabite town that was on the banks of the Arnon, right on the boundary of his land.
37 Balak said to Balaam, “Didn’t I send an urgent message for help? Why didn’t you come when I called? Do you think I can’t pay you enough?”
38 Balaam said to Balak, “Well, I’m here now. But I can’t tell you just anything. I can speak only words that God gives me—no others.”
39-40 Balaam then accompanied Balak to Kiriath Huzoth (Street-Town). Balak slaughtered cattle and sheep for sacrifices and presented them to Balaam and the nobles who were with him.
41 At daybreak Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal (The Heights of Baal) so that he could get a good view of some of the people.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 03, 2018
Read: Psalm 62
1-2 God, the one and only—
I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
I’m set for life.
3-4 How long will you gang up on me?
How long will you run with the bullies?
There’s nothing to you, any of you—
rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,
Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,
far gone in make-believe.
You talk a good line,
but every “blessing” breathes a curse.
5-6 God, the one and only—
I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I hope for comes from him,
so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
I’m set for life.
7-8 My help and glory are in God
—granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
So trust him absolutely, people;
lay your lives on the line for him.
God is a safe place to be.
9 Man as such is smoke,
woman as such, a mirage.
Put them together, they’re nothing;
two times nothing is nothing.
10 And a windfall, if it comes—
don’t make too much of it.
11 God said this once and for all;
how many times
Have I heard it repeated?
“Strength comes
Straight from God.”
12 Love to you, Lord God!
You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!
INSIGHT
Slowing down to consider what Psalm 62 tells us (or at least implies) about the situation that prompted the psalmist to write it can deepen our understanding of God. It helps us internalize the psalm’s teaching in a way that transforms us rather than simply informs us. These are not the blissful words of reflection from an untroubled soul. David writes from the tired depths of someone maligned and assaulted. Saying that hope comes from the Lord is simple when hope is a luxury. To say that you will not be shaken when even your friends are secretly cursing you (v. 4) is an expression of trust before, during, and after all other hopes have failed.
How can you express hope in God? - J.R. Hudberg
Clocks and Calendars
By Bill Crowder
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8
My father died at 58 years of age. Ever since then, I pause on the date he died to remember Dad and reflect on his influence in my life. When I realized I had lived more of life without my dad than with him, I began pondering the brevity of my own life.
On reflection, we may wrestle with both an event in time and the feelings it stirs within us. Though we measure time with clocks and calendars, we remember times because of events. In the moments of life that trigger our deepest emotions, we can experience joy, loss, blessing, pain, success, failure.
The Scriptures encourage us: “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8). This confident statement did not occur in a time of ease. David wrote these words while surrounded by enemies (vv. 3–4). Still, he waited quietly before God (vv. 1, 5) reminding us that God’s unfailing love (v. 12) is greater than any of the times of struggle we may face.
In every event, we have this confidence: Our God stands with us, and He is more than adequate to carry us through all of life’s moments. When the times of life threaten to overwhelm us, His help will be right on time.
We’re grateful that You are always and will always be faithful to us, Father.
Listen to the Discover the Word series, “Remembering Who God Is” at discovertheword.org/series/remembering-who-god-is/.
Our God is ready to be with us in all the times of life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 03, 2018
“The Secret of the Lord”
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him… —Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.
“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Numbers 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Blessed Man
My daughters are too old for this now, but when they were young, crib-size and diaper-laden-I'd come home, shout their names, and watch them run to me with extended arms and squealing voices. For the next few moments we would speak the language of love. We'd roll on the floor, gobble bellies, and tickle tummies and laugh and play. We delighted in each other's presence. They made no requests of me, with the exception of "Let's play, Daddy." And I made no demands of them, except, "Don't hit Daddy with the hammer." In this very special dad time-my kids let me love them!
Psalm 127:3-5 reminds us, "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."
I am a blessed man!
From Dad Time
Numbers 21
Hormah
The Canaanite king of Arad, ruling in the Negev, heard that Israel was advancing up the road to Atharim. He attacked Israel and took prisoners of war.
2 Israel vowed a vow to God: “If you will give this people into our power, we’ll destroy their towns and present the ruins to you as a holy destruction.”
3 God listened to Israel’s prayer and gave them the Canaanites. They destroyed both them and their towns, a holy destruction. They named the place Hormah (Holy Destruction).
The Snake of Fiery Copper
4-5 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. They spoke out against God and Moses: “Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water—we can’t stomach this stuff any longer.”
6-7 So God sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke out against God and you. Pray to God; ask him to take these snakes from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
8 God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live.”
9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.
Camping on the Way to Moab
10-15 The People of Israel set out and camped at Oboth. They left Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim in the wilderness that faces Moab on the east. They went from there and pitched camp in the Zered Valley. Their next camp was alongside the Arnon River, which marks the border between Amorite country and Moab. The Book of the Wars of God refers to this place:
Waheb in Suphah,
the canyons of Arnon;
Along the canyon ravines
that lead to the village Ar
And lean hard against
the border of Moab.
16-18 They went on to Beer (The Well), where God said to Moses, “Gather the people; I’ll give them water.” That’s where Israel sang this song:
Erupt, Well!
Sing the Song of the Well,
the well sunk by princes,
Dug out by the peoples’ leaders
digging with their scepters and staffs.
19-20 From the wilderness their route went from Mattanah to Nahaliel to Bamoth (The Heights) to the valley that opens into the fields of Moab from where Pisgah (The Summit) rises and overlooks Jeshimon (Wasteland).
21-22 Israel sent emissaries to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, “Let us cross your land. We won’t trespass into your fields or drink water in your vineyards. We’ll keep to the main road, the King’s Road, until we’re through your land.”
23-27 But Sihon wouldn’t let Israel go through. Instead he got his army together and marched into the wilderness to fight Israel. At Jahaz he attacked Israel. But Israel fought hard, beat him soundly, and took possession of his land from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok right up to the Ammonite border. They stopped there because the Ammonite border was fortified. Israel took and occupied all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages. Heshbon was the capital city of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had attacked the former king of Moab and captured all his land as far north as the river Arnon. That is why the folk singers sing,
Come to Heshbon to rebuild the city,
restore Sihon’s town.
28-29 Fire once poured out of Heshbon,
flames from the city of Sihon;
Burning up Ar of Moab,
the natives of Arnon’s heights.
Doom, Moab!
The people of Chemosh, done for!
Sons turned out as fugitives, daughters abandoned as captives
to the king of the Amorites, to Sihon.
30 Oh, but we finished them off:
Nothing left of Heshbon as far as Dibon;
Devastation as far off as Nophah,
scorched earth all the way to Medeba.
31-32 Israel moved in and lived in Amorite country. Moses sent men to scout out Jazer. They captured its villages and drove away the Amorites who lived there.
33 Then they turned north on the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan marched out with his entire army to meet Moses in battle at Edrei.
34 God said to Moses, “Don’t be afraid of him. I’m making a present of him to you, him and all his people and his land. Treat him the same as Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon.”
35 So they attacked him, his sons, and all the people—there was not a single survivor. Israel took the land.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 02, 2018
Read: 1 Peter 2:1–11
1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
The Stone
4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:
Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation
will never have cause to regret it.
To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,
The stone the workmen threw out
is now the chief foundation stone.
For the untrusting it’s
. . . a stone to trip over,
a boulder blocking the way.
They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.
9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
INSIGHT
Food is used as a metaphor to describe the Bible’s nutritional value. To Peter, it’s pure milk (1 Peter 2:2). Job treasured God’s Word more than his daily bread (Job 23:12). In Psalm 19:10, it’s sweeter than honey. Looking at Hebrews 5:12–14, why do we need the solid food of Scripture to mature spiritually? - K. T. Sim
The “Chewing” Years
By James Banks
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6
My wife recently gave me a Labrador retriever puppy we named Max. One day when Max was spending time with me in my study, I was concentrating at my desk and heard the sound of paper ripping behind me. I turned to find a guilty-looking puppy with a book wide open and a page dangling from his mouth.
Our veterinarian tells us that Max is going through his “chewing years.” As puppies lose their milk teeth and permanent ones grow, they soothe their gums by chewing almost anything. We have to watch Max carefully to ensure he isn’t gnawing on something that could harm him, and we point him to healthy alternatives.
Max’s urge to chew—and my responsibility to watch him—cause me to think about what we “chew on” in our minds and hearts. Do we carefully consider what we are feeding our eternal souls when we read or surf the web or watch TV? The Bible encourages us, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2–3). We need to fill ourselves daily with God’s Word and truth if we are to thrive as followers of Christ. Only then can we grow to maturity in Him.
Loving Lord, help me to hunger for You and Your Word and to stay away from that which harms me. Fill me with Your goodness today.
When Christ returns, what will He find us craving?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 02, 2018
Are You Obsessed by Something?
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
“He himself shall dwell in prosperity…” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge…” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R
My daughters are too old for this now, but when they were young, crib-size and diaper-laden-I'd come home, shout their names, and watch them run to me with extended arms and squealing voices. For the next few moments we would speak the language of love. We'd roll on the floor, gobble bellies, and tickle tummies and laugh and play. We delighted in each other's presence. They made no requests of me, with the exception of "Let's play, Daddy." And I made no demands of them, except, "Don't hit Daddy with the hammer." In this very special dad time-my kids let me love them!
Psalm 127:3-5 reminds us, "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."
I am a blessed man!
From Dad Time
Numbers 21
Hormah
The Canaanite king of Arad, ruling in the Negev, heard that Israel was advancing up the road to Atharim. He attacked Israel and took prisoners of war.
2 Israel vowed a vow to God: “If you will give this people into our power, we’ll destroy their towns and present the ruins to you as a holy destruction.”
3 God listened to Israel’s prayer and gave them the Canaanites. They destroyed both them and their towns, a holy destruction. They named the place Hormah (Holy Destruction).
The Snake of Fiery Copper
4-5 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. They spoke out against God and Moses: “Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water—we can’t stomach this stuff any longer.”
6-7 So God sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke out against God and you. Pray to God; ask him to take these snakes from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
8 God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live.”
9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.
Camping on the Way to Moab
10-15 The People of Israel set out and camped at Oboth. They left Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim in the wilderness that faces Moab on the east. They went from there and pitched camp in the Zered Valley. Their next camp was alongside the Arnon River, which marks the border between Amorite country and Moab. The Book of the Wars of God refers to this place:
Waheb in Suphah,
the canyons of Arnon;
Along the canyon ravines
that lead to the village Ar
And lean hard against
the border of Moab.
16-18 They went on to Beer (The Well), where God said to Moses, “Gather the people; I’ll give them water.” That’s where Israel sang this song:
Erupt, Well!
Sing the Song of the Well,
the well sunk by princes,
Dug out by the peoples’ leaders
digging with their scepters and staffs.
19-20 From the wilderness their route went from Mattanah to Nahaliel to Bamoth (The Heights) to the valley that opens into the fields of Moab from where Pisgah (The Summit) rises and overlooks Jeshimon (Wasteland).
21-22 Israel sent emissaries to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, “Let us cross your land. We won’t trespass into your fields or drink water in your vineyards. We’ll keep to the main road, the King’s Road, until we’re through your land.”
23-27 But Sihon wouldn’t let Israel go through. Instead he got his army together and marched into the wilderness to fight Israel. At Jahaz he attacked Israel. But Israel fought hard, beat him soundly, and took possession of his land from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok right up to the Ammonite border. They stopped there because the Ammonite border was fortified. Israel took and occupied all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages. Heshbon was the capital city of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had attacked the former king of Moab and captured all his land as far north as the river Arnon. That is why the folk singers sing,
Come to Heshbon to rebuild the city,
restore Sihon’s town.
28-29 Fire once poured out of Heshbon,
flames from the city of Sihon;
Burning up Ar of Moab,
the natives of Arnon’s heights.
Doom, Moab!
The people of Chemosh, done for!
Sons turned out as fugitives, daughters abandoned as captives
to the king of the Amorites, to Sihon.
30 Oh, but we finished them off:
Nothing left of Heshbon as far as Dibon;
Devastation as far off as Nophah,
scorched earth all the way to Medeba.
31-32 Israel moved in and lived in Amorite country. Moses sent men to scout out Jazer. They captured its villages and drove away the Amorites who lived there.
33 Then they turned north on the road to Bashan. Og king of Bashan marched out with his entire army to meet Moses in battle at Edrei.
34 God said to Moses, “Don’t be afraid of him. I’m making a present of him to you, him and all his people and his land. Treat him the same as Sihon king of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon.”
35 So they attacked him, his sons, and all the people—there was not a single survivor. Israel took the land.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 02, 2018
Read: 1 Peter 2:1–11
1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
The Stone
4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:
Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation
will never have cause to regret it.
To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,
The stone the workmen threw out
is now the chief foundation stone.
For the untrusting it’s
. . . a stone to trip over,
a boulder blocking the way.
They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.
9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
INSIGHT
Food is used as a metaphor to describe the Bible’s nutritional value. To Peter, it’s pure milk (1 Peter 2:2). Job treasured God’s Word more than his daily bread (Job 23:12). In Psalm 19:10, it’s sweeter than honey. Looking at Hebrews 5:12–14, why do we need the solid food of Scripture to mature spiritually? - K. T. Sim
The “Chewing” Years
By James Banks
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6
My wife recently gave me a Labrador retriever puppy we named Max. One day when Max was spending time with me in my study, I was concentrating at my desk and heard the sound of paper ripping behind me. I turned to find a guilty-looking puppy with a book wide open and a page dangling from his mouth.
Our veterinarian tells us that Max is going through his “chewing years.” As puppies lose their milk teeth and permanent ones grow, they soothe their gums by chewing almost anything. We have to watch Max carefully to ensure he isn’t gnawing on something that could harm him, and we point him to healthy alternatives.
Max’s urge to chew—and my responsibility to watch him—cause me to think about what we “chew on” in our minds and hearts. Do we carefully consider what we are feeding our eternal souls when we read or surf the web or watch TV? The Bible encourages us, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2–3). We need to fill ourselves daily with God’s Word and truth if we are to thrive as followers of Christ. Only then can we grow to maturity in Him.
Loving Lord, help me to hunger for You and Your Word and to stay away from that which harms me. Fill me with Your goodness today.
When Christ returns, what will He find us craving?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 02, 2018
Are You Obsessed by Something?
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
“He himself shall dwell in prosperity…” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge…” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R
Friday, June 1, 2018
Numbers 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD MADE ONE VERSION OF YOU - June 1, 2018
Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you! God custom-designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment—“to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15).
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Did the apostle Paul say, The Spirit has given some of us?…or a few of us? No! “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.”
You don’t have to do everything! You are not God’s solution to society, but you are a solution in society. Don’t worry about the skills you don’t have. Don’t covet the strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness—to God’s glory!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Numbers 20
Camp Kadesh
In the first month, the entire company of the People of Israel arrived in the Wilderness of Zin. The people stayed in Kadesh.
Miriam died there, and she was buried.
2-5 There was no water there for the community, so they ganged up on Moses and Aaron. They attacked Moses: “We wish we’d died when the rest of our brothers died before God. Why did you haul this congregation of God out here into this wilderness to die, people and cattle alike? And why did you take us out of Egypt in the first place, dragging us into this miserable country? No grain, no figs, no grapevines, no pomegranates—and now not even any water!”
6 Moses and Aaron walked from the assembled congregation to the Tent of Meeting and threw themselves facedown on the ground. And they saw the Glory of God.
7-8 God spoke to Moses: “Take the staff. Assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to that rock that’s right in front of them and it will give water. You will bring water out of the rock for them; congregation and cattle will both drink.”
9-10 Moses took the staff away from God’s presence, as commanded. He and Aaron rounded up the whole congregation in front of the rock. Moses spoke: “Listen, rebels! Do we have to bring water out of this rock for you?”
11 With that Moses raised his arm and slammed his staff against the rock—once, twice. Water poured out. Congregation and cattle drank.
12 God said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t trust me, didn’t treat me with holy reverence in front of the People of Israel, you two aren’t going to lead this company into the land that I am giving them.”
13 These were the Waters of Meribah (Bickering) where the People of Israel bickered with God, and he revealed himself as holy.
14-16 Moses sent emissaries from Kadesh to the king of Edom with this message: “A message from your brother Israel: You are familiar with all the trouble we’ve run into. Our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived there a long time. The Egyptians viciously abused both us and our ancestors. But when we cried out for help to God, he heard our cry. He sent an angel and got us out of Egypt. And now here we are at Kadesh, a town at the border of your land.
17 “Will you give us permission to cut across your land? We won’t trespass through your fields or orchards and we won’t drink out of your wells; we’ll keep to the main road, the King’s Road, straying neither right nor left until we’ve crossed your border.”
18 The king of Edom answered, “Not on your life. If you so much as set a foot on my land, I’ll kill you.”
19 The People of Israel said, “Look, we’ll stay on the main road. If we or our animals drink any water, we’ll pay you for it. We’re harmless—just a company of footsore travelers.”
20-21 He answered again: “No. You may not come through.” And Edom came out and blocked the way with a crowd of people brandishing weapons. Edom refused to let them cross through his land. So Israel had to detour around him.
Camp Hor
22 The People of Israel, the entire company, set out from Kadesh and traveled to Mount Hor.
23-26 God said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor at the border of Edom, “It’s time for Aaron to be gathered into the company of his ancestors. He will not enter the land I am giving to the People of Israel because you both rebelled against my orders at the Waters of Meribah. So take Aaron and his son Eleazar and lead them up Mount Hor. Remove Aaron’s clothes from him and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered there; Aaron will die.”
27-29 Moses obeyed God’s command. They climbed Mount Hor as the whole congregation watched. Moses took off Aaron’s clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron died on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. The whole congregation, getting the news that Aaron had died, went into thirty days of mourning for him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 01, 2018
Read: Psalm 46
A Song of the Sons of Korah
1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
INSIGHT
Psalm 46 has been a source of encouragement to many over the years—including reformer Martin Luther. In fact, he based the classic hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” on this psalm. During times of struggle “when terribly discouraged, he would turn to his co-worker, Philipp Melanchthon, and say, ‘Come, Philipp, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm’” (Ligonier Ministries, Luther and the Psalms: His Solace and Strength).
This mighty fortress describes the God of strength who is our refuge. And He is also the God who calls us to find our rest in Him. In the New Testament, Jesus personalized that rest when He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In the midst of the cares and despairs of life, we can stop, be still, and find refuge in God. - Bill Crowder
Stop
By Elisa Morgan
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
My friend and I sat in the sand, near the ever-rhythmic ocean. As the sun sank in the distance, wave after wave curled, paused and then rippled toward our extended toes, stopping just short each time. “I love the ocean,” she smiled. “It moves so I don’t have to.”
What a thought! So many of us struggle to stop. We do, do, do and go, go, go, somehow afraid that if we cease our efforts we will cease to be. Or that by stopping we will expose ourselves to the ever-present realities we work to keep at bay.
In Psalm 46:8–9, God flexes His omnipotent muscles, putting His power on display. “Come and see what the Lord has done . . . . He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” God is a busy God, who works to create calm within the chaos of our days.
And then in verse 10 we read, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Of course it’s possible to know God while running here and there. But the psalmist’s invitation to cease striving beckons us into a different kind of knowing. A knowing that we can stop—and still be—because God never stops. A knowing that it is God’s power that gives us ultimate value, protection, and peace.
Dear God, help me to find my rest in You.
We rest well when we’re in the loving arms and perfect will of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 01, 2018
The Staggering Question
He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" —Ezekiel 37:3
Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.
“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves…” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 01, 2018
Grabbing the Golden Moment - #8190
Over the years, my wife missed some memorable photographs because of me. Well, frankly because I was in too much of a hurry to stop. I'll tell you what, what a gift as a photographer this lady had! What an eye for what was going to turn out to be a memorable picture. So, we'd be speeding along. She'd see one of those potential pictures and ask me to stop. Okay, here comes my all-too-frequent answer: "We'll stop later." OK, I'm a guy. Well, somehow the same picture isn't there a few minutes later. I remember this one scene; we saw this cabin in a field and it was haloed with this beautiful rainbow. That scene just wasn't there a few minutes later. It's amazing how there's this brief window during which you can capture the scene and, well, then it's gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Grabbing The Golden Moment."
Now in our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is actually describing a window of opportunity that's easy to miss. It's an exciting scene, but you have to capture it when the moment's there. It's in John 9:4. Jesus says this. "As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. Night is coming when no one can work." He's describing what I'll call the "work of God window"--this brief spiritual opening during which you can accomplish an important spiritual objective. Then, just like those photo opportunities we've missed, the golden moment is gone.
There is a special timing in God's work, and we need to be able to see what time it is in our lives and in the lives of other people, and then we have to respond quickly and accordingly. When the window opens, when God's moving, it's time to drop everything and work like mad and follow Him in the direction He's going.
This "work of God window" might be, for example, a teachable moment that suddenly arises in the life of a friend of yours or maybe a family member, maybe one of your children, your grandchildren. Now we usually want to teach when we feel like teaching, but no, it doesn't work that way. We have to seize the natural opening when it arises. It might be that someone who has been closed to spiritual things is suddenly feeling the need for what you have to share. Would you drop your scheduled agenda and seize the moment!
These ministry windows, they come in the lives of individuals, they come in the life of a church, they come in the life of a Christian ministry...in the life of a family. It's this unexpected, unscheduled season of opportunity. Ready or not, grab it while it's day. If you're rigid, if you're inflexible, if you just stick to your original plan, if you're just too busy, you'll miss this moment. You might find that your circle of friends is, for just a short time, suddenly open to hearing
God's perspective on something. Or maybe it's the people you live with or work with, or maybe your family. God might be moving you toward a place of greater usefulness for Him. That's exciting! You weren't expecting this, but take this opportunity. God may open up a natural opportunity today for you to speak to someone about the love of Jesus Christ that has changed your life. An "interruption" may actually be a God-given chance to really minister to someone's life in a moment of deep need. When God opens that door, opens that window, says "Go", go.
See, our mission is to wake up in the morning and begin looking for the ministry window that that day may hold. "This is the day the Lord has made." When God opens up a spiritual opportunity, don't be all rigid and just keep speeding along, unwilling to change. Respond, even if it means changing your plans. And work hard till it's dark, because this picture may never look like this again--and it won't look like this for long. So, man, grab this golden moment!
Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you! God custom-designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment—“to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15).
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Did the apostle Paul say, The Spirit has given some of us?…or a few of us? No! “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.”
You don’t have to do everything! You are not God’s solution to society, but you are a solution in society. Don’t worry about the skills you don’t have. Don’t covet the strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness—to God’s glory!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Numbers 20
Camp Kadesh
In the first month, the entire company of the People of Israel arrived in the Wilderness of Zin. The people stayed in Kadesh.
Miriam died there, and she was buried.
2-5 There was no water there for the community, so they ganged up on Moses and Aaron. They attacked Moses: “We wish we’d died when the rest of our brothers died before God. Why did you haul this congregation of God out here into this wilderness to die, people and cattle alike? And why did you take us out of Egypt in the first place, dragging us into this miserable country? No grain, no figs, no grapevines, no pomegranates—and now not even any water!”
6 Moses and Aaron walked from the assembled congregation to the Tent of Meeting and threw themselves facedown on the ground. And they saw the Glory of God.
7-8 God spoke to Moses: “Take the staff. Assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to that rock that’s right in front of them and it will give water. You will bring water out of the rock for them; congregation and cattle will both drink.”
9-10 Moses took the staff away from God’s presence, as commanded. He and Aaron rounded up the whole congregation in front of the rock. Moses spoke: “Listen, rebels! Do we have to bring water out of this rock for you?”
11 With that Moses raised his arm and slammed his staff against the rock—once, twice. Water poured out. Congregation and cattle drank.
12 God said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t trust me, didn’t treat me with holy reverence in front of the People of Israel, you two aren’t going to lead this company into the land that I am giving them.”
13 These were the Waters of Meribah (Bickering) where the People of Israel bickered with God, and he revealed himself as holy.
14-16 Moses sent emissaries from Kadesh to the king of Edom with this message: “A message from your brother Israel: You are familiar with all the trouble we’ve run into. Our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived there a long time. The Egyptians viciously abused both us and our ancestors. But when we cried out for help to God, he heard our cry. He sent an angel and got us out of Egypt. And now here we are at Kadesh, a town at the border of your land.
17 “Will you give us permission to cut across your land? We won’t trespass through your fields or orchards and we won’t drink out of your wells; we’ll keep to the main road, the King’s Road, straying neither right nor left until we’ve crossed your border.”
18 The king of Edom answered, “Not on your life. If you so much as set a foot on my land, I’ll kill you.”
19 The People of Israel said, “Look, we’ll stay on the main road. If we or our animals drink any water, we’ll pay you for it. We’re harmless—just a company of footsore travelers.”
20-21 He answered again: “No. You may not come through.” And Edom came out and blocked the way with a crowd of people brandishing weapons. Edom refused to let them cross through his land. So Israel had to detour around him.
Camp Hor
22 The People of Israel, the entire company, set out from Kadesh and traveled to Mount Hor.
23-26 God said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor at the border of Edom, “It’s time for Aaron to be gathered into the company of his ancestors. He will not enter the land I am giving to the People of Israel because you both rebelled against my orders at the Waters of Meribah. So take Aaron and his son Eleazar and lead them up Mount Hor. Remove Aaron’s clothes from him and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered there; Aaron will die.”
27-29 Moses obeyed God’s command. They climbed Mount Hor as the whole congregation watched. Moses took off Aaron’s clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron died on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. The whole congregation, getting the news that Aaron had died, went into thirty days of mourning for him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 01, 2018
Read: Psalm 46
A Song of the Sons of Korah
1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
INSIGHT
Psalm 46 has been a source of encouragement to many over the years—including reformer Martin Luther. In fact, he based the classic hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” on this psalm. During times of struggle “when terribly discouraged, he would turn to his co-worker, Philipp Melanchthon, and say, ‘Come, Philipp, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm’” (Ligonier Ministries, Luther and the Psalms: His Solace and Strength).
This mighty fortress describes the God of strength who is our refuge. And He is also the God who calls us to find our rest in Him. In the New Testament, Jesus personalized that rest when He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In the midst of the cares and despairs of life, we can stop, be still, and find refuge in God. - Bill Crowder
Stop
By Elisa Morgan
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
My friend and I sat in the sand, near the ever-rhythmic ocean. As the sun sank in the distance, wave after wave curled, paused and then rippled toward our extended toes, stopping just short each time. “I love the ocean,” she smiled. “It moves so I don’t have to.”
What a thought! So many of us struggle to stop. We do, do, do and go, go, go, somehow afraid that if we cease our efforts we will cease to be. Or that by stopping we will expose ourselves to the ever-present realities we work to keep at bay.
In Psalm 46:8–9, God flexes His omnipotent muscles, putting His power on display. “Come and see what the Lord has done . . . . He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” God is a busy God, who works to create calm within the chaos of our days.
And then in verse 10 we read, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Of course it’s possible to know God while running here and there. But the psalmist’s invitation to cease striving beckons us into a different kind of knowing. A knowing that we can stop—and still be—because God never stops. A knowing that it is God’s power that gives us ultimate value, protection, and peace.
Dear God, help me to find my rest in You.
We rest well when we’re in the loving arms and perfect will of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 01, 2018
The Staggering Question
He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" —Ezekiel 37:3
Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.
“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves…” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 01, 2018
Grabbing the Golden Moment - #8190
Over the years, my wife missed some memorable photographs because of me. Well, frankly because I was in too much of a hurry to stop. I'll tell you what, what a gift as a photographer this lady had! What an eye for what was going to turn out to be a memorable picture. So, we'd be speeding along. She'd see one of those potential pictures and ask me to stop. Okay, here comes my all-too-frequent answer: "We'll stop later." OK, I'm a guy. Well, somehow the same picture isn't there a few minutes later. I remember this one scene; we saw this cabin in a field and it was haloed with this beautiful rainbow. That scene just wasn't there a few minutes later. It's amazing how there's this brief window during which you can capture the scene and, well, then it's gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Grabbing The Golden Moment."
Now in our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is actually describing a window of opportunity that's easy to miss. It's an exciting scene, but you have to capture it when the moment's there. It's in John 9:4. Jesus says this. "As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. Night is coming when no one can work." He's describing what I'll call the "work of God window"--this brief spiritual opening during which you can accomplish an important spiritual objective. Then, just like those photo opportunities we've missed, the golden moment is gone.
There is a special timing in God's work, and we need to be able to see what time it is in our lives and in the lives of other people, and then we have to respond quickly and accordingly. When the window opens, when God's moving, it's time to drop everything and work like mad and follow Him in the direction He's going.
This "work of God window" might be, for example, a teachable moment that suddenly arises in the life of a friend of yours or maybe a family member, maybe one of your children, your grandchildren. Now we usually want to teach when we feel like teaching, but no, it doesn't work that way. We have to seize the natural opening when it arises. It might be that someone who has been closed to spiritual things is suddenly feeling the need for what you have to share. Would you drop your scheduled agenda and seize the moment!
These ministry windows, they come in the lives of individuals, they come in the life of a church, they come in the life of a Christian ministry...in the life of a family. It's this unexpected, unscheduled season of opportunity. Ready or not, grab it while it's day. If you're rigid, if you're inflexible, if you just stick to your original plan, if you're just too busy, you'll miss this moment. You might find that your circle of friends is, for just a short time, suddenly open to hearing
God's perspective on something. Or maybe it's the people you live with or work with, or maybe your family. God might be moving you toward a place of greater usefulness for Him. That's exciting! You weren't expecting this, but take this opportunity. God may open up a natural opportunity today for you to speak to someone about the love of Jesus Christ that has changed your life. An "interruption" may actually be a God-given chance to really minister to someone's life in a moment of deep need. When God opens that door, opens that window, says "Go", go.
See, our mission is to wake up in the morning and begin looking for the ministry window that that day may hold. "This is the day the Lord has made." When God opens up a spiritual opportunity, don't be all rigid and just keep speeding along, unwilling to change. Respond, even if it means changing your plans. And work hard till it's dark, because this picture may never look like this again--and it won't look like this for long. So, man, grab this golden moment!
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Mark 15:1-30, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS - May 31, 2018
God has clothed us. He protects us with a cloak of love. Wouldn’t you love to do the same for him? Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me” (Matthew 25:36-40).
Have you ever heard anyone gossip about someone you know? Well, I heard that she. . . Oh, but didn’t you know that she. . . or Let me tell you what a friend told me about him. . .” Then all of a sudden it’s your turn. Everybody is picking your friend apart. What have you to say? Here is what loves says: Love says nothing. Love stays silent. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8). If love says anything, love speaks words of defense; words of kindness; and words of protection. Do you know anyone who could use some protection? Of course you do.
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Mark 15:1-30
Standing Before Pilate
15 At dawn’s first light, the high priests, with the religious leaders and scholars, arranged a conference with the entire Jewish Council. After tying Jesus securely, they took him out and presented him to Pilate.
2-3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”
He answered, “If you say so.” The high priests let loose a barrage of accusations.
4-5 Pilate asked again, “Aren’t you going to answer anything? That’s quite a list of accusations.” Still, he said nothing. Pilate was impressed, really impressed.
6-10 It was a custom at the Feast to release a prisoner, anyone the people asked for. There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. As the crowd came up and began to present its petition for him to release a prisoner, Pilate anticipated them: “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” Pilate knew by this time that it was through sheer spite that the high priests had turned Jesus over to him.
11-12 But the high priests by then had worked up the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. Pilate came back, “So what do I do with this man you call King of the Jews?”
13 They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”
14 Pilate objected, “But for what crime?”
But they yelled all the louder, “Nail him to a cross!”
15 Pilate gave the crowd what it wanted, set Barabbas free and turned Jesus over for whipping and crucifixion.
16-20 The soldiers took Jesus into the palace (called Praetorium) and called together the entire brigade. They dressed him up in purple and put a crown plaited from a thornbush on his head. Then they began their mockery: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” They banged on his head with a club, spit on him, and knelt down in mock worship. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they marched out to nail him to the cross.
The Crucifixion
21 There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.
22-24 The soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning “Skull Hill.” They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn’t take it. And they nailed him to the cross. They divided up his clothes and threw dice to see who would get them.
25-30 They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was printed on a poster. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Read: Matthew 27:32–50
Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it.
35-40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they whiled away the time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
41-44 The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.
45-46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around midafternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
47-49 Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”
50 But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.
Interrupted Fellowship
By Dave Branon
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46
The loud, sorrowful cry pierced the dark afternoon air. I imagine it drowning out the sound of mourning from friends and loved ones gathered at Jesus’s feet. It must have overwhelmed the moans of the dying criminals who flanked Jesus on both sides. And surely startled all who heard it.
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” Jesus cried out in agony and in utter despondency as He hung on that cross of shame on Golgotha (Matthew 27:45–46).
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“My God,” He said, “my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I cannot think of more heart-wrenching words. Since eternity, Jesus had been in perfect fellowship with God the Father. Together they had created the universe, had fashioned mankind in their image, and planned salvation. Never in the eons past had they not been in total fellowship with each other.
And now, as the anguish of the cross continued to bring devastating pain on Jesus—He for the first time lost the awareness of God’s presence as He carried the burden of the sins of the world.
It was the only way. Only through this time of interrupted fellowship could our salvation be provided for. And it was only because Jesus was willing to experience this sense of being forsaken on the cross that we humans can gain fellowship with God.
Thank You, Jesus, for experiencing such pain so we could be forgiven.
Jesus, we again stand in awe at Your sacrifice. We kneel in Your presence and with gratitude acknowledge what You did for us on the cross. Thank You for making it possible to have fellowship with the Father forever.
The cross reveals God’s heart for the lost.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Put God First
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “…tarry…until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Your "Welcome Home" - #8189
Some longtime friends dropped by for a visit and they told us a moving story of what had happened to their son. Tom had been a missionary pilot in Mexico - one of those spiritual heroes, I think, who take the Gospel and God's help to places where it could otherwise never go, including a mountain village in Mexico where the pilots have been God's instruments to launch a mighty work for Christ. And then came the crash. With three missionary pilots and several passengers aboard, a defect in their plane's almost new engine caused a terrible crash. Tom was one of those who survived that crash that could very well have killed everyone. The villagers who loved them actually traveled hours to reach them and rescue them. Tom's body was really badly shattered, and his recovery was long, grueling. But then he was flown back to the area where he ministered. His parents really choked up, and so did we, when they told us what happened as he got off the plane. There to greet him was a crowd of cheering Mexican friends. And they were holding a banner that simply said "Welcome home, Captain Tom!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your 'Welcome Home.'"
I'm hoping you and I can get a "welcome home" like that in heaven someday. It all depends on what we live for in the years until we get home.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Paul clearly lays out what matters most to him about the legacy of his life. In 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, he writes these words to the people that he's invested his life in spiritually: "What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy." Paul is looking forward to getting to heaven and seeing a lot of people that he touched for eternity. That's the welcoming party he's living for.
Basically, Paul says there are two things that matter in life: the Savior you serve and the lives you touch. That's your reward for the years you spend on this planet, that's your legacy, that's your joy. Well, at least it's supposed to be.
It's possible that your life's priorities have gotten a little inverted by the pressures and the people and the problems that tend to fill up your life. You've been taken over by a truckload of earth-stuff. One friend of mine summed it up pretty well the other day. When someone asked him if he's ever played Trivial Pursuit, he said, "Every day." He wasn't talking about the game. He's talking about his life.
Just hearing about Pilot Tom's "welcome home" was an important values-clarification reminder. If you've become consumed and sidetracked with a lot of stuff that's non-eternal, maybe it's time to get with Jesus and replace your agenda with His agenda to "seek first His kingdom" (Matthew 6:33).
And if you're a little weary or discouraged in your faithful service for Jesus, I hope you'll be encouraged by the thought of the reward you're building, the legacy you're developing and the lives that have been touched by your sacrifices who will be thanking you forever. The people you've risked to take to heaven with you will be there, humanly speaking, because you cared. The lives that have been touched by the ministries you've given to will, in the Bible's words, be "credited to your account" (Philippians 4:17).
All that really matters is what's going to meet you when you get to heaven. First, your Savior who will welcome you with the words you have lived for, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And the people your life in Christ has touched for eternity. Who knows, maybe they'll be holding a banner with your name on it that says, "Welcome home!"
God has clothed us. He protects us with a cloak of love. Wouldn’t you love to do the same for him? Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me” (Matthew 25:36-40).
Have you ever heard anyone gossip about someone you know? Well, I heard that she. . . Oh, but didn’t you know that she. . . or Let me tell you what a friend told me about him. . .” Then all of a sudden it’s your turn. Everybody is picking your friend apart. What have you to say? Here is what loves says: Love says nothing. Love stays silent. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8). If love says anything, love speaks words of defense; words of kindness; and words of protection. Do you know anyone who could use some protection? Of course you do.
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Mark 15:1-30
Standing Before Pilate
15 At dawn’s first light, the high priests, with the religious leaders and scholars, arranged a conference with the entire Jewish Council. After tying Jesus securely, they took him out and presented him to Pilate.
2-3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”
He answered, “If you say so.” The high priests let loose a barrage of accusations.
4-5 Pilate asked again, “Aren’t you going to answer anything? That’s quite a list of accusations.” Still, he said nothing. Pilate was impressed, really impressed.
6-10 It was a custom at the Feast to release a prisoner, anyone the people asked for. There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. As the crowd came up and began to present its petition for him to release a prisoner, Pilate anticipated them: “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” Pilate knew by this time that it was through sheer spite that the high priests had turned Jesus over to him.
11-12 But the high priests by then had worked up the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. Pilate came back, “So what do I do with this man you call King of the Jews?”
13 They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”
14 Pilate objected, “But for what crime?”
But they yelled all the louder, “Nail him to a cross!”
15 Pilate gave the crowd what it wanted, set Barabbas free and turned Jesus over for whipping and crucifixion.
16-20 The soldiers took Jesus into the palace (called Praetorium) and called together the entire brigade. They dressed him up in purple and put a crown plaited from a thornbush on his head. Then they began their mockery: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” They banged on his head with a club, spit on him, and knelt down in mock worship. After they had had their fun, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then they marched out to nail him to the cross.
The Crucifixion
21 There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.
22-24 The soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning “Skull Hill.” They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn’t take it. And they nailed him to the cross. They divided up his clothes and threw dice to see who would get them.
25-30 They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—the king of the jews—was printed on a poster. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Read: Matthew 27:32–50
Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it.
35-40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they whiled away the time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
41-44 The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.
45-46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around midafternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
47-49 Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”
50 But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.
Interrupted Fellowship
By Dave Branon
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46
The loud, sorrowful cry pierced the dark afternoon air. I imagine it drowning out the sound of mourning from friends and loved ones gathered at Jesus’s feet. It must have overwhelmed the moans of the dying criminals who flanked Jesus on both sides. And surely startled all who heard it.
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” Jesus cried out in agony and in utter despondency as He hung on that cross of shame on Golgotha (Matthew 27:45–46).
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“My God,” He said, “my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I cannot think of more heart-wrenching words. Since eternity, Jesus had been in perfect fellowship with God the Father. Together they had created the universe, had fashioned mankind in their image, and planned salvation. Never in the eons past had they not been in total fellowship with each other.
And now, as the anguish of the cross continued to bring devastating pain on Jesus—He for the first time lost the awareness of God’s presence as He carried the burden of the sins of the world.
It was the only way. Only through this time of interrupted fellowship could our salvation be provided for. And it was only because Jesus was willing to experience this sense of being forsaken on the cross that we humans can gain fellowship with God.
Thank You, Jesus, for experiencing such pain so we could be forgiven.
Jesus, we again stand in awe at Your sacrifice. We kneel in Your presence and with gratitude acknowledge what You did for us on the cross. Thank You for making it possible to have fellowship with the Father forever.
The cross reveals God’s heart for the lost.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Put God First
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “…tarry…until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Your "Welcome Home" - #8189
Some longtime friends dropped by for a visit and they told us a moving story of what had happened to their son. Tom had been a missionary pilot in Mexico - one of those spiritual heroes, I think, who take the Gospel and God's help to places where it could otherwise never go, including a mountain village in Mexico where the pilots have been God's instruments to launch a mighty work for Christ. And then came the crash. With three missionary pilots and several passengers aboard, a defect in their plane's almost new engine caused a terrible crash. Tom was one of those who survived that crash that could very well have killed everyone. The villagers who loved them actually traveled hours to reach them and rescue them. Tom's body was really badly shattered, and his recovery was long, grueling. But then he was flown back to the area where he ministered. His parents really choked up, and so did we, when they told us what happened as he got off the plane. There to greet him was a crowd of cheering Mexican friends. And they were holding a banner that simply said "Welcome home, Captain Tom!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your 'Welcome Home.'"
I'm hoping you and I can get a "welcome home" like that in heaven someday. It all depends on what we live for in the years until we get home.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Paul clearly lays out what matters most to him about the legacy of his life. In 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, he writes these words to the people that he's invested his life in spiritually: "What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy." Paul is looking forward to getting to heaven and seeing a lot of people that he touched for eternity. That's the welcoming party he's living for.
Basically, Paul says there are two things that matter in life: the Savior you serve and the lives you touch. That's your reward for the years you spend on this planet, that's your legacy, that's your joy. Well, at least it's supposed to be.
It's possible that your life's priorities have gotten a little inverted by the pressures and the people and the problems that tend to fill up your life. You've been taken over by a truckload of earth-stuff. One friend of mine summed it up pretty well the other day. When someone asked him if he's ever played Trivial Pursuit, he said, "Every day." He wasn't talking about the game. He's talking about his life.
Just hearing about Pilot Tom's "welcome home" was an important values-clarification reminder. If you've become consumed and sidetracked with a lot of stuff that's non-eternal, maybe it's time to get with Jesus and replace your agenda with His agenda to "seek first His kingdom" (Matthew 6:33).
And if you're a little weary or discouraged in your faithful service for Jesus, I hope you'll be encouraged by the thought of the reward you're building, the legacy you're developing and the lives that have been touched by your sacrifices who will be thanking you forever. The people you've risked to take to heaven with you will be there, humanly speaking, because you cared. The lives that have been touched by the ministries you've given to will, in the Bible's words, be "credited to your account" (Philippians 4:17).
All that really matters is what's going to meet you when you get to heaven. First, your Savior who will welcome you with the words you have lived for, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And the people your life in Christ has touched for eternity. Who knows, maybe they'll be holding a banner with your name on it that says, "Welcome home!"
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Numbers 19 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S CLOAK OF LOVE - May 30, 2018
Love always protects! (1 Corinthians 13:6-7). We hide; God seeks. We bring sin; He brings a sacrifice. We try figs; He brings the robe of righteousness. And we are left to sing the song of the prophet, “He has covered me with clothes of salvation and wrapped me with a coat of goodness, like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding, like a bride dressed in jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).
Do you own a cloak of love? Do you know anyone who needs one? When you cover someone with concern, you are fulfilling what Paul had in mind when he wrote the phrase, “love—always protects.” A root meaning of the word is “to cover or conceal.” Protect conveys the ideas of covering with a cloak of love; covered with encouragement; covered with tenderhearted care. Ever thought of your Creator as a clothier? He has given you your finest cloak of love!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 19
The Red Cow
1-4 God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness. Present it to Eleazar the priest, then take it outside the camp and butcher it while he looks on. Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting.
5-8 “Then under Eleazar’s supervision burn the cow, the whole thing—hide, meat, blood, even its dung. The priest then will take a stick of cedar, some sprigs of hyssop, and a piece of scarlet material and throw them on the burning cow. Afterwards the priest must wash his clothes and bathe well with water. He can then come into the camp but he remains ritually unclean until evening. The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe with water. He also is unclean until evening.
9 “Then a man who is ritually clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a ritually clean place outside the camp. The congregation of Israel will keep them to use in the Water-of-Cleansing, an Absolution-Offering.
10 “The man who gathered up the ashes must scrub his clothes; he is ritually unclean until evening. This is to be a standing rule for both native-born Israelites and foreigners living among them.
11-13 “Anyone who touches a dead body is ritually unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the Water-of-Cleansing on the third day; on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he doesn’t follow the procedures for the third and seventh days, he won’t be clean. Anyone who touches the dead body of anyone and doesn’t get cleansed desecrates God’s Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.
14-15 “This is the rule for someone who dies in his tent: Anyone who enters the tent or is already in the tent is ritually unclean for seven days, and every open container without a lid is unclean.
16-21 “Anyone out in the open field who touches a corpse, whether dead from violent or natural causes, or a human bone or a grave is unclean for seven days. For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl. Find a ritually clean man to dip a sprig of hyssop into the water and sprinkle the tent and all its furnishings, the persons who were in the tent, the one who touched the bones of the person who was killed or died a natural death, and whoever may have touched a grave. Then he is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he is considered cleansed. The cleansed person must then scrub his clothes and take a bath; by evening he is clean. But if an unclean person does not go through these cleansing procedures, he must be excommunicated from the community; he has desecrated the Sanctuary of God. The Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him and he is ritually unclean. This is the standing rule for these cases.
“The man who sprinkles the Water-of-Cleansing has to scrub his clothes; anyone else who touched the Water-of-Cleansing is also ritually unclean until evening.
22 “Anything the ritually unclean man touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches what he touched is unclean until evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Read: Romans 8:22–27
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
INSIGHT
Some of the New Testament’s most important teaching on the Holy Spirit is found in Romans 8. The Spirit is mentioned 21 times in the first 27 verses, with activities ranging from indwelling the lives of followers of Jesus (v. 9), giving us assurance of our relationship with the Father (v. 16), and helping us as we pray (as seen in today’s devotional; vv. 26–27). What a rich and wonderful gift we have received in the Holy Spirit! May we, as Paul says, “not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). - Bill Crowder
When Words Fail
By James Banks
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22
Not long ago I sent my wife, Cari, a text message using only voice prompts. I was on my way out the door to give her a ride home from work and intended to send the words, “Where would you like me to pick you up, old gal?”
Cari doesn’t mind my calling her “old gal”—it’s one of the affectionate nicknames we use around the house. But my cell phone didn’t “understand” the phrase, and sent the words “old cow” instead.
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Fortunately for me, Cari immediately understood what had happened and found it funny. She later posted my text message on social media and asked, “Should I be offended?” We were both able to laugh about it.
My wife’s loving response to my awkward words that day makes me think about God’s loving understanding of our prayers. We may not know what to say when we pray or even what to ask for, but when we belong to Christ, His Spirit within “intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26) and lovingly helps us articulate our deepest needs before Him.
Our heavenly Father doesn’t stand at a distance waiting for us to get our words right. We can come to Him with every need, assured that He understands and receives us with love.
Abba, Father, thank You that I can come to You without fear of having to get my words just right. Help me to keep company with You today.
God’s love is beyond words.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Yes—But…!
Lord, I will follow You, but... —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
When The Tapestry is Unraveling - #8188
I hope I don't have to be an expert on a subject to talk about it-in this case, weaving a tapestry. Actually, a lady who served as our receptionist was a very "crafty" type woman, and that includes making some beautiful tapestries. She taught me something about this kind of artwork-that it likes to unravel. All those threads that she so skillfully weaves into a creative pattern have this natural tendency to unravel, thus destroying the design she's worked so hard on. But how do you keep it together? Well, she says you put this frame around the tapestry, and with everything held together by the frame, you can keep weaving the tapestry without it unraveling.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When The Tapestry is Unraveling."
God's been weaving you into one of His tapestries-your family, your church - that's tapestries that He does - maybe the people you minister with, or your network of Christian relationships. He's weaving a tapestry. The threads in God's masterpiece are His children, who like threads are in any tapestry, they're very different from one another. People who are mostly head, people who are mostly heart, soft people, rough people, outspoken people, soft-spoken people, compliant folks, controlling folks. You probably have some names that go with those, huh?
In Ephesians, God describes His family as a healthy body, "joined and held together by every supporting ligament," a body that "grows and builds itself up in love" (Ephesians 4:16). We're supposed to be held together in love and harmony. But, like a tapestry, there's this tendency to unravel. Which may be what's happening with the tapestry you're part of. There's strain, tension, misunderstanding, criticism, negativity, backbiting or backstabbing, unrest, trash talk. Maybe there's growing resentments, or little cliques or power blocks, or walls developing between people.
God knows we tend to unravel from each other. That's why He gives us a framework for keeping the tapestry together, and it's in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 4:2-3. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That "make every effort" word actually in the Greek is the verb from which we get our word energy - "put a lot of energy into staying unified."
If the tapestry of believers around you seems to be unraveling a little bit, would you be the one who does whatever it takes to stop that unraveling? You might need to be the peacemaker, or maybe the confronter of what's causing the problem, or maybe you need to play the role of the forgiver who allows a healing process to begin.
If you're harboring any anger or resentment, if you're nursing a grievance, if you're allowing distance or harshness to develop, then you are part of the unraveling of the tapestry that God has so carefully woven together. To keep the tapestry together, you need to be that person who is "completely humble and gentle...patient, bearing with one another in love."
Allow no walls to develop and no wounds to go untreated. Aggressively try to keep everyone's eyes on Jesus. He's the frame who holds us together forever. We've all been to the same cross to have our sins forgiven. We're all indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. We'll all be together in the same heaven forever. We all bow at the same name, the name of Jesus.
Jesus has worked hard to weave the tapestry you're part of. He's spent an awful lot on it. Please, don't be a part of letting it unravel.
Love always protects! (1 Corinthians 13:6-7). We hide; God seeks. We bring sin; He brings a sacrifice. We try figs; He brings the robe of righteousness. And we are left to sing the song of the prophet, “He has covered me with clothes of salvation and wrapped me with a coat of goodness, like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding, like a bride dressed in jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).
Do you own a cloak of love? Do you know anyone who needs one? When you cover someone with concern, you are fulfilling what Paul had in mind when he wrote the phrase, “love—always protects.” A root meaning of the word is “to cover or conceal.” Protect conveys the ideas of covering with a cloak of love; covered with encouragement; covered with tenderhearted care. Ever thought of your Creator as a clothier? He has given you your finest cloak of love!
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 19
The Red Cow
1-4 God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness. Present it to Eleazar the priest, then take it outside the camp and butcher it while he looks on. Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting.
5-8 “Then under Eleazar’s supervision burn the cow, the whole thing—hide, meat, blood, even its dung. The priest then will take a stick of cedar, some sprigs of hyssop, and a piece of scarlet material and throw them on the burning cow. Afterwards the priest must wash his clothes and bathe well with water. He can then come into the camp but he remains ritually unclean until evening. The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe with water. He also is unclean until evening.
9 “Then a man who is ritually clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a ritually clean place outside the camp. The congregation of Israel will keep them to use in the Water-of-Cleansing, an Absolution-Offering.
10 “The man who gathered up the ashes must scrub his clothes; he is ritually unclean until evening. This is to be a standing rule for both native-born Israelites and foreigners living among them.
11-13 “Anyone who touches a dead body is ritually unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the Water-of-Cleansing on the third day; on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he doesn’t follow the procedures for the third and seventh days, he won’t be clean. Anyone who touches the dead body of anyone and doesn’t get cleansed desecrates God’s Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.
14-15 “This is the rule for someone who dies in his tent: Anyone who enters the tent or is already in the tent is ritually unclean for seven days, and every open container without a lid is unclean.
16-21 “Anyone out in the open field who touches a corpse, whether dead from violent or natural causes, or a human bone or a grave is unclean for seven days. For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl. Find a ritually clean man to dip a sprig of hyssop into the water and sprinkle the tent and all its furnishings, the persons who were in the tent, the one who touched the bones of the person who was killed or died a natural death, and whoever may have touched a grave. Then he is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he is considered cleansed. The cleansed person must then scrub his clothes and take a bath; by evening he is clean. But if an unclean person does not go through these cleansing procedures, he must be excommunicated from the community; he has desecrated the Sanctuary of God. The Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him and he is ritually unclean. This is the standing rule for these cases.
“The man who sprinkles the Water-of-Cleansing has to scrub his clothes; anyone else who touched the Water-of-Cleansing is also ritually unclean until evening.
22 “Anything the ritually unclean man touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches what he touched is unclean until evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Read: Romans 8:22–27
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
INSIGHT
Some of the New Testament’s most important teaching on the Holy Spirit is found in Romans 8. The Spirit is mentioned 21 times in the first 27 verses, with activities ranging from indwelling the lives of followers of Jesus (v. 9), giving us assurance of our relationship with the Father (v. 16), and helping us as we pray (as seen in today’s devotional; vv. 26–27). What a rich and wonderful gift we have received in the Holy Spirit! May we, as Paul says, “not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). - Bill Crowder
When Words Fail
By James Banks
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22
Not long ago I sent my wife, Cari, a text message using only voice prompts. I was on my way out the door to give her a ride home from work and intended to send the words, “Where would you like me to pick you up, old gal?”
Cari doesn’t mind my calling her “old gal”—it’s one of the affectionate nicknames we use around the house. But my cell phone didn’t “understand” the phrase, and sent the words “old cow” instead.
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Fortunately for me, Cari immediately understood what had happened and found it funny. She later posted my text message on social media and asked, “Should I be offended?” We were both able to laugh about it.
My wife’s loving response to my awkward words that day makes me think about God’s loving understanding of our prayers. We may not know what to say when we pray or even what to ask for, but when we belong to Christ, His Spirit within “intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26) and lovingly helps us articulate our deepest needs before Him.
Our heavenly Father doesn’t stand at a distance waiting for us to get our words right. We can come to Him with every need, assured that He understands and receives us with love.
Abba, Father, thank You that I can come to You without fear of having to get my words just right. Help me to keep company with You today.
God’s love is beyond words.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Yes—But…!
Lord, I will follow You, but... —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
When The Tapestry is Unraveling - #8188
I hope I don't have to be an expert on a subject to talk about it-in this case, weaving a tapestry. Actually, a lady who served as our receptionist was a very "crafty" type woman, and that includes making some beautiful tapestries. She taught me something about this kind of artwork-that it likes to unravel. All those threads that she so skillfully weaves into a creative pattern have this natural tendency to unravel, thus destroying the design she's worked so hard on. But how do you keep it together? Well, she says you put this frame around the tapestry, and with everything held together by the frame, you can keep weaving the tapestry without it unraveling.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When The Tapestry is Unraveling."
God's been weaving you into one of His tapestries-your family, your church - that's tapestries that He does - maybe the people you minister with, or your network of Christian relationships. He's weaving a tapestry. The threads in God's masterpiece are His children, who like threads are in any tapestry, they're very different from one another. People who are mostly head, people who are mostly heart, soft people, rough people, outspoken people, soft-spoken people, compliant folks, controlling folks. You probably have some names that go with those, huh?
In Ephesians, God describes His family as a healthy body, "joined and held together by every supporting ligament," a body that "grows and builds itself up in love" (Ephesians 4:16). We're supposed to be held together in love and harmony. But, like a tapestry, there's this tendency to unravel. Which may be what's happening with the tapestry you're part of. There's strain, tension, misunderstanding, criticism, negativity, backbiting or backstabbing, unrest, trash talk. Maybe there's growing resentments, or little cliques or power blocks, or walls developing between people.
God knows we tend to unravel from each other. That's why He gives us a framework for keeping the tapestry together, and it's in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 4:2-3. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That "make every effort" word actually in the Greek is the verb from which we get our word energy - "put a lot of energy into staying unified."
If the tapestry of believers around you seems to be unraveling a little bit, would you be the one who does whatever it takes to stop that unraveling? You might need to be the peacemaker, or maybe the confronter of what's causing the problem, or maybe you need to play the role of the forgiver who allows a healing process to begin.
If you're harboring any anger or resentment, if you're nursing a grievance, if you're allowing distance or harshness to develop, then you are part of the unraveling of the tapestry that God has so carefully woven together. To keep the tapestry together, you need to be that person who is "completely humble and gentle...patient, bearing with one another in love."
Allow no walls to develop and no wounds to go untreated. Aggressively try to keep everyone's eyes on Jesus. He's the frame who holds us together forever. We've all been to the same cross to have our sins forgiven. We're all indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. We'll all be together in the same heaven forever. We all bow at the same name, the name of Jesus.
Jesus has worked hard to weave the tapestry you're part of. He's spent an awful lot on it. Please, don't be a part of letting it unravel.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Numbers 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS BORE ALL THINGS - May 29, 2018
Wouldn’t it be great if love were like a cafeteria line? Endless options to pick and choose what we want. But it wouldn’t be love! Scripture says, “Love. . .bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
But how can we love those we find difficult to love? Such love isn’t easy. Not even for Jesus. “You people have no faith. How long must I put up with you?” (Mark 9:19). To know Jesus asked such a question reassures us. But to hear how he answered it will change us. How long? Long enough for every sin to soak in my sinless soul so that heaven will turn in horror until my swollen lips pronounce the final transaction– “It is finished.” How long? Until it kills me.
Jesus bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things. Every single one.
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 18
Duties in the Tent of Testimony
1-4 God said to Aaron, “You and your sons, along with your father’s family, are responsible for taking care of sins having to do with the Sanctuary; you and your sons are also responsible for sins involving the priesthood. So enlist your brothers of the tribe of Levi to join you and assist you and your sons in your duties in the Tent of Testimony. They will report to you as they go about their duties related to the Tent, but they must not have anything to do with the holy things of the Altar under penalty of death—both they and you will die! They are to work with you in taking care of the Tent of Meeting, whatever work is involved in the Tent. Outsiders are not allowed to help you.
5-7 “Your job is to take care of the Sanctuary and the Altar so that there will be no more outbreaks of anger on the People of Israel. I personally have picked your brothers, the Levites, from Israel as a whole. I’m giving them to you as a gift, a gift of God, to help with the work of the Tent of Meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests, working around the Altar and inside the curtain. The work of the priesthood is my exclusive gift to you; it cannot be delegated—anyone else who invades the Sanctuary will be executed.”
8-10 God spoke to Aaron, “I am personally putting you in charge of my contributions, all the holy gifts I get from the People of Israel. I am turning them over to you and your children for your personal use. This is the standing rule. You and your sons get what’s left from the offerings, whatever hasn’t been totally burned up on the Altar—the leftovers from Grain-Offerings, Absolution-Offerings, and Compensation-Offerings. Eat it reverently; it is most holy; every male may eat it. Treat it as holy.
11-13 “You also get the Wave-Offerings from the People of Israel. I present them to you and your sons and daughters as a gift. This is the standing rule. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it. I also give you all the best olive oil, the best new wine, and the grain that is offered to God as the firstfruits of their harvest—all the firstfruits they offer to God are yours. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it.
14-16 “You get every Totally-Devoted gift. Every firstborn that is offered to God, whether animal or person, is yours. Except you don’t get the firstborn itself, but its redemption price; firstborn humans and ritually clean animals are bought back and you get the redemption price. When the firstborn is a month old it must be redeemed at the redemption price of five shekels of silver, using the standard of the Sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.
17-19 “On the other hand, you don’t redeem a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat—they are holy. Instead splash their blood on the Altar and burn their fat as a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God. But you get the meat, just as you get the breast from the Wave-Offering and the right thigh. All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God, I’m turning over to you and your children. That’s the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God.”
20 God said to Aaron, “You won’t get any inheritance in land, not so much as a small plot of ground: I am your plot of ground, I am your inheritance among the People of Israel.
21-24 “I’m giving the Levites all the tithes of Israel as their pay for the work they do in the Tent of Meeting. Starting now, the rest of the People of Israel cannot wander in and out of the Tent of Meeting; they’ll be penalized for their sin and the penalty is death. It’s the Levites and only the Levites who are to work in the Tent of Meeting and they are responsible for anything that goes wrong. This is the regular rule for all time. They get no inheritance among the People of Israel; instead I turn over to them the tithes that the People of Israel present as an offering to God. That’s why I give the ruling: They are to receive no land-inheritance among the People of Israel.”
25-29 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Levites. Tell them, When you get the tithe from the People of Israel, the inheritance that I have assigned to you, you must tithe that tithe and present it as an offering to God. Your offerings will be treated the same as other people’s gifts of grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat. This is your procedure for making offerings to God from all the tithes you get from the People of Israel: give God’s portion from these tithes to Aaron the priest. Make sure that God’s portion is the best and holiest of everything you get.
30-32 “Tell the Levites, When you offer the best part, the rest will be treated the same as grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat that others give. You and your households are free to eat the rest of it anytime and anyplace—it’s your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. By offering the best part, you’ll avoid guilt, you won’t desecrate the holy offerings of the People of Israel, and you won’t die.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Read: Hebrews 11:8–16
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
13-16 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.
INSIGHT
Followers of Jesus wait for the day when we will be with Him—the fulfillment of what we’ve spent our lives pursuing. We rightfully yearn to be “home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The troubles we have in this life make our desire that much sharper and earnest. Today’s passage isn’t about forgetting the world we live in and thinking only of heaven; it’s about seeing our present life from the perspective of the life to come. Paul reminded us that our current troubles are not worth comparing to what is to come (Romans 8:18). - J.R. Hudberg
Gazing at the Horizon
By Keila Ochoa
We are looking for the city that is to come. Hebrews 13:14
Almost as soon as the ferryboat started to move, my little daughter said she felt ill. Seasickness had already begun to affect her. Soon I was feeling queasy myself. “Just stare at the horizon,” I reminded myself. Sailors say this helps to regain a sense of perspective.
The Maker of the horizon (Job 26:10) knows that sometimes in life we may become fearful and restless. We can regain perspective by focusing on the distant but steady point of our destiny.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
LEARN MORE»
The writer of Hebrews understood this. He sensed discouragement in his readers. Persecution had driven many of them from their homes. So he reminded them that other people of faith had endured extreme trials and had been left homeless. They endured it all because they anticipated something better.
As exiles, these readers could look forward to the city whose architect is God, the heavenly country, the city God prepared for them (Hebrews 11:10, 14, 16). So in his final exhortations, the writer asked his readers to focus on God’s promises. “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (13:14).
Our present troubles are temporary. We are “foreigners and strangers on earth” (11:13), but gazing at the horizon of God’s promises provides the point of reference we need.
Father, in the midst of troubles, help me to focus on Your promises.
Focus on God and regain perspective.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name…for the Father Himself loves you… —John 16:26-27
“In that day you will ask in My name…,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but— “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “…for the Father Himself loves you…”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“…whatever you ask the Father in My name…” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
“…He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation— to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name— in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “…whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
The Most Powerful Person In The Room - #8187
If you eat out occasionally, you know that servers can range from helpful to rude to attentive to invisible. I guess customers can, too. But some of the women on our staff were really impressed with the way this waiter went out of his way to take care of them. They went to a Mexican restaurant, and every time their salsa was about half gone, he would notice and he'd quickly bring more; same with the chips. When they asked for a special dressing for the chips, he made sure they had plenty all night long. Later, when they tried to put their leftovers in the plastic container, he said, "Oh, please, no. I'll do it. That's my job." Wow! You probably want to know where this restaurant is, right?He insisted on putting the containers in a bag for them. They were really impressed with his service. Then he brought the check with his name stamped on it, and they were blown away. It just said, "Thank you. Jesus." Well, "Thank you, Jesús."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Powerful Person In The Room."
Okay, the server's name was officially Jesus or Jesús. But his unselfish, "What can I do for you?" spirit, offered by a man with Jesus' name, said a lot to my friends. I don't know what his relationship is with Jesus, but he understands how one who bears His name should live.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 20:25, and it spells out the rare and radical lifestyle that should make a believer stand out as much as that waiter did that night. Jesus says, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."
The highest title in the kingdom of God is not chairman, or pastor, or president-it's servant. Because that's the role your Master chose, the Ruler of the galaxies, the Prince of glory, the One who washes dirty feet, touches those no one will touch, loves those who can ruin His reputation, lays down His life for those who have no use for Him.
Oh, but how we love to be served, to have things revolve around us-the conversation, the attention. How we tend to want people to meet our needs instead of living to meet the needs of others. Our nature, let's face it, is to be self-serving, especially at home with the people we should be serving most.
But Jesus proved over and over that the one who is there with a servant spirit is ultimately the most powerful person in the room. People listen to someone who's all about serving them. They confide in someone who's all about them. They trust them. They remember them. So at work where you have so much pressure, do people see you as that busy, self-absorbed co-worker, or the one person who makes them feel cared for, heard, noticed, important? When you're with your family, do you want them to revolve around you, or are you putting them first? At church, in your ministry, is it about promoting you or promoting others?
Years ago, during the "Touched By an Angel" series, I remember one episode. It showed one of the angels-in their human form, of course-washing the dirty feet of a very unsavory man. When he objected, she looked up at him with a pained expression and said, "I must do this. It helps me remember who I am." - a servant.
That's who you "am", too, if you bear the name of Christ-a Christ one, a Christian. You're a life signed by Jesus, and that means you do not "come to be served, but to serve."
Wouldn’t it be great if love were like a cafeteria line? Endless options to pick and choose what we want. But it wouldn’t be love! Scripture says, “Love. . .bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
But how can we love those we find difficult to love? Such love isn’t easy. Not even for Jesus. “You people have no faith. How long must I put up with you?” (Mark 9:19). To know Jesus asked such a question reassures us. But to hear how he answered it will change us. How long? Long enough for every sin to soak in my sinless soul so that heaven will turn in horror until my swollen lips pronounce the final transaction– “It is finished.” How long? Until it kills me.
Jesus bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things. Every single one.
Read more A Love Worth Giving
Numbers 18
Duties in the Tent of Testimony
1-4 God said to Aaron, “You and your sons, along with your father’s family, are responsible for taking care of sins having to do with the Sanctuary; you and your sons are also responsible for sins involving the priesthood. So enlist your brothers of the tribe of Levi to join you and assist you and your sons in your duties in the Tent of Testimony. They will report to you as they go about their duties related to the Tent, but they must not have anything to do with the holy things of the Altar under penalty of death—both they and you will die! They are to work with you in taking care of the Tent of Meeting, whatever work is involved in the Tent. Outsiders are not allowed to help you.
5-7 “Your job is to take care of the Sanctuary and the Altar so that there will be no more outbreaks of anger on the People of Israel. I personally have picked your brothers, the Levites, from Israel as a whole. I’m giving them to you as a gift, a gift of God, to help with the work of the Tent of Meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests, working around the Altar and inside the curtain. The work of the priesthood is my exclusive gift to you; it cannot be delegated—anyone else who invades the Sanctuary will be executed.”
8-10 God spoke to Aaron, “I am personally putting you in charge of my contributions, all the holy gifts I get from the People of Israel. I am turning them over to you and your children for your personal use. This is the standing rule. You and your sons get what’s left from the offerings, whatever hasn’t been totally burned up on the Altar—the leftovers from Grain-Offerings, Absolution-Offerings, and Compensation-Offerings. Eat it reverently; it is most holy; every male may eat it. Treat it as holy.
11-13 “You also get the Wave-Offerings from the People of Israel. I present them to you and your sons and daughters as a gift. This is the standing rule. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it. I also give you all the best olive oil, the best new wine, and the grain that is offered to God as the firstfruits of their harvest—all the firstfruits they offer to God are yours. Anyone in your household who is ritually clean may eat it.
14-16 “You get every Totally-Devoted gift. Every firstborn that is offered to God, whether animal or person, is yours. Except you don’t get the firstborn itself, but its redemption price; firstborn humans and ritually clean animals are bought back and you get the redemption price. When the firstborn is a month old it must be redeemed at the redemption price of five shekels of silver, using the standard of the Sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.
17-19 “On the other hand, you don’t redeem a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat—they are holy. Instead splash their blood on the Altar and burn their fat as a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God. But you get the meat, just as you get the breast from the Wave-Offering and the right thigh. All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God, I’m turning over to you and your children. That’s the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God.”
20 God said to Aaron, “You won’t get any inheritance in land, not so much as a small plot of ground: I am your plot of ground, I am your inheritance among the People of Israel.
21-24 “I’m giving the Levites all the tithes of Israel as their pay for the work they do in the Tent of Meeting. Starting now, the rest of the People of Israel cannot wander in and out of the Tent of Meeting; they’ll be penalized for their sin and the penalty is death. It’s the Levites and only the Levites who are to work in the Tent of Meeting and they are responsible for anything that goes wrong. This is the regular rule for all time. They get no inheritance among the People of Israel; instead I turn over to them the tithes that the People of Israel present as an offering to God. That’s why I give the ruling: They are to receive no land-inheritance among the People of Israel.”
25-29 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Levites. Tell them, When you get the tithe from the People of Israel, the inheritance that I have assigned to you, you must tithe that tithe and present it as an offering to God. Your offerings will be treated the same as other people’s gifts of grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat. This is your procedure for making offerings to God from all the tithes you get from the People of Israel: give God’s portion from these tithes to Aaron the priest. Make sure that God’s portion is the best and holiest of everything you get.
30-32 “Tell the Levites, When you offer the best part, the rest will be treated the same as grain from the threshing floor or wine from the wine vat that others give. You and your households are free to eat the rest of it anytime and anyplace—it’s your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. By offering the best part, you’ll avoid guilt, you won’t desecrate the holy offerings of the People of Israel, and you won’t die.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Read: Hebrews 11:8–16
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
13-16 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.
INSIGHT
Followers of Jesus wait for the day when we will be with Him—the fulfillment of what we’ve spent our lives pursuing. We rightfully yearn to be “home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The troubles we have in this life make our desire that much sharper and earnest. Today’s passage isn’t about forgetting the world we live in and thinking only of heaven; it’s about seeing our present life from the perspective of the life to come. Paul reminded us that our current troubles are not worth comparing to what is to come (Romans 8:18). - J.R. Hudberg
Gazing at the Horizon
By Keila Ochoa
We are looking for the city that is to come. Hebrews 13:14
Almost as soon as the ferryboat started to move, my little daughter said she felt ill. Seasickness had already begun to affect her. Soon I was feeling queasy myself. “Just stare at the horizon,” I reminded myself. Sailors say this helps to regain a sense of perspective.
The Maker of the horizon (Job 26:10) knows that sometimes in life we may become fearful and restless. We can regain perspective by focusing on the distant but steady point of our destiny.
Your gift can help bring people back to the Lord.
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The writer of Hebrews understood this. He sensed discouragement in his readers. Persecution had driven many of them from their homes. So he reminded them that other people of faith had endured extreme trials and had been left homeless. They endured it all because they anticipated something better.
As exiles, these readers could look forward to the city whose architect is God, the heavenly country, the city God prepared for them (Hebrews 11:10, 14, 16). So in his final exhortations, the writer asked his readers to focus on God’s promises. “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (13:14).
Our present troubles are temporary. We are “foreigners and strangers on earth” (11:13), but gazing at the horizon of God’s promises provides the point of reference we need.
Father, in the midst of troubles, help me to focus on Your promises.
Focus on God and regain perspective.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name…for the Father Himself loves you… —John 16:26-27
“In that day you will ask in My name…,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but— “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “…for the Father Himself loves you…”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“…whatever you ask the Father in My name…” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
“…He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation— to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name— in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “…whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
The Most Powerful Person In The Room - #8187
If you eat out occasionally, you know that servers can range from helpful to rude to attentive to invisible. I guess customers can, too. But some of the women on our staff were really impressed with the way this waiter went out of his way to take care of them. They went to a Mexican restaurant, and every time their salsa was about half gone, he would notice and he'd quickly bring more; same with the chips. When they asked for a special dressing for the chips, he made sure they had plenty all night long. Later, when they tried to put their leftovers in the plastic container, he said, "Oh, please, no. I'll do it. That's my job." Wow! You probably want to know where this restaurant is, right?He insisted on putting the containers in a bag for them. They were really impressed with his service. Then he brought the check with his name stamped on it, and they were blown away. It just said, "Thank you. Jesus." Well, "Thank you, Jesús."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Powerful Person In The Room."
Okay, the server's name was officially Jesus or Jesús. But his unselfish, "What can I do for you?" spirit, offered by a man with Jesus' name, said a lot to my friends. I don't know what his relationship is with Jesus, but he understands how one who bears His name should live.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 20:25, and it spells out the rare and radical lifestyle that should make a believer stand out as much as that waiter did that night. Jesus says, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."
The highest title in the kingdom of God is not chairman, or pastor, or president-it's servant. Because that's the role your Master chose, the Ruler of the galaxies, the Prince of glory, the One who washes dirty feet, touches those no one will touch, loves those who can ruin His reputation, lays down His life for those who have no use for Him.
Oh, but how we love to be served, to have things revolve around us-the conversation, the attention. How we tend to want people to meet our needs instead of living to meet the needs of others. Our nature, let's face it, is to be self-serving, especially at home with the people we should be serving most.
But Jesus proved over and over that the one who is there with a servant spirit is ultimately the most powerful person in the room. People listen to someone who's all about serving them. They confide in someone who's all about them. They trust them. They remember them. So at work where you have so much pressure, do people see you as that busy, self-absorbed co-worker, or the one person who makes them feel cared for, heard, noticed, important? When you're with your family, do you want them to revolve around you, or are you putting them first? At church, in your ministry, is it about promoting you or promoting others?
Years ago, during the "Touched By an Angel" series, I remember one episode. It showed one of the angels-in their human form, of course-washing the dirty feet of a very unsavory man. When he objected, she looked up at him with a pained expression and said, "I must do this. It helps me remember who I am." - a servant.
That's who you "am", too, if you bear the name of Christ-a Christ one, a Christian. You're a life signed by Jesus, and that means you do not "come to be served, but to serve."
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