Thursday, June 28, 2018
Joshua 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: RELIGIOUS, YET LOST
A person can be religious and yet lost. Attending church won’t make you God’s child. You must accept his offer. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
It makes no sense to seek your God-given strength until you trust in his. “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for” (Ephesians 1:11). Take a few moments and talk to God. Whether you are making a decision or reaffirming an earlier one, talk to your Maker about your eternal life. You might find this prayer helpful: Immanuel, you are with me. You became a person and took on flesh. You became my Savior and took on my sin. I accept your gift. I receive you as my Lord, Savior, and friend. Because of you, I’ll never be alone again!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Joshua 3 The Message (MSG)
The Jordan
3 1-4 Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over. After three days, leaders went through the camp and gave out orders to the people: “When you see the Covenant-Chest of God, your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it. Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you’ll see clearly the route to take. You’ve never been on this road before.”
5 Then Joshua addressed the people: “Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you.”
6 Joshua instructed the priests, “Take up the Chest of the Covenant and step out before the people.” So they took it up and processed before the people.
7-8 God said to Joshua, “This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They’ll see for themselves that I’m with you in the same way that I was with Moses. You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: ‘When you come to the edge of the Jordan’s waters, stand there on the river bank.’”
9-13 Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: “Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. This is how you’ll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. Look at what’s before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan’s water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap.”
14-16 And that’s what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant. When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho.
17 And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Read: Matthew 13:44–46
“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
INSIGHT
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” You’ve probably heard that line used to pressure you to do something or buy any number of things that failed to live up to the hype. But in the case of the kingdom of God, the claims Jesus makes about it in Matthew 13 are actually true.
In this chapter, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes how seeing and living in the new reality of His kingdom isn’t natural. In fact, God’s kingdom is so countercultural that Jesus describes it as “yeast” (v. 33), which in Scripture is typically seen as a symbol of corruption and evil (Hosea 7:4; Matthew 16:6, 11; 1 Corinthians 5:6–13). Jesus’s shocking use of this word would be similar to saying that the kingdom is like a virus or like saying, “It ruins everything.”
And that’s exactly Jesus’s point. Truly experiencing His kingdom will not be comfortable or easy for any of us. It’ll ruin everything!—all our plans, all our assumptions, all our comfort. But it’s more than worth it. It’s the treasure that’s infinitely precious, the source of endless joy (Matthew 13:44–46). - Monica Brands
Ring in a Dumpster
By Julie Schwab
Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7
In college, I woke up one morning to find Carol, my roommate, in a panic. Her signet ring was missing. We searched everywhere. The next morning we found ourselves picking through a dumpster.
I ripped open a trash bag. “You’re so dedicated to finding this!”
“I’m not losing a two-hundred-dollar ring!” she exclaimed.
Carol’s determination reminds me of the parable Jesus told about the kingdom of heaven, which “is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44). Certain things are worth going great lengths to find.
Throughout the Bible, God promises that those who seek Him will find Him. In Deuteronomy, He explained to the Israelites that they would find Him when they turned from their sin and sought Him with all their hearts (4:28–29). In the book of 2 Chronicles, King Asa gained encouragement from a similar promise (15:2). And in Jeremiah, God gave the same promise to the exiles, saying He would bring them back from captivity (29:13–14).
If we seek God, through His Word, worship, and in our daily lives, we will find Him. Over time, we’ll know Him on a deeper level. That will be even better than the sweet moment when Carol pulled her ring out of that trash bag!
Lord, help me to seek You with all my heart.
To find God, we must be willing to seek Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Held by the Grip of God
I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. —Philippians 3:12
Never choose to be a worker for God, but once God has placed His call on you, woe be to you if you “turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32). We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has “laid hold of” us. And once He has done so, we never have this thought, “Well, I’m really not suited for this.” What you are to preach is also determined by God, not by your own natural leanings or desires. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not simply to convey your testimony but also to preach the gospel. Every Christian must testify to the truth of God, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God’s hand on you— your life is in the grip of God for that very purpose. How many of us are held like that?
Never water down the Word of God, but preach it in its undiluted sternness. There must be unflinching faithfulness to the Word of God, but when you come to personal dealings with others, remember who you are— you are not some special being created in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do…I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Defying the Vultures - #8209
My friend Rich had just come through a major battle with cancer with heavy radiation therapy, and that's what helped him win. The only problem was the radiation left him feeling pretty weak and depleted. So, he would work a short week at his business and then he'd retreat to this little cabin that he and his wife had way back in the woods. One day Rich was down by the stream and feeling pretty tired. So, he lay down right there by the water and fell asleep. When he woke up, he was startled by what he saw. There were vultures circling him! Yeah! Now, you wouldn't believe how quickly Rich got up! I can just imagine him shouting to the vultures, "Hey, you birds, I may look dead to you, but I am still alive!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Defying the Vultures."
You may be in a situation where you're pretty battered right now – physically, emotionally, spiritually, maybe it's romantically or financially. You're tired, you're depleted, and maybe it looks like you're without hope, sort of like you're dead. Maybe you've even got some vultures circling, telling you it's over. Excuse me, it's time to defy the vultures!
When Abraham was told by God as an old man that he would be the father of many nations, beginning with the son God would send, oh man, that looked impossible. Both he and his wife were way beyond child-conceiving, or child-bearing years. And there were many years actually where nothing happened between the promise and the birth of that son. But even though it appeared from all human logic and circumstance that the possibility of a son was dead, Abraham just kept on defying those vultures of unbelief.
It's in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 4:18 - "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him." So, without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about 100 years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised."
Things looked like they were dead, but Abraham refused to believe what things looked like! He chose again and again to exercise stubborn faith in the promises of God. I call this defiant faith – the kind that defies the vultures of unbelief, and pessimism, and giving up and quitting. In Jesus Christ, there is no such thing as "hopeless" or "impossible" or "too late."
So right now God may be calling you to stand up and defy those vultures – to fight back against the despair, the tendency to withdraw, or to give up, or to run away – to accept the verdict of your circumstances. Don't succumb to the difficult environment or situation you're in. Capture your environment, make a difference there; focus on what you can do, not what you can't do. And be fully alive until Jesus decides it's over.
Like the victory of the Apostle Paul who said, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
You may look dead and hope may look dead, but it's time you stood to your feet and you said loud and clear, "I may look dead to you, but because of the God I have, I am very much alive!"
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Joshua 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD KNOWS YOU
Christ takes away your sin, and in doing so, he takes away your common-ness. You no longer need to say, “No one knows me” because God knows you. “LORD, you…know all about me,” David discovered. “You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do…You are all around me…and have put your hand on me” (Psalm 139:1-3, 5).
God knows you and he is near you. See how these four words look taped to your bathroom mirror: “God is for me!” (Psalm 56:9). And his kingdom needs you to discover and deploy your unique skill. The poor need you; the lonely need you; the church needs you, the cause of God needs you. Get the word out. God is with us. We are not alone!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Joshua 2 The Message (MSG)
Rahab
2 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: “Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho.” They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “We’ve just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They’re from the People of Israel.”
3 The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They’re spies; they’ve come to spy out the whole country.”
4-7 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they’d come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!” (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.
8-11 Before the spies were down for the night, the woman came up to them on the roof and said, “I know that God has given you the land. We’re all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless. We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed. We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below.
12-13 “Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!”
14 “Our lives for yours!” said the men. “But don’t tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we’ll do right by you in loyal mercy.”
15-16 She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside. She told them, “Run for the hills so your pursuers won’t find you. Hide out for three days and give your pursuers time to return. Then get on your way.”
17-20 The men told her, “In order to keep this oath you made us swear, here is what you must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it’s his own fault—we aren’t responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it’s our fault. But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us swear is canceled—we’re no longer responsible.”
21 She said, “If that’s what you say, that’s the way it is,” and sent them off. They left and she hung the red rope out the window.
22 They headed for the hills and stayed there for three days until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers had looked high and low but found nothing.
23-24 The men headed back. They came down out of the hills, crossed the river, and returned to Joshua son of Nun and reported all their experiences. They told Joshua, “Yes! God has given the whole country to us. Everybody there is in a state of panic because of us.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Read: Colossians 1:13–23
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.
Christ Holds It All Together
15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
18-20 He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
21-23 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.
INSIGHT
These few verses (Colossians 1:13–23) in Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae are a theological goldmine! In them we read about Jesus’s relationship to God—His kingship, redemption, and forgiveness—and His role in creating and sustaining the universe. How amazing to see everything point to one thing—our reconciliation to God (v. 22).
Why not praise God today for unlocking you from the prison of sin and reconciling you to Himself. - J.R. Hudberg
Unlocked
By Amy Boucher Pye
Once you were alienated from God . . . . But now he has reconciled you. Colossians 1:21–22
A boy born with cerebral palsy was unable to speak or communicate. But his mother, Chantal Bryan, never gave up, and when he was ten years old she figured out how to communicate with him through his eyes and a letter board. After this breakthrough, she said, “He was unlocked and we could ask him anything.” Now Jonathan reads and writes, including poetry, by communicating through his eyes. When asked what it’s like to “talk” with his family and friends, he said, “It is wonderful to tell them I love them.”
Jonathan’s story is profoundly moving and leads me to consider how God unlocks us from the prison of sin. As the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae, once we were “alienated from God” (Colossians 1:21), our evil behavior making us His enemy, but through Christ’s death on the cross we are now presented to God as “holy in his sight” (v. 22). We may now “live a life worthy of the Lord” as we bear fruit, grow in the knowledge of God, and are strengthened in His power (vv. 10–11).
We can use our unlocked voices to praise God and share His good news that we are no longer bound to a life of sin. As we continue in our faith, we can hold firm to our hope in Christ.
Lord God, You have released us from our chains of unbelief and given us words to praise You. May we share this freedom with others for Your glory.
The Lord unlocks us from our prison of sin.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
The Overshadowing of God’s Personal Deliverance
"…I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord. —Jeremiah 1:8
God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally— “…your life shall be as a prize to you…” (Jeremiah 39:18). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard— we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6).
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
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
The Great Lighthouse Shortage - #8208
Because we lived along the East Coast for so many years, we had the opportunity to see many of America's old lighthouses. I mean, not long ago we came up over the top of a hill on an interstate and I saw what I certainly never expected to see hundreds of miles from the ocean. It was a lighthouse with a bright, functioning light on top. Obviously, it wasn't there to point any ships in the right direction. Actually, it was part of a church that stands right near the highway. This lighthouse is for people!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Great Lighthouse Shortage."
It seems to me that Jesus intended for every church to be a lighthouse, whether or not they have a lighted tower as part of their building, as He intended for every Christian to be a lighthouse, every ministry. Tragically, there are so many lives around us headed for eternal disaster, and there is a terrible lighthouse shortage.
We know that Jesus said that those who belong to Him are "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:16). And Matthew 4:16, our word for today from the Word of God, tells us which direction our light should be pointing. Jesus says, "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned." See, it's the people in spiritual darkness, the people who are spiritually dying who should be the focus of all this light that God has given us.
The problem is that often we're content to have all the lights inside the church, shining on those who are already headed for heaven. Meanwhile, we let countless lost people just get another day closer to hell. We do what's easy. We just work with the sheep who are already in, when Jesus said He would leave ninety-nine of those just to go out and find one lost one. But notice, you have to go out to find them. You can't just stay in the Christian cocoon waiting for someone to stick their head in the door and say, "Excuse me, but is there any light in here?" The lighthouse needs to be out where they are!
We can go to all our Christian meetings, and fellowship with all our Christian friends, and enjoy all our Christian books and programs, and we feel like we must be winning. Well, not when two-thirds of Americans can't tell you half of the Ten Commandments or who did the Sermon on the Mount! Not when the number of people who say they believe in nothing has doubled in just a few years, not when the number of those who are self-declared witches grew over 1,500% in a decade. Even in one Bible Belt state, the statistics just came in: two-thirds of the people even there are essentially un-churched! You have working near you, living near you, going to school with you people who have no idea that what Jesus did on the cross was for them and that He's their only hope! If our Christian subculture makes us feel like we're winning, it's the illusion of winning.
How can we be content to spend all our time with the already rescued when we're living surrounded by a sea of dying people? How can we say that we're following the One who came, as He said, to "seek and save what was lost" and not be doing that with all our heart?
If you're following Jesus, I'll tell you where He's going. He's always headed for a sea of lost people. That should be where we end up, too. Oh, it's bright inside the lighthouse, but it's very dark outside the walls.
So many headed for eternal destruction! They desperately need a lighthouse; a lighthouse that's out where they are, pointing them to life in Jesus Christ. Please, be their lighthouse!
Christ takes away your sin, and in doing so, he takes away your common-ness. You no longer need to say, “No one knows me” because God knows you. “LORD, you…know all about me,” David discovered. “You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do…You are all around me…and have put your hand on me” (Psalm 139:1-3, 5).
God knows you and he is near you. See how these four words look taped to your bathroom mirror: “God is for me!” (Psalm 56:9). And his kingdom needs you to discover and deploy your unique skill. The poor need you; the lonely need you; the church needs you, the cause of God needs you. Get the word out. God is with us. We are not alone!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Joshua 2 The Message (MSG)
Rahab
2 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: “Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho.” They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “We’ve just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They’re from the People of Israel.”
3 The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They’re spies; they’ve come to spy out the whole country.”
4-7 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they’d come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!” (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.
8-11 Before the spies were down for the night, the woman came up to them on the roof and said, “I know that God has given you the land. We’re all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless. We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed. We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below.
12-13 “Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!”
14 “Our lives for yours!” said the men. “But don’t tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we’ll do right by you in loyal mercy.”
15-16 She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside. She told them, “Run for the hills so your pursuers won’t find you. Hide out for three days and give your pursuers time to return. Then get on your way.”
17-20 The men told her, “In order to keep this oath you made us swear, here is what you must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it’s his own fault—we aren’t responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it’s our fault. But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us swear is canceled—we’re no longer responsible.”
21 She said, “If that’s what you say, that’s the way it is,” and sent them off. They left and she hung the red rope out the window.
22 They headed for the hills and stayed there for three days until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers had looked high and low but found nothing.
23-24 The men headed back. They came down out of the hills, crossed the river, and returned to Joshua son of Nun and reported all their experiences. They told Joshua, “Yes! God has given the whole country to us. Everybody there is in a state of panic because of us.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Read: Colossians 1:13–23
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.
Christ Holds It All Together
15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
18-20 He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
21-23 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.
INSIGHT
These few verses (Colossians 1:13–23) in Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae are a theological goldmine! In them we read about Jesus’s relationship to God—His kingship, redemption, and forgiveness—and His role in creating and sustaining the universe. How amazing to see everything point to one thing—our reconciliation to God (v. 22).
Why not praise God today for unlocking you from the prison of sin and reconciling you to Himself. - J.R. Hudberg
Unlocked
By Amy Boucher Pye
Once you were alienated from God . . . . But now he has reconciled you. Colossians 1:21–22
A boy born with cerebral palsy was unable to speak or communicate. But his mother, Chantal Bryan, never gave up, and when he was ten years old she figured out how to communicate with him through his eyes and a letter board. After this breakthrough, she said, “He was unlocked and we could ask him anything.” Now Jonathan reads and writes, including poetry, by communicating through his eyes. When asked what it’s like to “talk” with his family and friends, he said, “It is wonderful to tell them I love them.”
Jonathan’s story is profoundly moving and leads me to consider how God unlocks us from the prison of sin. As the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae, once we were “alienated from God” (Colossians 1:21), our evil behavior making us His enemy, but through Christ’s death on the cross we are now presented to God as “holy in his sight” (v. 22). We may now “live a life worthy of the Lord” as we bear fruit, grow in the knowledge of God, and are strengthened in His power (vv. 10–11).
We can use our unlocked voices to praise God and share His good news that we are no longer bound to a life of sin. As we continue in our faith, we can hold firm to our hope in Christ.
Lord God, You have released us from our chains of unbelief and given us words to praise You. May we share this freedom with others for Your glory.
The Lord unlocks us from our prison of sin.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
The Overshadowing of God’s Personal Deliverance
"…I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord. —Jeremiah 1:8
God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally— “…your life shall be as a prize to you…” (Jeremiah 39:18). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard— we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6).
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
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
The Great Lighthouse Shortage - #8208
Because we lived along the East Coast for so many years, we had the opportunity to see many of America's old lighthouses. I mean, not long ago we came up over the top of a hill on an interstate and I saw what I certainly never expected to see hundreds of miles from the ocean. It was a lighthouse with a bright, functioning light on top. Obviously, it wasn't there to point any ships in the right direction. Actually, it was part of a church that stands right near the highway. This lighthouse is for people!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Great Lighthouse Shortage."
It seems to me that Jesus intended for every church to be a lighthouse, whether or not they have a lighted tower as part of their building, as He intended for every Christian to be a lighthouse, every ministry. Tragically, there are so many lives around us headed for eternal disaster, and there is a terrible lighthouse shortage.
We know that Jesus said that those who belong to Him are "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:16). And Matthew 4:16, our word for today from the Word of God, tells us which direction our light should be pointing. Jesus says, "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned." See, it's the people in spiritual darkness, the people who are spiritually dying who should be the focus of all this light that God has given us.
The problem is that often we're content to have all the lights inside the church, shining on those who are already headed for heaven. Meanwhile, we let countless lost people just get another day closer to hell. We do what's easy. We just work with the sheep who are already in, when Jesus said He would leave ninety-nine of those just to go out and find one lost one. But notice, you have to go out to find them. You can't just stay in the Christian cocoon waiting for someone to stick their head in the door and say, "Excuse me, but is there any light in here?" The lighthouse needs to be out where they are!
We can go to all our Christian meetings, and fellowship with all our Christian friends, and enjoy all our Christian books and programs, and we feel like we must be winning. Well, not when two-thirds of Americans can't tell you half of the Ten Commandments or who did the Sermon on the Mount! Not when the number of people who say they believe in nothing has doubled in just a few years, not when the number of those who are self-declared witches grew over 1,500% in a decade. Even in one Bible Belt state, the statistics just came in: two-thirds of the people even there are essentially un-churched! You have working near you, living near you, going to school with you people who have no idea that what Jesus did on the cross was for them and that He's their only hope! If our Christian subculture makes us feel like we're winning, it's the illusion of winning.
How can we be content to spend all our time with the already rescued when we're living surrounded by a sea of dying people? How can we say that we're following the One who came, as He said, to "seek and save what was lost" and not be doing that with all our heart?
If you're following Jesus, I'll tell you where He's going. He's always headed for a sea of lost people. That should be where we end up, too. Oh, it's bright inside the lighthouse, but it's very dark outside the walls.
So many headed for eternal destruction! They desperately need a lighthouse; a lighthouse that's out where they are, pointing them to life in Jesus Christ. Please, be their lighthouse!
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Joshua 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S GREAT GOSPEL
No one knows me, we think. People know my name, but not my heart. They know my face but not my feelings. I have a social security number, but not a soul mate. No one really knows me.
The response of heaven is that God does! Prophets weren’t enough. Apostles wouldn’t do. Angels won’t suffice. God sent more than miracles and messages. He sent himself; he sent his Son. In God’s great gospel, he not only sends, he becomes…he lives with. He lives as one of us. He knows our hurt. He knows our hunger. He knows betrayal. Most of all, he knows sin. He knows them better than you do. He knows their price because he paid it. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18). God knows you!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Joshua 1 The Message (MSG)
1 1-9 After the death of Moses the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant:
“Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel. I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on—just as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours. All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
The Taking of the Land
10-11 Then Joshua gave orders to the people’s leaders: “Go through the camp and give this order to the people: ‘Pack your bags. In three days you will cross this Jordan River to enter and take the land God, your God, is giving you to possess.’”
12-15 Then Joshua addressed the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He said, “Remember what Moses the servant of God commanded you: God, your God, gives you rest and he gives you this land. Your wives, your children, and your livestock can stay here east of the Jordan, the country Moses gave you; but you, tough soldiers all, must cross the River in battle formation, leading your brothers, helping them until God, your God, gives your brothers a place of rest just as he has done for you. They also will take possession of the land that God, your God, is giving them. Then you will be free to return to your possession, given to you by Moses the servant of God, across the Jordan to the east.”
16-18 They answered Joshua: “Everything you commanded us, we’ll do. Wherever you send us, we’ll go. We obeyed Moses to the letter; we’ll also obey you—we just pray that God, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses. Anyone who questions what you say and refuses to obey whatever you command him will be put to death. Strength! Courage!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms
8 1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
INSIGHT
Romans 8 is one of the theological highpoints of the Bible, specifically as it relates to the Holy Spirit. Of the many references to the Holy Spirit in the book of Romans, over half are found in Romans 8! The life-giving Spirit liberates from sin and death and empowers believers to live in ways that honor God, which includes the reorientation of our thinking (vv. 2–8). God’s Spirit is the seal of God’s ownership and those so sealed are destined for future resurrection (vv. 9–11). God’s children are not under obligation to slavish, sinful desires (vv. 12–13); rather, like Jesus, they are led by the Spirit of God (v. 14). As those in God’s family, believers in Jesus have the Spirit as their internal witness of their privileged status (vv. 15–16). Painful circumstances that make us groan and pray are our lot in this fallen world (vv. 18–25). Though sometimes our prayers are weak, we are not helpless. The Spirit of God is our prayer-helper whose intercession targets the will of God (vv. 26–27).
How have you seen the Holy Spirit working in your life? - Arthur Jackson
Set Free
By Lawrence Darmani
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
When I was a boy in the village, something about chickens fascinated me. Whenever I caught one, I held it down for a few moments and then gently released it. Thinking I was still holding it, the chicken remained down; even though it was free to dash away, it felt trapped.
When we put our faith in Jesus, He graciously delivers us from sin and the hold that Satan had on us. However, because it may take time to change our sinful habits and behavior, Satan can make us feel trapped. But God’s Spirit has set us free; He doesn’t enslave us. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1–2).
Through our Bible reading, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit, God works in us to cleanse us and to help us live for Him. The Bible encourages us to be confident in our walk with Jesus without feeling as if we are not set free.
Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). May the freedom we have in Christ spur us on to love Him and serve Him.
Lord, forgive me for sometimes revisiting my past and forgetting that You have washed away my sins. Thank You for taking my burden and setting me free to enjoy living for You.
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. Charles Wesley
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Drawing on the Grace of God— Now
We…plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. —2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.
“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? Disciples Indeed, 389 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
What to Say When You Don't Have the Answer - #8207
It used to be a lot simpler, you know, helping your kids with their homework. First of all, most of us have forgotten more than we remember from school anyway. Second of all, they're studying things we probably have no clue about! And they're learning things a lot sooner than we did. So here comes Junior, looking for answers. You can't just tell him you don't know. I mean, you're a parent! You're supposed to know everything, right? So you find some diversion: you have a sudden coughing seizure, a call you forgot to make. You don't need to know all the answers. All you need is to be able to Google things. You may not have the answers, but you have the source of the answers!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What to Say When You Don't Have the Answer."
There are a lot of spiritually seeking people who want some answers. And when someone tells them about the difference that Jesus Christ can make in their lives, they have questions. Look, you may be one of those seekers and you know Jesus has to be a serious option for anyone with an honestly seeking heart. But you do need some answers.
Or maybe you're someone who belongs to Jesus. You want people you care about to experience this love and this power and this peace you have, but you're afraid of their questions. Maybe you've been thrown by their questions. You know Jesus; you know what He can do, but you don't know the answers to their questions. That's not a reason to retreat. Like a parent going online to find the answers that he doesn't have, you may not know the answers, but you have the source of the answers. The Bible says of Jesus: "Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). My job isn't to have all the answers. It's to point people to the One who does have all the answers-who, in fact, is all the answers!
The great Apostle Paul was a scholar trained in the finest education of his day; a writer who could craft a case that it was hard to refute. But in our word for today from the Word of God, this man who knew a lot of answers tells us all we really need to know. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, he says, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." For all that he knew, he just kept pointing people to Jesus and to the cross where He died for them.
If you're a "seeker," I just want to take you to that cross where Jesus died for you. That's what you have to decide about. If you're a "sharer" of what Jesus did, I just want to take you to that cross where Jesus died for the person you're talking to. That's what you have to tell them about. I appreciated what Mel Gibson did in "The Passion of the Christ." He stripped away 2,000 years of Christianity and took us back to what it's all about, before there were any creeds, any churches, any Christians really. There was just the Son of God, pouring out His life on a cross for you.
I don't have all the answers for poverty and suffering in the world, but I have a Savior who entered into that suffering when He came here, who lived as a poor man, a homeless man, who died to defeat the ultimate generator of human suffering-human sin. It's all about Jesus. I don't have all the answers about why someone you love died. I only know that God knows the feeling. He watched His Son murdered on a cross. It's all about Jesus. I can't explain many of the hypocrites and the horrible things that have been done in Christ's name, but I know Jesus said, "Follow Me" not "Follow My followers." It's all about Jesus.
That's why you can dare to tell people about Him, even if there are answers you don't know, because it's all about pointing them to Jesus. And that's why I challenge you to end your long search for meaning and for God by finally going to Jesus, who died for you, who rose from the dead to give you life that would never end. It's all about Jesus. And that's what Judgment Day will be all about, what you did with Jesus.
If you're ready to seriously begin this relationship with Jesus, it's not a religion. It's a relationship. Go to our website and find out how you can be sure you belong to Him. ANewStory.com.
We'll never have all the answers. We can have the One who does-Who is the answer. So, the most important choice of your life comes down to four words: It's all about Jesus.
No one knows me, we think. People know my name, but not my heart. They know my face but not my feelings. I have a social security number, but not a soul mate. No one really knows me.
The response of heaven is that God does! Prophets weren’t enough. Apostles wouldn’t do. Angels won’t suffice. God sent more than miracles and messages. He sent himself; he sent his Son. In God’s great gospel, he not only sends, he becomes…he lives with. He lives as one of us. He knows our hurt. He knows our hunger. He knows betrayal. Most of all, he knows sin. He knows them better than you do. He knows their price because he paid it. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18). God knows you!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Joshua 1 The Message (MSG)
1 1-9 After the death of Moses the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant:
“Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel. I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on—just as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours. All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
The Taking of the Land
10-11 Then Joshua gave orders to the people’s leaders: “Go through the camp and give this order to the people: ‘Pack your bags. In three days you will cross this Jordan River to enter and take the land God, your God, is giving you to possess.’”
12-15 Then Joshua addressed the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He said, “Remember what Moses the servant of God commanded you: God, your God, gives you rest and he gives you this land. Your wives, your children, and your livestock can stay here east of the Jordan, the country Moses gave you; but you, tough soldiers all, must cross the River in battle formation, leading your brothers, helping them until God, your God, gives your brothers a place of rest just as he has done for you. They also will take possession of the land that God, your God, is giving them. Then you will be free to return to your possession, given to you by Moses the servant of God, across the Jordan to the east.”
16-18 They answered Joshua: “Everything you commanded us, we’ll do. Wherever you send us, we’ll go. We obeyed Moses to the letter; we’ll also obey you—we just pray that God, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses. Anyone who questions what you say and refuses to obey whatever you command him will be put to death. Strength! Courage!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms
8 1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
INSIGHT
Romans 8 is one of the theological highpoints of the Bible, specifically as it relates to the Holy Spirit. Of the many references to the Holy Spirit in the book of Romans, over half are found in Romans 8! The life-giving Spirit liberates from sin and death and empowers believers to live in ways that honor God, which includes the reorientation of our thinking (vv. 2–8). God’s Spirit is the seal of God’s ownership and those so sealed are destined for future resurrection (vv. 9–11). God’s children are not under obligation to slavish, sinful desires (vv. 12–13); rather, like Jesus, they are led by the Spirit of God (v. 14). As those in God’s family, believers in Jesus have the Spirit as their internal witness of their privileged status (vv. 15–16). Painful circumstances that make us groan and pray are our lot in this fallen world (vv. 18–25). Though sometimes our prayers are weak, we are not helpless. The Spirit of God is our prayer-helper whose intercession targets the will of God (vv. 26–27).
How have you seen the Holy Spirit working in your life? - Arthur Jackson
Set Free
By Lawrence Darmani
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
When I was a boy in the village, something about chickens fascinated me. Whenever I caught one, I held it down for a few moments and then gently released it. Thinking I was still holding it, the chicken remained down; even though it was free to dash away, it felt trapped.
When we put our faith in Jesus, He graciously delivers us from sin and the hold that Satan had on us. However, because it may take time to change our sinful habits and behavior, Satan can make us feel trapped. But God’s Spirit has set us free; He doesn’t enslave us. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1–2).
Through our Bible reading, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit, God works in us to cleanse us and to help us live for Him. The Bible encourages us to be confident in our walk with Jesus without feeling as if we are not set free.
Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). May the freedom we have in Christ spur us on to love Him and serve Him.
Lord, forgive me for sometimes revisiting my past and forgetting that You have washed away my sins. Thank You for taking my burden and setting me free to enjoy living for You.
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. Charles Wesley
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Drawing on the Grace of God— Now
We…plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. —2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.
“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? Disciples Indeed, 389 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
What to Say When You Don't Have the Answer - #8207
It used to be a lot simpler, you know, helping your kids with their homework. First of all, most of us have forgotten more than we remember from school anyway. Second of all, they're studying things we probably have no clue about! And they're learning things a lot sooner than we did. So here comes Junior, looking for answers. You can't just tell him you don't know. I mean, you're a parent! You're supposed to know everything, right? So you find some diversion: you have a sudden coughing seizure, a call you forgot to make. You don't need to know all the answers. All you need is to be able to Google things. You may not have the answers, but you have the source of the answers!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What to Say When You Don't Have the Answer."
There are a lot of spiritually seeking people who want some answers. And when someone tells them about the difference that Jesus Christ can make in their lives, they have questions. Look, you may be one of those seekers and you know Jesus has to be a serious option for anyone with an honestly seeking heart. But you do need some answers.
Or maybe you're someone who belongs to Jesus. You want people you care about to experience this love and this power and this peace you have, but you're afraid of their questions. Maybe you've been thrown by their questions. You know Jesus; you know what He can do, but you don't know the answers to their questions. That's not a reason to retreat. Like a parent going online to find the answers that he doesn't have, you may not know the answers, but you have the source of the answers. The Bible says of Jesus: "Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). My job isn't to have all the answers. It's to point people to the One who does have all the answers-who, in fact, is all the answers!
The great Apostle Paul was a scholar trained in the finest education of his day; a writer who could craft a case that it was hard to refute. But in our word for today from the Word of God, this man who knew a lot of answers tells us all we really need to know. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, he says, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." For all that he knew, he just kept pointing people to Jesus and to the cross where He died for them.
If you're a "seeker," I just want to take you to that cross where Jesus died for you. That's what you have to decide about. If you're a "sharer" of what Jesus did, I just want to take you to that cross where Jesus died for the person you're talking to. That's what you have to tell them about. I appreciated what Mel Gibson did in "The Passion of the Christ." He stripped away 2,000 years of Christianity and took us back to what it's all about, before there were any creeds, any churches, any Christians really. There was just the Son of God, pouring out His life on a cross for you.
I don't have all the answers for poverty and suffering in the world, but I have a Savior who entered into that suffering when He came here, who lived as a poor man, a homeless man, who died to defeat the ultimate generator of human suffering-human sin. It's all about Jesus. I don't have all the answers about why someone you love died. I only know that God knows the feeling. He watched His Son murdered on a cross. It's all about Jesus. I can't explain many of the hypocrites and the horrible things that have been done in Christ's name, but I know Jesus said, "Follow Me" not "Follow My followers." It's all about Jesus.
That's why you can dare to tell people about Him, even if there are answers you don't know, because it's all about pointing them to Jesus. And that's why I challenge you to end your long search for meaning and for God by finally going to Jesus, who died for you, who rose from the dead to give you life that would never end. It's all about Jesus. And that's what Judgment Day will be all about, what you did with Jesus.
If you're ready to seriously begin this relationship with Jesus, it's not a religion. It's a relationship. Go to our website and find out how you can be sure you belong to Him. ANewStory.com.
We'll never have all the answers. We can have the One who does-Who is the answer. So, the most important choice of your life comes down to four words: It's all about Jesus.
Monday, June 25, 2018
Deuteronomy 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE LANGUAGE OF LONELINESS
We may relish moments of solitude—but a lifetime of it? No way. Many of us, however, are too fluent in the language of loneliness. The kids used to need me…the business once needed me…my spouse never needs me. Lonely people fight feelings of insignificance.
What do you do? How do you cope with such cries for significance? Well, some stay busy; others stay drunk. Some buy pets; others buy lovers. Some seek therapy. Yet only a few seek God. He invites all of us to do so. God’s ultimate cure for the common life takes you to a manger. “…and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). There’s no withholding tax on God’s with promise. He is with us. God is with us!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Deuteronomy 1
1-2 These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route.
3-4 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.
Moses Preaches to Israel on the Plains of Moab
5 He said:
6-8 Back at Horeb, God, our God, spoke to us: “You’ve stayed long enough at this mountain. On your way now. Get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, wherever people are living in the Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negev, the seashore—the Canaanite country and the Lebanon all the way to the big river, the Euphrates. Look, I’ve given you this land. Now go in and take it. It’s the land God promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their children after them.”
9-13 At the time I told you, “I can’t do this, can’t carry you all by myself. God, your God, has multiplied your numbers. Why, look at you—you rival the stars in the sky! And may God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, keep it up and multiply you another thousand times, bless you just as he promised. But how can I carry, all by myself, your troubles and burdens and quarrels? So select some wise, understanding, and seasoned men from your tribes, and I will commission them as your leaders.”
14 You answered me, “Good! A good solution.”
15 So I went ahead and took the top men of your tribes, wise and seasoned, and made them your leaders—leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, officials adequate for each of your tribes.
16-17 At the same time I gave orders to your judges: “Listen carefully to complaints and accusations between your fellow Israelites. Judge fairly between each person and his fellow or foreigner. Don’t play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don’t be impressed by big names. This is God’s judgment you’re dealing with. Hard cases you can bring to me; I’ll deal with them.”
18 I issued orders to you at that time regarding everything you would have to deal with.
19-21 Then we set out from Horeb and headed for the Amorite hill country, going through that huge and frightening wilderness that you’ve had more than an eyeful of by now—all under the command of God, our God—and finally arrived at Kadesh Barnea. There I told you, “You’ve made it to the Amorite hill country that God, our God, is giving us. Look, God, your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose heart.”
22 But then you all came to me and said, “Let’s send some men on ahead to scout out the land for us and bring back a report on the best route to take and the kinds of towns we can expect to find.”
23-25 That seemed like a good idea to me, so I picked twelve men, one from each tribe. They set out, climbing through the hills. They came to the Eshcol Valley and looked it over. They took samples of the produce of the land and brought them back to us, saying, “It’s a good land that God, our God, is giving us!”
26-28 But then you weren’t willing to go up. You rebelled against God, your God’s plain word. You complained in your tents: “God hates us. He hauled us out of Egypt in order to dump us among the Amorites—a death sentence for sure! How can we go up? We’re trapped in a dead end. Our brothers took all the wind out of our sails, telling us, ‘The people are bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are huge, their defenses massive—we even saw Anakite giants there!’”
29-33 I tried to relieve your fears: “Don’t be terrified of them. God, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you’re here, you won’t trust God, your God—this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go.”
34-36 When God heard what you said, he exploded in anger. He swore, “Not a single person of this evil generation is going to get so much as a look at the good land that I promised to give to your parents. Not one—except for Caleb son of Jephunneh. He’ll see it. I’ll give him and his descendants the land he walked on because he was all for following God, heart and soul.”
37-40 But I also got it. Because of you God’s anger spilled over onto me. He said, “You aren’t getting in either. Your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will go in. Build up his courage. He’s the one who will claim the inheritance for Israel. And your babies of whom you said, ‘They’ll be grabbed for plunder,’ and all these little kids who right now don’t even know right from wrong—they’ll get in. I’ll give it to them. Yes, they’ll be the new owners. But not you. Turn around and head back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea.”
41 You spoke up, “We’ve sinned against God. We’ll go up and fight, following all the orders that God, our God, has commanded.” You took your weapons and dressed for battle—you thought it would be so easy going into those hills!
42 But God told me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t do it; don’t go up to fight—I’m not with you in this. Your enemies will waste you.’”
43-46 I told you but you wouldn’t listen. You rebelled at the plain word of God. You threw out your chests and strutted into the hills. And those Amorites, who had lived in those hills all their lives, swarmed all over you like a hive of bees, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah, a stinging defeat. You came back and wept in the presence of God, but he didn’t pay a bit of attention to you; God didn’t give you the time of day. You stayed there in Kadesh a long time, about as long as you had stayed there earlier.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 25, 2018
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
INSIGHT
Could anything make whatever we do better? When the apostle Paul wrote to readers in Colossae, he described an alternative to any and all attitudes that are harmful to us and others (Colossians 3:5–10). In his letter to the Philippians he uses the word whatever as he describes his personal accomplishments. Whatever he once considered gained, he now considers loss for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7). For reasons he never expected, he found a way to move on to something better than his own efforts to be seen as a good, moral, and religious person.
Many of us know the story behind Paul’s change. After an unforeseen encounter with the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:1–6), he thought differently about anything and everything. Seeing the failure of his own efforts, he learned to live by the grace of God. By relying on the presence of Jesus, Paul discovered the means by which any of us can live with divine help and thankfulness in anything and everything worth doing.
What will we face today that will give us a chance to see and say “grace” in whatever we encounter? - Mart DeHaan
Saying Grace
By David C. McCasland
Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
For many years, I’ve enjoyed the writings of British author G. K. Chesterton. His humor and insight often cause me to chuckle and then pause for more serious contemplation. For example, he wrote, “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the play and the opera, and grace before the concert and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing; and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”
It’s good for us to thank the Lord before every meal, but it shouldn’t stop there. The apostle Paul saw every activity, every endeavor as something for which we should thank God and that we should do for His glory. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Recreation, occupation, and education are all avenues through which we can honor the Lord and express our gratefulness to Him.
Paul also encouraged the believers in Colossae to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (v. 15).
The best place to “say grace” is anywhere and anytime we want to give thanks to the Lord and honor Him.
Thank You for Your gift of life eternal. May we acknowledge and honor You throughout this day.
In all we do, let’s give thanks to God and honor Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 25, 2018
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow
…what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.
We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.
Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 25, 2018
When The Plan Comes Together - #8206
We tend to know the TV shows that were big when our children were growing up. So, I happen to know something about a program called "The A-Team". Yeah, our guys had a must-not-miss date each week with Hannibal Smith, B. A. Baracus, and the rest of this team of fugitive Vietnam vets who took on the causes of people victimized by the bad guys. The basic plot of each show was fairly predictable - bad guys pick on person, person hires A-Team, bad guys are about to win, A-Team comes up with a brilliant, and usually unlikely plan, A-Team wins. (There you go; now you've seen them all.) These elaborate plans were hatched by the leader of the team--Col. Hannibal Smith. And he never seemed to tell anybody, including his team, why he was doing what he was doing – or asking them to do. But at the end, when the strategy finally unfolded victoriously, Hannibal would always smile and he said his trademark words, "I love it when a plan comes together" I still remember.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When The Plan Comes Together."
A flawless plan, a leader who carries it out without explaining it, an amazing outcome when the plan comes together. This is starting to sound familiar. That's more than a scenario for some fictional TV show. It might be exactly what's playing out in your life right now, because God is working out an incredible plan for your life.
He actually guarantees us in Jeremiah 29:11, "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Right now, the issues and questions in your life may seem totally overwhelming to you. I mean, it's hard to see where this is all going; to see how it can possibly work out.
Well, you need the seven powerful words that are in our word for today from the Word of God. This statement, from 2 Samuel 22:31, is one of the anchor statements of my life. I quote it most days of my life. It simply says, "As for God, His way is perfect." God is working out a plan for you, and when it comes together, it will be perfect – perfectly timed, perfect for everyone affected by it, perfect for the long-term - not just the short-term -- with no ragged edges.
Look, I might be able to come up with a plan that would seem perfect for me, but not one that would be good for every person that's affected by it. Only God can do that. I might be able to come up with a plan that was good for a month, or a year, or maybe even a couple of years. But only God can orchestrate a plan that's good for all the years to come. My plans, at their best, have a lot of ragged edges, loose ends, unanticipated snafus. Not God's. No, His way is perfect. So His way is worth waiting for, it's worth trusting for, it's worth praying for. And as long as you are submitted to God's will, there is never anything worth worrying about!
There is a Sovereign synchronicity in everything God does. He brings people, and events, and opportunities, and resources together in the most amazing way. We sometimes balk at following God's leading because we get hung up on the "mights" and the "coulds" and the "what ifs", and the "yeah buts". The good news is that all the fallout of you doing God's will is God's business. Romans 12:2 says that when you are surrendered to God, "then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will." And Psalm 4:5 says, "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord."
So now, in this season before God brings it all together, don't stop trusting Him. You can enjoy the wonderful peace of knowing that "as for God, His way is perfect." And on that day when God smiles and says, "I love it when the plan comes together", I guarantee you're going to love it, too.
We may relish moments of solitude—but a lifetime of it? No way. Many of us, however, are too fluent in the language of loneliness. The kids used to need me…the business once needed me…my spouse never needs me. Lonely people fight feelings of insignificance.
What do you do? How do you cope with such cries for significance? Well, some stay busy; others stay drunk. Some buy pets; others buy lovers. Some seek therapy. Yet only a few seek God. He invites all of us to do so. God’s ultimate cure for the common life takes you to a manger. “…and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). There’s no withholding tax on God’s with promise. He is with us. God is with us!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Deuteronomy 1
1-2 These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route.
3-4 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.
Moses Preaches to Israel on the Plains of Moab
5 He said:
6-8 Back at Horeb, God, our God, spoke to us: “You’ve stayed long enough at this mountain. On your way now. Get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, wherever people are living in the Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negev, the seashore—the Canaanite country and the Lebanon all the way to the big river, the Euphrates. Look, I’ve given you this land. Now go in and take it. It’s the land God promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their children after them.”
9-13 At the time I told you, “I can’t do this, can’t carry you all by myself. God, your God, has multiplied your numbers. Why, look at you—you rival the stars in the sky! And may God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, keep it up and multiply you another thousand times, bless you just as he promised. But how can I carry, all by myself, your troubles and burdens and quarrels? So select some wise, understanding, and seasoned men from your tribes, and I will commission them as your leaders.”
14 You answered me, “Good! A good solution.”
15 So I went ahead and took the top men of your tribes, wise and seasoned, and made them your leaders—leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, officials adequate for each of your tribes.
16-17 At the same time I gave orders to your judges: “Listen carefully to complaints and accusations between your fellow Israelites. Judge fairly between each person and his fellow or foreigner. Don’t play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don’t be impressed by big names. This is God’s judgment you’re dealing with. Hard cases you can bring to me; I’ll deal with them.”
18 I issued orders to you at that time regarding everything you would have to deal with.
19-21 Then we set out from Horeb and headed for the Amorite hill country, going through that huge and frightening wilderness that you’ve had more than an eyeful of by now—all under the command of God, our God—and finally arrived at Kadesh Barnea. There I told you, “You’ve made it to the Amorite hill country that God, our God, is giving us. Look, God, your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose heart.”
22 But then you all came to me and said, “Let’s send some men on ahead to scout out the land for us and bring back a report on the best route to take and the kinds of towns we can expect to find.”
23-25 That seemed like a good idea to me, so I picked twelve men, one from each tribe. They set out, climbing through the hills. They came to the Eshcol Valley and looked it over. They took samples of the produce of the land and brought them back to us, saying, “It’s a good land that God, our God, is giving us!”
26-28 But then you weren’t willing to go up. You rebelled against God, your God’s plain word. You complained in your tents: “God hates us. He hauled us out of Egypt in order to dump us among the Amorites—a death sentence for sure! How can we go up? We’re trapped in a dead end. Our brothers took all the wind out of our sails, telling us, ‘The people are bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are huge, their defenses massive—we even saw Anakite giants there!’”
29-33 I tried to relieve your fears: “Don’t be terrified of them. God, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you’re here, you won’t trust God, your God—this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go.”
34-36 When God heard what you said, he exploded in anger. He swore, “Not a single person of this evil generation is going to get so much as a look at the good land that I promised to give to your parents. Not one—except for Caleb son of Jephunneh. He’ll see it. I’ll give him and his descendants the land he walked on because he was all for following God, heart and soul.”
37-40 But I also got it. Because of you God’s anger spilled over onto me. He said, “You aren’t getting in either. Your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will go in. Build up his courage. He’s the one who will claim the inheritance for Israel. And your babies of whom you said, ‘They’ll be grabbed for plunder,’ and all these little kids who right now don’t even know right from wrong—they’ll get in. I’ll give it to them. Yes, they’ll be the new owners. But not you. Turn around and head back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea.”
41 You spoke up, “We’ve sinned against God. We’ll go up and fight, following all the orders that God, our God, has commanded.” You took your weapons and dressed for battle—you thought it would be so easy going into those hills!
42 But God told me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t do it; don’t go up to fight—I’m not with you in this. Your enemies will waste you.’”
43-46 I told you but you wouldn’t listen. You rebelled at the plain word of God. You threw out your chests and strutted into the hills. And those Amorites, who had lived in those hills all their lives, swarmed all over you like a hive of bees, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah, a stinging defeat. You came back and wept in the presence of God, but he didn’t pay a bit of attention to you; God didn’t give you the time of day. You stayed there in Kadesh a long time, about as long as you had stayed there earlier.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 25, 2018
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
INSIGHT
Could anything make whatever we do better? When the apostle Paul wrote to readers in Colossae, he described an alternative to any and all attitudes that are harmful to us and others (Colossians 3:5–10). In his letter to the Philippians he uses the word whatever as he describes his personal accomplishments. Whatever he once considered gained, he now considers loss for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7). For reasons he never expected, he found a way to move on to something better than his own efforts to be seen as a good, moral, and religious person.
Many of us know the story behind Paul’s change. After an unforeseen encounter with the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:1–6), he thought differently about anything and everything. Seeing the failure of his own efforts, he learned to live by the grace of God. By relying on the presence of Jesus, Paul discovered the means by which any of us can live with divine help and thankfulness in anything and everything worth doing.
What will we face today that will give us a chance to see and say “grace” in whatever we encounter? - Mart DeHaan
Saying Grace
By David C. McCasland
Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
For many years, I’ve enjoyed the writings of British author G. K. Chesterton. His humor and insight often cause me to chuckle and then pause for more serious contemplation. For example, he wrote, “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the play and the opera, and grace before the concert and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing; and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”
It’s good for us to thank the Lord before every meal, but it shouldn’t stop there. The apostle Paul saw every activity, every endeavor as something for which we should thank God and that we should do for His glory. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Recreation, occupation, and education are all avenues through which we can honor the Lord and express our gratefulness to Him.
Paul also encouraged the believers in Colossae to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (v. 15).
The best place to “say grace” is anywhere and anytime we want to give thanks to the Lord and honor Him.
Thank You for Your gift of life eternal. May we acknowledge and honor You throughout this day.
In all we do, let’s give thanks to God and honor Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 25, 2018
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow
…what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.
We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.
Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 25, 2018
When The Plan Comes Together - #8206
We tend to know the TV shows that were big when our children were growing up. So, I happen to know something about a program called "The A-Team". Yeah, our guys had a must-not-miss date each week with Hannibal Smith, B. A. Baracus, and the rest of this team of fugitive Vietnam vets who took on the causes of people victimized by the bad guys. The basic plot of each show was fairly predictable - bad guys pick on person, person hires A-Team, bad guys are about to win, A-Team comes up with a brilliant, and usually unlikely plan, A-Team wins. (There you go; now you've seen them all.) These elaborate plans were hatched by the leader of the team--Col. Hannibal Smith. And he never seemed to tell anybody, including his team, why he was doing what he was doing – or asking them to do. But at the end, when the strategy finally unfolded victoriously, Hannibal would always smile and he said his trademark words, "I love it when a plan comes together" I still remember.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When The Plan Comes Together."
A flawless plan, a leader who carries it out without explaining it, an amazing outcome when the plan comes together. This is starting to sound familiar. That's more than a scenario for some fictional TV show. It might be exactly what's playing out in your life right now, because God is working out an incredible plan for your life.
He actually guarantees us in Jeremiah 29:11, "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Right now, the issues and questions in your life may seem totally overwhelming to you. I mean, it's hard to see where this is all going; to see how it can possibly work out.
Well, you need the seven powerful words that are in our word for today from the Word of God. This statement, from 2 Samuel 22:31, is one of the anchor statements of my life. I quote it most days of my life. It simply says, "As for God, His way is perfect." God is working out a plan for you, and when it comes together, it will be perfect – perfectly timed, perfect for everyone affected by it, perfect for the long-term - not just the short-term -- with no ragged edges.
Look, I might be able to come up with a plan that would seem perfect for me, but not one that would be good for every person that's affected by it. Only God can do that. I might be able to come up with a plan that was good for a month, or a year, or maybe even a couple of years. But only God can orchestrate a plan that's good for all the years to come. My plans, at their best, have a lot of ragged edges, loose ends, unanticipated snafus. Not God's. No, His way is perfect. So His way is worth waiting for, it's worth trusting for, it's worth praying for. And as long as you are submitted to God's will, there is never anything worth worrying about!
There is a Sovereign synchronicity in everything God does. He brings people, and events, and opportunities, and resources together in the most amazing way. We sometimes balk at following God's leading because we get hung up on the "mights" and the "coulds" and the "what ifs", and the "yeah buts". The good news is that all the fallout of you doing God's will is God's business. Romans 12:2 says that when you are surrendered to God, "then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will." And Psalm 4:5 says, "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord."
So now, in this season before God brings it all together, don't stop trusting Him. You can enjoy the wonderful peace of knowing that "as for God, His way is perfect." And on that day when God smiles and says, "I love it when the plan comes together", I guarantee you're going to love it, too.
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Luke 1:57-80, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Song for Dad
Psalm 127:3 says: “Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? . . .His generous legacy?”
I remember many years ago when I was at a conference. I called home and talked with Denalyn and the girls. Jenna was about five years old at the time and said she had a special treat for me. She took the phone over to the piano and began to play an original composition.
From a musical standpoint, everything was wrong with the song. She pounded more than she played. There was more random than rhythm in the piece. The lyrics didn’t rhyme. The syntax was sinful. Technically the song was a failure. But to me, the song was a masterpiece. Why? Because she wrote it for me.
You are a great daddy. I miss you so much.
When you’re away I’m very sad and I cry.
Please come home very soon.
What dad wouldn’t like that? Your heavenly Father feels the same when he hears you talk to him.
From Dad Time
Luke 1:57-80
The Birth of John
57-58 When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.
59-60 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.”
61-62 “But,” they said, “no one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.
63-64 Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise—Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!
65-66 A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.”
67-79 Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”
will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.
80 The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Read: Job 2:7–13
Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
9 His wife said, “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!”
10 He told her, “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?”
Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.
Job’s Three Friends
11-13 Three of Job’s friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. Each traveled from his own country—Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, Zophar from Naamath—and went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, they couldn’t believe what they saw—they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.
INSIGHT
Job’s wife’s suffering (except for the painful sores) was just as keen as Job’s. She had lost just as much, and her angry advice to Job is completely understandable: “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). Yet even in Job’s response, he “did not sin in what he said” (v. 10). He merely noted that she spoke “like a foolish woman,” implying that he knew her character to be noble. The text also highlights the fact that Job’s friends truly did sympathize with his situation and were there to provide genuine comfort (v. 11). But Job’s wife and his friends couldn’t fathom that he was part of a cosmic battle they didn’t comprehend.
In this life, certain things will remain beyond our understanding. Perhaps someone close to you faces some unanswerable questions. Who might need your quiet presence today? - Tim Gustafson
A Friend’s Comfort
By Lisa Samra
No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. Job 2:13
I read about a mom who was surprised to see her daughter muddy from the waist down when she walked in the door after school. Her daughter explained that a friend had slipped and fallen into a mud puddle. While another classmate ran to get help, the little girl felt sorry for her friend sitting by herself and holding her hurt leg. So, the daughter went over and sat in the mud puddle with her friend until a teacher arrived.
When Job experienced the devastating loss of his children and became afflicted with painful sores on his entire body, his suffering was overwhelming. The Bible tells us that three of his friends wanted to comfort him. When they found Job, “they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:12–13).
Job’s friends initially showed remarkable understanding. They sensed that Job simply needed someone to sit and mourn with him. The three men will begin to speak in the next few chapters. The irony is that when the friends do begin to speak, they end up giving Job poor advice (16:1–4).
Often the best thing we can do when comforting a hurting friend is to sit with them in their suffering.
Heavenly Father, help me to be a good friend to those who are hurting. Thank You that You promise to be near to those who are suffering and provide encouragement through Your Holy Spirit.
A friend’s presence in the midst of suffering provides great comfort.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This is your hour, and the power of darkness. —Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
Psalm 127:3 says: “Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? . . .His generous legacy?”
I remember many years ago when I was at a conference. I called home and talked with Denalyn and the girls. Jenna was about five years old at the time and said she had a special treat for me. She took the phone over to the piano and began to play an original composition.
From a musical standpoint, everything was wrong with the song. She pounded more than she played. There was more random than rhythm in the piece. The lyrics didn’t rhyme. The syntax was sinful. Technically the song was a failure. But to me, the song was a masterpiece. Why? Because she wrote it for me.
You are a great daddy. I miss you so much.
When you’re away I’m very sad and I cry.
Please come home very soon.
What dad wouldn’t like that? Your heavenly Father feels the same when he hears you talk to him.
From Dad Time
Luke 1:57-80
The Birth of John
57-58 When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.
59-60 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.”
61-62 “But,” they said, “no one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.
63-64 Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise—Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!
65-66 A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.”
67-79 Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”
will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.
80 The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Read: Job 2:7–13
Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
9 His wife said, “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!”
10 He told her, “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?”
Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.
Job’s Three Friends
11-13 Three of Job’s friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. Each traveled from his own country—Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, Zophar from Naamath—and went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, they couldn’t believe what they saw—they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.
INSIGHT
Job’s wife’s suffering (except for the painful sores) was just as keen as Job’s. She had lost just as much, and her angry advice to Job is completely understandable: “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). Yet even in Job’s response, he “did not sin in what he said” (v. 10). He merely noted that she spoke “like a foolish woman,” implying that he knew her character to be noble. The text also highlights the fact that Job’s friends truly did sympathize with his situation and were there to provide genuine comfort (v. 11). But Job’s wife and his friends couldn’t fathom that he was part of a cosmic battle they didn’t comprehend.
In this life, certain things will remain beyond our understanding. Perhaps someone close to you faces some unanswerable questions. Who might need your quiet presence today? - Tim Gustafson
A Friend’s Comfort
By Lisa Samra
No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. Job 2:13
I read about a mom who was surprised to see her daughter muddy from the waist down when she walked in the door after school. Her daughter explained that a friend had slipped and fallen into a mud puddle. While another classmate ran to get help, the little girl felt sorry for her friend sitting by herself and holding her hurt leg. So, the daughter went over and sat in the mud puddle with her friend until a teacher arrived.
When Job experienced the devastating loss of his children and became afflicted with painful sores on his entire body, his suffering was overwhelming. The Bible tells us that three of his friends wanted to comfort him. When they found Job, “they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:12–13).
Job’s friends initially showed remarkable understanding. They sensed that Job simply needed someone to sit and mourn with him. The three men will begin to speak in the next few chapters. The irony is that when the friends do begin to speak, they end up giving Job poor advice (16:1–4).
Often the best thing we can do when comforting a hurting friend is to sit with them in their suffering.
Heavenly Father, help me to be a good friend to those who are hurting. Thank You that You promise to be near to those who are suffering and provide encouragement through Your Holy Spirit.
A friend’s presence in the midst of suffering provides great comfort.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This is your hour, and the power of darkness. —Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Numbers 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: What Pleases a Father
When our daughters were young, Denalyn went away for a couple of days and left me alone with the girls. Though the time was not without the typical children’s quarrels and occasional misbehavior, it went fine.
“How were the girls?” Denalyn asked when she got home. “Good. No problem at all.” Jenna overheard me. “We weren’t good, Daddy,” she objected. “We fought once; we didn’t do what you said once. We weren’t good.”
Jenna and I had different perceptions of what pleases a father. She thought it depended on what she did. It didn’t. We think the same about God. We think His love rises and falls with our performance. It doesn’t. I didn’t love Jenna for what she did. I loved her—and love her still—for whose she is. She’s mine. God loves you for the same reason. He loves you for whose you are; and you are His child!
From Dad Time
Numbers 36
The Daughters of Zelophehad
The heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh—they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph—approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.
2-4 They said, “When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. But what happens if they marry into another tribe in the People of Israel? Their inheritance-land will be taken out of our ancestral tribe and get added into the tribe into which they married. And then when the year of Jubilee comes for the People of Israel their inheritance will be lumped in with the inheritance of the tribe into which they married—their land will be removed from our ancestors’ inheritance!”
5-9 Moses, at God’s command, issued this order to the People of Israel: “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right. This is God’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: They are free to marry anyone they choose as long as they marry within their ancestral clan. The inheritance-land of the People of Israel must not get passed around from tribe to tribe. No, keep the tribal inheritance-land in the family. Every daughter who inherits land, regardless of the tribe she is in, must marry a man from within her father’s tribal clan. Every Israelite is responsible for making sure the inheritance stays within the ancestral tribe. No inheritance-land may be passed from tribe to tribe; each tribe of the People of Israel must hold tight to its own land.”
10-12 Zelophehad’s daughters did just as God commanded Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, all married their cousins on their father’s side. They married within the families of Manasseh son of Joseph and their inheritance-lands stayed in their father’s family.
13 These are the commands and regulations that God commanded through the authority of Moses to the People of Israel on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Read: Isaiah 44:1–5
Proud to Be Called Israel
1-5 “But for now, dear servant Jacob, listen—
yes, you, Israel, my personal choice.
God who made you has something to say to you;
the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you.
Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, the one I chose.
For I will pour water on the thirsty ground
and send streams coursing through the parched earth.
I will pour my Spirit into your descendants
and my blessing on your children.
They shall sprout like grass on the prairie,
like willows alongside creeks.
This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’
and another will go by the name Jacob;
That one will write on his hand ‘God’s property’—
and be proud to be called Israel.”
INSIGHT
In addition to the imagery found in Isaiah 44, we see other examples in Scripture of God as our Father. In the Old Testament, God is called the Father of Israel, not on a personal basis but as a nation. When God delivered the nation from slavery in Egypt, God declared that Israel is His “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). Moses reminded the Jews about to enter the Promised Land that Yahweh the Lord is their Father (Deuteronomy 32:6). God Himself said He is “Israel’s father” (Jeremiah 31:9). Because of their sins, Isaiah warned that the nation would go into exile (Isaiah 5:13). Then crying to Yahweh to restore them to the Promised Land, the Israelites said, “Surely you are still our Father!” (63:16 nlt).
In the New Testament, the Christian faith is a love relationship couched in the most basic of all human relationships—a father and child. Those who believe in Jesus are called children of God (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1). The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11–31 is a picture of our loving and forgiving heavenly Father welcoming His wayward children into His arms.
Indeed He is “still our Father!” Have you come home to your Father? - K. T. Sim
Belonging
By Tim Gustafson
The Lord who made you and helps you says: “Do not be afraid . . . my chosen one.” Isaiah 44:2 nlt
I’d been out late the night before, just as I was every Saturday night. Just twenty years old, I was running from God as fast as I could. But suddenly, strangely, I felt compelled to attend the church my dad pastored. I put on my faded jeans, well-worn T-shirt, and unlaced high-tops and drove across town.
I don’t recall the sermon Dad preached that day, but I can’t forget how delighted he was to see me. With his arm over my shoulder, he introduced me to everyone he saw. “This is my son!” he proudly declared. His joy became a picture of God’s love that has stuck with me all these decades.
The imagery of God as loving Father occurs throughout the Bible. In Isaiah 44, the prophet interrupts a series of warnings to proclaim God’s message of family love. “Dear Israel, my chosen one,” he said. “I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children” (vv. 2–3 nlt). Isaiah noted how the response of those descendants would demonstrate family pride. “Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord,’” he wrote. “Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands” (v. 5 nlt).
Wayward Israel belonged to God, just as I belonged to my adoptive father. Nothing I could do would ever make him lose his love for me. He gave me a glimpse of our heavenly Father’s love for us.
Heavenly Father, we all come from families that are broken in one way or another. Thank You for loving us in that brokenness and for showing us what real love looks like.
God’s love for us offers us the sense of belonging and identity we all crave.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
“Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R
When our daughters were young, Denalyn went away for a couple of days and left me alone with the girls. Though the time was not without the typical children’s quarrels and occasional misbehavior, it went fine.
“How were the girls?” Denalyn asked when she got home. “Good. No problem at all.” Jenna overheard me. “We weren’t good, Daddy,” she objected. “We fought once; we didn’t do what you said once. We weren’t good.”
Jenna and I had different perceptions of what pleases a father. She thought it depended on what she did. It didn’t. We think the same about God. We think His love rises and falls with our performance. It doesn’t. I didn’t love Jenna for what she did. I loved her—and love her still—for whose she is. She’s mine. God loves you for the same reason. He loves you for whose you are; and you are His child!
From Dad Time
Numbers 36
The Daughters of Zelophehad
The heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh—they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph—approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.
2-4 They said, “When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. But what happens if they marry into another tribe in the People of Israel? Their inheritance-land will be taken out of our ancestral tribe and get added into the tribe into which they married. And then when the year of Jubilee comes for the People of Israel their inheritance will be lumped in with the inheritance of the tribe into which they married—their land will be removed from our ancestors’ inheritance!”
5-9 Moses, at God’s command, issued this order to the People of Israel: “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right. This is God’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: They are free to marry anyone they choose as long as they marry within their ancestral clan. The inheritance-land of the People of Israel must not get passed around from tribe to tribe. No, keep the tribal inheritance-land in the family. Every daughter who inherits land, regardless of the tribe she is in, must marry a man from within her father’s tribal clan. Every Israelite is responsible for making sure the inheritance stays within the ancestral tribe. No inheritance-land may be passed from tribe to tribe; each tribe of the People of Israel must hold tight to its own land.”
10-12 Zelophehad’s daughters did just as God commanded Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, all married their cousins on their father’s side. They married within the families of Manasseh son of Joseph and their inheritance-lands stayed in their father’s family.
13 These are the commands and regulations that God commanded through the authority of Moses to the People of Israel on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Read: Isaiah 44:1–5
Proud to Be Called Israel
1-5 “But for now, dear servant Jacob, listen—
yes, you, Israel, my personal choice.
God who made you has something to say to you;
the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you.
Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, the one I chose.
For I will pour water on the thirsty ground
and send streams coursing through the parched earth.
I will pour my Spirit into your descendants
and my blessing on your children.
They shall sprout like grass on the prairie,
like willows alongside creeks.
This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’
and another will go by the name Jacob;
That one will write on his hand ‘God’s property’—
and be proud to be called Israel.”
INSIGHT
In addition to the imagery found in Isaiah 44, we see other examples in Scripture of God as our Father. In the Old Testament, God is called the Father of Israel, not on a personal basis but as a nation. When God delivered the nation from slavery in Egypt, God declared that Israel is His “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). Moses reminded the Jews about to enter the Promised Land that Yahweh the Lord is their Father (Deuteronomy 32:6). God Himself said He is “Israel’s father” (Jeremiah 31:9). Because of their sins, Isaiah warned that the nation would go into exile (Isaiah 5:13). Then crying to Yahweh to restore them to the Promised Land, the Israelites said, “Surely you are still our Father!” (63:16 nlt).
In the New Testament, the Christian faith is a love relationship couched in the most basic of all human relationships—a father and child. Those who believe in Jesus are called children of God (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1). The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11–31 is a picture of our loving and forgiving heavenly Father welcoming His wayward children into His arms.
Indeed He is “still our Father!” Have you come home to your Father? - K. T. Sim
Belonging
By Tim Gustafson
The Lord who made you and helps you says: “Do not be afraid . . . my chosen one.” Isaiah 44:2 nlt
I’d been out late the night before, just as I was every Saturday night. Just twenty years old, I was running from God as fast as I could. But suddenly, strangely, I felt compelled to attend the church my dad pastored. I put on my faded jeans, well-worn T-shirt, and unlaced high-tops and drove across town.
I don’t recall the sermon Dad preached that day, but I can’t forget how delighted he was to see me. With his arm over my shoulder, he introduced me to everyone he saw. “This is my son!” he proudly declared. His joy became a picture of God’s love that has stuck with me all these decades.
The imagery of God as loving Father occurs throughout the Bible. In Isaiah 44, the prophet interrupts a series of warnings to proclaim God’s message of family love. “Dear Israel, my chosen one,” he said. “I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children” (vv. 2–3 nlt). Isaiah noted how the response of those descendants would demonstrate family pride. “Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord,’” he wrote. “Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands” (v. 5 nlt).
Wayward Israel belonged to God, just as I belonged to my adoptive father. Nothing I could do would ever make him lose his love for me. He gave me a glimpse of our heavenly Father’s love for us.
Heavenly Father, we all come from families that are broken in one way or another. Thank You for loving us in that brokenness and for showing us what real love looks like.
God’s love for us offers us the sense of belonging and identity we all crave.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
“Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R
Friday, June 22, 2018
Numbers 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WELL DONE GOOD & FAITHFUL SERVANT
God gives gifts, not miserly, but abundantly! And he doesn’t give gifts randomly, but carefully– “to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15). Remember, no one else has our talents. No one. God elevates you from common-hood by matching your unique abilities to custom-made assignments.
“Well done, good and faithful servant,” Jesus will say to some (Matthew 25:23). Maybe your dad never praised you or your teachers always criticized you, but God will applaud you. And to have him call you good… well, when he does, it counts! Only he can make bad sinners good. And only he can make the frail faithful. “Well done, good and faithful…” The point? Use your uniqueness to take great risks for God! The only mistake is not to risk making one!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Numbers 35
Cities for Levites and Asylum-Cities
1-3 Then God spoke to Moses on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho: “Command the People of Israel to give the Levites as their part of the total inheritance towns to live in. Make sure there is plenty of pasture around the towns. Then they will be well taken care of with towns to live in and pastures for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.
4-5 “The pasture surrounding the Levites’ towns is to extend 1,500 feet in each direction from the city wall. The outside borders of the pasture are to measure three thousand feet on each of the four sides—east, south, west, and north—with the town at the center. Each city will be supplied with pasture.
6-8 “Six of these towns that you give the Levites will be asylum-cities to which anyone who accidentally kills another person may flee for asylum. In addition, you will give them forty-two other towns—forty-eight towns in all, together with their pastures. The towns that you give the Levites from the common inheritance of the People of Israel are to be taken in proportion to the size of each tribe—many towns from a tribe that has many, few from a tribe that has few.”
9-15 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan, designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum. They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won’t be killed until he can appear before the community in court. Provide six asylum-cities. Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another.
16 “But if the killer has used an iron object, that’s just plain murder; he’s obviously a murderer and must be put to death.
17 “Or if he has a rock in his hand big enough to kill and the man dies, that’s murder; he’s a murderer and must be put to death.
18 “Or if he’s carrying a wooden club heavy enough to kill and the man dies, that’s murder; he’s a murderer and must be put to death.
19 “In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.
20-21 “And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies, or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that’s murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him.
22-27 “If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it, or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn’t even know was there, and there’s no suspicion that there was bad blood between them, the community is to judge between the killer and the avenger following these guidelines. It’s the task of the community to save the killer from the hand of the avenger—the community is to return him to his asylum-city to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the High Priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the murderer leaves the asylum-city to which he has fled, and the avenger finds him outside the borders of his asylum-city, the avenger has a right to kill the murderer. And he’s not considered guilty of murder.
28 “So it’s important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place.
29 “These are the procedures for making judgments from now on, wherever you live.
30 “Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.
31 “Don’t accept bribe money in exchange for the life of a murderer. He’s guilty and deserves the death penalty. Put him to death.
32 “And don’t accept bribe money for anyone who has fled to an asylum-city so as to permit him to go back and live in his own place before the death of the High Priest.
33 “Don’t pollute the land in which you live. Murder pollutes the land. The land can’t be cleaned up of the blood of murder except through the blood of the murderer.
34 “Don’t desecrate the land in which you live. I live here, too—I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 22, 2018
Read: Philippians 3:7–14
Philippians 3:7-14 The Message (MSG)
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
Focused on the Goal
12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
INSIGHT
The apostle Paul’s passion to know Christ and to make Him known to others should guide our lives as well. In Philippians 3:1–14, we see how growing in our knowledge of Christ is mixed with both joy and pain: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings” (v. 10). Jesus told us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). As we grow in our relationship with Christ we can expect both joy and suffering.
How has both joy and suffering deepened your fellowship with Christ? - Dennis Fisher
Fellowship with Jesus
By Joe Stowell
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8
I’ll never forget the time I had the privilege of sitting next to Billy Graham at a dinner. I was honored but also somewhat nervous about what would be appropriate to say. I thought it would be an interesting conversation starter to ask what he loved most about his years of ministry. Then I awkwardly started to suggest possible answers. Was it knowing presidents, kings, and queens? Or preaching the gospel to millions of people around the world?
Before I had finished offering suggestions, Rev. Graham stopped me. Without hesitation he said, “It has been my fellowship with Jesus. To sense His presence, to glean His wisdom, to have Him guide and direct me—that has been my greatest joy.” I was instantly convicted and challenged. Convicted because I’m not sure that his answer would have been my answer, and challenged because I wanted it to be.
That’s what Paul had in mind when he counted his greatest achievements to be of no worth compared to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Think of how rich life would be if Jesus and our fellowship with Him was our highest pursuit.
Lord, forgive me for chasing after things that matter far less than my fellowship with You. Thank You that You stand ready to enrich my life with Your presence and power.
To remain faithful where God has placed you, give Christ first place in your heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 22, 2018
The Unchanging Law of Judgment
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 22, 2018
Your Welcome Home - #8205
They call it "The Welcome Home You Never Had." It's a special week they have done in the past at Branson, Missouri, designed to honor all those who served during the Vietnam War. There were shows featuring some of the music stars of the '60s and '70s along with special appreciation events. Years after that war, I mean, I know there's still a lot of debate about it. But what there's not much debate about is that America's soldiers went there, risked their lives and sometimes laid down their lives. But because of how that war tore our nation apart at the time, these men and women fought the battles, but unlike the returning soldiers from America's other wars, their courage and sacrifice had been largely uncelebrated and unappreciated. Until someone decided it was time for the "welcome home you never had."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Welcome Home."
You may not be a veteran of military battles, but you may very well be a person who's a veteran of a lot of life battles. You've worked hard, you've made sacrifices, you've got the wounds to show for it, and through it all you've tried to be faithful and courageous. But not many people seem to have noticed. Not many people have said thanks. You're among that all-too-large group of people called "The Unappreciated."
Well, I want you to know someone has noticed all you've done and all you've gone through. Someone does appreciate it. And that someone happens to be the single most important person in the universe. Jesus has noticed. Jesus is grateful. That's the ultimate reason why it really is worth it. And it really is worth hanging in there to keep on fighting.
The Bible says in Colossians 3:23-24 - it's our word for today from the Word of God - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." You know, that's important to remember. Jesus is ultimately the only One really worth doing it for. And He's watching every one of us, remembering how we run our race. And I want His standing ovation, whether or not anyone else ever applauds what I'm doing.
Any thanks or strokes that humans may give you are short-lived - here for one bright, shining moment, and then gone very quickly. But it's Jesus who waits at the finish line with a fabulous "welcome home" celebration and amazing rewards that will last for all eternity. Jesus is the Appreciator, the Rewarder of every noble thing we ever do. Your celebration may be delayed, but, believe me, it will be worth the wait and it will be worth the price.
Maybe your whole life has been, in a way, the "welcome home you never had." It's been a pretty, well, unwelcoming place for you. Jesus knows that feeling. God's book tells us "He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). Maybe that describes how you've responded to Him. I mean, Jesus came from heaven to tear down the wall that our sin has built between us and the God we're made to belong to. He had to die this horrible death on a cross to pay for and remove your sin. And now He's waiting with open arms to welcome you into His unloseable love, to welcome you into His family, and when you take your last breath, to welcome you into His heaven.
The question is, "Have you ever welcomed Jesus into your life as your personal Rescuer from your sin?" John 1:12 tells us that "all who received Him, to whose who believed in His name" - that means putting your total trust in Him - "He gave the right to become children of God." He's been knocking on the door of your heart for a long time, and I don't know how long He'll keep knocking, but all God's going to ask you about on Judgment Day is, "What did you do with My Son?" The only right answer is, "I welcomed Him into my life, Lord."
Look, if you've never done that, this is your day to pin all your hopes on the man who died for you; to throw open the door of your heart to Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." You ready for that? You ready to get this done? Go to our website. It's there for you right now - ANewStory.com.
This could be the day that you finally welcome Jesus into the life that He died for; the day Jesus welcomes you into His family. It could be the day that changes everything for you. In fact, it changes where you will spend your eternity.
God gives gifts, not miserly, but abundantly! And he doesn’t give gifts randomly, but carefully– “to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15). Remember, no one else has our talents. No one. God elevates you from common-hood by matching your unique abilities to custom-made assignments.
“Well done, good and faithful servant,” Jesus will say to some (Matthew 25:23). Maybe your dad never praised you or your teachers always criticized you, but God will applaud you. And to have him call you good… well, when he does, it counts! Only he can make bad sinners good. And only he can make the frail faithful. “Well done, good and faithful…” The point? Use your uniqueness to take great risks for God! The only mistake is not to risk making one!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Numbers 35
Cities for Levites and Asylum-Cities
1-3 Then God spoke to Moses on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho: “Command the People of Israel to give the Levites as their part of the total inheritance towns to live in. Make sure there is plenty of pasture around the towns. Then they will be well taken care of with towns to live in and pastures for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.
4-5 “The pasture surrounding the Levites’ towns is to extend 1,500 feet in each direction from the city wall. The outside borders of the pasture are to measure three thousand feet on each of the four sides—east, south, west, and north—with the town at the center. Each city will be supplied with pasture.
6-8 “Six of these towns that you give the Levites will be asylum-cities to which anyone who accidentally kills another person may flee for asylum. In addition, you will give them forty-two other towns—forty-eight towns in all, together with their pastures. The towns that you give the Levites from the common inheritance of the People of Israel are to be taken in proportion to the size of each tribe—many towns from a tribe that has many, few from a tribe that has few.”
9-15 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan, designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum. They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won’t be killed until he can appear before the community in court. Provide six asylum-cities. Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another.
16 “But if the killer has used an iron object, that’s just plain murder; he’s obviously a murderer and must be put to death.
17 “Or if he has a rock in his hand big enough to kill and the man dies, that’s murder; he’s a murderer and must be put to death.
18 “Or if he’s carrying a wooden club heavy enough to kill and the man dies, that’s murder; he’s a murderer and must be put to death.
19 “In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.
20-21 “And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies, or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that’s murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him.
22-27 “If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it, or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn’t even know was there, and there’s no suspicion that there was bad blood between them, the community is to judge between the killer and the avenger following these guidelines. It’s the task of the community to save the killer from the hand of the avenger—the community is to return him to his asylum-city to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the High Priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the murderer leaves the asylum-city to which he has fled, and the avenger finds him outside the borders of his asylum-city, the avenger has a right to kill the murderer. And he’s not considered guilty of murder.
28 “So it’s important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place.
29 “These are the procedures for making judgments from now on, wherever you live.
30 “Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.
31 “Don’t accept bribe money in exchange for the life of a murderer. He’s guilty and deserves the death penalty. Put him to death.
32 “And don’t accept bribe money for anyone who has fled to an asylum-city so as to permit him to go back and live in his own place before the death of the High Priest.
33 “Don’t pollute the land in which you live. Murder pollutes the land. The land can’t be cleaned up of the blood of murder except through the blood of the murderer.
34 “Don’t desecrate the land in which you live. I live here, too—I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 22, 2018
Read: Philippians 3:7–14
Philippians 3:7-14 The Message (MSG)
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
Focused on the Goal
12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
INSIGHT
The apostle Paul’s passion to know Christ and to make Him known to others should guide our lives as well. In Philippians 3:1–14, we see how growing in our knowledge of Christ is mixed with both joy and pain: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings” (v. 10). Jesus told us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). As we grow in our relationship with Christ we can expect both joy and suffering.
How has both joy and suffering deepened your fellowship with Christ? - Dennis Fisher
Fellowship with Jesus
By Joe Stowell
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8
I’ll never forget the time I had the privilege of sitting next to Billy Graham at a dinner. I was honored but also somewhat nervous about what would be appropriate to say. I thought it would be an interesting conversation starter to ask what he loved most about his years of ministry. Then I awkwardly started to suggest possible answers. Was it knowing presidents, kings, and queens? Or preaching the gospel to millions of people around the world?
Before I had finished offering suggestions, Rev. Graham stopped me. Without hesitation he said, “It has been my fellowship with Jesus. To sense His presence, to glean His wisdom, to have Him guide and direct me—that has been my greatest joy.” I was instantly convicted and challenged. Convicted because I’m not sure that his answer would have been my answer, and challenged because I wanted it to be.
That’s what Paul had in mind when he counted his greatest achievements to be of no worth compared to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Think of how rich life would be if Jesus and our fellowship with Him was our highest pursuit.
Lord, forgive me for chasing after things that matter far less than my fellowship with You. Thank You that You stand ready to enrich my life with Your presence and power.
To remain faithful where God has placed you, give Christ first place in your heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 22, 2018
The Unchanging Law of Judgment
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 22, 2018
Your Welcome Home - #8205
They call it "The Welcome Home You Never Had." It's a special week they have done in the past at Branson, Missouri, designed to honor all those who served during the Vietnam War. There were shows featuring some of the music stars of the '60s and '70s along with special appreciation events. Years after that war, I mean, I know there's still a lot of debate about it. But what there's not much debate about is that America's soldiers went there, risked their lives and sometimes laid down their lives. But because of how that war tore our nation apart at the time, these men and women fought the battles, but unlike the returning soldiers from America's other wars, their courage and sacrifice had been largely uncelebrated and unappreciated. Until someone decided it was time for the "welcome home you never had."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Welcome Home."
You may not be a veteran of military battles, but you may very well be a person who's a veteran of a lot of life battles. You've worked hard, you've made sacrifices, you've got the wounds to show for it, and through it all you've tried to be faithful and courageous. But not many people seem to have noticed. Not many people have said thanks. You're among that all-too-large group of people called "The Unappreciated."
Well, I want you to know someone has noticed all you've done and all you've gone through. Someone does appreciate it. And that someone happens to be the single most important person in the universe. Jesus has noticed. Jesus is grateful. That's the ultimate reason why it really is worth it. And it really is worth hanging in there to keep on fighting.
The Bible says in Colossians 3:23-24 - it's our word for today from the Word of God - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." You know, that's important to remember. Jesus is ultimately the only One really worth doing it for. And He's watching every one of us, remembering how we run our race. And I want His standing ovation, whether or not anyone else ever applauds what I'm doing.
Any thanks or strokes that humans may give you are short-lived - here for one bright, shining moment, and then gone very quickly. But it's Jesus who waits at the finish line with a fabulous "welcome home" celebration and amazing rewards that will last for all eternity. Jesus is the Appreciator, the Rewarder of every noble thing we ever do. Your celebration may be delayed, but, believe me, it will be worth the wait and it will be worth the price.
Maybe your whole life has been, in a way, the "welcome home you never had." It's been a pretty, well, unwelcoming place for you. Jesus knows that feeling. God's book tells us "He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). Maybe that describes how you've responded to Him. I mean, Jesus came from heaven to tear down the wall that our sin has built between us and the God we're made to belong to. He had to die this horrible death on a cross to pay for and remove your sin. And now He's waiting with open arms to welcome you into His unloseable love, to welcome you into His family, and when you take your last breath, to welcome you into His heaven.
The question is, "Have you ever welcomed Jesus into your life as your personal Rescuer from your sin?" John 1:12 tells us that "all who received Him, to whose who believed in His name" - that means putting your total trust in Him - "He gave the right to become children of God." He's been knocking on the door of your heart for a long time, and I don't know how long He'll keep knocking, but all God's going to ask you about on Judgment Day is, "What did you do with My Son?" The only right answer is, "I welcomed Him into my life, Lord."
Look, if you've never done that, this is your day to pin all your hopes on the man who died for you; to throw open the door of your heart to Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." You ready for that? You ready to get this done? Go to our website. It's there for you right now - ANewStory.com.
This could be the day that you finally welcome Jesus into the life that He died for; the day Jesus welcomes you into His family. It could be the day that changes everything for you. In fact, it changes where you will spend your eternity.
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