Max Lucado Daily: KEEP YOUR GAZE ON JESUS
Peter said, “‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So Jesus said, ‘Come.’” For a few heart-stilling moments described in Matthew 14, Peter did the impossible. He defied every law of gravity and nature. Then he shifted his attention away from Jesus, and he sank like a brick.
Give the storm waters more attention that the Storm Walker, and get ready to do the same. We can’t choose whether or not storms come. But we can choose where we stare during a storm. Do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus. Courage is always a possibility. Feed your fears, and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will starve. Storms are not an option, but fear is.
Read more Fearless
2 Samuel 14
-3 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king, deep down, still cared for Absalom. So he sent to Tekoa for a wise woman who lived there and instructed her, “Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in black and don’t comb your hair, so you’ll look like you’ve been grieving over a dead loved one for a long time. Then go to the king and tell him this . . .” Joab then told her exactly what to say.
4 The woman of Tekoa went to the king, bowed deeply before him in homage, and said, “O King, help!”
5-7 He said, “How can I help?”
“I’m a widow,” she said. “My husband is dead. I had two sons. The two of them got into a fight out in the field and there was no one around to step between them. The one struck the other and killed him. Then the whole family ganged up against me and demanded, ‘Hand over this murderer so we can kill him for the life of the brother he murdered!’ They want to wipe out the heir and snuff out the one spark of life left to me. And then there would be nothing left of my husband—not so much as a name—on the face of the earth.
15-17 “So now I’ve dared come to the king, my master, about all this. They’re making my life miserable, and I’m afraid. I said to myself, ‘I’ll go to the king. Maybe he’ll do something! When the king hears what’s going on, he’ll step in and rescue me from the abuse of the man who would get rid of me and my son and God’s inheritance—the works!’ As your handmaid, I decided ahead of time, ‘The word of my master, the king, will be the last word in this, for my master is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil.’ God be with you!”
8 The king said, “Go home, and I’ll take care of this for you.”
9 “I’ll take all responsibility for what happens,” the woman of Tekoa said. “I don’t want to compromise the king and his reputation.”
10 “Bring the man who has been harassing you,” the king continued. “I’ll see to it that he doesn’t bother you anymore.”
11 “Let the king invoke the name of God,” said the woman, “so this self-styled vigilante won’t ruin everything, to say nothing of killing my son.”
“As surely as God lives,” he said, “not so much as a hair of your son’s head will be lost.”
12 Then she asked, “May I say one more thing to my master, the king?”
He said, “Go ahead.”
13-14 “Why, then,” the woman said, “have you done this very thing against God’s people? In his verdict, the king convicts himself by not bringing home his exiled son. We all die sometime. Water spilled on the ground can’t be gathered up again. But God does not take away life. He works out ways to get the exile back.”
18 The king then said, “I’m going to ask you something. Answer me truthfully.”
“Certainly,” she said. “Let my master, the king, speak.”
19-20 The king said, “Is the hand of Joab mixed up in this?”
“On your life, my master king, a body can’t veer an inch right or left and get by with it in the royal presence! Yes, it was your servant Joab who put me up to this, and put these very words in my mouth. It was because he wanted to turn things around that your servant Joab did this. But my master is as wise as God’s angels in knowing how to handle things on this earth.”
21 The king spoke to Joab. “All right, I’ll do it. Go and bring the young man Absalom back.”
22 Joab bowed deeply in reverence and blessed the king. “I’m reassured to know that I’m still in your good graces and have your confidence, since the king is taking the counsel of his servant.”
23-24 Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. The king said, “He may return to his house, but he is not to see me face-to-face.” So Absalom returned home, but was not permitted to see the king.
25-27 This Absalom! There wasn’t a man in all Israel talked about so much for his handsome good looks—and not a blemish on him from head to toe! When he cut his hair—he always cut it short in the spring because it had grown so heavy—the weight of the hair from his head was over two pounds! Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter. Her name was Tamar—and she was a beauty.
28-31 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, and not once did he see the king face-to-face. He sent for Joab to get him in to see the king, but Joab still wouldn’t budge. He tried a second time and Joab still wouldn’t. So he told his servants, “Listen. Joab’s field adjoins mine, and he has a crop of barley in it. Go set fire to it.” So Absalom’s servants set fire to the field. That got him moving—Joab came to Absalom at home and said, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 Absalom answered him, “Listen, I sent for you saying, ‘Come, and soon. I want to send you to the king to ask, “What’s the point of my coming back from Geshur? I’d be better off still there!” Let me see the king face-to-face. If he finds me guilty, then he can put me to death.’”
33 Joab went to the king and told him what was going on. Absalom was then summoned—he came and bowed deeply in reverence before him. And the king kissed Absalom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 18, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 13:1-6
A David Psalm
13 1-2 Long enough, God—
you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
have looked down their noses at me.
3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God;
I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
or laugh when I fall on my face.
5-6 I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
I’m so full of answered prayers.
Insight
A lament psalm typically contains five elements: invocation, lament, request, trust, and praise. We see all five in Psalm 13. First is the invocation, in which an appeal for help is made to an authority: “How long, Lord?” (v. 1). Next is the lament, which takes the form of David’s bitter questions (vv. 1–2). Soon he pivots to his request, as he demands an answer from God: “Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death” (v. 3). The poet then circles back to trust (v. 5), which naturally leads to his anticipation of future praise (v. 6). We don’t know the details of David’s desperate straits, but that uncertainty only enhances this psalm’s universal accessibility. Everyone understands what it is to be desperate. Not everyone understands where to turn for genuine help. David shows us what it looks like to find hope where there seems to be none. By: Tim Gustafson
Worshiping with Questions
I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.-Psalm 13:5
It’s not uncommon during a long (or short!) trip for someone in a group of travelers to ask, “Are we there yet?” or “How much longer?” Who hasn’t heard these universal queries coming from the lips of children and adults eager to arrive at their destination? But people of all ages are also prone to ask similar questions when wearied because of life challenges that never seem to cease.
Such was the case with David in Psalm 13. Four times in two verses (vv. 1–2), David—who felt forgotten, forsaken, and defeated—lamented “How long?” In verse two, he asks, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?” Psalms that include lament, like this one, implicitly give us permission to worshipfully come to the Lord with questions of our own. After all, what better person to talk to during prolonged times of stress and strain than God? We can bring our struggles with illness, grief, the waywardness of a loved one, and relational difficulties to Him.
Worship need not stop when we have questions. The sovereign God of heaven welcomes us to bring our worry-filled questions to Him. And perhaps, like David, in due time our questions will be transformed into petitions and expressions of trust and praise to the Lord (vv. 3–6).
By Arthur Jackson
Today's Reflection
Lord, thank You that I don’t have to stop worshiping when I have questions; I can worship You with my questions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 18, 2019
“It Is the Lord!”
Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" —John 20:28
“Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’ ” (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. “You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us.
Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 18, 2019
Everything You Need to Build Your Home - #8355
You know, the opening of a new store in town usually creates a buzz. Like maybe one of those major discount stores, or that do-it-yourself place like Home Depot or something. Well, that stirred things up when it opened in our community some years ago. I’m not doing a commercial; it’s just an observation. Some observers say that Home Depot's comprehensive inventory and competitive prices have actually helped interest a whole new wave of people in doing their own home improvements. (If I only had the ability to use those things they sell!) But any, it's sort of meant to be a one-stop shopping place for everything you need to build your home.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Everything You Need to Build Your Home."
If only building or improving a home was just a matter of plywood, sheetrock, and tile. That will take care of a place called home, but not necessarily the people who are really what home is. Building a marriage, building your children—that's a lot more challenging. And you can't just go to a store to pick up the materials you need to be the right kind of mom or dad, to be what your wife needs, to be what your husband needs.
And there's nothing like trying to make a family work to make you face things that need work inside of you; inside your personality, your heart, your priorities, your attitude, your soul. Living in the intensity of a family really exposes the baggage you're carrying from your past, your weaknesses, your selfishness, and your dark side. There's this person we want to be that our family really needs us to be. Then there's this person we really are, and we just don't know how to get from who we are to who we need to be. The ugly stuff in us is now marking another generation and it’s hurting the very people we love the most. If we could change, we would have changed by now.
But there’s a place you can go to find everything you need to build your home; to someone whose spiritual resources have transformed millions of people for thousands of years. Our word for today from the Word of God spells out concisely but clearly the secret of a home that works. In Psalm 127:1, the inventor of the family says: "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain."
The simple truth is: you need the Lord to make you what your family needs you to be. Because the darkness inside us is a cancer we can't cure; the "disease of me" that no one on earth can cure. God calls it "sin," and the Bible makes it clear this cancer is incurable. It's actually terminal. The Bible says, "Sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:15). That death includes the death of many marriages and many parent relationships over the years.
We're like a drowning person or a person trapped in the rubble of an earthquake. Our only hope is a rescue. And because God loves you so much, He launched a rescue mission for you and me on a skull-shaped hill near Jerusalem called Golgotha. The Bible says, "He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood" (Revelation 1:6).
Your new beginning starts when you, in your heart, find your way to the cross of Jesus to claim His forgiveness for every wrong thing and every hurting thing you have ever done. He died for you to forgive you, and then He rose from the dead to prove He has the power to conquer anything including that darkness inside you. In the Bible's words, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
You begin this transforming relationship with Jesus the moment you claim what He did on the cross for yourself personally; when you tell Him with all your heart, "I'm totally yours, Jesus. From this moment on, I won’t be driving anymore. You’re in the driver’s seat." That new beginning could be today for you.
In fact, our website is called ANewStory.com, and many people have begun a new story in their life by going there simply to find the words from God that will help you know you belong to Jesus and have Him now in your life and your home.
The greatest gift you can give the people you love is for you to give yourself to Jesus. He alone can give you everything you need to build your home.
Friday, January 18, 2019
Thursday, January 17, 2019
2 Samuel 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: SEEING JESUS IN THE STORM
Peter and his fellow storm riders knew they were in trouble. According to Matthew 14:24, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” About 4:00 a.m. the unspeakable happened. They spotted someone walking on the water. “‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror.”
They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way. Neither do we. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a storm. But that’s where he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention. He said. “Take courage. I am here!” Look over your shoulder, friend, that’s God following you. Look into the storm, friend, that’s Christ coming toward you.
Read more Fearless
2 Samuel 13
Some time later, this happened: Absalom, David’s son, had a sister who was very attractive. Her name was Tamar. Amnon, also David’s son, was in love with her. Amnon was obsessed with his sister Tamar to the point of making himself sick over her. She was a virgin, so he couldn’t see how he could get his hands on her. Amnon had a good friend, Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was exceptionally streetwise. He said to Amnon, “Why are you moping around like this, day after day—you, the son of the king! Tell me what’s eating at you.”
“In a word, Tamar,” said Amnon. “My brother Absalom’s sister. I’m in love with her.”
5 “Here’s what you do,” said Jonadab. “Go to bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to visit you, say, ‘Have my sister Tamar come and prepare some supper for me here where I can watch her and she can feed me.’”
6 So Amnon took to his bed and acted sick. When the king came to visit, Amnon said, “Would you do me a favor? Have my sister Tamar come and make some nourishing dumplings here where I can watch her and be fed by her.”
7 David sent word to Tamar who was home at the time: “Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare a meal for him.”
8-9 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house. She took dough, kneaded it, formed it into dumplings, and cooked them while he watched from his bed. But when she took the cooking pot and served him, he wouldn’t eat.
9-11 Amnon said, “Clear everyone out of the house,” and they all cleared out. Then he said to Tamar, “Bring the food into my bedroom, where we can eat in privacy.” She took the nourishing dumplings she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she got ready to feed him, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, sister!”
12-13 “No, brother!” she said, “Don’t hurt me! This kind of thing isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this terrible thing! Where could I ever show my face? And you—you’ll be out on the street in disgrace. Oh, please! Speak to the king—he’ll let you marry me.”
14 But he wouldn’t listen. Being much stronger than she, he raped her.
15 No sooner had Amnon raped her than he hated her—an immense hatred. The hatred that he felt for her was greater than the love he’d had for her. “Get up,” he said, “and get out!”
16-18 “Oh no, brother,” she said. “Please! This is an even worse evil than what you just did to me!”
But he wouldn’t listen to her. He called for his valet. “Get rid of this woman. Get her out of my sight! And lock the door after her.” The valet threw her out and locked the door behind her.
18-19 She was wearing a long-sleeved gown. (That’s how virgin princesses used to dress from early adolescence on.) Tamar poured ashes on her head, then she ripped the long-sleeved gown, held her head in her hands, and walked away, sobbing as she went.
20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon had his way with you? Now, my dear sister, let’s keep it quiet—a family matter. He is, after all, your brother. Don’t take this so hard.” Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s home, bitter and desolate.
21-22 King David heard the whole story and was enraged, but he didn’t discipline Amnon. David doted on him because he was his firstborn. Absalom quit speaking to Amnon—not a word, whether good or bad—because he hated him for violating his sister Tamar.
23-24 Two years went by. One day Absalom threw a sheep-shearing party in Baal Hazor in the vicinity of Ephraim and invited all the king’s sons. He also went to the king and invited him. “Look, I’m throwing a sheep-shearing party. Come, and bring your servants.”
25 But the king said, “No, son—not this time, and not the whole household. We’d just be a burden to you.” Absalom pushed, but David wouldn’t budge. But he did give him his blessing.
26-27 Then Absalom said, “Well, if you won’t come, at least let my brother Amnon come.”
“And why,” said the king, “should he go with you?” But Absalom was so insistent that he gave in and let Amnon and all the rest of the king’s sons go.
28 Absalom prepared a banquet fit for a king. Then he instructed his servants, “Look sharp, now. When Amnon is well into the sauce and feeling no pain, and I give the order ‘Strike Amnon,’ kill him. And don’t be afraid—I’m the one giving the command. Courage! You can do it!”
29-31 Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what their master ordered. All the king’s sons got out as fast as they could, jumped on their mules, and rode off. While they were still on the road, a rumor came to the king: “Absalom just killed all the king’s sons—not one is left!” The king stood up, ripped his clothes to shreds, and threw himself on the floor. All his servants who were standing around at the time did the same.
32-33 Just then, Jonadab, his brother Shimeah’s son, stepped up. “My master must not think that all the young men, the king’s sons, are dead. Only Amnon is dead. This happened because of Absalom’s outrage since the day that Amnon violated his sister Tamar. So my master, the king, mustn’t make things worse than they are, thinking that all your sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”
34 Absalom fled.
Just then the sentry on duty looked up and saw a cloud of dust on the road from Horonaim alongside the mountain. He came and told the king, “I’ve just seen a bunch of men on the Horonaim road, coming around the mountain.”
35-37 Then Jonadab exclaimed to the king, “See! It’s the king’s sons coming, just as I said!” He had no sooner said the words than the king’s sons burst in—loud laments and weeping! The king joined in, along with all the servants—loud weeping, many tears. David mourned the death of his son a long time.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Hosea 11:8-11
Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods
11 1-9 “When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
They pray to god Baal for help.
He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.
10-12 “The people will end up following God.
I will roar like a lion—
Oh, how I’ll roar!
My frightened children will come running from the west.
Like frightened birds they’ll come from Egypt,
from Assyria like scared doves.
I’ll move them back into their homes.”
God’s Word!
Soul-Destroying Lies
Ephraim tells lies right and left.
Not a word of Israel can be trusted.
Judah, meanwhile, is no better,
addicted to cheap gods.
Insight
Hosea, a contemporary of prophets Isaiah and Micah, ministered primarily to the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Hosea 1:1). His prophetic ministry was unique because he not only communicated in words what God wanted to tell the Israelites, but he symbolically acted out these revelations (chs. 1, 3). Hosea was commanded to marry Gomer, a promiscuous woman, to show that “like an adulterous wife [Israel] is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord” (1:2). After Gomer’s unfaithfulness, Hosea was commanded to reconcile with her and to “love her as the Lord loves the Israelites” (3:1). These tragic examples mirror God’s unrequited love for Israel. Despite Israel’s unrepentant unfaithfulness (chs. 1–3) and warnings of ominous punishment (chs. 4–10), God promises restoration and blessing, revealing how great and relentless His love is. In His mercy, God spared them (11:8–9); and in His grace, He will redeem and restore them (vv. 10–11). By: K. T. Sim
What Can’t You Give Up?
By Poh Fang Chia
[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God.
Romans 8:39
“What’s one thing you can’t give up?” the radio host asked. Listeners called in with some interesting answers. Some mentioned their families, including a husband who shared memories of a deceased wife. Others shared they can’t give up on their dreams, such as making a living in music or becoming a mother. All of us have something we treasure dearly—a person, a passion, a possession—something we can’t give up.
In the book of Hosea, God tells us that He won’t give up on His chosen people Israel, His treasured possession. As Israel’s loving husband, God provided her with everything she needed: land, food, drink, clothing, and security. Yet like an adulterous spouse, Israel rejected God and sought her happiness and security elsewhere. The more God pursued her, the further she drifted away (Hosea 11:2). However, though she had hurt Him deeply, He would not give her up (v. 8). He would discipline Israel so as to redeem her; His desire was to re-establish His relationship with her (v. 11).
Today, all God’s children can have the same assurance: His love for us is a love that will never let us go (Romans 8:37–39). If we’ve wandered from Him, He yearns for us to return. When God disciplines us, we can be comforted that it’s a sign of His pursuit, not of His rejection. We are His treasure; He won’t give up on us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 17, 2019
The Call of the Natural Life
When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16
The call of God is not a call to serve Him in any particular way. My contact with the nature of God will shape my understanding of His call and will help me realize what I truly desire to do for Him. The call of God is an expression of His nature; the service which results in my life is suited to me and is an expression of my nature. The call of the natural life was stated by the apostle Paul— “When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him [that is, purely and solemnly express Him] among the Gentiles….”
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God. Service becomes a natural part of my life. God brings me into the proper relationship with Himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is an expression of my nature, and God’s call is an expression of His nature. Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Laser Living - #8354
We were nearly 3,000 miles from home when my wife was hit by this agonizing attack of gallstones. The situation was so acute we had to get her to a hospital where it was quickly determined she was going to need surgery to remove the stones. From what we understood (and this is the old-school way of doing it) it could take six weeks for her to be able to travel back after the operation. Back home a cure would have meant this invasive incision. But God, of course, had this planned all the time. The hospital that friends directed us to just happened to have on its staff one of the premier laser surgeons in the country. Now, they're more common today, but not back then. He zapped those gallstones with a laser beam and they were history. My honey was good in just two days! A while ago, a friend of ours lost his glasses - for good. He had a laser procedure on his eyes - lasik surgery - and almost immediately his vision deficiencies have been corrected. Who needs glasses? Gallstones gone, vision corrected - with the power of a laser - with the power of focused light.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Laser Living."
No amount of diffused light could have shattered gallstones or reshaped a cornea. Diffused light isn't all that powerful. Neither is a diffused life. Focused light is amazingly powerful. So is a focused life. And if you want the rest of your years to be the best of your years, however many or few God gives you, you need to be thinking about laser living.
I'm grateful God gives us some pictures of what that looks like in His Word. One incident from the life of Jesus, recorded in our word for today from the Word of God, shows us three steps to a focused, high-impact life. As we come to Luke 4:42-44, we find Jesus has spent the entire previous day healing multitudes of sick people in Capernaum. And the next day, people from all around are bringing needy people to Him from all over. But the day takes a turn no one could have predicted.
The Bible says, "At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for Him and when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them. But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea."
Jesus was surrounded by needs and demands, competing for His time and competing for His attention. You know that feeling? But notice what happened. He walked away from a lot of needs because He had to stay focused on what He called "why I was sent." He knew those needs were a noble detour from the mission He had to focus on; His "I must," as He called it. So He focused like a laser on the central mission God had given Him.
That's what you need to be doing. Here's how, based on what we've just seen Jesus do. First, you need to say "no" to some good things - things that someone should do, but not you.
There are things only you are supposed to do. And that's the second step in laser living - pour everything into a few things that God wants you to go for. And the third step is how you decide the first two. Take a timeout to hear from your Father, like Jesus did. Let Him give you His passion for His priorities for your living, for your giving, and for your energy. If you've been too spread out over too many things, you're probably not making a big difference in any of those things. What's diffused just doesn't make much impact.
It's time to step back and focus your life and your resources - not on many things, but on a few "I must" passions from God's heart to your heart. That's laser living; the power of focused energy. It's the road to what your heart's restless for - to make a far greater difference with the rest of your life than you have ever made before!
Peter and his fellow storm riders knew they were in trouble. According to Matthew 14:24, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” About 4:00 a.m. the unspeakable happened. They spotted someone walking on the water. “‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror.”
They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way. Neither do we. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a storm. But that’s where he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention. He said. “Take courage. I am here!” Look over your shoulder, friend, that’s God following you. Look into the storm, friend, that’s Christ coming toward you.
Read more Fearless
2 Samuel 13
Some time later, this happened: Absalom, David’s son, had a sister who was very attractive. Her name was Tamar. Amnon, also David’s son, was in love with her. Amnon was obsessed with his sister Tamar to the point of making himself sick over her. She was a virgin, so he couldn’t see how he could get his hands on her. Amnon had a good friend, Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was exceptionally streetwise. He said to Amnon, “Why are you moping around like this, day after day—you, the son of the king! Tell me what’s eating at you.”
“In a word, Tamar,” said Amnon. “My brother Absalom’s sister. I’m in love with her.”
5 “Here’s what you do,” said Jonadab. “Go to bed and pretend you’re sick. When your father comes to visit you, say, ‘Have my sister Tamar come and prepare some supper for me here where I can watch her and she can feed me.’”
6 So Amnon took to his bed and acted sick. When the king came to visit, Amnon said, “Would you do me a favor? Have my sister Tamar come and make some nourishing dumplings here where I can watch her and be fed by her.”
7 David sent word to Tamar who was home at the time: “Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare a meal for him.”
8-9 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house. She took dough, kneaded it, formed it into dumplings, and cooked them while he watched from his bed. But when she took the cooking pot and served him, he wouldn’t eat.
9-11 Amnon said, “Clear everyone out of the house,” and they all cleared out. Then he said to Tamar, “Bring the food into my bedroom, where we can eat in privacy.” She took the nourishing dumplings she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she got ready to feed him, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, sister!”
12-13 “No, brother!” she said, “Don’t hurt me! This kind of thing isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this terrible thing! Where could I ever show my face? And you—you’ll be out on the street in disgrace. Oh, please! Speak to the king—he’ll let you marry me.”
14 But he wouldn’t listen. Being much stronger than she, he raped her.
15 No sooner had Amnon raped her than he hated her—an immense hatred. The hatred that he felt for her was greater than the love he’d had for her. “Get up,” he said, “and get out!”
16-18 “Oh no, brother,” she said. “Please! This is an even worse evil than what you just did to me!”
But he wouldn’t listen to her. He called for his valet. “Get rid of this woman. Get her out of my sight! And lock the door after her.” The valet threw her out and locked the door behind her.
18-19 She was wearing a long-sleeved gown. (That’s how virgin princesses used to dress from early adolescence on.) Tamar poured ashes on her head, then she ripped the long-sleeved gown, held her head in her hands, and walked away, sobbing as she went.
20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon had his way with you? Now, my dear sister, let’s keep it quiet—a family matter. He is, after all, your brother. Don’t take this so hard.” Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s home, bitter and desolate.
21-22 King David heard the whole story and was enraged, but he didn’t discipline Amnon. David doted on him because he was his firstborn. Absalom quit speaking to Amnon—not a word, whether good or bad—because he hated him for violating his sister Tamar.
23-24 Two years went by. One day Absalom threw a sheep-shearing party in Baal Hazor in the vicinity of Ephraim and invited all the king’s sons. He also went to the king and invited him. “Look, I’m throwing a sheep-shearing party. Come, and bring your servants.”
25 But the king said, “No, son—not this time, and not the whole household. We’d just be a burden to you.” Absalom pushed, but David wouldn’t budge. But he did give him his blessing.
26-27 Then Absalom said, “Well, if you won’t come, at least let my brother Amnon come.”
“And why,” said the king, “should he go with you?” But Absalom was so insistent that he gave in and let Amnon and all the rest of the king’s sons go.
28 Absalom prepared a banquet fit for a king. Then he instructed his servants, “Look sharp, now. When Amnon is well into the sauce and feeling no pain, and I give the order ‘Strike Amnon,’ kill him. And don’t be afraid—I’m the one giving the command. Courage! You can do it!”
29-31 Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what their master ordered. All the king’s sons got out as fast as they could, jumped on their mules, and rode off. While they were still on the road, a rumor came to the king: “Absalom just killed all the king’s sons—not one is left!” The king stood up, ripped his clothes to shreds, and threw himself on the floor. All his servants who were standing around at the time did the same.
32-33 Just then, Jonadab, his brother Shimeah’s son, stepped up. “My master must not think that all the young men, the king’s sons, are dead. Only Amnon is dead. This happened because of Absalom’s outrage since the day that Amnon violated his sister Tamar. So my master, the king, mustn’t make things worse than they are, thinking that all your sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”
34 Absalom fled.
Just then the sentry on duty looked up and saw a cloud of dust on the road from Horonaim alongside the mountain. He came and told the king, “I’ve just seen a bunch of men on the Horonaim road, coming around the mountain.”
35-37 Then Jonadab exclaimed to the king, “See! It’s the king’s sons coming, just as I said!” He had no sooner said the words than the king’s sons burst in—loud laments and weeping! The king joined in, along with all the servants—loud weeping, many tears. David mourned the death of his son a long time.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Hosea 11:8-11
Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods
11 1-9 “When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
They pray to god Baal for help.
He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.
10-12 “The people will end up following God.
I will roar like a lion—
Oh, how I’ll roar!
My frightened children will come running from the west.
Like frightened birds they’ll come from Egypt,
from Assyria like scared doves.
I’ll move them back into their homes.”
God’s Word!
Soul-Destroying Lies
Ephraim tells lies right and left.
Not a word of Israel can be trusted.
Judah, meanwhile, is no better,
addicted to cheap gods.
Insight
Hosea, a contemporary of prophets Isaiah and Micah, ministered primarily to the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Hosea 1:1). His prophetic ministry was unique because he not only communicated in words what God wanted to tell the Israelites, but he symbolically acted out these revelations (chs. 1, 3). Hosea was commanded to marry Gomer, a promiscuous woman, to show that “like an adulterous wife [Israel] is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord” (1:2). After Gomer’s unfaithfulness, Hosea was commanded to reconcile with her and to “love her as the Lord loves the Israelites” (3:1). These tragic examples mirror God’s unrequited love for Israel. Despite Israel’s unrepentant unfaithfulness (chs. 1–3) and warnings of ominous punishment (chs. 4–10), God promises restoration and blessing, revealing how great and relentless His love is. In His mercy, God spared them (11:8–9); and in His grace, He will redeem and restore them (vv. 10–11). By: K. T. Sim
What Can’t You Give Up?
By Poh Fang Chia
[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God.
Romans 8:39
“What’s one thing you can’t give up?” the radio host asked. Listeners called in with some interesting answers. Some mentioned their families, including a husband who shared memories of a deceased wife. Others shared they can’t give up on their dreams, such as making a living in music or becoming a mother. All of us have something we treasure dearly—a person, a passion, a possession—something we can’t give up.
In the book of Hosea, God tells us that He won’t give up on His chosen people Israel, His treasured possession. As Israel’s loving husband, God provided her with everything she needed: land, food, drink, clothing, and security. Yet like an adulterous spouse, Israel rejected God and sought her happiness and security elsewhere. The more God pursued her, the further she drifted away (Hosea 11:2). However, though she had hurt Him deeply, He would not give her up (v. 8). He would discipline Israel so as to redeem her; His desire was to re-establish His relationship with her (v. 11).
Today, all God’s children can have the same assurance: His love for us is a love that will never let us go (Romans 8:37–39). If we’ve wandered from Him, He yearns for us to return. When God disciplines us, we can be comforted that it’s a sign of His pursuit, not of His rejection. We are His treasure; He won’t give up on us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 17, 2019
The Call of the Natural Life
When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16
The call of God is not a call to serve Him in any particular way. My contact with the nature of God will shape my understanding of His call and will help me realize what I truly desire to do for Him. The call of God is an expression of His nature; the service which results in my life is suited to me and is an expression of my nature. The call of the natural life was stated by the apostle Paul— “When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him [that is, purely and solemnly express Him] among the Gentiles….”
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God. Service becomes a natural part of my life. God brings me into the proper relationship with Himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is an expression of my nature, and God’s call is an expression of His nature. Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Laser Living - #8354
We were nearly 3,000 miles from home when my wife was hit by this agonizing attack of gallstones. The situation was so acute we had to get her to a hospital where it was quickly determined she was going to need surgery to remove the stones. From what we understood (and this is the old-school way of doing it) it could take six weeks for her to be able to travel back after the operation. Back home a cure would have meant this invasive incision. But God, of course, had this planned all the time. The hospital that friends directed us to just happened to have on its staff one of the premier laser surgeons in the country. Now, they're more common today, but not back then. He zapped those gallstones with a laser beam and they were history. My honey was good in just two days! A while ago, a friend of ours lost his glasses - for good. He had a laser procedure on his eyes - lasik surgery - and almost immediately his vision deficiencies have been corrected. Who needs glasses? Gallstones gone, vision corrected - with the power of a laser - with the power of focused light.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Laser Living."
No amount of diffused light could have shattered gallstones or reshaped a cornea. Diffused light isn't all that powerful. Neither is a diffused life. Focused light is amazingly powerful. So is a focused life. And if you want the rest of your years to be the best of your years, however many or few God gives you, you need to be thinking about laser living.
I'm grateful God gives us some pictures of what that looks like in His Word. One incident from the life of Jesus, recorded in our word for today from the Word of God, shows us three steps to a focused, high-impact life. As we come to Luke 4:42-44, we find Jesus has spent the entire previous day healing multitudes of sick people in Capernaum. And the next day, people from all around are bringing needy people to Him from all over. But the day takes a turn no one could have predicted.
The Bible says, "At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for Him and when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them. But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea."
Jesus was surrounded by needs and demands, competing for His time and competing for His attention. You know that feeling? But notice what happened. He walked away from a lot of needs because He had to stay focused on what He called "why I was sent." He knew those needs were a noble detour from the mission He had to focus on; His "I must," as He called it. So He focused like a laser on the central mission God had given Him.
That's what you need to be doing. Here's how, based on what we've just seen Jesus do. First, you need to say "no" to some good things - things that someone should do, but not you.
There are things only you are supposed to do. And that's the second step in laser living - pour everything into a few things that God wants you to go for. And the third step is how you decide the first two. Take a timeout to hear from your Father, like Jesus did. Let Him give you His passion for His priorities for your living, for your giving, and for your energy. If you've been too spread out over too many things, you're probably not making a big difference in any of those things. What's diffused just doesn't make much impact.
It's time to step back and focus your life and your resources - not on many things, but on a few "I must" passions from God's heart to your heart. That's laser living; the power of focused energy. It's the road to what your heart's restless for - to make a far greater difference with the rest of your life than you have ever made before!
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
John 4:1-26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S HEART FOR HURTING PARENTS
Jairus heard two voices and had to choose which one to heed. The first from the servants in Luke 8:49, “Your daughter is dead.” The second from Jesus in verse 50, “Don’t be afraid.”
We need to know what Jesus will do when we entrust our kids to him. In the story of Jairus, Jesus united the household. In verse 51 “he let only Peter, John, James, and the girl’s father and mother go inside with him.” Next, he banished unbelief…the scoffers. “He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Little girl, arise.’”
God has a heart for hurting parents. After all, God himself is a father. Keep giving your child to God, and in the right time and the right way, God will give your child back to you.
Read more Fearless
John 4:1-26
The Woman at the Well
4 1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”
13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
17-18 “I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
19-20 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”
26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ruth 1:11-18
11-13 But Naomi was firm: “Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I’m too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There’s still hope!’ and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow.”
14 Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.
15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.”
16-17 But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”
18-19 When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.
When they arrived in Bethlehem the whole town was soon buzzing: “Is this really our Naomi? And after all this time!”
Insight
The book of Ruth, by virtue of both content and location, forms an important bridge between the times of the judges and the times of the prophets and kings. With Israel settled in the promised land, the judges were tasked with drawing Israel back to God during their periodic seasons of spiritual rebellion. However, eventually a king would rule—even though Israel’s desires for a monarch were misguided. To anticipate this coming monarchy, Ruth’s book (whose events took place during the times of the judges; see Ruth 1:1) closes by focusing on her great-grandson—David (4:22)—as a “preview of coming attractions” that will be discovered as the biblical story unfolds.
For more on Ruth, download Ruth and Hannah: Learning to Walk by Faith at discoveryseries.org/hp051. - By: Bill Crowder
Sharing More Than Stuff
By Peter Chin
Your people will be my people and your God my God. - Ruth 1:16
“But I don’t want to share!” wailed my youngest child, brokenhearted that he would have to part with even one of his many LEGO pieces. I rolled my eyes at his immaturity, but truthfully, this attitude is not limited to children. How much of my own life, and really all of human experience, is marked by a stubborn resistance to freely and generously give to others?
As believers in Jesus, we’re called to share our very lives with one another. Ruth did just that with her mother-in-law, Naomi. As a destitute widow, Naomi had little to offer Ruth. And yet Ruth connected her own life to her mother-in-law’s, vowing that they would press on together and that not even death would separate them. She said to Naomi, “Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). She freely and generously gave to the older woman—showing love and compassion.
While sharing our lives in this way can be difficult, we should remember the fruit of such generosity. Ruth shared her life with Naomi, but later she bore a son, the grandfather of King David. Jesus shared His very life with us, but was then exalted and now reigns at the right hand of the Father in heaven. As we generously share with one another, we can be confident that we will experience greater life still!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The Voice of the Nature of God
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" —Isaiah 6:8
When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.
The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Deadly Detour - #8353
Our friends Marv and Annie were with us at a convention in Chicago. They're from Denver; I was in my hometown. Annie's doctor had let her make the trip to Chicago even if she was eight months pregnant. Well, we had a reception our first night at the convention downtown. I jokingly told her, "Hey, if the baby decides to come tonight, just call our room. This is my city, girl. I'll take care of everything!" Yeah, well, it didn't turn out to be a joke. The call came in the middle of the night, and minutes later we had a lady in hard labor in our back seat. Oh, my goodness! I thought we'd have time to get out to our obstetrician in the suburbs. Not a chance! I had no idea where downtown hospitals were. I never needed one. Oh, boy! I finally found one - a veterans' hospital. No maternity ward! Well, eventually I found a hospital with great facilities - just in time. Today we all laugh about it, but it's certainly not one of my proudest moments.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Deadly Detour."
I almost messed up the beginning of a new life - all because I went in the wrong direction. That's easy to do with what the Bible calls being "born again." If you belong to Jesus, I've got to believe you know folks who don't, and that you want them to be in heaven with you. That can only happen if they're born into God's family by putting their trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for them.
But that rebirth can be aborted if you go the wrong direction in sharing Christ with someone. See, there's a detour on the road to Jesus and you've got to avoid that detour at all costs. I call it the trap - one that is so easy to fall into when you're having a spiritual conversation. I'll tell you, when Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, she tried to deflect Jesus' claim on her life by using the trap.
In John 4, beginning with verse 20, she tries to get Jesus to start down that deadly detour. Here's what it is - talking religion. She said, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." In other words, "Jesus, the issue is we have different religions. Yours is good for you; mine is good for me." Sound familiar? Jesus won't go there. In verse 24, He says, "God is a spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." In other words, "This isn't about what religion you are, Ma'am. It's about your relationship with God." Then Jesus introduces Himself as the looked-for Messiah. Jesus makes Himself the issue, and He still is.
There's just too much at stake for you to allow yourself to fall into the trap of talking religion with someone who needs Jesus. The issue really has nothing to do with religion. It's whether or not you've had your sins forgiven so you can have a relationship with God. It's really all about Jesus and all about his cross.
Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 2:2 when he said, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." It's not about your religion. It's not about your religious rules. It's not about your rituals. It's not about Christianity. It's not about Christians. It's not about attacking their lifestyle. It's all about Jesus. So stick to Jesus. Keep bringing it back to Jesus; bring them back to His cross.
Your mission is clear. To take a person that you care about by the hand and lead them up Skull Hill to the foot of an old rugged cross, and point to the Son of God dying for them, and say, "Man, this is how much He loves you." Any other direction is the wrong direction-one that leads away from the Jesus that they need. So, take them straight to Him.
Jairus heard two voices and had to choose which one to heed. The first from the servants in Luke 8:49, “Your daughter is dead.” The second from Jesus in verse 50, “Don’t be afraid.”
We need to know what Jesus will do when we entrust our kids to him. In the story of Jairus, Jesus united the household. In verse 51 “he let only Peter, John, James, and the girl’s father and mother go inside with him.” Next, he banished unbelief…the scoffers. “He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Little girl, arise.’”
God has a heart for hurting parents. After all, God himself is a father. Keep giving your child to God, and in the right time and the right way, God will give your child back to you.
Read more Fearless
John 4:1-26
The Woman at the Well
4 1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”
13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
17-18 “I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
19-20 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”
26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ruth 1:11-18
11-13 But Naomi was firm: “Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I’m too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There’s still hope!’ and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow.”
14 Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.
15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.”
16-17 But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”
18-19 When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.
When they arrived in Bethlehem the whole town was soon buzzing: “Is this really our Naomi? And after all this time!”
Insight
The book of Ruth, by virtue of both content and location, forms an important bridge between the times of the judges and the times of the prophets and kings. With Israel settled in the promised land, the judges were tasked with drawing Israel back to God during their periodic seasons of spiritual rebellion. However, eventually a king would rule—even though Israel’s desires for a monarch were misguided. To anticipate this coming monarchy, Ruth’s book (whose events took place during the times of the judges; see Ruth 1:1) closes by focusing on her great-grandson—David (4:22)—as a “preview of coming attractions” that will be discovered as the biblical story unfolds.
For more on Ruth, download Ruth and Hannah: Learning to Walk by Faith at discoveryseries.org/hp051. - By: Bill Crowder
Sharing More Than Stuff
By Peter Chin
Your people will be my people and your God my God. - Ruth 1:16
“But I don’t want to share!” wailed my youngest child, brokenhearted that he would have to part with even one of his many LEGO pieces. I rolled my eyes at his immaturity, but truthfully, this attitude is not limited to children. How much of my own life, and really all of human experience, is marked by a stubborn resistance to freely and generously give to others?
As believers in Jesus, we’re called to share our very lives with one another. Ruth did just that with her mother-in-law, Naomi. As a destitute widow, Naomi had little to offer Ruth. And yet Ruth connected her own life to her mother-in-law’s, vowing that they would press on together and that not even death would separate them. She said to Naomi, “Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). She freely and generously gave to the older woman—showing love and compassion.
While sharing our lives in this way can be difficult, we should remember the fruit of such generosity. Ruth shared her life with Naomi, but later she bore a son, the grandfather of King David. Jesus shared His very life with us, but was then exalted and now reigns at the right hand of the Father in heaven. As we generously share with one another, we can be confident that we will experience greater life still!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The Voice of the Nature of God
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" —Isaiah 6:8
When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.
The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Deadly Detour - #8353
Our friends Marv and Annie were with us at a convention in Chicago. They're from Denver; I was in my hometown. Annie's doctor had let her make the trip to Chicago even if she was eight months pregnant. Well, we had a reception our first night at the convention downtown. I jokingly told her, "Hey, if the baby decides to come tonight, just call our room. This is my city, girl. I'll take care of everything!" Yeah, well, it didn't turn out to be a joke. The call came in the middle of the night, and minutes later we had a lady in hard labor in our back seat. Oh, my goodness! I thought we'd have time to get out to our obstetrician in the suburbs. Not a chance! I had no idea where downtown hospitals were. I never needed one. Oh, boy! I finally found one - a veterans' hospital. No maternity ward! Well, eventually I found a hospital with great facilities - just in time. Today we all laugh about it, but it's certainly not one of my proudest moments.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Deadly Detour."
I almost messed up the beginning of a new life - all because I went in the wrong direction. That's easy to do with what the Bible calls being "born again." If you belong to Jesus, I've got to believe you know folks who don't, and that you want them to be in heaven with you. That can only happen if they're born into God's family by putting their trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for them.
But that rebirth can be aborted if you go the wrong direction in sharing Christ with someone. See, there's a detour on the road to Jesus and you've got to avoid that detour at all costs. I call it the trap - one that is so easy to fall into when you're having a spiritual conversation. I'll tell you, when Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, she tried to deflect Jesus' claim on her life by using the trap.
In John 4, beginning with verse 20, she tries to get Jesus to start down that deadly detour. Here's what it is - talking religion. She said, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." In other words, "Jesus, the issue is we have different religions. Yours is good for you; mine is good for me." Sound familiar? Jesus won't go there. In verse 24, He says, "God is a spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." In other words, "This isn't about what religion you are, Ma'am. It's about your relationship with God." Then Jesus introduces Himself as the looked-for Messiah. Jesus makes Himself the issue, and He still is.
There's just too much at stake for you to allow yourself to fall into the trap of talking religion with someone who needs Jesus. The issue really has nothing to do with religion. It's whether or not you've had your sins forgiven so you can have a relationship with God. It's really all about Jesus and all about his cross.
Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 2:2 when he said, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." It's not about your religion. It's not about your religious rules. It's not about your rituals. It's not about Christianity. It's not about Christians. It's not about attacking their lifestyle. It's all about Jesus. So stick to Jesus. Keep bringing it back to Jesus; bring them back to His cross.
Your mission is clear. To take a person that you care about by the hand and lead them up Skull Hill to the foot of an old rugged cross, and point to the Son of God dying for them, and say, "Man, this is how much He loves you." Any other direction is the wrong direction-one that leads away from the Jesus that they need. So, take them straight to Him.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
John 3:16-36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: ENTRUST YOUR KIDS TO CHRIST
Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute, check the background of every friend. A family with no breathing room suffocates a child. On the other hand, fear can also create permissive parents. Fearing that their child will feel too confined or fenced in, they are high on hugs and low on discipline. They don’t realize that appropriate discipline is an expression of love.
Permissive parents. Paranoid parents. How can we avoid the extremes? We pray. Jesus’ big message to moms and dads? Bring your children to me. Pray that your children have a profound sense of place in this world and a heavenly place in the next. Parents, we can entrust our kids to Christ.
Read more Fearless
John 3:16-36
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
The Bridegroom’s Friend
22-26 After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. This was before John was thrown into jail. John’s disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. They came to John and said, “Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he’s now competing with us. He’s baptizing, too, and everyone’s going to him instead of us.”
27-29 John answered, “It’s not possible for a person to succeed—I’m talking about eternal success—without heaven’s help. You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom’s friend, his ‘best man’—that’s me—in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start?
29-30 “That’s why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.
31-33 “The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth.
34-36 “The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn’t see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 42:1-11
A psalm of the sons of Korah
42 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks
from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
“Where is this God of yours?”
4 These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God’s prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
“Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
“Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
Insight
For New Testament believers the question in Psalm 42:2, “When can I go and meet with God?” may seem odd because we understand we can meet with God any time. In ancient Israel, however, the presence of God was tied to a specific place—the temple. The writer laments that he’s separated from the corporate worship of God in the temple (see especially verse 4). His cry expresses the desire to know the time when he can again meet with God. What a wonderful gift to know that today we can always enjoy the presence of God because He dwells within us (1 Corinthians 6:19).,By: J.R. Hudberg
A Song in the Night
By Monica Brands
If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.-Romans 8:25
My father’s life was one of longing. He longed for wholeness, even as Parkinson’s disease gradually crippled more and more of his mind and body. He longed for peace, but was tormented by the deep pain of depression. He longed to feel loved and cherished, but often felt utterly alone.
He found himself less alone when he read the words of Psalm 42, his favorite psalm. Like him, the psalmist knew a desperate longing, an unquenched thirst for healing (vv. 1–2). Like him, the psalmist knew a sadness that felt like it never went away (v. 3), leaving times of pure joy merely a distant memory (v. 6). Like my dad, as consuming waves of chaos and pain swept over him (v. 7), the psalmist felt abandoned by God and asked, “Why?” (v. 9).
And as the words of the psalm washed over him, assuring him he was not alone, my father felt the beginnings of a quiet peace enter in alongside his pain. He heard a tender voice surrounding him, a voice assuring him that even though he had no answers, even though the waves still crashed over him, still he was dearly loved (v. 8).
And somehow hearing that quiet song of love in the night was enough. Enough for my dad to quietly cling to glimmers of hope, love, and joy. And enough for him to wait patiently for the day when all his longings would finally be satisfied (vv. 5, 11).
Today's Reflection
Lord, we know that You have carried all our suffering and will one day turn it around into resurrection life. Still, there is so much healing that we wait and long for. As we wait for that morning, help us to rest in Your song of love in the night.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Do You Walk In White?
We were buried with Him…that just as Christ was raised from the dead…even so we also should walk in newness of life. —Romans 6:4
No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral” — the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a “white funeral,” a death with only one resurrection— a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can defeat a life like this. It has oneness with God for only one purpose— to be a witness for Him.
Have you really come to your last days? You have often come to them in your mind, but have you really experienced them? You cannot die or go to your funeral in a mood of excitement. Death means you stop being. You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been. We avoid the cemetery and continually refuse our own death. It will not happen by striving, but by yielding to death. It is dying— being “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3).
Have you had your “white funeral,” or are you piously deceiving your own soul? Has there been a point in your life which you now mark as your last day? Is there a place in your life to which you go back in memory with humility and overwhelming gratitude, so that you can honestly proclaim, “Yes, it was then, at my ‘white funeral,’ that I made an agreement with God.”
“This is the will of God, your sanctification…” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Once you truly realize this is God’s will, you will enter into the process of sanctification as a natural response. Are you willing to experience that “white funeral” now? Will you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends on you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Beautiful, Then Gone - #8352
My father-in-law gave my wife and her sister Grandma and Granddad's old farm house in the mountains, and so we had to do some restoring on that little special spot. And since we were able to be there only occasionally, my wife decided to plant accordingly. She said, "I'm planting perennials." Now I'm kind of horticulturally challenged, so my wife had to explain a little further. I'm beginning to understand better now that you can actually plant annuals or perennials. Annuals will bloom for a little while - let's say, like geraniums (How am I doing?) and then they'll be gone. Unless you replant geraniums the next year, which is extra work and hard to do when you're not there. Nope. We need perennials. So my wife planted things like crepe myrtle, and she planted azaleas, she planted honeysuckle. (Hey, I'm getting good at this.) Now as you might guess from their name, those perennials are not going to die on you. Perennials will always be there for you! We all need perennials!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beautiful, Then Gone."
In every garden or yard, there are always going to be those things that bloom for a little while and then they're gone. But it's nice to know there's something perennial, too, not just in your yard but in your life. Our life scrapbook is filled with relationships that were beautiful for a while and then were gone. Experiences, accomplishments that were enjoyable for a season and then they were gone or no longer satisfying. It's just part of life. There's a lot of temporary.
But the longer we live, the more we get tired of temporary and the more we want something perennial - something or someone we know will always be there for us. If you find yourself with a restless heart at this point in your life, there's a very good reason. It's explained in our word for today from the Word of God, Ecclesiastes 3:11. It says, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." Let me tell you, those nine words explain so much of our search for peace and satisfaction!
God has created you and me with this vacancy inside that can only be filled with something eternal; something that has no ending. And that's why that hole in your heart has never really gone away. Friendships end, romances end, even marriages, by death or by divorce. And every pleasure ends; every experience ends. And our heart gets tired of saying again, "It's over." God made you for something that's never over--something perennial!
And obviously, only Someone eternal can fill the eternity hole in your heart. Only God can. The Bible introduces us to a woman Jesus met at a well one day; a woman who had searched for something lasting in a series of relationships with men. But nothing lasted; nothing satisfied. Actually, no earth-relationship can ever satisfy this eternity-appetite in your heart. Jesus used the woman's daily trips to this well as an illustration of her elusive search for satisfying love.
He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." Those words might describe exactly how you felt in your heart so many times...thirsty again. "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water, welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). There's that word eternal. Jesus said, "If you open your heart to Me, I'll come in and be the eternal relationship your heart's been looking for your whole life."
But He had to die to make that possible. It's sin-the running of our own life that cut us off from the God who made us. But Jesus' death on the cross paid for that sin and made possible an unloseable relationship with God.
The hole in your heart was made for Jesus. Why don't you let today be the day when you finally begin the one relationship that will always, always be there for you. Tell Him you want Him to be your personal Savior. Our website is all about this. It's about how to be sure you belong to Him. Would you let that be a landing place for you today? It's ANewStory.com. I invite you to go there. I think you could come away changed.
You've seen enough of life's temporary; things that are there for a while and then they're gone. You're about to walk into the perennial, that forever love-relationship with Jesus Christ that is never over.
Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute, check the background of every friend. A family with no breathing room suffocates a child. On the other hand, fear can also create permissive parents. Fearing that their child will feel too confined or fenced in, they are high on hugs and low on discipline. They don’t realize that appropriate discipline is an expression of love.
Permissive parents. Paranoid parents. How can we avoid the extremes? We pray. Jesus’ big message to moms and dads? Bring your children to me. Pray that your children have a profound sense of place in this world and a heavenly place in the next. Parents, we can entrust our kids to Christ.
Read more Fearless
John 3:16-36
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
The Bridegroom’s Friend
22-26 After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. This was before John was thrown into jail. John’s disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. They came to John and said, “Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he’s now competing with us. He’s baptizing, too, and everyone’s going to him instead of us.”
27-29 John answered, “It’s not possible for a person to succeed—I’m talking about eternal success—without heaven’s help. You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom’s friend, his ‘best man’—that’s me—in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start?
29-30 “That’s why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.
31-33 “The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth.
34-36 “The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn’t see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 42:1-11
A psalm of the sons of Korah
42 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks
from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
“Where is this God of yours?”
4 These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God’s prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
“Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
“Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
Insight
For New Testament believers the question in Psalm 42:2, “When can I go and meet with God?” may seem odd because we understand we can meet with God any time. In ancient Israel, however, the presence of God was tied to a specific place—the temple. The writer laments that he’s separated from the corporate worship of God in the temple (see especially verse 4). His cry expresses the desire to know the time when he can again meet with God. What a wonderful gift to know that today we can always enjoy the presence of God because He dwells within us (1 Corinthians 6:19).,By: J.R. Hudberg
A Song in the Night
By Monica Brands
If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.-Romans 8:25
My father’s life was one of longing. He longed for wholeness, even as Parkinson’s disease gradually crippled more and more of his mind and body. He longed for peace, but was tormented by the deep pain of depression. He longed to feel loved and cherished, but often felt utterly alone.
He found himself less alone when he read the words of Psalm 42, his favorite psalm. Like him, the psalmist knew a desperate longing, an unquenched thirst for healing (vv. 1–2). Like him, the psalmist knew a sadness that felt like it never went away (v. 3), leaving times of pure joy merely a distant memory (v. 6). Like my dad, as consuming waves of chaos and pain swept over him (v. 7), the psalmist felt abandoned by God and asked, “Why?” (v. 9).
And as the words of the psalm washed over him, assuring him he was not alone, my father felt the beginnings of a quiet peace enter in alongside his pain. He heard a tender voice surrounding him, a voice assuring him that even though he had no answers, even though the waves still crashed over him, still he was dearly loved (v. 8).
And somehow hearing that quiet song of love in the night was enough. Enough for my dad to quietly cling to glimmers of hope, love, and joy. And enough for him to wait patiently for the day when all his longings would finally be satisfied (vv. 5, 11).
Today's Reflection
Lord, we know that You have carried all our suffering and will one day turn it around into resurrection life. Still, there is so much healing that we wait and long for. As we wait for that morning, help us to rest in Your song of love in the night.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Do You Walk In White?
We were buried with Him…that just as Christ was raised from the dead…even so we also should walk in newness of life. —Romans 6:4
No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral” — the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a “white funeral,” a death with only one resurrection— a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can defeat a life like this. It has oneness with God for only one purpose— to be a witness for Him.
Have you really come to your last days? You have often come to them in your mind, but have you really experienced them? You cannot die or go to your funeral in a mood of excitement. Death means you stop being. You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been. We avoid the cemetery and continually refuse our own death. It will not happen by striving, but by yielding to death. It is dying— being “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3).
Have you had your “white funeral,” or are you piously deceiving your own soul? Has there been a point in your life which you now mark as your last day? Is there a place in your life to which you go back in memory with humility and overwhelming gratitude, so that you can honestly proclaim, “Yes, it was then, at my ‘white funeral,’ that I made an agreement with God.”
“This is the will of God, your sanctification…” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Once you truly realize this is God’s will, you will enter into the process of sanctification as a natural response. Are you willing to experience that “white funeral” now? Will you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends on you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Beautiful, Then Gone - #8352
My father-in-law gave my wife and her sister Grandma and Granddad's old farm house in the mountains, and so we had to do some restoring on that little special spot. And since we were able to be there only occasionally, my wife decided to plant accordingly. She said, "I'm planting perennials." Now I'm kind of horticulturally challenged, so my wife had to explain a little further. I'm beginning to understand better now that you can actually plant annuals or perennials. Annuals will bloom for a little while - let's say, like geraniums (How am I doing?) and then they'll be gone. Unless you replant geraniums the next year, which is extra work and hard to do when you're not there. Nope. We need perennials. So my wife planted things like crepe myrtle, and she planted azaleas, she planted honeysuckle. (Hey, I'm getting good at this.) Now as you might guess from their name, those perennials are not going to die on you. Perennials will always be there for you! We all need perennials!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beautiful, Then Gone."
In every garden or yard, there are always going to be those things that bloom for a little while and then they're gone. But it's nice to know there's something perennial, too, not just in your yard but in your life. Our life scrapbook is filled with relationships that were beautiful for a while and then were gone. Experiences, accomplishments that were enjoyable for a season and then they were gone or no longer satisfying. It's just part of life. There's a lot of temporary.
But the longer we live, the more we get tired of temporary and the more we want something perennial - something or someone we know will always be there for us. If you find yourself with a restless heart at this point in your life, there's a very good reason. It's explained in our word for today from the Word of God, Ecclesiastes 3:11. It says, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." Let me tell you, those nine words explain so much of our search for peace and satisfaction!
God has created you and me with this vacancy inside that can only be filled with something eternal; something that has no ending. And that's why that hole in your heart has never really gone away. Friendships end, romances end, even marriages, by death or by divorce. And every pleasure ends; every experience ends. And our heart gets tired of saying again, "It's over." God made you for something that's never over--something perennial!
And obviously, only Someone eternal can fill the eternity hole in your heart. Only God can. The Bible introduces us to a woman Jesus met at a well one day; a woman who had searched for something lasting in a series of relationships with men. But nothing lasted; nothing satisfied. Actually, no earth-relationship can ever satisfy this eternity-appetite in your heart. Jesus used the woman's daily trips to this well as an illustration of her elusive search for satisfying love.
He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." Those words might describe exactly how you felt in your heart so many times...thirsty again. "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water, welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). There's that word eternal. Jesus said, "If you open your heart to Me, I'll come in and be the eternal relationship your heart's been looking for your whole life."
But He had to die to make that possible. It's sin-the running of our own life that cut us off from the God who made us. But Jesus' death on the cross paid for that sin and made possible an unloseable relationship with God.
The hole in your heart was made for Jesus. Why don't you let today be the day when you finally begin the one relationship that will always, always be there for you. Tell Him you want Him to be your personal Savior. Our website is all about this. It's about how to be sure you belong to Him. Would you let that be a landing place for you today? It's ANewStory.com. I invite you to go there. I think you could come away changed.
You've seen enough of life's temporary; things that are there for a while and then they're gone. You're about to walk into the perennial, that forever love-relationship with Jesus Christ that is never over.
Monday, January 14, 2019
Psalm 51, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: ARE YOU AFRAID YOU WON’T PROTECT YOUR KIDS?
Parenting comes loaded with fears. Dangers buzz in the background. No parent can sit still while his or her child suffers. Luke Chapter 8 tells us that Jairus couldn’t. “Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying” (vs. 40-42).
Jesus heeded his fears…he still does. Jesus heeds the concerns in the parent’s heart. After all, our kids were his kids first. Even as they are ours, they are still his. We forget that fact. Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God.
Parents, we can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors; and we can take our parenting fears to Christ.
Read more Fearless
Psalm 51
A David Psalm, After He Was Confronted by Nathan About the Affair with Bathsheba
Generous in love—God, give grace!
Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.
4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.
16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
Then you’ll get real worship from us,
acts of worship small and large,
Including all the bulls
they can heave onto your altar!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 14, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Hebrews 11:1-6
Faith in What We Don’t See
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.
5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
Insight
In Hebrews 11:1 we are presented with the powerful relationship between faith and hope (“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for”). This relationship becomes the foundation for all that follows in the Hebrews 11 “hall of faith.” In that light, each event of faith cited is anchored in the hope that the individuals held in God. That hope is what prompted Abel to offer a better sacrifice (v. 4), Enoch to walk with God (v. 5), Noah to build an ark (v. 7), Abraham to migrate to a far country (v. 8), and Isaac and Jacob to pronounce blessings on future generations (vv. 20–21). All of these expressions of faith were made by those anticipating a hope that would be fulfilled by the God in whom they had placed their faith.
For more on hope and faith, see Hope: Choosing Faith Instead of Fear at discoveryseries.org/q0733. - By: Bill Crowder
Hope’s Sure Foundation
By James Banks
Lessons on faith can come from unexpected places—like the one I learned from my 110-pound, black Labrador retriever, “Bear.” Bear’s large metal water bowl was located in a corner of the kitchen. Whenever it was empty, he wouldn’t bark or paw at it. Instead, he would lie down quietly beside it and wait. Sometimes he would have to wait several minutes, but Bear had learned to trust that I would eventually walk into the room, see him there, and provide what he needed. His simple faith in me reminded me of my need to place more trust in God.
The Bible tells us that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The foundation of this confidence and assurance is God Himself, who “rewards those who earnestly seek him” (v. 6). God is faithful to keep His promises to all who believe and come to Him through Jesus.
Sometimes having faith in “what we do not see” isn’t easy. But we can rest in God’s goodness and His loving character, trusting that His wisdom is perfect in all things—even when we have to wait. He is always faithful to do what He says: to save our eternal souls and meet our deepest needs, now and forever.
My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Today's Reflection
Almighty Father, thank You for Your faithfulness to always take care of me. Help me to trust You and to rest in Your perfect love today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 14, 2019
Called By God
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." —Isaiah 6:8
God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened. Then they hear “the voice of the Lord” continually asking, “…who will go for Us?” However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”
Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard— “the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 14, 2019
Victim or Overcomer? - #8351
Now, CNN doesn’t often do a news stories about high school football player, but there was something very special about this South Carolina player they described this way: “Sometimes the biggest heart on the field can fit into the smallest player.” Well, the name of the player--Kos, a Siberian orphan, adopted by an American family, and as they told the story, he has no legs. He lost them the day he and his friend decided to hop aboard a freight train. For some reason, his friend pushed him and he landed under the wheels of that train.
Now, in this story, he was playing nose tackle on one of his high school’s football teams. As hard as that might be to imagine, he had several solo tackles the past season; he recovered two fumbles; he was such a threat that other teams had to assign two players to defend against him. He would just swing into the fray and knock them down with his strong arms and his head.
His heart on the field and his infectious personality affected more than one school. The football coach at Clemson University brought Kos in to demonstrate his skill to that college team. The coach said, “If my players would max out on what they can give like this young man has, we’d win a lot of games.” By the way, Kos’ goal is to get a good job and make enough money to build a big house with several bedrooms, so he can provide a home for as many disabled Russian orphans as possible.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Victim or Overcomer?”
Victim: That’s what a lot of people in our world feel like. And many of them have been victims of neglect, abuse, gossip, a broken family, tragedy, or rejection. The wounds are real. But that young football player is living proof that your wounds don’t have to define who you are. They don’t have to decide how you handle your life. If you’re living your life saying, “I’m a victim”, it’s ultimately not the fault of the people who hurt you. You have made the choice to let those who’ve hurt you and the wounds they gave you define your life.
That overcoming football player? He had the resume of a victim: no parents, no legs, abandonment, and disability. But he made another choice. He said in his interview that he could see how God was working in his life. He sounds like the great Apostle Paul, who had been through more hurt and abuse than most of us could imagine: whippings, prison, injustice, slander, hit squads determined to kill him, shipwreck, an incurable and painful physical condition. But listen to what he says in Romans 8 beginning with verse 31, our word for today from the Word of God. “If God is for us, who can ever be against us?...Can anything ever separate us from God’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger?...No, despite all these things, (Paul says) overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”
Paul, and a Russian orphan who chose to live as an overcomer instead of a victim. They show us the secret of rising above our hurt and our limitations. First, choose to be defined by your love relationship with Jesus Christ, which is disease-proof, terror-proof, disaster-proof and death-proof. Secondly, focus on what you can do, not what you can’t do. Thirdly, dedicate yourself to use what you have and what you’ve been through to help other hurting people.
You decide what you’re going to let define you: your pain or your possibilities, your environment or your attitude, your past or your future, your wounds or Jesus’ wounds when He died for you. You can be, as one version says, “...more than conqueror through Him who loved you” (Romans 8:37 – NIV). Then, instead of sitting on life’s sidelines, nursing your wounds and making excuses, you can get in the game and you can play to win!
Parenting comes loaded with fears. Dangers buzz in the background. No parent can sit still while his or her child suffers. Luke Chapter 8 tells us that Jairus couldn’t. “Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying” (vs. 40-42).
Jesus heeded his fears…he still does. Jesus heeds the concerns in the parent’s heart. After all, our kids were his kids first. Even as they are ours, they are still his. We forget that fact. Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God.
Parents, we can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors; and we can take our parenting fears to Christ.
Read more Fearless
Psalm 51
A David Psalm, After He Was Confronted by Nathan About the Affair with Bathsheba
Generous in love—God, give grace!
Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.
4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.
16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
Then you’ll get real worship from us,
acts of worship small and large,
Including all the bulls
they can heave onto your altar!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 14, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Hebrews 11:1-6
Faith in What We Don’t See
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.
5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
Insight
In Hebrews 11:1 we are presented with the powerful relationship between faith and hope (“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for”). This relationship becomes the foundation for all that follows in the Hebrews 11 “hall of faith.” In that light, each event of faith cited is anchored in the hope that the individuals held in God. That hope is what prompted Abel to offer a better sacrifice (v. 4), Enoch to walk with God (v. 5), Noah to build an ark (v. 7), Abraham to migrate to a far country (v. 8), and Isaac and Jacob to pronounce blessings on future generations (vv. 20–21). All of these expressions of faith were made by those anticipating a hope that would be fulfilled by the God in whom they had placed their faith.
For more on hope and faith, see Hope: Choosing Faith Instead of Fear at discoveryseries.org/q0733. - By: Bill Crowder
Hope’s Sure Foundation
By James Banks
Lessons on faith can come from unexpected places—like the one I learned from my 110-pound, black Labrador retriever, “Bear.” Bear’s large metal water bowl was located in a corner of the kitchen. Whenever it was empty, he wouldn’t bark or paw at it. Instead, he would lie down quietly beside it and wait. Sometimes he would have to wait several minutes, but Bear had learned to trust that I would eventually walk into the room, see him there, and provide what he needed. His simple faith in me reminded me of my need to place more trust in God.
The Bible tells us that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The foundation of this confidence and assurance is God Himself, who “rewards those who earnestly seek him” (v. 6). God is faithful to keep His promises to all who believe and come to Him through Jesus.
Sometimes having faith in “what we do not see” isn’t easy. But we can rest in God’s goodness and His loving character, trusting that His wisdom is perfect in all things—even when we have to wait. He is always faithful to do what He says: to save our eternal souls and meet our deepest needs, now and forever.
My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Today's Reflection
Almighty Father, thank You for Your faithfulness to always take care of me. Help me to trust You and to rest in Your perfect love today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 14, 2019
Called By God
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." —Isaiah 6:8
God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened. Then they hear “the voice of the Lord” continually asking, “…who will go for Us?” However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”
Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard— “the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 14, 2019
Victim or Overcomer? - #8351
Now, CNN doesn’t often do a news stories about high school football player, but there was something very special about this South Carolina player they described this way: “Sometimes the biggest heart on the field can fit into the smallest player.” Well, the name of the player--Kos, a Siberian orphan, adopted by an American family, and as they told the story, he has no legs. He lost them the day he and his friend decided to hop aboard a freight train. For some reason, his friend pushed him and he landed under the wheels of that train.
Now, in this story, he was playing nose tackle on one of his high school’s football teams. As hard as that might be to imagine, he had several solo tackles the past season; he recovered two fumbles; he was such a threat that other teams had to assign two players to defend against him. He would just swing into the fray and knock them down with his strong arms and his head.
His heart on the field and his infectious personality affected more than one school. The football coach at Clemson University brought Kos in to demonstrate his skill to that college team. The coach said, “If my players would max out on what they can give like this young man has, we’d win a lot of games.” By the way, Kos’ goal is to get a good job and make enough money to build a big house with several bedrooms, so he can provide a home for as many disabled Russian orphans as possible.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Victim or Overcomer?”
Victim: That’s what a lot of people in our world feel like. And many of them have been victims of neglect, abuse, gossip, a broken family, tragedy, or rejection. The wounds are real. But that young football player is living proof that your wounds don’t have to define who you are. They don’t have to decide how you handle your life. If you’re living your life saying, “I’m a victim”, it’s ultimately not the fault of the people who hurt you. You have made the choice to let those who’ve hurt you and the wounds they gave you define your life.
That overcoming football player? He had the resume of a victim: no parents, no legs, abandonment, and disability. But he made another choice. He said in his interview that he could see how God was working in his life. He sounds like the great Apostle Paul, who had been through more hurt and abuse than most of us could imagine: whippings, prison, injustice, slander, hit squads determined to kill him, shipwreck, an incurable and painful physical condition. But listen to what he says in Romans 8 beginning with verse 31, our word for today from the Word of God. “If God is for us, who can ever be against us?...Can anything ever separate us from God’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger?...No, despite all these things, (Paul says) overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”
Paul, and a Russian orphan who chose to live as an overcomer instead of a victim. They show us the secret of rising above our hurt and our limitations. First, choose to be defined by your love relationship with Jesus Christ, which is disease-proof, terror-proof, disaster-proof and death-proof. Secondly, focus on what you can do, not what you can’t do. Thirdly, dedicate yourself to use what you have and what you’ve been through to help other hurting people.
You decide what you’re going to let define you: your pain or your possibilities, your environment or your attitude, your past or your future, your wounds or Jesus’ wounds when He died for you. You can be, as one version says, “...more than conqueror through Him who loved you” (Romans 8:37 – NIV). Then, instead of sitting on life’s sidelines, nursing your wounds and making excuses, you can get in the game and you can play to win!
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Psalm 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Season of Suffering
God uses our struggles for His glory! The last three years of my dad's life were scarred by ALS. The disease took him from being a healthy mechanic to being a bed-bound paralytic. He lost his voice and his muscles, but he never lost his faith. Visitors noticed. Not so much in what he said, but more in what he didn't say. Never outwardly angry or bitter, Jack Lucado suffered with dignity.
His faith led one man to seek a like faith. This man sought me out and told me because of my dad's example, he became a Jesus follower. Did God orchestrate my father's illness for that very reason? Knowing the value God places on one soul, I wouldn't be surprised. And imagining the splendor of heaven, I know my father is not complaining. A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the great reward!
From Max on Life
Psalm 32
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
you get a fresh start,
your slate’s wiped clean.
2 Count yourself lucky—
God holds nothing against you
and you’re holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside,
my bones turned to powder,
my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up;
all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out;
I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone—
my guilt dissolved,
my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
we’ll be on high ground, untouched.
7 God’s my island hideaway,
keeps danger far from the shore,
throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 Let me give you some good advice;
I’m looking you in the eye
and giving it to you straight:
9 “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
that needs bit and bridle
to stay on track.”
10 God-defiers are always in trouble;
God-affirmers find themselves loved
every time they turn around.
11 Celebrate God.
Sing together—everyone!
All you honest hearts, raise the roof!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Thessalonians 5:11-18
God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.
The Way He Wants You to Live
12-13 And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!
13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Insight
The book of 1 Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul to the young church in Thessalonica, a Roman colony. Thessalonica was the largest and most important city in Macedonia and the province’s capital. Because of its fine harbor, central location, and access to many roads, the city enjoyed flourishing trade. First Thessalonians was probably one of Paul’s first letters, written around ad 51 or 52 from Corinth. Only two or three years earlier, Paul, accompanied by Silas, had visited Thessalonica during his second missionary journey and established the church there. According to Acts 17:1–4, Paul taught there for just “three Sabbaths” before opposition forced him to flee the city. But during that short time some Jews as well as many God-fearing Greeks and prominent women “were persuaded” to follow Jesus. Paul penned this letter to encourage the new believers in their faith and to assure them of Christ’s return.
Plight of the Crawdads
By Xochitl Dixon
When my cousin invited me to join him to fish for crawdads (crayfish), I couldn’t help but be excited. I grinned when he handed me a plastic pail. “No lid?”
“You won’t need one,” he said, picking up the fishing rods and the small bag of chicken chunks we’d use for bait.
Later, as I watched the small crustaceans climbing over one another in a futile attempt to escape the almost-full bucket, I realized why we wouldn’t need a lid. Whenever one crawdad reached the rim, the others would pull it back down.
The plight of the crawdads reminds me how destructive it is to be selfishly concerned about our own gain instead of the benefit of a whole community. Paul understood the need for uplifting, interdependent relationships when he wrote to the believers in Thessalonica. He urged them to “warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak,” and “be patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
Commending their caring community (v. 11), Paul spurred them toward even more loving and peaceful relationships (vv. 13–15). By striving to create a culture of forgiveness, kindness, and compassion, their relationships with God and others would be strengthened (vv. 15, 23).
The church can grow and witness for Christ through this kind of loving unity. When believers honor God, committing to lift others up instead of pulling them down with words or actions, we and our communities thrive.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (2)
When He was alone…the twelve asked Him about the parable. —Mark 4:10
His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ’s training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
God uses our struggles for His glory! The last three years of my dad's life were scarred by ALS. The disease took him from being a healthy mechanic to being a bed-bound paralytic. He lost his voice and his muscles, but he never lost his faith. Visitors noticed. Not so much in what he said, but more in what he didn't say. Never outwardly angry or bitter, Jack Lucado suffered with dignity.
His faith led one man to seek a like faith. This man sought me out and told me because of my dad's example, he became a Jesus follower. Did God orchestrate my father's illness for that very reason? Knowing the value God places on one soul, I wouldn't be surprised. And imagining the splendor of heaven, I know my father is not complaining. A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the great reward!
From Max on Life
Psalm 32
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
you get a fresh start,
your slate’s wiped clean.
2 Count yourself lucky—
God holds nothing against you
and you’re holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside,
my bones turned to powder,
my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up;
all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out;
I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone—
my guilt dissolved,
my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
we’ll be on high ground, untouched.
7 God’s my island hideaway,
keeps danger far from the shore,
throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 Let me give you some good advice;
I’m looking you in the eye
and giving it to you straight:
9 “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
that needs bit and bridle
to stay on track.”
10 God-defiers are always in trouble;
God-affirmers find themselves loved
every time they turn around.
11 Celebrate God.
Sing together—everyone!
All you honest hearts, raise the roof!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Thessalonians 5:11-18
God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.
The Way He Wants You to Live
12-13 And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!
13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Insight
The book of 1 Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul to the young church in Thessalonica, a Roman colony. Thessalonica was the largest and most important city in Macedonia and the province’s capital. Because of its fine harbor, central location, and access to many roads, the city enjoyed flourishing trade. First Thessalonians was probably one of Paul’s first letters, written around ad 51 or 52 from Corinth. Only two or three years earlier, Paul, accompanied by Silas, had visited Thessalonica during his second missionary journey and established the church there. According to Acts 17:1–4, Paul taught there for just “three Sabbaths” before opposition forced him to flee the city. But during that short time some Jews as well as many God-fearing Greeks and prominent women “were persuaded” to follow Jesus. Paul penned this letter to encourage the new believers in their faith and to assure them of Christ’s return.
Plight of the Crawdads
By Xochitl Dixon
When my cousin invited me to join him to fish for crawdads (crayfish), I couldn’t help but be excited. I grinned when he handed me a plastic pail. “No lid?”
“You won’t need one,” he said, picking up the fishing rods and the small bag of chicken chunks we’d use for bait.
Later, as I watched the small crustaceans climbing over one another in a futile attempt to escape the almost-full bucket, I realized why we wouldn’t need a lid. Whenever one crawdad reached the rim, the others would pull it back down.
The plight of the crawdads reminds me how destructive it is to be selfishly concerned about our own gain instead of the benefit of a whole community. Paul understood the need for uplifting, interdependent relationships when he wrote to the believers in Thessalonica. He urged them to “warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak,” and “be patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
Commending their caring community (v. 11), Paul spurred them toward even more loving and peaceful relationships (vv. 13–15). By striving to create a culture of forgiveness, kindness, and compassion, their relationships with God and others would be strengthened (vv. 15, 23).
The church can grow and witness for Christ through this kind of loving unity. When believers honor God, committing to lift others up instead of pulling them down with words or actions, we and our communities thrive.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (2)
When He was alone…the twelve asked Him about the parable. —Mark 4:10
His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ’s training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly explained things to them, but they didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
As you journey with God, the only thing He intends to be clear is the way He deals with your soul. The sorrows and difficulties in the lives of others will be absolutely confusing to you. We think we understand another person’s struggle until God reveals the same shortcomings in our lives. There are vast areas of stubbornness and ignorance the Holy Spirit has to reveal in each of us, but it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now? Or are we more concerned with our own ideas, friendships, and cares for our bodies? Jesus cannot teach us anything until we quiet all our intellectual questions and get alone with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
Saturday, January 12, 2019
John 3:1-15 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Can Use You
If God chose only righteous people to change the world, you could count them all on one finger—Jesus! Instead he included others in his plan—sinners, the ungodly, the imperfect. God used and uses people to change the world. People! Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all!
If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used, and take heart. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God can use you. Because you’re imperfect, you can speak of making mistakes. Because you’re a sinner, you can speak of forgiveness. God restores the broken and the brittle, then parades them before the world as trophies of his love and strength. And when the world sees the ungodly turn godly, they know God must love them too.
God can use you, my friend!
John 3:1-15
Born from Above
3 1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 25:37-40
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’
Insight
Matthew’s gospel presents Jesus’s surprising vision of the kingdom of God. From His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) to His teaching on the sheep and the goats (25:31–33), Jesus turned the religious thinking of His day upside down and inside out. Instead of condemning sinners and praising those known for defending the law of Moses, He left the impression that judgment day would bring some of the biggest surprises of all (25:45–46). Then, in a stunning turn of events beginning with chapter 26, the unthinkable happens: Jesus allows Himself to be judged, condemned, and crucified.
By His resurrection He shows that what He’s been saying all along is true. The kingdom of God is found in a different kind of King. His citizens are a different kind of people, whose joy and goodness are found in hearts changed by His Spirit and love.
Jesus Is Right Behind You
By John Blase
My daughter was ready for school a little earlier than usual, so she asked if we could stop by the coffee shop on our way. I agreed. As we approached the drive-thru lane, I said, “Do you feel like spreading some joy this morning?” She said, “Sure.”
We placed our order, then pulled up to the window where the barista told us what we owed. I said, “We’d like to pay for the young woman’s order behind us too.” My daughter had a huge smile on her face.
In the grand scheme of things, a cup of coffee may not seem like a big deal. Or is it? I wonder, could this be one way we carry out Jesus’s desire for us to care for those He called “the least of these”? (Matthew 25:40). Here’s a thought: How about simply considering the person behind us or next in line a worthy candidate? And then do “whatever”—maybe it’s a cup of coffee, maybe it’s something more, maybe something less. But when Jesus said “whatever you did” (v. 40) that gives us a great deal of freedom in serving Him while serving others.
As we drove away we caught the faces of the young woman behind us and the barista as she handed over the coffee. They were both grinning from ear to ear.
Whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me. Matthew 25:40
Today's Reflection
Lord, help me not to overthink serving others. Sometimes the small, simple things mean more than I’ll ever know. And help me to remember that whatever I do for others, I’m doing for You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (1)
When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34
Our Solitude with Him. Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We don’t even recognize the envy, laziness, or pride within us when we see it. But Jesus will reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look inwardly with courage?
We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we will never say, “Oh, I’m so unworthy.” We will understand that this goes without saying. But as long as there is any doubt that we are unworthy, God will continue to close us in until He gets us alone. Whenever there is any element of pride or conceit remaining, Jesus can’t teach us anything. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect. But when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
If God chose only righteous people to change the world, you could count them all on one finger—Jesus! Instead he included others in his plan—sinners, the ungodly, the imperfect. God used and uses people to change the world. People! Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all!
If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used, and take heart. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God can use you. Because you’re imperfect, you can speak of making mistakes. Because you’re a sinner, you can speak of forgiveness. God restores the broken and the brittle, then parades them before the world as trophies of his love and strength. And when the world sees the ungodly turn godly, they know God must love them too.
God can use you, my friend!
John 3:1-15
Born from Above
3 1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 25:37-40
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’
Insight
Matthew’s gospel presents Jesus’s surprising vision of the kingdom of God. From His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) to His teaching on the sheep and the goats (25:31–33), Jesus turned the religious thinking of His day upside down and inside out. Instead of condemning sinners and praising those known for defending the law of Moses, He left the impression that judgment day would bring some of the biggest surprises of all (25:45–46). Then, in a stunning turn of events beginning with chapter 26, the unthinkable happens: Jesus allows Himself to be judged, condemned, and crucified.
By His resurrection He shows that what He’s been saying all along is true. The kingdom of God is found in a different kind of King. His citizens are a different kind of people, whose joy and goodness are found in hearts changed by His Spirit and love.
Jesus Is Right Behind You
By John Blase
My daughter was ready for school a little earlier than usual, so she asked if we could stop by the coffee shop on our way. I agreed. As we approached the drive-thru lane, I said, “Do you feel like spreading some joy this morning?” She said, “Sure.”
We placed our order, then pulled up to the window where the barista told us what we owed. I said, “We’d like to pay for the young woman’s order behind us too.” My daughter had a huge smile on her face.
In the grand scheme of things, a cup of coffee may not seem like a big deal. Or is it? I wonder, could this be one way we carry out Jesus’s desire for us to care for those He called “the least of these”? (Matthew 25:40). Here’s a thought: How about simply considering the person behind us or next in line a worthy candidate? And then do “whatever”—maybe it’s a cup of coffee, maybe it’s something more, maybe something less. But when Jesus said “whatever you did” (v. 40) that gives us a great deal of freedom in serving Him while serving others.
As we drove away we caught the faces of the young woman behind us and the barista as she handed over the coffee. They were both grinning from ear to ear.
Whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me. Matthew 25:40
Today's Reflection
Lord, help me not to overthink serving others. Sometimes the small, simple things mean more than I’ll ever know. And help me to remember that whatever I do for others, I’m doing for You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (1)
When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34
Our Solitude with Him. Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We don’t even recognize the envy, laziness, or pride within us when we see it. But Jesus will reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look inwardly with courage?
We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we will never say, “Oh, I’m so unworthy.” We will understand that this goes without saying. But as long as there is any doubt that we are unworthy, God will continue to close us in until He gets us alone. Whenever there is any element of pride or conceit remaining, Jesus can’t teach us anything. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect. But when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
Friday, January 11, 2019
2 Samuel 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WORRY STOPPERS TO BRING PEACE
Here are eight worry-stoppers, found in the letters of the word P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L.
Pray, first. “Casting the whole of your care upon Him …”
Easy, now. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”
Act on it. Be a doer, not a stewer.
Compile a worry list. Keep a list of things that trouble you. How many have turned into a reality?
Evaluate your worry categories. Pray specifically about them.
Focus on today. God meets daily needs daily.
Unleash a worry army. Ask a few loved ones to pray with you and for you.
Let God be enough. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else.”
Eight steps. P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L.
Read more Fearless
2 Samuel 12
But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, 12 1-3 and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, “There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “One day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest.”
5-6 David exploded in anger. “As surely as God lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man who did this ought to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and his stinginess!”
7-12 “You’re the man!” said Nathan. “And here’s what God, the God of Israel, has to say to you: I made you king over Israel. I freed you from the fist of Saul. I gave you your master’s daughter and other wives to have and to hold. I gave you both Israel and Judah. And if that hadn’t been enough, I’d have gladly thrown in much more. So why have you treated the word of God with brazen contempt, doing this great evil? You murdered Uriah the Hittite, then took his wife as your wife. Worse, you killed him with an Ammonite sword! And now, because you treated God with such contempt and took Uriah the Hittite’s wife as your wife, killing and murder will continually plague your family. This is God speaking, remember! I’ll make trouble for you out of your own family. I’ll take your wives from right out in front of you. I’ll give them to some neighbor, and he’ll go to bed with them openly. You did your deed in secret; I’m doing mine with the whole country watching!”
13-14 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I’ve sinned against God.”
Nathan pronounced, “Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won’t die for it. But because of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die.”
15-18 After Nathan went home, God afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he came down sick. David prayed desperately to God for the little boy. He fasted, wouldn’t go out, and slept on the floor. The elders in his family came in and tried to get him off the floor, but he wouldn’t budge. Nor could they get him to eat anything. On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him. They said, “What do we do now? While the child was living he wouldn’t listen to a word we said. Now, with the child dead, if we speak to him there’s no telling what he’ll do.”
19 David noticed that the servants were whispering behind his back, and realized that the boy must have died.
He asked the servants, “Is the boy dead?”
“Yes,” they answered. “He’s dead.”
20 David got up from the floor, washed his face and combed his hair, put on a fresh change of clothes, then went into the sanctuary and worshiped. Then he came home and asked for something to eat. They set it before him and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, “What’s going on with you? While the child was alive you fasted and wept and stayed up all night. Now that he’s dead, you get up and eat.”
22-23 “While the child was alive,” he said, “I fasted and wept, thinking God might have mercy on me and the child would live. But now that he’s dead, why fast? Can I bring him back now? I can go to him, but he can’t come to me.”
24-25 David went and comforted his wife Bathsheba. And when he slept with her, they conceived a son. When he was born they named him Solomon. God had a special love for him and sent word by Nathan the prophet that God wanted him named Jedidiah (God’s Beloved).
26-30 Joab, at war in Rabbah against the Ammonites, captured the royal city. He sent messengers to David saying, “I’m fighting at Rabbah, and I’ve just captured the city’s water supply. Hurry and get the rest of the troops together and set up camp here at the city and complete the capture yourself. Otherwise, I’ll capture it and get all the credit instead of you.” So David marshaled all the troops, went to Rabbah, and fought and captured it. He took the crown from their king’s head—very heavy with gold, and with a precious stone in it. It ended up on David’s head. And they plundered the city, carrying off a great quantity of loot.
31 David emptied the city of its people and put them to slave labor using saws, picks, and axes, and making bricks. He did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the whole army returned to Jerusalem.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 11, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ephesians 3:16-21
14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
Insight
Ephesians 3:16–21 is actually a prayer that flows out of the context of Ephesians 2, where Paul outlines what God has done for us. Though we were dead in our sins, God gave us new life (2:1–10) and brought Jews and Gentiles together to form His church (2:11–22). In Ephesians 3 Paul builds on that by saying, “For this reason . . .” (3:1). But then he interrupts himself to explain his own unique role in sharing the “mystery” of the church with them (vv. 2–6). All of this sets the stage for verses 16–21, as he returns to the phrase of 3:1, “For this reason . . .” (v. 14). Throughout Ephesians we see the theme of God’s lavish and unmerited grace and “glorious riches” (v. 16) extended to His people.
Infinite Dimensions
By Elisa Morgan
I pray that you . . . [will] grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
Ephesians 3:17–18
I lay still on the vinyl-covered mat and held my breath on command as the machine whirred and clicked. I knew lots of folks had endured MRIs, but for claustrophobic me, the experience required focused concentration on something—Someone—much bigger than myself.
In my mind, a phrase from Scripture—“how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18)—moved in rhythm with the machine’s hum. In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church, he described four dimensions to God’s love in order to stress the unending parameters of His love and presence.
My position while lying down for the MRI provided a new image for my understanding. Wide: the six inches on either side of where my arms were tightly pinned to my body within the tube. Long: the distance between the cylinder’s two openings, extending out from my head and feet. High: the six inches from my nose up to the “ceiling” of the tube. Deep: the support of the tube anchored to the floor beneath me, holding me up. Four dimensions illustrating God’s presence surrounding and holding me in the MRI tube—and in every circumstance of life.
God’s love is ALL around us. Wide: He extends His arms to reach all people everywhere. Long: His love never ends. High: He lifts us up. Deep: He dips down, holding us in all situations. Nothing can separate us from Him! (Romans 8:38–39).
What situations cause you to question God’s love? How will you choose to trust Him?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 11, 2019
What My Obedience to God Costs Other People
As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon…, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. —Luke 23:26
If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.
When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).
A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.
Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 11, 2019
Life-Saving Love - #8350
It was 3:00 A.M. in the multi-family house in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a fire started as fifteen residents slept. A Deputy Fire Chief was first on the scene. He arrived alone in his car and discovered a building ablaze with its residents unaware of that deadly danger. The chief realized he didn't have time to put on his usual protective gear. Minutes were precious at a time like this, so he rushed into that burning building and began pounding on doors, and screaming for people to get up and get out. One older man was unable to get out by himself, so this valiant rescuer carried him down the stairs, out to the street and then went in for more. All fifteen people got out alive. The man who saved their lives did not.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Life-Saving Love."
One man gave his life so others would not die. I owe my life to someone like that. The rescuer who gave His life so I-and many others like me-would not have to die eternally for the wrong things I've done. It's what the Bible calls sin; -rebellion against the God who made us.
It's a spiritual death penalty that hangs over the head of every one of us, because the Bible says that by God's holy standards, "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10). Which kicks in the head the false hope of somehow I'm going to pay for my sin by doing a lot of good things. It will never be enough. That's why God sent the Rescuer. Because God is holy, this sin couldn't just be ignored or the penalty excused. If any human judge did that, he wouldn't be worthy to be a judge any more.
But because God is love, He didn't want you and me to pay that awful, hellish penalty, even though we deserve it. So He sent the only one who could be perfect and have no sin of His own to pay for. He sent His only Son, Jesus. And He went into that burning building we were in, and He did what it took to get us out and laid down His life to do it.
Listen to how Jesus Himself describes His rescue mission for you and me in John 10, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I lay down my life; no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." Let's get this straight, no one killed the Son of God. He made the tree He was hanging on. He made the men who put Him there. No, He thought you were worth laying down His life for. And in the greatest act of love in human history, He submitted to that cross to bear in His body and in His soul all the guilt, all the shame, all the pain, and all the hell of your sin and mine.
Then He rose from the dead to prove He can be our Life-Giver. He says about those whom He died for and who belong to Him, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." That can be you today.
You and I are that man in the burning building who can't get ourselves out. We have to let Jesus carry us to safety. Which means you have to reach for Him, put your arms around Him, and trust only Him to save you. Have you ever done that? Well, if not, you're still in sin's burning building with time running out. It isn't enough just to know He died to save you. No, you've got to put your total trust in Him to save you. And this could be your day of rescue. This could be the day every sin you've ever done could be forgiven. This is the day your hell could be cancelled.
Grabbing Jesus to save you means you tell Him, "Jesus, you're my only hope, and I'm Yours." If you've never done that, please don't wait another day. That act of faith brings you to safety in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Look, it's why we put our website together--ANewStory.com. Because we wanted you to have a landing place where you could come away knowing you belong to Him. Get there today, please.
The greatest tragedy of all would be if Jesus gave His life so you could live, and you lived and died without Him, paying a penalty He already paid. The Rescuer has come to you. He's knocking on the door of your heart. Grab Him while you can.
Here are eight worry-stoppers, found in the letters of the word P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L.
Pray, first. “Casting the whole of your care upon Him …”
Easy, now. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”
Act on it. Be a doer, not a stewer.
Compile a worry list. Keep a list of things that trouble you. How many have turned into a reality?
Evaluate your worry categories. Pray specifically about them.
Focus on today. God meets daily needs daily.
Unleash a worry army. Ask a few loved ones to pray with you and for you.
Let God be enough. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else.”
Eight steps. P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L.
Read more Fearless
2 Samuel 12
But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, 12 1-3 and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, “There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “One day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest.”
5-6 David exploded in anger. “As surely as God lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man who did this ought to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and his stinginess!”
7-12 “You’re the man!” said Nathan. “And here’s what God, the God of Israel, has to say to you: I made you king over Israel. I freed you from the fist of Saul. I gave you your master’s daughter and other wives to have and to hold. I gave you both Israel and Judah. And if that hadn’t been enough, I’d have gladly thrown in much more. So why have you treated the word of God with brazen contempt, doing this great evil? You murdered Uriah the Hittite, then took his wife as your wife. Worse, you killed him with an Ammonite sword! And now, because you treated God with such contempt and took Uriah the Hittite’s wife as your wife, killing and murder will continually plague your family. This is God speaking, remember! I’ll make trouble for you out of your own family. I’ll take your wives from right out in front of you. I’ll give them to some neighbor, and he’ll go to bed with them openly. You did your deed in secret; I’m doing mine with the whole country watching!”
13-14 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I’ve sinned against God.”
Nathan pronounced, “Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won’t die for it. But because of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die.”
15-18 After Nathan went home, God afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he came down sick. David prayed desperately to God for the little boy. He fasted, wouldn’t go out, and slept on the floor. The elders in his family came in and tried to get him off the floor, but he wouldn’t budge. Nor could they get him to eat anything. On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him. They said, “What do we do now? While the child was living he wouldn’t listen to a word we said. Now, with the child dead, if we speak to him there’s no telling what he’ll do.”
19 David noticed that the servants were whispering behind his back, and realized that the boy must have died.
He asked the servants, “Is the boy dead?”
“Yes,” they answered. “He’s dead.”
20 David got up from the floor, washed his face and combed his hair, put on a fresh change of clothes, then went into the sanctuary and worshiped. Then he came home and asked for something to eat. They set it before him and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, “What’s going on with you? While the child was alive you fasted and wept and stayed up all night. Now that he’s dead, you get up and eat.”
22-23 “While the child was alive,” he said, “I fasted and wept, thinking God might have mercy on me and the child would live. But now that he’s dead, why fast? Can I bring him back now? I can go to him, but he can’t come to me.”
24-25 David went and comforted his wife Bathsheba. And when he slept with her, they conceived a son. When he was born they named him Solomon. God had a special love for him and sent word by Nathan the prophet that God wanted him named Jedidiah (God’s Beloved).
26-30 Joab, at war in Rabbah against the Ammonites, captured the royal city. He sent messengers to David saying, “I’m fighting at Rabbah, and I’ve just captured the city’s water supply. Hurry and get the rest of the troops together and set up camp here at the city and complete the capture yourself. Otherwise, I’ll capture it and get all the credit instead of you.” So David marshaled all the troops, went to Rabbah, and fought and captured it. He took the crown from their king’s head—very heavy with gold, and with a precious stone in it. It ended up on David’s head. And they plundered the city, carrying off a great quantity of loot.
31 David emptied the city of its people and put them to slave labor using saws, picks, and axes, and making bricks. He did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the whole army returned to Jerusalem.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 11, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ephesians 3:16-21
14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
Insight
Ephesians 3:16–21 is actually a prayer that flows out of the context of Ephesians 2, where Paul outlines what God has done for us. Though we were dead in our sins, God gave us new life (2:1–10) and brought Jews and Gentiles together to form His church (2:11–22). In Ephesians 3 Paul builds on that by saying, “For this reason . . .” (3:1). But then he interrupts himself to explain his own unique role in sharing the “mystery” of the church with them (vv. 2–6). All of this sets the stage for verses 16–21, as he returns to the phrase of 3:1, “For this reason . . .” (v. 14). Throughout Ephesians we see the theme of God’s lavish and unmerited grace and “glorious riches” (v. 16) extended to His people.
Infinite Dimensions
By Elisa Morgan
I pray that you . . . [will] grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
Ephesians 3:17–18
I lay still on the vinyl-covered mat and held my breath on command as the machine whirred and clicked. I knew lots of folks had endured MRIs, but for claustrophobic me, the experience required focused concentration on something—Someone—much bigger than myself.
In my mind, a phrase from Scripture—“how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18)—moved in rhythm with the machine’s hum. In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church, he described four dimensions to God’s love in order to stress the unending parameters of His love and presence.
My position while lying down for the MRI provided a new image for my understanding. Wide: the six inches on either side of where my arms were tightly pinned to my body within the tube. Long: the distance between the cylinder’s two openings, extending out from my head and feet. High: the six inches from my nose up to the “ceiling” of the tube. Deep: the support of the tube anchored to the floor beneath me, holding me up. Four dimensions illustrating God’s presence surrounding and holding me in the MRI tube—and in every circumstance of life.
God’s love is ALL around us. Wide: He extends His arms to reach all people everywhere. Long: His love never ends. High: He lifts us up. Deep: He dips down, holding us in all situations. Nothing can separate us from Him! (Romans 8:38–39).
What situations cause you to question God’s love? How will you choose to trust Him?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 11, 2019
What My Obedience to God Costs Other People
As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon…, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. —Luke 23:26
If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.
When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).
A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.
Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 11, 2019
Life-Saving Love - #8350
It was 3:00 A.M. in the multi-family house in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a fire started as fifteen residents slept. A Deputy Fire Chief was first on the scene. He arrived alone in his car and discovered a building ablaze with its residents unaware of that deadly danger. The chief realized he didn't have time to put on his usual protective gear. Minutes were precious at a time like this, so he rushed into that burning building and began pounding on doors, and screaming for people to get up and get out. One older man was unable to get out by himself, so this valiant rescuer carried him down the stairs, out to the street and then went in for more. All fifteen people got out alive. The man who saved their lives did not.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Life-Saving Love."
One man gave his life so others would not die. I owe my life to someone like that. The rescuer who gave His life so I-and many others like me-would not have to die eternally for the wrong things I've done. It's what the Bible calls sin; -rebellion against the God who made us.
It's a spiritual death penalty that hangs over the head of every one of us, because the Bible says that by God's holy standards, "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10). Which kicks in the head the false hope of somehow I'm going to pay for my sin by doing a lot of good things. It will never be enough. That's why God sent the Rescuer. Because God is holy, this sin couldn't just be ignored or the penalty excused. If any human judge did that, he wouldn't be worthy to be a judge any more.
But because God is love, He didn't want you and me to pay that awful, hellish penalty, even though we deserve it. So He sent the only one who could be perfect and have no sin of His own to pay for. He sent His only Son, Jesus. And He went into that burning building we were in, and He did what it took to get us out and laid down His life to do it.
Listen to how Jesus Himself describes His rescue mission for you and me in John 10, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I lay down my life; no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." Let's get this straight, no one killed the Son of God. He made the tree He was hanging on. He made the men who put Him there. No, He thought you were worth laying down His life for. And in the greatest act of love in human history, He submitted to that cross to bear in His body and in His soul all the guilt, all the shame, all the pain, and all the hell of your sin and mine.
Then He rose from the dead to prove He can be our Life-Giver. He says about those whom He died for and who belong to Him, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." That can be you today.
You and I are that man in the burning building who can't get ourselves out. We have to let Jesus carry us to safety. Which means you have to reach for Him, put your arms around Him, and trust only Him to save you. Have you ever done that? Well, if not, you're still in sin's burning building with time running out. It isn't enough just to know He died to save you. No, you've got to put your total trust in Him to save you. And this could be your day of rescue. This could be the day every sin you've ever done could be forgiven. This is the day your hell could be cancelled.
Grabbing Jesus to save you means you tell Him, "Jesus, you're my only hope, and I'm Yours." If you've never done that, please don't wait another day. That act of faith brings you to safety in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Look, it's why we put our website together--ANewStory.com. Because we wanted you to have a landing place where you could come away knowing you belong to Him. Get there today, please.
The greatest tragedy of all would be if Jesus gave His life so you could live, and you lived and died without Him, paying a penalty He already paid. The Rescuer has come to you. He's knocking on the door of your heart. Grab Him while you can.
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