Max Lucado Daily: JOY IN THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS
We are not God’s gift to humanity. God can use each of us, but he doesn’t need any of us. We are valuable but not indispensable. You love. But who loved you first? You serve. But who served the most? What are you doing for God that God could not do alone?
How wise of us to remember Paul’s antidote to joy-sucking self-promotion. “With humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself” (Philippians 2:3).
Here is a helpful exercise that can turn your focus off yourself and on to others. During the next twenty-four hours make it your aim to celebrate everything good that happens to someone else. Keep a list. You will move from joy to joy as you regard other people’s success as more important than your own. And this is how happiness happens.
Acts 16:22-40
When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them and pulled them into a court with the accusation, “These men are disturbing the peace—dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order.” By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.
22-24 The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas’s clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. After beating them black-and-blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jailkeeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. He did just that—threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.
25-26 Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn’t believe their ears. Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose.
27-28 Startled from sleep, the jailer saw all the doors swinging loose on their hinges. Assuming that all the prisoners had escaped, he pulled out his sword and was about to do himself in, figuring he was as good as dead anyway, when Paul stopped him: “Don’t do that! We’re all still here! Nobody’s run away!”
29-31 The jailer got a torch and ran inside. Badly shaken, he collapsed in front of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and asked, “Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved, to really live?” They said, “Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus. Then you’ll live as you were meant to live—and everyone in your house included!”
32-34 They went on to spell out in detail the story of the Master—the entire family got in on this part. They never did get to bed that night. The jailer made them feel at home, dressed their wounds, and then—he couldn’t wait till morning!—was baptized, he and everyone in his family. There in his home, he had food set out for a festive meal. It was a night to remember: He and his entire family had put their trust in God; everyone in the house was in on the celebration.
35-36 At daybreak, the court judges sent officers with the instructions, “Release these men.” The jailer gave Paul the message, “The judges sent word that you’re free to go on your way. Congratulations! Go in peace!”
37 But Paul wouldn’t budge. He told the officers, “They beat us up in public and threw us in jail, Roman citizens in good standing! And now they want to get us out of the way on the sly without anyone knowing? Nothing doing! If they want us out of here, let them come themselves and lead us out in broad daylight.”
38-40 When the officers reported this, the judges panicked. They had no idea that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. They hurried over and apologized, personally escorted them from the jail, and then asked them if they wouldn’t please leave the city. Walking out of the jail, Paul and Silas went straight to Lydia’s house, saw their friends again, encouraged them in the faith, and only then went on their way.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Genesis 6:9–18
This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all around.[d] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
Footnotes:
Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
Insight
The words “he walked faithfully with God” describe Noah’s life (Genesis 6:9). The Hebrew word translated “walked faithfully” (some versions have “walked” nkjv, nasb) is used to describe one’s lifestyle or conduct. Twice it’s said of Enoch that he “walked faithfully with God” (5:22, 24). In Genesis 17:1, Abraham was commanded by God to “walk before me faithfully.” Interestingly, we find in Hebrews 11:5–8 that all three of these men—Enoch, Noah, and Abraham—are commended for their faith. Theirs was a genuine faith that compelled them to honor God by the way they lived. By: Arthur Jackson
Qualified in God’s Eyes
[Noah] walked faithfully with God. Genesis 6:9
A technology-consulting firm hired me after college although I couldn’t write a line of computer code and had very little business knowledge. During the interview process for my entry-level position, I learned that the company did not place high value on work experience. Instead, personal qualities such as the ability to solve problems creatively, exercise good judgment, and work well with a team were more important. The company assumed new workers could be taught the necessary skills as long as they were the kind of people the company was looking for.
Noah didn’t have the right resume for the job of constructing the ark—he wasn’t a boat builder or even a carpenter. Noah was a farmer, a man comfortable with dirt on his shirt and a plow in his hands. Yet as God decided how to deal with the evil in the world at that time, Noah stood out because “he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9). God valued the teachableness of Noah’s heart—the strength to resist the corruption around him and to do what was right.
When opportunities to serve God come our way, we may not feel qualified for the work. Thankfully, God is not necessarily concerned with our skill set. He prizes our character, love for Him, and willingness to trust Him. When these qualities are being developed inside us by the Spirit, He can use us in big or small ways to accomplish His will on earth. By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
What character qualities do you need God to develop in you? Why is your character so important to God?
Dear God, give me a heart that’s willing to serve You in any way. Equip me in the areas where I lack experience, and fill me with Your Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
The “Go” of Preparation
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. —Matthew 5:23-24
It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.
The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “…go your way. First be reconciled to your brother….” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
One Velcro Friend - #8532
It was one of those nights that flashes back in our memory for years, like treasured pictures in a mental scrapbook. It was the early 1990s and the Soviet Union was beginning to break up. Estonia and Latvia had been under Soviet domination for years, with Christians often being persecuted, or marginalized, even imprisoned and beaten. Our daughter was one of a team of college students, privileged to be one of the first Christian teams to be able to freely present Christ in Estonia and Latvia. They had just held some unforgettable meetings with believers in Riga, the capital of Latvia, and they had heard some of the stories of the price some of those dear saints had paid for their loyalty to Jesus. They'd been through so much.
The team members bade their new friends an emotional farewell at church and they headed for the train station, where they eventually boarded the midnight train. But as they boarded, the railway platform was suddenly alive with the faces and the voices of the Latvian Christians they had left behind they thought they'd said goodbye to. They showed up en masse at the station at midnight for one last goodbye and a special send off. As our daughter settled into her seat on the train, she could hear the voices of those people joining together in a melody that just echoed through the station. She didn't recognize the words - they were in Latvian, of course - but she sure recognized the song. As the train slowly began to pull out of the station, these people who had endured so much, were singing an old song that, at least for one college student, would never be the same again "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear." These people would know that, wouldn't they?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Velcro Friend."
That's what those people had learned through those years of injustice, and uncertainty, and hardship. They learned that Jesus is the "Velcro friend" who sticks with you through it all. He wants to be that friend for you. People can fire you, abuse you, criticize you, divorce you, disappoint you, abandon you, but millions of us have found what those Latvian followers of Christ found, that Jesus is life's one and only "through it all" person - that intimacy is born from difficulty.
When the Apostle Paul said his passionate life goal was to "know Christ," he went on to say that involved knowing "the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). See, you never really know Jesus until you really need Jesus. And when you really, really need Him, He's really, really there.
The Son of God, the King of all kings, laid out the amazing relationship He wants to have with us as He was talking to His disciples just before His long dark night of the cross and the long dark stretch that would follow for His disciples. In John 15, beginning with verse 15, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants...I have called you friends." If you have that love relationship with Jesus, there's nothing the two of you can't handle, because as the Bible says, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).
And if you don't have that love relationship with Him, great news! It could start today if you'll give your life to this One who loves you so deeply He paid for your sins with His life. Our sins are serious business, and they carry a death penalty which Jesus paid for you. I don't know if you've had a lot of relationships, and you hoped each one would be the ultimate harbor for your heart, and it wasn't. Well, Jesus is life's one safe harbor, and you need to be safe in His love.
You don't need one more day without Him. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours." I would love to help you get this settled once and for all. And that's why our website is there. I hope you'll go there. It's ANewStory.com.
"What a friend we have in Jesus." That's more than a song. It's a life you can have. What a friend I have in Jesus!
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Psalm 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: MINISTRY VS. VAIN AMBITION
“Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me!” (Luke 10:40).
Of all the ironies. Martha was in the presence of the Prince of Peace, yet she was the picture of stress. Martha’s downfall was not her work or request; it was her motivation. Rather than making a meal for Jesus, it seems she was trying to make a big deal about her service.
Might there be a bit of Martha within us? What begins as a desire to serve Christ metastasizes into an act of impressing people. And gifted Marthas become miserable mumblers. Yet the Martha within is not easily silenced. Mark it down. When ministry becomes vain ambition, nothing good happens. And Jesus does not get served. No wonder the apostle Paul was so insistent when he said, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition” (Philippians 2:3).
Psalm 10
God, are you avoiding me?
Where are you when I need you?
Full of hot air, the wicked
are hot on the trail of the poor.
Trip them up, tangle them up
in their fine-tuned plots.
3-4 The wicked are windbags,
the swindlers have foul breath.
The wicked snub God,
their noses stuck high in the air.
Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls:
“Catch us if you can!” “God is dead.”
5-6 They care nothing for what you think;
if you get in their way, they blow you off.
They live (they think) a charmed life:
“We can’t go wrong. This is our lucky year!”
7-8 They carry a mouthful of hexes,
their tongues spit venom like adders.
They hide behind ordinary people,
then pounce on their victims.
9 They mark the luckless,
then wait like a hunter in a blind;
When the poor wretch wanders too close,
they stab him in the back.
10-11 The hapless fool is kicked to the ground,
the unlucky victim is brutally axed.
He thinks God has dumped him,
he’s sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
12-13 Time to get up, God—get moving.
The luckless think they’re Godforsaken.
They wonder why the wicked scorn God
and get away with it,
Why the wicked are so cocksure
they’ll never come up for audit.
14 But you know all about it—
the contempt, the abuse.
I dare to believe that the luckless
will get lucky someday in you.
You won’t let them down:
orphans won’t be orphans forever.
15-16 Break the wicked right arms,
break all the evil left arms.
Search and destroy
every sign of crime.
God’s grace and order wins;
godlessness loses.
17-18 The victim’s faint pulse picks up;
the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood
as you put your ear to their lips.
Orphans get parents,
the homeless get homes.
The reign of terror is over,
the rule of the gang lords is ended.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 3
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
1 Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”[b]
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Footnotes:
Psalm 3:1 In Hebrew texts 3:1-8 is numbered 3:2-9.
Psalm 3:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 4 and 8.
Insight
The book of Psalms is Israel’s poetry and songbook that captures the human experience and emotions of the psalmists as they seek to trust God in the midst of life’s struggles and pains. Psalm 3 is the first of fourteen psalms that David wrote in response to a specific event (7; 18; 30; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; 142). The superscription to Psalm 3—“When he fled from his son Absalom”—tells of David’s crisis when his son usurped the throne, forcing the king to flee because he’d be killed if he remained in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15:13–14). Despite the danger and threat to his life, David was fully confident of God’s protection, deliverance, and sustenance: “I lie down and sleep. . . . I will not fear” (Psalm 3:5–6). David experienced the “perfect peace” promised in Isaiah 26:3 that comes through trusting God.
A Shield Around Me
But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3
Our church experienced an agonizing loss when Paul, our gifted worship minister, died at the age of thirty-one in a boating accident. Paul and his wife, DuRhonda, were no strangers to pain; they had buried several children who hadn’t made it to term. Now there would be another grave near the small graves of these little ones. The life-crushing crisis this family experienced hit those who loved them like a knockout blow to the head.
David was no stranger to personal and family crises. In Psalm 3, he found himself overwhelmed because of the rebellion of his son Absalom. Rather than stay and fight, he chose to flee his home and throne (2 Samuel 15:13–23). Though “many” considered him forsaken by God (Psalm 3:2), David knew better; he saw the Lord as his protector (v. 3), and he called upon Him accordingly (v. 4). And so did DuRhonda. In the midst of her grief, when hundreds had gathered to remember her husband, she raised her soft, tender voice in a song that expressed confidence in God.
When doctors’ reports are not encouraging, when financial pressures won’t ease up, when efforts to reconcile relationships fail, when death has left those we cherish in its wake—may we too be strengthened to say, “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high” (v. 3). By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
How did you respond the last time you found yourself in an overwhelming situation? How does knowing God is a shield around you help?
Heavenly Father, help me to see that though life can be uncomfortable, I can find comfort in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 23, 2019
The Missionary’s Goal
He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”
“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 23, 2019
The Secret of Not Getting Lost - #8531
We were driving with some of our young Native American friends in Arizona and we were returning from a little sightseeing outing. And even though men never get lost, right? Well, the man driving did. As we were debating which way to go to get back, one of our Indian passengers described exactly how we had traveled to this area and exactly how we could get back. We listened, we tried it, and we weren't lost anymore! Now maybe it's just been my experience, and sometimes I even joke about it with my Native friends - Native Americans just don't seem to get lost! I've tried to figure this out. Maybe it's just instinct, but over and over I've noticed something. My Native friends pay very close attention to where they're going. Seldom do they have to travel there twice to know where they're going. Now, they have taught me a very valuable lesson - the way to know your way is to pay close attention to where you've been!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about "The Secret of Not Getting Lost."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God which is in Psalm 78. It's a record of the sad history of God's ancient people - oh, and some of His current people too. Verse 10: "They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law." Now why? Verse 11, "They forgot what He had done, the wonders that He had shown them."
You see, they forgot the road that God had brought them on in the past. And then there is a tragic description throughout the chapter of a lifetime of bad choices. It says, "They spoke against God" (verse 19), "they kept on sinning" (verse 32). In spite of His wonders they did not believe. Another verse says they rebelled against Him. And the result? Well, it says that, "They ended their days in futility and their years in terror." The bottom line mistake is summed up in verse 42, "They did not remember His power."
All the wonderful times God had provided, intervened, blessed, protected. They simply forgot when they were facing a new challenge or a new choice. So what's changed? Not much! As God's children today we get lost because we fail to remember where we've been with Him before. We live in unbelief, failing to trust God to work in this situation because we ignore how God has worked before. It's like spiritual amnesia. The result is we start to invent our own solutions; we come up with our own plans. We run ahead of God, we run behind God, or in some way we take a detour from His perfect will.
Now maybe you're facing a choice right now, a challenge, a crossroads that could take you deeper into God's great plans for you, or down a road that's wrong for you. It's time to retrace the road He's already been leading you on. Ask yourself questions like these: What have been the milestone scripture verses that God has used to guide my life in the past? Go over them, quote them, depend on them for this crossroads. Another question: What's God been saying to me in recent months as I've prayed and spent time with Him in His Word, the Bible? Look for the recurring themes that He's been bringing into your heart.
By the way, that is why it is so helpful to keep a spiritual journal of each day's time with Him. Oh, and there's another question: what patterns can I see in how God has led me in the past? Remember the past has been preparation for this moment. What does it look like He's been preparing you for? Another question: What are some times that I've seen my God majorly intervene and support me, use me, and supply for me? Expect Him to be that same God for you again. It might be a different method, but it's the same awesome Heavenly Father.
The hymn writer looked back over the path of his lifetime and he said what we've all sung with all our hearts, "Great is thy faithfulness, oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."
There's a way to keep from getting lost. Pay close attention to where you've already been. The Good Shepherd who brought you this far isn't about to leave you now.
“Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me!” (Luke 10:40).
Of all the ironies. Martha was in the presence of the Prince of Peace, yet she was the picture of stress. Martha’s downfall was not her work or request; it was her motivation. Rather than making a meal for Jesus, it seems she was trying to make a big deal about her service.
Might there be a bit of Martha within us? What begins as a desire to serve Christ metastasizes into an act of impressing people. And gifted Marthas become miserable mumblers. Yet the Martha within is not easily silenced. Mark it down. When ministry becomes vain ambition, nothing good happens. And Jesus does not get served. No wonder the apostle Paul was so insistent when he said, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition” (Philippians 2:3).
Psalm 10
God, are you avoiding me?
Where are you when I need you?
Full of hot air, the wicked
are hot on the trail of the poor.
Trip them up, tangle them up
in their fine-tuned plots.
3-4 The wicked are windbags,
the swindlers have foul breath.
The wicked snub God,
their noses stuck high in the air.
Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls:
“Catch us if you can!” “God is dead.”
5-6 They care nothing for what you think;
if you get in their way, they blow you off.
They live (they think) a charmed life:
“We can’t go wrong. This is our lucky year!”
7-8 They carry a mouthful of hexes,
their tongues spit venom like adders.
They hide behind ordinary people,
then pounce on their victims.
9 They mark the luckless,
then wait like a hunter in a blind;
When the poor wretch wanders too close,
they stab him in the back.
10-11 The hapless fool is kicked to the ground,
the unlucky victim is brutally axed.
He thinks God has dumped him,
he’s sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
12-13 Time to get up, God—get moving.
The luckless think they’re Godforsaken.
They wonder why the wicked scorn God
and get away with it,
Why the wicked are so cocksure
they’ll never come up for audit.
14 But you know all about it—
the contempt, the abuse.
I dare to believe that the luckless
will get lucky someday in you.
You won’t let them down:
orphans won’t be orphans forever.
15-16 Break the wicked right arms,
break all the evil left arms.
Search and destroy
every sign of crime.
God’s grace and order wins;
godlessness loses.
17-18 The victim’s faint pulse picks up;
the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood
as you put your ear to their lips.
Orphans get parents,
the homeless get homes.
The reign of terror is over,
the rule of the gang lords is ended.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 3
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
1 Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”[b]
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Footnotes:
Psalm 3:1 In Hebrew texts 3:1-8 is numbered 3:2-9.
Psalm 3:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 4 and 8.
Insight
The book of Psalms is Israel’s poetry and songbook that captures the human experience and emotions of the psalmists as they seek to trust God in the midst of life’s struggles and pains. Psalm 3 is the first of fourteen psalms that David wrote in response to a specific event (7; 18; 30; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; 142). The superscription to Psalm 3—“When he fled from his son Absalom”—tells of David’s crisis when his son usurped the throne, forcing the king to flee because he’d be killed if he remained in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15:13–14). Despite the danger and threat to his life, David was fully confident of God’s protection, deliverance, and sustenance: “I lie down and sleep. . . . I will not fear” (Psalm 3:5–6). David experienced the “perfect peace” promised in Isaiah 26:3 that comes through trusting God.
A Shield Around Me
But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3
Our church experienced an agonizing loss when Paul, our gifted worship minister, died at the age of thirty-one in a boating accident. Paul and his wife, DuRhonda, were no strangers to pain; they had buried several children who hadn’t made it to term. Now there would be another grave near the small graves of these little ones. The life-crushing crisis this family experienced hit those who loved them like a knockout blow to the head.
David was no stranger to personal and family crises. In Psalm 3, he found himself overwhelmed because of the rebellion of his son Absalom. Rather than stay and fight, he chose to flee his home and throne (2 Samuel 15:13–23). Though “many” considered him forsaken by God (Psalm 3:2), David knew better; he saw the Lord as his protector (v. 3), and he called upon Him accordingly (v. 4). And so did DuRhonda. In the midst of her grief, when hundreds had gathered to remember her husband, she raised her soft, tender voice in a song that expressed confidence in God.
When doctors’ reports are not encouraging, when financial pressures won’t ease up, when efforts to reconcile relationships fail, when death has left those we cherish in its wake—may we too be strengthened to say, “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high” (v. 3). By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
How did you respond the last time you found yourself in an overwhelming situation? How does knowing God is a shield around you help?
Heavenly Father, help me to see that though life can be uncomfortable, I can find comfort in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 23, 2019
The Missionary’s Goal
He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”
“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 23, 2019
The Secret of Not Getting Lost - #8531
We were driving with some of our young Native American friends in Arizona and we were returning from a little sightseeing outing. And even though men never get lost, right? Well, the man driving did. As we were debating which way to go to get back, one of our Indian passengers described exactly how we had traveled to this area and exactly how we could get back. We listened, we tried it, and we weren't lost anymore! Now maybe it's just been my experience, and sometimes I even joke about it with my Native friends - Native Americans just don't seem to get lost! I've tried to figure this out. Maybe it's just instinct, but over and over I've noticed something. My Native friends pay very close attention to where they're going. Seldom do they have to travel there twice to know where they're going. Now, they have taught me a very valuable lesson - the way to know your way is to pay close attention to where you've been!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about "The Secret of Not Getting Lost."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God which is in Psalm 78. It's a record of the sad history of God's ancient people - oh, and some of His current people too. Verse 10: "They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law." Now why? Verse 11, "They forgot what He had done, the wonders that He had shown them."
You see, they forgot the road that God had brought them on in the past. And then there is a tragic description throughout the chapter of a lifetime of bad choices. It says, "They spoke against God" (verse 19), "they kept on sinning" (verse 32). In spite of His wonders they did not believe. Another verse says they rebelled against Him. And the result? Well, it says that, "They ended their days in futility and their years in terror." The bottom line mistake is summed up in verse 42, "They did not remember His power."
All the wonderful times God had provided, intervened, blessed, protected. They simply forgot when they were facing a new challenge or a new choice. So what's changed? Not much! As God's children today we get lost because we fail to remember where we've been with Him before. We live in unbelief, failing to trust God to work in this situation because we ignore how God has worked before. It's like spiritual amnesia. The result is we start to invent our own solutions; we come up with our own plans. We run ahead of God, we run behind God, or in some way we take a detour from His perfect will.
Now maybe you're facing a choice right now, a challenge, a crossroads that could take you deeper into God's great plans for you, or down a road that's wrong for you. It's time to retrace the road He's already been leading you on. Ask yourself questions like these: What have been the milestone scripture verses that God has used to guide my life in the past? Go over them, quote them, depend on them for this crossroads. Another question: What's God been saying to me in recent months as I've prayed and spent time with Him in His Word, the Bible? Look for the recurring themes that He's been bringing into your heart.
By the way, that is why it is so helpful to keep a spiritual journal of each day's time with Him. Oh, and there's another question: what patterns can I see in how God has led me in the past? Remember the past has been preparation for this moment. What does it look like He's been preparing you for? Another question: What are some times that I've seen my God majorly intervene and support me, use me, and supply for me? Expect Him to be that same God for you again. It might be a different method, but it's the same awesome Heavenly Father.
The hymn writer looked back over the path of his lifetime and he said what we've all sung with all our hearts, "Great is thy faithfulness, oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."
There's a way to keep from getting lost. Pay close attention to where you've already been. The Good Shepherd who brought you this far isn't about to leave you now.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Psalm 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God’s Faithfulness
Life has many unanswered questions, but be settled about God’s faithfulness to you! Romans 8:32 declares, If God “did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all,” will he not also give you all you need for a Promised Land life? God’s Word is sure!
And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the reminder that Scripture is powerful and a useful weapon against any stronghold. “All Scripture is God-breathed…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
I invite you to join me in a Scripture Memory Challenge. Let’s memorize together the verses in 2 Timothy 3:16-17! I’ll show you how easy it is at GloryDaysToday.com.
Psalm 2
Why the big noise, nations?
Why the mean plots, peoples?
Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers:
“Let’s get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!”
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he’s amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously, he shuts them up:
“Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet
Is spread for him on the holy summit.”
7-9 Let me tell you what God said next.
He said, “You’re my son,
And today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
10-12 So, rebel-kings, use your heads;
Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe. Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know;
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Philippians 4:10–13
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Insight
In Philippians 4:7–19, Paul describes a paradox. On the one hand, he lived each day with peace and a sense of having “enough,” confident that God would give exactly what was needed (v. 11). On the other hand, Paul describes believers’ complete dependence on God and others and urges them to honestly name and prayerfully lift up their needs (vv. 7, 9, 19). The apostle also alludes to a further paradox: despite having all we need in God, His abundance and peace is best experienced in community, with fellow believers who share in each other’s joy and sorrows. Despite maintaining that he was not "in need” (v. 11), Paul was profoundly grateful for other believers’ willingness to share in his struggles (vv. 10, 14). Elsewhere he elaborates on these ideas by describing the believing community as an interdependent body where each person is needed (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). By: Monica Brands
Growing to Know
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
“You’re going to be an exchange student!” I was seventeen and thrilled to hear I was approved to study in Germany. But it was only three months before my departure, and I had never taken a class in German.
The days that followed found me cramming—studying for hours and even writing words on my hands to memorize them.
Months later I was in a classroom in Germany, discouraged because I didn’t know more of the language. That day a teacher gave me wise advice. “Learning a language is like climbing a sand dune. Sometimes you feel like you’re not getting anywhere. But just keep going and you will.”
Sometimes I reflect on that insight when I consider what it means to grow as a follower of Jesus. The apostle Paul recalled, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” Even for Paul, personal peace didn’t happen overnight. It was something he grew into. Paul shares the secret of his progress: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12–13).
Life has its challenges. But as we turn to the One who has “overcome the world” (John 16:33), we discover not only that He’s faithful to get us through but also that nothing matters more than closeness to Him. He gives us His peace, helps us to trust, and empowers us to go the distance as we walk with Him. By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
In what ways will you focus on Jesus today? How can you encourage others to draw near to Him?
Thank You for the peace You give me as I turn to You, Jesus. Help me to stay very close to You today!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 22, 2019
The Missionary’s Master and Teacher
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
Life has many unanswered questions, but be settled about God’s faithfulness to you! Romans 8:32 declares, If God “did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all,” will he not also give you all you need for a Promised Land life? God’s Word is sure!
And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the reminder that Scripture is powerful and a useful weapon against any stronghold. “All Scripture is God-breathed…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
I invite you to join me in a Scripture Memory Challenge. Let’s memorize together the verses in 2 Timothy 3:16-17! I’ll show you how easy it is at GloryDaysToday.com.
Psalm 2
Why the big noise, nations?
Why the mean plots, peoples?
Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers:
“Let’s get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!”
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he’s amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously, he shuts them up:
“Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet
Is spread for him on the holy summit.”
7-9 Let me tell you what God said next.
He said, “You’re my son,
And today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
10-12 So, rebel-kings, use your heads;
Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe. Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know;
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Philippians 4:10–13
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Insight
In Philippians 4:7–19, Paul describes a paradox. On the one hand, he lived each day with peace and a sense of having “enough,” confident that God would give exactly what was needed (v. 11). On the other hand, Paul describes believers’ complete dependence on God and others and urges them to honestly name and prayerfully lift up their needs (vv. 7, 9, 19). The apostle also alludes to a further paradox: despite having all we need in God, His abundance and peace is best experienced in community, with fellow believers who share in each other’s joy and sorrows. Despite maintaining that he was not "in need” (v. 11), Paul was profoundly grateful for other believers’ willingness to share in his struggles (vv. 10, 14). Elsewhere he elaborates on these ideas by describing the believing community as an interdependent body where each person is needed (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). By: Monica Brands
Growing to Know
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
“You’re going to be an exchange student!” I was seventeen and thrilled to hear I was approved to study in Germany. But it was only three months before my departure, and I had never taken a class in German.
The days that followed found me cramming—studying for hours and even writing words on my hands to memorize them.
Months later I was in a classroom in Germany, discouraged because I didn’t know more of the language. That day a teacher gave me wise advice. “Learning a language is like climbing a sand dune. Sometimes you feel like you’re not getting anywhere. But just keep going and you will.”
Sometimes I reflect on that insight when I consider what it means to grow as a follower of Jesus. The apostle Paul recalled, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” Even for Paul, personal peace didn’t happen overnight. It was something he grew into. Paul shares the secret of his progress: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12–13).
Life has its challenges. But as we turn to the One who has “overcome the world” (John 16:33), we discover not only that He’s faithful to get us through but also that nothing matters more than closeness to Him. He gives us His peace, helps us to trust, and empowers us to go the distance as we walk with Him. By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
In what ways will you focus on Jesus today? How can you encourage others to draw near to Him?
Thank You for the peace You give me as I turn to You, Jesus. Help me to stay very close to You today!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 22, 2019
The Missionary’s Master and Teacher
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Psalm 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Thoroughly Equipped
This is the second week of our Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge to memorize a verse a week.
This week's verse is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
It reminds us that Scripture is a weapon useful in all situations. I encourage you to make 2 Timothy 3:16-17 a verse to memorize this week-your reminder that you're being equipped for an eternal assignment that will empower you to live a life set apart for a holy calling. This is no guarantee of an easy life, but it is the assurance of God's help. You are God's child! You are indwelled by the Spirit of the living God!
Join me at GloryDaysToday.com for more information.
A Deposit of Power
Psalm 1
How well God must like you—
you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon,
you don’t slink along Dead-End Road,
you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.
2-3 Instead you thrill to God’s Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
4-5 You’re not at all like the wicked,
who are mere windblown dust—
Without defense in court,
unfit company for innocent people.
6 God charts the road you take.
The road they take is Skid Row.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Exodus 6:1–8
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
Footnotes:
Exodus 6:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai
Exodus 6:3 See note at 3:15.
Insight
As God had instructed, Moses asked Pharaoh for some time off to sacrifice to God (Exodus 5:1). Pharaoh responded by worsening the Hebrews’ workload (vv. 2–9). The Hebrews directed their anger over this injustice at Moses and Aaron (vv. 19–21). Moses, in turn, questioned God: “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?” (v. 22). God responded, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh” (6:1). He also reminded Moses that while He didn’t reveal His Name to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, He did share it with him (3:13–15).
To learn more about the time of Moses in Egypt visit christianuniversity.org/OT216-02. By: Tim Gustafson
Name of Names
God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2:9
The name of Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) is legendary in the world of music. His violins, cellos, and violas are so treasured for their craftsmanship and clarity of sound that many have been given their own names. One of them, for instance, is known as the Messiah-Salabue Stradivarius. After violinist Joseph Joachim (1831–1907) played it, he wrote, “The sound of the Strad, that unique ‘Messie,’ turns up again and again in my memory, with its combined sweetness and grandeur.”
Even the name and sound of a Stradivarius, however, doesn’t deserve to be compared to the work of a far greater Source. From Moses to Jesus, the God of gods introduces Himself with a name above all names. For our sake, He wants the wisdom and work of His own hand to be recognized, valued, and celebrated with the sound of music (Exodus 6:1; 15:1–2).
Yet this deliverance of strength in response to the groans of a troubled people was only a beginning. Who could have foreseen that, by the weakness of crucified hands, He would one day leave a legacy of eternal and infinite value? Could anyone have predicted the resulting wonder and grandeur of music sung in praise of the name of One who died—bearing the insult of our sin and rejection—to show how much He loves us? By: Mart DeHaan
Reflect & Pray
In what ways can you see the hand of a Master patiently shaping your life to put His name on you? What is He doing today to remind you that you’re His child?
Father in heaven, please do something in and through us today that helps others see that we owe everything to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 21, 2019
The Missionary’s Predestined Purpose
Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant… —Isaiah 49:5
The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances— we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world….”
We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.
Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
This is the second week of our Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge to memorize a verse a week.
This week's verse is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
It reminds us that Scripture is a weapon useful in all situations. I encourage you to make 2 Timothy 3:16-17 a verse to memorize this week-your reminder that you're being equipped for an eternal assignment that will empower you to live a life set apart for a holy calling. This is no guarantee of an easy life, but it is the assurance of God's help. You are God's child! You are indwelled by the Spirit of the living God!
Join me at GloryDaysToday.com for more information.
A Deposit of Power
Psalm 1
How well God must like you—
you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon,
you don’t slink along Dead-End Road,
you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.
2-3 Instead you thrill to God’s Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
4-5 You’re not at all like the wicked,
who are mere windblown dust—
Without defense in court,
unfit company for innocent people.
6 God charts the road you take.
The road they take is Skid Row.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Exodus 6:1–8
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
Footnotes:
Exodus 6:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai
Exodus 6:3 See note at 3:15.
Insight
As God had instructed, Moses asked Pharaoh for some time off to sacrifice to God (Exodus 5:1). Pharaoh responded by worsening the Hebrews’ workload (vv. 2–9). The Hebrews directed their anger over this injustice at Moses and Aaron (vv. 19–21). Moses, in turn, questioned God: “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?” (v. 22). God responded, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh” (6:1). He also reminded Moses that while He didn’t reveal His Name to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, He did share it with him (3:13–15).
To learn more about the time of Moses in Egypt visit christianuniversity.org/OT216-02. By: Tim Gustafson
Name of Names
God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2:9
The name of Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) is legendary in the world of music. His violins, cellos, and violas are so treasured for their craftsmanship and clarity of sound that many have been given their own names. One of them, for instance, is known as the Messiah-Salabue Stradivarius. After violinist Joseph Joachim (1831–1907) played it, he wrote, “The sound of the Strad, that unique ‘Messie,’ turns up again and again in my memory, with its combined sweetness and grandeur.”
Even the name and sound of a Stradivarius, however, doesn’t deserve to be compared to the work of a far greater Source. From Moses to Jesus, the God of gods introduces Himself with a name above all names. For our sake, He wants the wisdom and work of His own hand to be recognized, valued, and celebrated with the sound of music (Exodus 6:1; 15:1–2).
Yet this deliverance of strength in response to the groans of a troubled people was only a beginning. Who could have foreseen that, by the weakness of crucified hands, He would one day leave a legacy of eternal and infinite value? Could anyone have predicted the resulting wonder and grandeur of music sung in praise of the name of One who died—bearing the insult of our sin and rejection—to show how much He loves us? By: Mart DeHaan
Reflect & Pray
In what ways can you see the hand of a Master patiently shaping your life to put His name on you? What is He doing today to remind you that you’re His child?
Father in heaven, please do something in and through us today that helps others see that we owe everything to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 21, 2019
The Missionary’s Predestined Purpose
Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant… —Isaiah 49:5
The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances— we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world….”
We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.
Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
Friday, September 20, 2019
Acts 16:1-21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE SOCIETY OF THE BENT TIMBER
One of my favorite places on earth is a grove that sits on the Guadalupe River. It’s a peaceful place. And trees, oh the trees. They weather the winters and celebrate the summers. And they are all bent. There is no perfect tree. Even so, they provide the perfect place to find peace. Humanity is like that grove of trees. Though we attempt to stand tall, none of us succeed. We all twist and turn. We are a collection of bent timber. And that’s okay.
There is beauty in our bent-ness. So enjoy the Society of the Bent Timber. Cut people some slack. Reduce your number of pet peeves, be patient with people who pet them. The world, for all its quirky people, is a wonderful place to live. And the sooner we can find the beauty, the happier will be. That is how happiness happens.
Acts 16:1-21
Paul came first to Derbe, then Lystra. He found a disciple there by the name of Timothy, son of a devout Jewish mother and Greek father. Friends in Lystra and Iconium all said what a fine young man he was. Paul wanted to recruit him for their mission, but first took him aside and circumcised him so he wouldn’t offend the Jews who lived in those parts. They all knew that his father was Greek.
4-5 As they traveled from town to town, they presented the simple guidelines the Jerusalem apostles and leaders had come up with. That turned out to be most helpful. Day after day the congregations became stronger in faith and larger in size.
6-8 They went to Phrygia, and then on through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia, they went down to the seaport Troas.
9-10 That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.
11-12 Putting out from the harbor at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.
13-14 On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!
15 After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, “If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.” We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
16-18 One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. She started following Paul around, calling everyone’s attention to us by yelling out, “These men are working for the Most High God. They’re laying out the road of salvation for you!” She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, “Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!” And it was gone, just like that.
19-22 When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them and pulled them into a court with the accusation, “These men are disturbing the peace—dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order.” By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 20, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 15:1–8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Footnotes:
John 15:2 The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans
Insight
The vineyard metaphor is used to describe the relationship between God and Israel (Psalm 80:8–9; Isaiah 5:1–7; 27:2–6). God expected His people to produce “a crop of good grapes, but [they] yielded only bad fruit” (Isaiah 5:2).
Jesus also spoke of a spurned vineyard owner who wasn’t given his share of the crop at harvest time (Matthew 21:33–43). He warned the Jews that God wants a “people who will produce its fruit” (v. 43). We can’t bear fruit if we’re not connected to the Vine. Jesus said that when we bear fruit we demonstrate we’re His disciples (John 15:8). The Holy Spirit’s work produces good fruit in us (Galatians 5:22–23) and causes us to become more and more like Christ (Romans 8:29).
In the Vine
No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:4
One spring after a particularly dreary winter during which she helped a family member through a long illness, Emma found encouragement each time she walked past a cherry tree near her home in Cambridge, England. Bursting out at the top of the pink blossoms grew blossoms of white. A clever gardener had grafted into the tree a branch of white flowers. When Emma passed the unusual tree, she thought of Jesus’s words about being the Vine and His followers the branches (John 15:1–8).
By calling Himself the Vine, Jesus was speaking of an image familiar to the Israelites in the Old Testament, for there the vine symbolized God’s people (Psalm 80:8–9; Hosea 10:1). Jesus extended this symbolism to Himself, saying He was the Vine and that His followers were grafted into Him as branches. And as they remained in Him, receiving His nourishment and strength, they would bear fruit (John 15:5).
As Emma supported her family member, she needed the reminder that she was connected to Jesus. Seeing the white flowers among the pink ones gave her a visual prompt of the truth that as she remained in the Vine, she gained nourishment through Him.
When we who believe in Jesus embrace the idea of being as close to Him as a branch is to a vine, our faith is strengthened and enriched. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
How are you receiving spiritual nourishment from Jesus? What will help you remain in the Vine?
Jesus, thank You for helping me to remain in You. May I find the peace, hope, and strength I need today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 20, 2019
The Divine Commandment of Life
…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. —Matthew 5:48
Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those toward whom we have no affection.
The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. “…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 20, 2019
Front Lines Surrender and Front Lines Victory - #8530
It is not easy to get baptized in the desert, especially if you're of the persuasion that believes in being baptized by being immersed in water. Our daughter-in-law grew up in one of those areas without much water, so she got baptized in a horse trough...minus the horse of course. Some Marines in Iraq got baptized in a small brick chapel, in a rubber dinghy filled with water. A young corporal was one of those. He decided to get baptized as his unit was preparing to attack the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. Reports said that he came out of the water dripping wet and beaming. He explained his reason for doing it and for doing it then: "I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Front Lines Surrender and Front Lines Victory."
It may be that you are, in a sense, heading into some pretty significant battles yourself. Your battle might be medical, it might be legal, it might be marital. It may have to do with your job or your family. But the future is uncertain, and, to a large extent, it's out of your control. It's a good time to make sure you're right with God before you head into the fight isn't it?
The issue isn't so much baptism, although that certainly is an important example of obeying God and following what Jesus modeled. As you're sorting through all the factors in the battle ahead, don't forget the most important factor of all - the most decisive one of all. Have you done the things that God wants you to do? Are you right with God?
In Joshua 3:5, our word for today from the Word of God, His ancient people stand at the edge of the Jordan River, ready to enter the land God had promised to them. On the other side is the seemingly impregnable walled city of Jericho and fierce armies that had scared the previous generation right out of ever going in. There are many unknowns and undoubtedly some significant battles on the other side. It's at this point that God's leader, General Joshua, lays out this simple formula for victory: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."
That's the Lord's word to you on the eve of your battle. Consecrate yourself and I will do some amazing things for you on the battlefield. Your job is to make sure that you've done the things God's been telling you to do, maybe for a long time. Your job is to surrender fully to God and to His plans for you. That's a recipe for victory.
If you want to win the battle ahead of you, you have to first take care of the battle in your soul. And that has to do with the things God's been wanting to change, the leading that you've been resisting, the steps He's wanted you to take and you've been holding back. Would you get that settled so you know that this battle ahead is going to be the Lord's battle?
And, by the way, if you've never obeyed God's command to put all your trust in His Son to be your Rescuer from your sin, to make His death and resurrection for you your only hope, I'd suggest you take care of that before you hit your battlefield, because you really need Him. The Bible says that God will one day (and I quote) "punish those who...do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus...They will be shut out from the presence of the Lord forever" (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Why? Not because you didn't know the Gospel, not because you didn't agree with the Gospel, but because you didn't obey what the Good News about Jesus said!
Maybe you've never really made your peace with God by actually giving yourself to His Son. Wouldn't this be a good time to finally get that settled; to surrender the control of your life to the One who has all the power in the universe with which to fight your battles? If you want to make things right with God, if you want to begin a personal relationship with Jesus, tell Him that right now. "Jesus, I am Yours."
Go to our website today at this crossroads moment. That website is ANewStory.com. Let me urge you to go there as soon as you can.
See, the battle looming ahead of you is not the battle that will decide what happens to you. No, it's the battle inside you. The battle that can be settled today as you quit fighting God and walk into the arms of Jesus, the strongest arms in the world.
One of my favorite places on earth is a grove that sits on the Guadalupe River. It’s a peaceful place. And trees, oh the trees. They weather the winters and celebrate the summers. And they are all bent. There is no perfect tree. Even so, they provide the perfect place to find peace. Humanity is like that grove of trees. Though we attempt to stand tall, none of us succeed. We all twist and turn. We are a collection of bent timber. And that’s okay.
There is beauty in our bent-ness. So enjoy the Society of the Bent Timber. Cut people some slack. Reduce your number of pet peeves, be patient with people who pet them. The world, for all its quirky people, is a wonderful place to live. And the sooner we can find the beauty, the happier will be. That is how happiness happens.
Acts 16:1-21
Paul came first to Derbe, then Lystra. He found a disciple there by the name of Timothy, son of a devout Jewish mother and Greek father. Friends in Lystra and Iconium all said what a fine young man he was. Paul wanted to recruit him for their mission, but first took him aside and circumcised him so he wouldn’t offend the Jews who lived in those parts. They all knew that his father was Greek.
4-5 As they traveled from town to town, they presented the simple guidelines the Jerusalem apostles and leaders had come up with. That turned out to be most helpful. Day after day the congregations became stronger in faith and larger in size.
6-8 They went to Phrygia, and then on through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia, they went down to the seaport Troas.
9-10 That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.
11-12 Putting out from the harbor at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.
13-14 On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!
15 After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, “If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.” We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
16-18 One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. She started following Paul around, calling everyone’s attention to us by yelling out, “These men are working for the Most High God. They’re laying out the road of salvation for you!” She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, “Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!” And it was gone, just like that.
19-22 When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them and pulled them into a court with the accusation, “These men are disturbing the peace—dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order.” By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 20, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 15:1–8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Footnotes:
John 15:2 The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans
Insight
The vineyard metaphor is used to describe the relationship between God and Israel (Psalm 80:8–9; Isaiah 5:1–7; 27:2–6). God expected His people to produce “a crop of good grapes, but [they] yielded only bad fruit” (Isaiah 5:2).
Jesus also spoke of a spurned vineyard owner who wasn’t given his share of the crop at harvest time (Matthew 21:33–43). He warned the Jews that God wants a “people who will produce its fruit” (v. 43). We can’t bear fruit if we’re not connected to the Vine. Jesus said that when we bear fruit we demonstrate we’re His disciples (John 15:8). The Holy Spirit’s work produces good fruit in us (Galatians 5:22–23) and causes us to become more and more like Christ (Romans 8:29).
In the Vine
No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:4
One spring after a particularly dreary winter during which she helped a family member through a long illness, Emma found encouragement each time she walked past a cherry tree near her home in Cambridge, England. Bursting out at the top of the pink blossoms grew blossoms of white. A clever gardener had grafted into the tree a branch of white flowers. When Emma passed the unusual tree, she thought of Jesus’s words about being the Vine and His followers the branches (John 15:1–8).
By calling Himself the Vine, Jesus was speaking of an image familiar to the Israelites in the Old Testament, for there the vine symbolized God’s people (Psalm 80:8–9; Hosea 10:1). Jesus extended this symbolism to Himself, saying He was the Vine and that His followers were grafted into Him as branches. And as they remained in Him, receiving His nourishment and strength, they would bear fruit (John 15:5).
As Emma supported her family member, she needed the reminder that she was connected to Jesus. Seeing the white flowers among the pink ones gave her a visual prompt of the truth that as she remained in the Vine, she gained nourishment through Him.
When we who believe in Jesus embrace the idea of being as close to Him as a branch is to a vine, our faith is strengthened and enriched. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
How are you receiving spiritual nourishment from Jesus? What will help you remain in the Vine?
Jesus, thank You for helping me to remain in You. May I find the peace, hope, and strength I need today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 20, 2019
The Divine Commandment of Life
…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. —Matthew 5:48
Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those toward whom we have no affection.
The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. “…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 20, 2019
Front Lines Surrender and Front Lines Victory - #8530
It is not easy to get baptized in the desert, especially if you're of the persuasion that believes in being baptized by being immersed in water. Our daughter-in-law grew up in one of those areas without much water, so she got baptized in a horse trough...minus the horse of course. Some Marines in Iraq got baptized in a small brick chapel, in a rubber dinghy filled with water. A young corporal was one of those. He decided to get baptized as his unit was preparing to attack the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. Reports said that he came out of the water dripping wet and beaming. He explained his reason for doing it and for doing it then: "I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Front Lines Surrender and Front Lines Victory."
It may be that you are, in a sense, heading into some pretty significant battles yourself. Your battle might be medical, it might be legal, it might be marital. It may have to do with your job or your family. But the future is uncertain, and, to a large extent, it's out of your control. It's a good time to make sure you're right with God before you head into the fight isn't it?
The issue isn't so much baptism, although that certainly is an important example of obeying God and following what Jesus modeled. As you're sorting through all the factors in the battle ahead, don't forget the most important factor of all - the most decisive one of all. Have you done the things that God wants you to do? Are you right with God?
In Joshua 3:5, our word for today from the Word of God, His ancient people stand at the edge of the Jordan River, ready to enter the land God had promised to them. On the other side is the seemingly impregnable walled city of Jericho and fierce armies that had scared the previous generation right out of ever going in. There are many unknowns and undoubtedly some significant battles on the other side. It's at this point that God's leader, General Joshua, lays out this simple formula for victory: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."
That's the Lord's word to you on the eve of your battle. Consecrate yourself and I will do some amazing things for you on the battlefield. Your job is to make sure that you've done the things God's been telling you to do, maybe for a long time. Your job is to surrender fully to God and to His plans for you. That's a recipe for victory.
If you want to win the battle ahead of you, you have to first take care of the battle in your soul. And that has to do with the things God's been wanting to change, the leading that you've been resisting, the steps He's wanted you to take and you've been holding back. Would you get that settled so you know that this battle ahead is going to be the Lord's battle?
And, by the way, if you've never obeyed God's command to put all your trust in His Son to be your Rescuer from your sin, to make His death and resurrection for you your only hope, I'd suggest you take care of that before you hit your battlefield, because you really need Him. The Bible says that God will one day (and I quote) "punish those who...do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus...They will be shut out from the presence of the Lord forever" (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Why? Not because you didn't know the Gospel, not because you didn't agree with the Gospel, but because you didn't obey what the Good News about Jesus said!
Maybe you've never really made your peace with God by actually giving yourself to His Son. Wouldn't this be a good time to finally get that settled; to surrender the control of your life to the One who has all the power in the universe with which to fight your battles? If you want to make things right with God, if you want to begin a personal relationship with Jesus, tell Him that right now. "Jesus, I am Yours."
Go to our website today at this crossroads moment. That website is ANewStory.com. Let me urge you to go there as soon as you can.
See, the battle looming ahead of you is not the battle that will decide what happens to you. No, it's the battle inside you. The battle that can be settled today as you quit fighting God and walk into the arms of Jesus, the strongest arms in the world.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
2 Kings 25 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
D. L. Moody was one of the most influential Christians of his generation. He led thousands of people to faith and established many institutions of education and training. He was famous for saying, “Right now I’m having so much trouble with D. L. Moody that I don’t have time to find fault with the other fellow.”
There is a time to speak up. But before you do, check your motives. The goal is to help, never to hurt. Look at yourself before you look down on others. Rather than put them in their place, put yourself in their place. The truth is we all drop the ball on occasion. So, shouldn’t we bear with one another?
The clear majority of details in the world are simply that—small stuff. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and you won’t sweat much at all. Life is too precious and brief to be spent in a huff.
2 Kings 25
The revolt dates from the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah’s reign. Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem immediately with a full army. He set up camp and sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. The city was under siege for nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah). By the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad that there wasn’t so much as a crumb of bread for anyone. Then there was a breakthrough. At night, under cover of darkness, the entire army escaped through an opening in the wall (it was the gate between the two walls above the King’s Garden). They slipped through the lines of the Babylonians who surrounded the city and headed for the Jordan on the Arabah Valley road. But the Babylonians were in pursuit of the king and they caught up with him in the Plains of Jericho. By then Zedekiah’s army had deserted and was scattered. The Babylonians took Zedekiah prisoner and marched him off to the king of Babylon at Riblah, then tried and sentenced him on the spot. Zedekiah’s sons were executed right before his eyes; the summary murder of his sons was the last thing he saw, for they then blinded him. Securely handcuffed, he was hauled off to Babylon.
8-12 In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, on the seventh day of the fifth month, Nebuzaradan, the king of Babylon’s chief deputy, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned The Temple of God to the ground, went on to the royal palace, and then finished off the city—burned the whole place down. He put the Babylonian troops he had with him to work knocking down the city walls. Finally, he rounded up everyone left in the city, including those who had earlier deserted to the king of Babylon, and took them off into exile. He left a few poor dirt farmers behind to tend the vineyards and what was left of the fields.
13-15 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in The Temple of God and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. They also took the various bronze-crafted liturgical accessories used in the services of Temple worship, as well as the gold and silver censers and sprinkling bowls. The king’s deputy didn’t miss a thing—he took every scrap of precious metal he could find.
16-17 The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, and all the washstands that Solomon had made for The Temple of God was enormous—they couldn’t weigh it all! Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high, plus another four and a half feet for an ornate capital of bronze filigree and decorative fruit.
18-21 The king’s deputy took a number of special prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the associate priest, three wardens, the chief remaining army officer, five of the king’s counselors, the accountant, the chief recruiting officer for the army, and sixty men of standing from among the people. Nebuzaradan the king’s deputy marched them all off to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon killed the lot of them in cold blood.
Judah went into exile, orphaned from her land.
22-23 Regarding the common people who were left behind in Judah, this: Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as their governor. When veteran army officers among the people heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Among them were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, and some of their followers.
24 Gedaliah assured the officers and their men, giving them his word, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian officials. Go back to your farms and families and respect the king of Babylon. Trust me, everything is going to be all right.”
25 Some time later—it was in the seventh month—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama (he had royal blood in him), came back with ten men and killed Gedaliah, the traitor Jews, and the Babylonian officials who were stationed at Mizpah—a bloody massacre.
26 But then, afraid of what the Babylonians would do, they all took off for Egypt, leaders and people, small and great.
27-30 When Jehoiachin king of Judah had been in exile for thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became king in Babylon and let Jehoiachin out of prison. This release took place on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. The king treated him most courteously and gave him preferential treatment beyond anything experienced by the other political prisoners held in Babylon. Jehoiachin took off his prison garb and for the rest of his life ate his meals in company with the king. The king provided everything he needed to live comfortably.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 6:25–32
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height
Insight
Our passage today continues Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and is a subsection of the major theme considered in chapter 6—“the Christian walking and living in this world, in his relationship to the Father” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount). But while the earlier subsection (vv. 19–24) deals with the danger of laying up and hoarding the treasures of this earth, this portion is concerned with our worrying or being anxious about material things. Some believe the first passage addresses the rich, while today’s addresses the poor or those who struggle to make ends meet. But it’s also possible for the rich to be obsessed with worry over material things. No matter how we look at these texts, both convey the danger of trying to find our security anywhere but in God and His great care for us (1 Peter 5:7). By: Alyson Kieda
Feeling Small
What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:4
Many movie critics consider David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia one of the greatest films of all time. With its seemingly endless vistas of the Arabian deserts, it has influenced a generation of filmmakers—including Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg. “I was inspired the first time I saw Lawrence,” said Spielberg. “It made me feel puny. It still makes me feel puny. And that’s one measure of its greatness.”
What makes me feel small is creation’s vastness—when I gaze at an ocean, fly over the polar ice cap, or survey a night sky sparkling with a billion stars. If the created universe is so expansive, how much greater must be the Creator who spoke it into being!
God’s greatness and our feelings of insignificance are echoed by David when he declares, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:4 nlt). But Jesus assures us, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26).
I may feel small and insignificant, but through my Father’s eyes, I have great worth—a worth that is proven every time I look at the cross. The price He was willing to pay to restore me to fellowship with Him is evidence of how He values me. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What wonder of creation draws your attention to God? How does it impact you to know how much your Creator values you?
Father, help us to remember Your heart is for us. Read The Surprising Side of God at discoveryseries.org/q0213.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Are You Going on With Jesus?
You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. —Luke 22:28
It is true that Jesus Christ is with us through our temptations, but are we going on with Him through His temptations? Many of us turn back from going on with Jesus from the very moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We wear His name, but are we going on with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).
The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going on with Jesus in the life we are living right now?
We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. May it never be! It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. Jesus Christ’s honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Are we remaining faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us?
Are you going on with Jesus? The way goes through Gethsemane, through the city gate, and on “outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13). The way is lonely and goes on until there is no longer even a trace of a footprint to follow— but only the voice saying, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 19, 2019
The Core is What Counts - #8529
The first hurricane I was in made me think of the Three Little Pigs story. It also made me think of the wolf, "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down." We were on vacation with our family at the time, and the hurricane was moving into where we were on the coast. We moved downstairs from our upstairs bedroom. We listened to the local station go off air because the water was coming into the station. We tried to sleep but the wind was howling and the rain was pummeling the house. Well the next morning we went out and we surveyed what had happened. The power was out. The trees and wires were down. There was like wreckage everywhere. We had to actually wash and flush using the water that we had wisely stored in the bathtub before the hurricane hit. We ate by candlelight. We changed all our plans, but we were safe. See the storm had beaten up everything around us and it sure affected our lifestyle. But the things that really mattered - they were safe.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Core is What Counts."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from wonderful promises from the Lord in Psalms 91:1. "He who dwells in the shelter of The Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." It goes on then to say in verse 4, "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you." Verses 9 and 10: "If you make The Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."
Okay, the hurricane is blowing against your life. There's the night terror, the flying arrows, the stalking pestilence, but God says very clearly it will not come near you. He says, "If you make The Most High your dwelling, it will not befall you. No disaster will come near you." It sounds like our night in a hurricane. Everything around us was getting blown around but the core was safe.
My wife and I have been through hurricane times in our life like everybody. We were actually discussing the deaths of several people close to us at one point and a really tough financial situation. We had converging problems with cars, with equipment, a lot of struggles with people close to us; a lot of pressures. You say, "Hey, man, come on. I have my own list." I know, I'm sure you do. But I said, "Honey, thank God the core is okay."
The core - it's your relationship with God, your relationship with your family, and your central mission - your ministry. The wind outside may be doing tons of damage. The devil is nibbling all around the core. But maybe you can say as we did, "Lord thank you for protecting the core." It's important during a hurricane to see the difference between the core and I guess I call it non-core things in your life.
You pray for the protection of the blood of Jesus on the core of your life. Don't over-react to your hurricane because it's blowing everything around. It's tough, but it will pass. Guard carefully the priorities that keep the core things healthy. Don't let the hurricane take you out of those priorities. And praise the Lord while the pressure is on that you can't lose what really counts.
You say, "Ron, the devil got into the core already." Then, man, drop everything and fight for what he's trying to take. Remember that no one can touch the center core of your unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ. You've got that forever. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:12, "I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have committed to Him until that day."
Let the wind blow. It will do damage around you. It may affect your lifestyle, but pray for the core. Fight for the core. Thank God if the core is safe. You see, if the core is okay, you're doing okay.
D. L. Moody was one of the most influential Christians of his generation. He led thousands of people to faith and established many institutions of education and training. He was famous for saying, “Right now I’m having so much trouble with D. L. Moody that I don’t have time to find fault with the other fellow.”
There is a time to speak up. But before you do, check your motives. The goal is to help, never to hurt. Look at yourself before you look down on others. Rather than put them in their place, put yourself in their place. The truth is we all drop the ball on occasion. So, shouldn’t we bear with one another?
The clear majority of details in the world are simply that—small stuff. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and you won’t sweat much at all. Life is too precious and brief to be spent in a huff.
2 Kings 25
The revolt dates from the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah’s reign. Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem immediately with a full army. He set up camp and sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. The city was under siege for nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah). By the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad that there wasn’t so much as a crumb of bread for anyone. Then there was a breakthrough. At night, under cover of darkness, the entire army escaped through an opening in the wall (it was the gate between the two walls above the King’s Garden). They slipped through the lines of the Babylonians who surrounded the city and headed for the Jordan on the Arabah Valley road. But the Babylonians were in pursuit of the king and they caught up with him in the Plains of Jericho. By then Zedekiah’s army had deserted and was scattered. The Babylonians took Zedekiah prisoner and marched him off to the king of Babylon at Riblah, then tried and sentenced him on the spot. Zedekiah’s sons were executed right before his eyes; the summary murder of his sons was the last thing he saw, for they then blinded him. Securely handcuffed, he was hauled off to Babylon.
8-12 In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, on the seventh day of the fifth month, Nebuzaradan, the king of Babylon’s chief deputy, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned The Temple of God to the ground, went on to the royal palace, and then finished off the city—burned the whole place down. He put the Babylonian troops he had with him to work knocking down the city walls. Finally, he rounded up everyone left in the city, including those who had earlier deserted to the king of Babylon, and took them off into exile. He left a few poor dirt farmers behind to tend the vineyards and what was left of the fields.
13-15 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in The Temple of God and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. They also took the various bronze-crafted liturgical accessories used in the services of Temple worship, as well as the gold and silver censers and sprinkling bowls. The king’s deputy didn’t miss a thing—he took every scrap of precious metal he could find.
16-17 The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, and all the washstands that Solomon had made for The Temple of God was enormous—they couldn’t weigh it all! Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high, plus another four and a half feet for an ornate capital of bronze filigree and decorative fruit.
18-21 The king’s deputy took a number of special prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the associate priest, three wardens, the chief remaining army officer, five of the king’s counselors, the accountant, the chief recruiting officer for the army, and sixty men of standing from among the people. Nebuzaradan the king’s deputy marched them all off to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon killed the lot of them in cold blood.
Judah went into exile, orphaned from her land.
22-23 Regarding the common people who were left behind in Judah, this: Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as their governor. When veteran army officers among the people heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Among them were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, and some of their followers.
24 Gedaliah assured the officers and their men, giving them his word, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian officials. Go back to your farms and families and respect the king of Babylon. Trust me, everything is going to be all right.”
25 Some time later—it was in the seventh month—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama (he had royal blood in him), came back with ten men and killed Gedaliah, the traitor Jews, and the Babylonian officials who were stationed at Mizpah—a bloody massacre.
26 But then, afraid of what the Babylonians would do, they all took off for Egypt, leaders and people, small and great.
27-30 When Jehoiachin king of Judah had been in exile for thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became king in Babylon and let Jehoiachin out of prison. This release took place on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. The king treated him most courteously and gave him preferential treatment beyond anything experienced by the other political prisoners held in Babylon. Jehoiachin took off his prison garb and for the rest of his life ate his meals in company with the king. The king provided everything he needed to live comfortably.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 6:25–32
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height
Insight
Our passage today continues Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and is a subsection of the major theme considered in chapter 6—“the Christian walking and living in this world, in his relationship to the Father” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount). But while the earlier subsection (vv. 19–24) deals with the danger of laying up and hoarding the treasures of this earth, this portion is concerned with our worrying or being anxious about material things. Some believe the first passage addresses the rich, while today’s addresses the poor or those who struggle to make ends meet. But it’s also possible for the rich to be obsessed with worry over material things. No matter how we look at these texts, both convey the danger of trying to find our security anywhere but in God and His great care for us (1 Peter 5:7). By: Alyson Kieda
Feeling Small
What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:4
Many movie critics consider David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia one of the greatest films of all time. With its seemingly endless vistas of the Arabian deserts, it has influenced a generation of filmmakers—including Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg. “I was inspired the first time I saw Lawrence,” said Spielberg. “It made me feel puny. It still makes me feel puny. And that’s one measure of its greatness.”
What makes me feel small is creation’s vastness—when I gaze at an ocean, fly over the polar ice cap, or survey a night sky sparkling with a billion stars. If the created universe is so expansive, how much greater must be the Creator who spoke it into being!
God’s greatness and our feelings of insignificance are echoed by David when he declares, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:4 nlt). But Jesus assures us, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26).
I may feel small and insignificant, but through my Father’s eyes, I have great worth—a worth that is proven every time I look at the cross. The price He was willing to pay to restore me to fellowship with Him is evidence of how He values me. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What wonder of creation draws your attention to God? How does it impact you to know how much your Creator values you?
Father, help us to remember Your heart is for us. Read The Surprising Side of God at discoveryseries.org/q0213.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Are You Going on With Jesus?
You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. —Luke 22:28
It is true that Jesus Christ is with us through our temptations, but are we going on with Him through His temptations? Many of us turn back from going on with Jesus from the very moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We wear His name, but are we going on with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).
The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going on with Jesus in the life we are living right now?
We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. May it never be! It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. Jesus Christ’s honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Are we remaining faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us?
Are you going on with Jesus? The way goes through Gethsemane, through the city gate, and on “outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13). The way is lonely and goes on until there is no longer even a trace of a footprint to follow— but only the voice saying, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 19, 2019
The Core is What Counts - #8529
The first hurricane I was in made me think of the Three Little Pigs story. It also made me think of the wolf, "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down." We were on vacation with our family at the time, and the hurricane was moving into where we were on the coast. We moved downstairs from our upstairs bedroom. We listened to the local station go off air because the water was coming into the station. We tried to sleep but the wind was howling and the rain was pummeling the house. Well the next morning we went out and we surveyed what had happened. The power was out. The trees and wires were down. There was like wreckage everywhere. We had to actually wash and flush using the water that we had wisely stored in the bathtub before the hurricane hit. We ate by candlelight. We changed all our plans, but we were safe. See the storm had beaten up everything around us and it sure affected our lifestyle. But the things that really mattered - they were safe.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Core is What Counts."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from wonderful promises from the Lord in Psalms 91:1. "He who dwells in the shelter of The Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." It goes on then to say in verse 4, "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you." Verses 9 and 10: "If you make The Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."
Okay, the hurricane is blowing against your life. There's the night terror, the flying arrows, the stalking pestilence, but God says very clearly it will not come near you. He says, "If you make The Most High your dwelling, it will not befall you. No disaster will come near you." It sounds like our night in a hurricane. Everything around us was getting blown around but the core was safe.
My wife and I have been through hurricane times in our life like everybody. We were actually discussing the deaths of several people close to us at one point and a really tough financial situation. We had converging problems with cars, with equipment, a lot of struggles with people close to us; a lot of pressures. You say, "Hey, man, come on. I have my own list." I know, I'm sure you do. But I said, "Honey, thank God the core is okay."
The core - it's your relationship with God, your relationship with your family, and your central mission - your ministry. The wind outside may be doing tons of damage. The devil is nibbling all around the core. But maybe you can say as we did, "Lord thank you for protecting the core." It's important during a hurricane to see the difference between the core and I guess I call it non-core things in your life.
You pray for the protection of the blood of Jesus on the core of your life. Don't over-react to your hurricane because it's blowing everything around. It's tough, but it will pass. Guard carefully the priorities that keep the core things healthy. Don't let the hurricane take you out of those priorities. And praise the Lord while the pressure is on that you can't lose what really counts.
You say, "Ron, the devil got into the core already." Then, man, drop everything and fight for what he's trying to take. Remember that no one can touch the center core of your unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ. You've got that forever. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:12, "I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have committed to Him until that day."
Let the wind blow. It will do damage around you. It may affect your lifestyle, but pray for the core. Fight for the core. Thank God if the core is safe. You see, if the core is okay, you're doing okay.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
2 Kings 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A BEAM IN YOUR EYE
“Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).
Anyone who thinks Jesus never cracked a joke hasn’t read these words from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus envisioned a fellow who has a two-by-four sticking out of his eye. He doesn’t see the log in his own eye but can’t help but notice a man who stands across the street dabbing his eye with a tissue. He declares, “Don’t you know that if you get something in your eye, it can be harmful?”
On target? Yes, sirree, Bob. We have eagle- eye vision when it comes to others but can be blind as moles when we examine ourselves. If you want to change the world, begin with yourself. This is how happiness happens.
2 Kings 24
It was during his reign that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the country. Jehoiakim became his puppet. But after three years he had had enough and revolted.
2-4 God dispatched a succession of raiding bands against him: Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite. The strategy was to destroy Judah. Through the preaching of his servants and prophets, God had said he would do this, and now he was doing it. None of this was by chance—it was God’s judgment as he turned his back on Judah because of the enormity of the sins of Manasseh—Manasseh, the killer-king, who made the Jerusalem streets flow with the innocent blood of his victims. God wasn’t about to overlook such crimes.
5-6 The rest of the life and times of Jehoiakim is written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Jehoiakim died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became the next king.
7 The threat from Egypt was now over—no more invasions by the king of Egypt—for by this time the king of Babylon had captured all the land between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River, land formerly controlled by the king of Egypt.
8-9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. His rule in Jerusalem lasted only three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he also was an evil king, no different from his father.
10-12 The next thing to happen was that the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem and put it under siege. While his officers were laying siege to the city, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon paid a personal visit. And Jehoiachin king of Judah, along with his mother, officers, advisors, and government leaders, surrendered.
12-14 In the eighth year of his reign Jehoiachin was taken prisoner by the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar emptied the treasuries of both The Temple of God and the royal palace and confiscated all the gold furnishings that Solomon king of Israel had made for The Temple of God. This should have been no surprise—God had said it would happen. And then he emptied Jerusalem of people—all its leaders and soldiers, all its craftsmen and artisans. He took them into exile, something like ten thousand of them! The only ones he left were the very poor.
15-16 He took Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon. With him he took the king’s mother, his wives, his chief officers, the community leaders, anyone who was anybody—in round numbers, seven thousand soldiers plus another thousand or so craftsmen and artisans, all herded off into exile in Babylon.
17 Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, his puppet king, but changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah. Her hometown was Libnah.
19 As far as God was concerned Zedekiah was just one more evil king, a carbon copy of Jehoiakim.
20 The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God’s anger—God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. And then Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Peter 5:8–10
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Insight
The Scriptures have much to tell us about our spiritual adversary, Satan. Peter, writing from his own painful defeat, warns us of our adversary “the devil [who] prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Some thirty years before writing this letter, Peter boasted that he would never disown Jesus (Matthew 26:33–35), but in his overconfident pride he failed to “be alert and of sober mind” (1 Peter 5:8). According to John, the whole world is presently under Satan’s control (1 John 5:19), but Jesus came “to destroy the devil’s work” (3:8). Jesus has already defeated Satan (John 12:31; 16:11; Hebrews 2:14), but the devil is permitted to continue to deceive people for a season (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan’s end is sealed, however, for he will be “thrown into the lake of burning sulfur . . . tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
Turn and Run
Resist [the devil], standing firm in the faith. 1 Peter 5:9
Ali was a beautiful, smart, and talented teenager with loving parents. But after high school something prompted her to try heroin. Her parents noticed changes in her and sent her to a rehabilitation facility after Ali eventually admitted the impact it was having on her. After treatment, they asked what she would tell her friends about trying drugs. Her advice: “Just turn and run.” She urged that “just saying no” wasn’t enough.
Tragically, Ali relapsed and died at age twenty-two of an overdose. In an attempt to keep others from the same fate, her heartbroken parents appeared on a local news program encouraging listeners to “run for Ali” by staying far from situations where they could be exposed to drugs and other dangers.
The apostle Paul urged his spiritual son Timothy (and us) to run from evil (2 Timothy 2:22), and the apostle Peter likewise warned, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8–9).
None of us is immune to temptation. And often the best thing to do is to steer clear of situations where we’ll be tempted—though they can’t always be avoided. But we can be better prepared by having a strong faith in God based in the Bible and strengthened through prayer. When we “[stand] firm in the faith” we’ll know when to turn and run to Him. By: Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
In what area(s) are you particularly susceptible to temptation? What has helped you to resist?
Dear God, there are so many temptations out there. Help us to watch and pray so that we won’t fall. And thank You for welcoming us back when we do.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
His Temptation and Ours
We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. —Hebrews 4:15
Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” But through regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, namely, the kind of temptations our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus had no appeal to us as unbelievers because they were not at home in our human nature. Our Lord’s temptations and ours are in different realms until we are born again and become His brothers. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a mere man, but the temptations of God as Man. Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us (see Galatians 4:19), and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things— he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.
Temptation means a test of the possessions held within the inner, spiritual part of our being by a power outside us and foreign to us. This makes the temptation of our Lord explainable. After Jesus’ baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) He “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet He did not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation “without sin,” and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. Disciples Indeed, 388 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
The Great Door Opener - #8528
I had a funny conversation with the owner of a local restaurant one day. The restaurant was close to our office, so I was there pretty frequently. I usually ran in and grabbed the quickest thing I could and ran out. Well, I was at the cash register and there were two or three others waiting to pay when Tony, the owner, said, "What do you do anyway?" Well, I wanted an opportunity there, and I thought this might be the first chance I had to really let him know that I know Christ.
On the spur of the moment I gave him what I thought was a creative answer that might get him thinking a little bit. I said, "Oh, I'm a manufacturer's representative." He said, "What?" "Well, you probably want to know what manufacturer." He said, "Yeah." I said, "The manufacturer of you and me." He said, "Oh, you work for my mother?" I said, "No, no, no. I work for the person who manufactured your mother, and the mother before her, and her mother before her." I know this is an odd conversation. He said, "That's funny! You don't look Italian."
Well, we went around on this merry-go-round a couple of times, and finally I said, "Actually, I lead a Christian organization that works with young people and their families." He said, "Oh, you're one of those born again things?" I said, "Well, it depends on what you mean by that. If you mean a cult with people who have antennas, do I have any antenna? No." I said, "Do you know who said those words first?" He said, "No." I said, "You know, Jesus said those words first. He invented that whole idea. It's referred to in the Bible, and it actually refers to a brand new start that He can give you when you come to Him after being what he called "born again."
Then he looked at me, and I was actually caught up short by his next comment. He explained why he had these questions about my life in the first place. He simply said, "All I know is that you're happy all the time." I thought, "Man, we are being watched." And you know, it's something pretty simple that can start something pretty eternal.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Great Door Opener."
Our word for today from the Word of God, we're in the book of Nehemiah. He's a servant. Actually, he's a cupbearer or waiter as it were to the king. And in chapter 2 and verse 1, he says, "I had not been sad in the kings' presence, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This could be nothing but sadness of heart.'" Of course we know Nehemiah was very sad because he wanted to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, his home city.
"'I was very much afraid,' Nehemiah said, 'But I said to the king, "May the king live forever. Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruin?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king." Well, from that point on, he shares his dream, the king supports it, and the rest... well, it's the miraculous history of the rebuilding of the walls and the gates of the city of Jerusalem.
Notice here the king says, "How come you're sad today?" So, apparently Nehemiah had a reputation for being a pretty happy camper at work. Do you? See, for Nehemiah, a bad mood at work must have been the exception. Is that how it is for you?
If you've ever been to an antique store, you know that something becomes more valuable as it becomes harder to find. Well, today, a smile is precious because it's getting hard to find. So much so that it eventually demands an explanation, "Hey, what kind of work do you do?" The restaurant owner asked me that. He said, "I guess the reason you're happy all the time is you enjoy your work." I said, "No, it's because I enjoy my relationship with Him. He's the reason."
What attracted him, he said, was happiness. Let's consider your usual attitude at work or at school. Is it kind of dark, complaining, kind of a dull let's-get-through-it attitude? Or do you carry the presence of Christ into your school or your workplace? Your greatest attention getter for Christ may be that you have a smile in a sea of sour. A Christian draws his joy, not from what's going on around him, but who Jesus is going on inside him. Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
You might be wondering how to get an open door to the people around you. You might prove that Jesus works by your smile, your consistent joy, your positive spirit. Those may be the greatest door openers in the world.
“Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).
Anyone who thinks Jesus never cracked a joke hasn’t read these words from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus envisioned a fellow who has a two-by-four sticking out of his eye. He doesn’t see the log in his own eye but can’t help but notice a man who stands across the street dabbing his eye with a tissue. He declares, “Don’t you know that if you get something in your eye, it can be harmful?”
On target? Yes, sirree, Bob. We have eagle- eye vision when it comes to others but can be blind as moles when we examine ourselves. If you want to change the world, begin with yourself. This is how happiness happens.
2 Kings 24
It was during his reign that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the country. Jehoiakim became his puppet. But after three years he had had enough and revolted.
2-4 God dispatched a succession of raiding bands against him: Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite. The strategy was to destroy Judah. Through the preaching of his servants and prophets, God had said he would do this, and now he was doing it. None of this was by chance—it was God’s judgment as he turned his back on Judah because of the enormity of the sins of Manasseh—Manasseh, the killer-king, who made the Jerusalem streets flow with the innocent blood of his victims. God wasn’t about to overlook such crimes.
5-6 The rest of the life and times of Jehoiakim is written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Jehoiakim died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became the next king.
7 The threat from Egypt was now over—no more invasions by the king of Egypt—for by this time the king of Babylon had captured all the land between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River, land formerly controlled by the king of Egypt.
8-9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. His rule in Jerusalem lasted only three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he also was an evil king, no different from his father.
10-12 The next thing to happen was that the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem and put it under siege. While his officers were laying siege to the city, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon paid a personal visit. And Jehoiachin king of Judah, along with his mother, officers, advisors, and government leaders, surrendered.
12-14 In the eighth year of his reign Jehoiachin was taken prisoner by the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar emptied the treasuries of both The Temple of God and the royal palace and confiscated all the gold furnishings that Solomon king of Israel had made for The Temple of God. This should have been no surprise—God had said it would happen. And then he emptied Jerusalem of people—all its leaders and soldiers, all its craftsmen and artisans. He took them into exile, something like ten thousand of them! The only ones he left were the very poor.
15-16 He took Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon. With him he took the king’s mother, his wives, his chief officers, the community leaders, anyone who was anybody—in round numbers, seven thousand soldiers plus another thousand or so craftsmen and artisans, all herded off into exile in Babylon.
17 Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, his puppet king, but changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah. Her hometown was Libnah.
19 As far as God was concerned Zedekiah was just one more evil king, a carbon copy of Jehoiakim.
20 The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God’s anger—God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. And then Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Peter 5:8–10
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Insight
The Scriptures have much to tell us about our spiritual adversary, Satan. Peter, writing from his own painful defeat, warns us of our adversary “the devil [who] prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Some thirty years before writing this letter, Peter boasted that he would never disown Jesus (Matthew 26:33–35), but in his overconfident pride he failed to “be alert and of sober mind” (1 Peter 5:8). According to John, the whole world is presently under Satan’s control (1 John 5:19), but Jesus came “to destroy the devil’s work” (3:8). Jesus has already defeated Satan (John 12:31; 16:11; Hebrews 2:14), but the devil is permitted to continue to deceive people for a season (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan’s end is sealed, however, for he will be “thrown into the lake of burning sulfur . . . tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
Turn and Run
Resist [the devil], standing firm in the faith. 1 Peter 5:9
Ali was a beautiful, smart, and talented teenager with loving parents. But after high school something prompted her to try heroin. Her parents noticed changes in her and sent her to a rehabilitation facility after Ali eventually admitted the impact it was having on her. After treatment, they asked what she would tell her friends about trying drugs. Her advice: “Just turn and run.” She urged that “just saying no” wasn’t enough.
Tragically, Ali relapsed and died at age twenty-two of an overdose. In an attempt to keep others from the same fate, her heartbroken parents appeared on a local news program encouraging listeners to “run for Ali” by staying far from situations where they could be exposed to drugs and other dangers.
The apostle Paul urged his spiritual son Timothy (and us) to run from evil (2 Timothy 2:22), and the apostle Peter likewise warned, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8–9).
None of us is immune to temptation. And often the best thing to do is to steer clear of situations where we’ll be tempted—though they can’t always be avoided. But we can be better prepared by having a strong faith in God based in the Bible and strengthened through prayer. When we “[stand] firm in the faith” we’ll know when to turn and run to Him. By: Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
In what area(s) are you particularly susceptible to temptation? What has helped you to resist?
Dear God, there are so many temptations out there. Help us to watch and pray so that we won’t fall. And thank You for welcoming us back when we do.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
His Temptation and Ours
We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. —Hebrews 4:15
Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” But through regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, namely, the kind of temptations our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus had no appeal to us as unbelievers because they were not at home in our human nature. Our Lord’s temptations and ours are in different realms until we are born again and become His brothers. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a mere man, but the temptations of God as Man. Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us (see Galatians 4:19), and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things— he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.
Temptation means a test of the possessions held within the inner, spiritual part of our being by a power outside us and foreign to us. This makes the temptation of our Lord explainable. After Jesus’ baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) He “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet He did not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation “without sin,” and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. Disciples Indeed, 388 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
The Great Door Opener - #8528
I had a funny conversation with the owner of a local restaurant one day. The restaurant was close to our office, so I was there pretty frequently. I usually ran in and grabbed the quickest thing I could and ran out. Well, I was at the cash register and there were two or three others waiting to pay when Tony, the owner, said, "What do you do anyway?" Well, I wanted an opportunity there, and I thought this might be the first chance I had to really let him know that I know Christ.
On the spur of the moment I gave him what I thought was a creative answer that might get him thinking a little bit. I said, "Oh, I'm a manufacturer's representative." He said, "What?" "Well, you probably want to know what manufacturer." He said, "Yeah." I said, "The manufacturer of you and me." He said, "Oh, you work for my mother?" I said, "No, no, no. I work for the person who manufactured your mother, and the mother before her, and her mother before her." I know this is an odd conversation. He said, "That's funny! You don't look Italian."
Well, we went around on this merry-go-round a couple of times, and finally I said, "Actually, I lead a Christian organization that works with young people and their families." He said, "Oh, you're one of those born again things?" I said, "Well, it depends on what you mean by that. If you mean a cult with people who have antennas, do I have any antenna? No." I said, "Do you know who said those words first?" He said, "No." I said, "You know, Jesus said those words first. He invented that whole idea. It's referred to in the Bible, and it actually refers to a brand new start that He can give you when you come to Him after being what he called "born again."
Then he looked at me, and I was actually caught up short by his next comment. He explained why he had these questions about my life in the first place. He simply said, "All I know is that you're happy all the time." I thought, "Man, we are being watched." And you know, it's something pretty simple that can start something pretty eternal.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Great Door Opener."
Our word for today from the Word of God, we're in the book of Nehemiah. He's a servant. Actually, he's a cupbearer or waiter as it were to the king. And in chapter 2 and verse 1, he says, "I had not been sad in the kings' presence, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This could be nothing but sadness of heart.'" Of course we know Nehemiah was very sad because he wanted to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, his home city.
"'I was very much afraid,' Nehemiah said, 'But I said to the king, "May the king live forever. Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruin?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king." Well, from that point on, he shares his dream, the king supports it, and the rest... well, it's the miraculous history of the rebuilding of the walls and the gates of the city of Jerusalem.
Notice here the king says, "How come you're sad today?" So, apparently Nehemiah had a reputation for being a pretty happy camper at work. Do you? See, for Nehemiah, a bad mood at work must have been the exception. Is that how it is for you?
If you've ever been to an antique store, you know that something becomes more valuable as it becomes harder to find. Well, today, a smile is precious because it's getting hard to find. So much so that it eventually demands an explanation, "Hey, what kind of work do you do?" The restaurant owner asked me that. He said, "I guess the reason you're happy all the time is you enjoy your work." I said, "No, it's because I enjoy my relationship with Him. He's the reason."
What attracted him, he said, was happiness. Let's consider your usual attitude at work or at school. Is it kind of dark, complaining, kind of a dull let's-get-through-it attitude? Or do you carry the presence of Christ into your school or your workplace? Your greatest attention getter for Christ may be that you have a smile in a sea of sour. A Christian draws his joy, not from what's going on around him, but who Jesus is going on inside him. Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
You might be wondering how to get an open door to the people around you. You might prove that Jesus works by your smile, your consistent joy, your positive spirit. Those may be the greatest door openers in the world.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Galatians 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: DON’T PET THE PEEVES
There is a way the world should be run. And when others behave in ways we don’t like, we call that a pet peeve. Not a colossal divide or a legal violation…just a pet peeve. You know, joy is such a precious commodity. Why squander it on a quibble?
The phrases we use regarding our pet peeves reveal the person who actually suffers. He “gets under my skin” or “gets on my nerves,” or she is such a “pain in my neck.” Whose skin, nerves, and neck? Ours! Who suffers? We do! Every pet peeve writes a check on our joy account.
For this reason the apostle Paul said, “Be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). The patient person sees all the peculiarities of the world. But rather than react, he bears with them. This is how happiness happens.
Galatians 6
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.
4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
6 Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.
7-8 Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
9-10 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
11-13 Now, in these last sentences, I want to emphasize in the bold scrawls of my personal handwriting the immense importance of what I have written to you. These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ’s suffering and death. All their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don’t keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!
14-16 For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!
17 Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.
18 May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Galatians 3:23–29
Before the coming of this faith,[a] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Footnotes:
Galatians 3:23 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus … 23 Before faith came
Insight
Much has been written about Paul’s view of the law as it relates to the Christian life. The apostle wrote about the law in several letters to the early believers in Jesus, most notably in his letter to the Romans. Here in Galatians, Paul initially paints the law as a jailer who held us in custody until faith was revealed (3:23). A jailer restricts prisoners’ activities and keeps them confined within certain parameters. In verse 24, however, Paul calls the law our guardian—a role with a different connotation. A guardian is charged with protection and safety; one who keeps those under his care from harm and helps them to grow and flourish. In each case, jailer or guardian, Paul says that because faith has come, they’re no longer needed.
More than Water
All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:27
One of my earliest childhood memories of church was a pastor walking down the aisle, challenging us to “remember the waters of our baptism.” Remember the waters? I asked myself. How can you remember water? He then proceeded to splash everyone with water, which as a young child both delighted and confused me.
Why should we think about baptism? When a person is baptized, there’s so much more to it than water. Baptism symbolizes how through faith in Jesus, we’ve become “clothed” with Him (Galatians 3:27). Or in other words, it’s celebrating that we belong to Him and that He lives in and through us.
As if that weren’t significant enough, the passage tells us that if we’ve been clothed with Christ our identity is found in Him. We’re the very children of God (v. 26). As such, we’ve been made right with God by faith—not by following Old Testament law (vv. 23–25). We’re not divided against one another by gender, culture, and status. We’re set free and brought into unity through Christ and are now His own (v. 29).
So there are very good reasons to remember baptism and all it represents. We aren’t simply focusing on the act itself but that we belong to Jesus and have become children of God. Our identity, future, and spiritual freedom are found in Him. By: Peter Chin
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to be clothed with Christ and to belong to Him? What are ways in which you can regularly celebrate and remember the meaning of baptism?
God, help me to never forget that through Jesus I am a child of God!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Is There Good in Temptation?
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man… —1 Corinthians 10:13
The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.
A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.
Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.
Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else— what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations— He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard - #8527
It was a great day for me when I went bowling and found out that they had invented automatic score keeping. I never could figure it out, especially on the more complicated stuff, when you just had to add it up on these cards. We never went bowling often, but when we did, we used to fumble around trying to figure out how to score the game. There are some folks who'll say, "Let's just have fun in this (whatever the sport is). Forget about the score!" We are not among those folks. No, in fact, no matter what the sport, most athletes would not be interested if no points were kept for goals, or runs, or touchdowns, or whatever. But I have to wonder if the people who just enjoy the game without keeping score have a little less stress in their lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 4:9, "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins." Okay, now God starts off by saying, "above all," and the man through whom He's writing, Peter, gives an interesting description of what Christian love is in very practical terms. It's something that covers a multitude of sins. Now think of the opposite - un-love doesn't overlook any sin, any mistake, any offense.
See, the problem is this score keeping thing. We tend to keep score in our relationships, we rack up a negative point when someone fails us, or hurts us, or slights us, or in any way blows it. It was Peter who asked Jesus how many times he was expected to not score things someone did against them, to forgive them. Jesus said, "Seventy times seven." Let it go 490 times! By that time, who's counting anyway?
Maybe a relationship of yours is suffering because you've been keeping score with your mate, your son, your daughter, your parent? Maybe you've been racking up points against your friend, or your co-worker, or that person at church? And when they do something that bothers you or hurts you, you kind of figuratively roll your eyes and say, "There they go again." And you put another mark against them on your negative scoreboard.
In fact, those marks ultimately become a negative filter through which you view everything that person does. They can't do anything right now - even their good is explained away or it's unrecorded because it doesn't fit your negative grid; your negative narrative. Now, could it be that you keep bringing up those negatives, especially to make your point? Someone you're supposed to be loving might be drowning in your critical comments, your judgmental attitude, your negative assumptions.
The man who wrote these words, Simon Peter, experienced this kind of forgiving love himself. Remember he totally let his Lord down, denied Him three times in Jesus' greatest hour of need, but he found that Jesus did not hold that against him. In fact, when he finally got together with Peter individually after His resurrection, Jesus said, "Do you love Me?" Not, "Why did you fail me?" "Do you love Me?" That's all He wanted to know.
That's how Jesus is treating you, and now He's asking you to treat other people with the same kind of grace and mercy. Not to treat them in the way that they have treated you, but to treat them in the way that Jesus has treated you... and Jesus has had a lot more to forgive than you ever will. Colossians 3:13 says it so well, "Forgive, as the Lord forgave you."
It's time to put the scoreboard away isn't it? Like your Lord has done with you. Remember, un-love notices and records ever slight, every problem, every mistake. But we're servants of a Savior who makes us into people who love as He does - without a scoreboard.
There is a way the world should be run. And when others behave in ways we don’t like, we call that a pet peeve. Not a colossal divide or a legal violation…just a pet peeve. You know, joy is such a precious commodity. Why squander it on a quibble?
The phrases we use regarding our pet peeves reveal the person who actually suffers. He “gets under my skin” or “gets on my nerves,” or she is such a “pain in my neck.” Whose skin, nerves, and neck? Ours! Who suffers? We do! Every pet peeve writes a check on our joy account.
For this reason the apostle Paul said, “Be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). The patient person sees all the peculiarities of the world. But rather than react, he bears with them. This is how happiness happens.
Galatians 6
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.
4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
6 Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.
7-8 Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
9-10 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
11-13 Now, in these last sentences, I want to emphasize in the bold scrawls of my personal handwriting the immense importance of what I have written to you. These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ’s suffering and death. All their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don’t keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!
14-16 For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!
17 Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.
18 May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Galatians 3:23–29
Before the coming of this faith,[a] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Footnotes:
Galatians 3:23 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus … 23 Before faith came
Insight
Much has been written about Paul’s view of the law as it relates to the Christian life. The apostle wrote about the law in several letters to the early believers in Jesus, most notably in his letter to the Romans. Here in Galatians, Paul initially paints the law as a jailer who held us in custody until faith was revealed (3:23). A jailer restricts prisoners’ activities and keeps them confined within certain parameters. In verse 24, however, Paul calls the law our guardian—a role with a different connotation. A guardian is charged with protection and safety; one who keeps those under his care from harm and helps them to grow and flourish. In each case, jailer or guardian, Paul says that because faith has come, they’re no longer needed.
More than Water
All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:27
One of my earliest childhood memories of church was a pastor walking down the aisle, challenging us to “remember the waters of our baptism.” Remember the waters? I asked myself. How can you remember water? He then proceeded to splash everyone with water, which as a young child both delighted and confused me.
Why should we think about baptism? When a person is baptized, there’s so much more to it than water. Baptism symbolizes how through faith in Jesus, we’ve become “clothed” with Him (Galatians 3:27). Or in other words, it’s celebrating that we belong to Him and that He lives in and through us.
As if that weren’t significant enough, the passage tells us that if we’ve been clothed with Christ our identity is found in Him. We’re the very children of God (v. 26). As such, we’ve been made right with God by faith—not by following Old Testament law (vv. 23–25). We’re not divided against one another by gender, culture, and status. We’re set free and brought into unity through Christ and are now His own (v. 29).
So there are very good reasons to remember baptism and all it represents. We aren’t simply focusing on the act itself but that we belong to Jesus and have become children of God. Our identity, future, and spiritual freedom are found in Him. By: Peter Chin
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to be clothed with Christ and to belong to Him? What are ways in which you can regularly celebrate and remember the meaning of baptism?
God, help me to never forget that through Jesus I am a child of God!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Is There Good in Temptation?
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man… —1 Corinthians 10:13
The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.
A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.
Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.
Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else— what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations— He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard - #8527
It was a great day for me when I went bowling and found out that they had invented automatic score keeping. I never could figure it out, especially on the more complicated stuff, when you just had to add it up on these cards. We never went bowling often, but when we did, we used to fumble around trying to figure out how to score the game. There are some folks who'll say, "Let's just have fun in this (whatever the sport is). Forget about the score!" We are not among those folks. No, in fact, no matter what the sport, most athletes would not be interested if no points were kept for goals, or runs, or touchdowns, or whatever. But I have to wonder if the people who just enjoy the game without keeping score have a little less stress in their lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 4:9, "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins." Okay, now God starts off by saying, "above all," and the man through whom He's writing, Peter, gives an interesting description of what Christian love is in very practical terms. It's something that covers a multitude of sins. Now think of the opposite - un-love doesn't overlook any sin, any mistake, any offense.
See, the problem is this score keeping thing. We tend to keep score in our relationships, we rack up a negative point when someone fails us, or hurts us, or slights us, or in any way blows it. It was Peter who asked Jesus how many times he was expected to not score things someone did against them, to forgive them. Jesus said, "Seventy times seven." Let it go 490 times! By that time, who's counting anyway?
Maybe a relationship of yours is suffering because you've been keeping score with your mate, your son, your daughter, your parent? Maybe you've been racking up points against your friend, or your co-worker, or that person at church? And when they do something that bothers you or hurts you, you kind of figuratively roll your eyes and say, "There they go again." And you put another mark against them on your negative scoreboard.
In fact, those marks ultimately become a negative filter through which you view everything that person does. They can't do anything right now - even their good is explained away or it's unrecorded because it doesn't fit your negative grid; your negative narrative. Now, could it be that you keep bringing up those negatives, especially to make your point? Someone you're supposed to be loving might be drowning in your critical comments, your judgmental attitude, your negative assumptions.
The man who wrote these words, Simon Peter, experienced this kind of forgiving love himself. Remember he totally let his Lord down, denied Him three times in Jesus' greatest hour of need, but he found that Jesus did not hold that against him. In fact, when he finally got together with Peter individually after His resurrection, Jesus said, "Do you love Me?" Not, "Why did you fail me?" "Do you love Me?" That's all He wanted to know.
That's how Jesus is treating you, and now He's asking you to treat other people with the same kind of grace and mercy. Not to treat them in the way that they have treated you, but to treat them in the way that Jesus has treated you... and Jesus has had a lot more to forgive than you ever will. Colossians 3:13 says it so well, "Forgive, as the Lord forgave you."
It's time to put the scoreboard away isn't it? Like your Lord has done with you. Remember, un-love notices and records ever slight, every problem, every mistake. But we're servants of a Savior who makes us into people who love as He does - without a scoreboard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)