Jeremiah 39 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  STUCK

The man near the pool of Bethesda didn’t use the word stuck, but he sure could have. For thirty-eight years near the edge of a pool, it was just him, his mat, and his paralyzed body. And since no one would help him, help never came. Crowds of people—despondent, dejected, one after the other—awaited their chance to be placed in the pool where healing waters bubbled up. Can you envision them? And, more importantly, can you envision Jesus walking among them?

All the gospels’ stories of help and healing invite us to embrace the wonderful promise: “Wherever [Jesus] went he healed people of every sort of illness. And what pity he felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help” (Matthew 9:35–36 TLB). My friend, remember Jesus sees you, and you are never alone.

Jeremiah 39

Bad News, Not Good News

 In the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his entire army and laid siege to Jerusalem. In the eleventh year and fourth month, on the ninth day of Zedekiah’s reign, they broke through into the city.

3 All the officers of the king of Babylon came and set themselves up as a ruling council from the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Simmagar, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, along with all the other officials of the king of Babylon.

4-7 When Zedekiah king of Judah and his remaining soldiers saw this, they ran for their lives. They slipped out at night on a path in the king’s garden through the gate between two walls and headed for the wilderness, toward the Jordan Valley. The Babylonian army chased them and caught Zedekiah in the wilderness of Jericho. They seized him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the country of Hamath. Nebuchadnezzar decided his fate. The king of Babylon killed all the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah right before his eyes and then killed all the nobles of Judah. After Zedekiah had seen the slaughter, Nebuchadnezzar blinded him, chained him up, and then took him off to Babylon.

8-10 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal palace, the Temple, and all the homes of the people. They leveled the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, commander of the king’s bodyguard, rounded up everyone left in the city, along with those who had surrendered to him, and herded them off to exile in Babylon. He didn’t bother taking the few poor people who had nothing. He left them in the land of Judah to eke out a living as best they could in the vineyards and fields.

11-12 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave Nebuzaradan captain of the king’s bodyguard special orders regarding Jeremiah: “Look out for him. Make sure nothing bad happens to him. Give him anything he wants.”

13-14 So Nebuzaradan, chief of the king’s bodyguard, along with Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon, sent for Jeremiah, taking him from the courtyard of the royal guards and putting him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be taken home. And so he was able to live with the people.

15-18 Earlier, while Jeremiah was still in custody in the courtyard of the royal guards, God’s Message came to him: “Go and speak with Ebed-melek the Ethiopian. Tell him, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, Listen carefully: I will do exactly what I said I would do to this city—bad news, not good news. When it happens, you will be there to see it. But I’ll deliver you on that doomsday. You won’t be handed over to those men whom you have good reason to fear. Yes, I’ll most certainly save you. You won’t be killed. You’ll walk out of there safe and sound because you trusted me.’” God’s Decree.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, October 07, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Psalm 90:1–2, 10–17

 prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands.

Insight
More psalms are attributed to David (seventy-three) than any other writer. Asaph, David’s worship leader, comes in second with twelve, followed by the sons of Korah with eleven. Other known writers include Solomon, Ethan, Heman, and Moses. Psalm 90 is the only psalm attributed to Moses. Its superscription states: “A prayer of Moses, the man of God.” He wrote this psalm (and some suggest the anonymous psalm that follows) in the wilderness as he led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land of Canaan. That makes Psalm 90 the oldest poem in the book. Its theme speaks of the brevity of our life as contrasted with the eternal nature and majesty of God. It’s important to note that Moses also wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, while in the desert.

Do We Matter?
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14

For some months now I’ve been corresponding with a young man who’s thinking deeply about faith. On one occasion he wrote, “We’re no more than teeny, tiny, infinitesimal blips on the timeline of history. Do we matter?”

Moses, Israel’s prophet, would agree: “Our days . . . quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). The brevity of life can worry us and cause us to wonder if we matter.

We do. We matter because we’re deeply, eternally loved by the God who made us. In this poem, Moses prays, “Satisfy us . . . with your unfailing love” (v. 14). We matter because we matter to God.

We also matter because we can show God’s love to others. Though our lives are short, they’re not meaningless if we leave a legacy of God’s love. We’re not here on earth to make money and retire in style, but to “show God” to others by showing them His love.

And finally, though life here on earth is transient, we’re creatures of eternity. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we’ll live forever. That’s what Moses meant when he assured us that God will “satisfy us in the morning with [His] unfailing love.” On that “morning” we’ll rise to live and love and be loved forever. And if that doesn’t create meaning, I don’t know what does. By:  David H. Roper

Reflect & Pray
When have you struggled with wondering if your life counts? How does Psalm 90 help?

I’m grateful, loving God, that I matter to You. Help me to share You with others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 07, 2020
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21

Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.

The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us…” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.

A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly.  Disciples Indeed, 393 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 07, 2020
Within My Reach - #8803

We lived on the East Coast for so long, we've had the chance to frequently visit the beaches there. Oh, man we still love them! One visit, it wasn't just another day with the family at the beach. Nope! See, the lifeguards at Ocean City, NJ suddenly made everyone get out of the water--fast! And you know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking "Jaws"! So I was very cooperative. I got out real fast! Compliant boy, yeah. Instead, it was all about these two children, and those lifeguards had to plunge in and rescue them because they were in trouble out by a jetty there.

And then there are those times when you just can't wait for the big guys to get there. That's what happened with 12-year old Nicole who was boogie boarding one day (this was in the news.) on Oregon's Long Beach. And suddenly she heard somebody screaming near her, "Help!" It turned out it was another 12-year-old. It was a 7th grader, Dale. He was there that day with his youth group, and suddenly he was in deadly trouble in the surf.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Within My Reach."

Nicole actually was able to maneuver over to the drowning boy; she pulled him onto her board and started paddling toward shore. Then this huge wave came along, threw them both off the board and carried the board away. Somehow, Nicole managed to resurface, but there was no trace of Dale. It took the surf rescue team about ten minutes to get to the scene and a few more minutes to find Dale and bring him to shore. Honestly, the rescuers didn't think he'd make it. I remember seeing them bringing him ashore just as limp as a dishrag. But miraculously, he was revived and began recovering.

I'll tell you, I am grateful for courageous guys like those trained rescuers at Ocean City or the guys who were there at Long Beach that day. But it's young Nicole who I thought was really the hero in this story. The professionals were doing what it's their job to do. Nicole didn't have to risk her life to save someone else's, but she did. And they believe now that she kept him out of the water just long enough to have made the difference between life-and-death .

She took the risk for one simple reason. That person who was in danger was within her reach. Now, if she had said, "Oh, I'm not a rescuer...I'll just wait for the guys who do this for a living," Dale would almost surely have been lost. Which is causing me to ask myself, "Who is there within my reach who may die if I don't do something?" That's "die" as in the words of the Bible, a person who "will be taken away because of his sin"...who "will die for his sin."

Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Ezekiel 33:8, "I will hold you accountable for his blood." These are sobering words! Why will I be held accountable? Because I knew that as the Bible says, "whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

When you let Jesus help you see the people in your personal world through His eyes, you'll see them as more than just coworkers or neighbors or teammates, or fellow students or customers. You'll see that person as an eternity person, a future inhabitant of eternity in either heaven or hell; someone whose eternity can be changed, if only maybe you reach out and tell them what you know about Jesus.

Each of us who knows Christ has someone within our reach who doesn't. And we can't just wait for that "professional rescuer" or someone who has "the gift of evangelism" to attempt the rescue. The rescue responsibility rests with the believer who is there. There's nothing random about where you work or where you live or recreate or go to school. You've been divinely positioned to be God's designated "lifeguard" for your stretch of beach.

And why don't we reach out? Why don't we try to rescue? Fear: fear of being rejected, fear of messing it up. Fears that have one thing in common: they're all about me. Young Nicole was scared that day. She said, "I actually said out loud, 'I'm going to die.'" But her fear didn't decide what she did. Her bottom line in her own words, "No matter who it is, if they need help, I will risk my life. I will do it."

Well, that's just like Jesus. And I hope just like you.

Hebrews 10:1-18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: SET YOUR COMPASS

This life contains many walks from Cana to Capernaum, journeys between prayer offered and prayer answered.  Jesus promised the boy’s father a sure blessing at the end of the journey; He promises the same to us. We will meet this father when we get to heaven, and when we do, I’m going to ask him about that walk. I want to hear how he felt. I want to know what he thought. But most of all, I want to thank him for inspiring this verse: “The man took Jesus at his word and departed” (John 4:50 NIV).

Do likewise. Set your compass on the pole star of God’s promise. Place one weary foot in front of the other. Jesus has spoken! Let his word do what it was intended to do, and that is lead you home. Remember my friend, you are never alone.

Hebrews 10:1-18

The Sacrifice of Jesus

The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old “law plan” wasn’t complete in itself, it couldn’t complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins. But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt. The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can’t get rid of sin. That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ:

You don’t want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
    you’ve prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar
    that whet your appetite.
So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God,
    the way it’s described in your Book.”

When he said, “You don’t want sacrifices and offerings,” he was referring to practices according to the old plan. When he added, “I’m here to do it your way,” he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan—God’s way—by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.

11-18 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this:

This new plan I’m making with Israel
    isn’t going to be written on paper,
    isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time “I’m writing out the plan in them,
    carving it on the lining of their hearts.”

He concludes,

I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.

Once sins are taken care of for good, there’s no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 Corinthians 15:3–4, 12–22

 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

The Resurrection of the Dead
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Insight
When Paul says that “if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19), he’s writing in light of the personal sufferings he described earlier in his letter (4:8–13). Though his readers were enjoying the present benefits of knowing Jesus, he’d endured great pain and loss to bring them the good news of everlasting life. While affirming that he’d found in Christ a treasure worth living and dying for, he wanted them to see his suffering as Spirit-enabled evidence of the eternal love and power of God (2:3–5).

You’ll See Her Again
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22

The room was dim and silent as I pulled a chair close to Jacquie’s bed. Before a three-year battle with cancer, my friend had been a vibrant person. I could still picture her laughing—eyes full of life, her face lit with a smile. Now she was quiet and still, and I was visiting her in a special care facility.

Not knowing what to say, I decided to read some Scripture. I pulled my Bible out of my purse and turned to a reference in 1 Corinthians and began to read.

After the visit and an emotional time in the seclusion of my parked car, a thought came to mind that slowed my tears: You’ll see her again. Caught up in sadness, I had forgotten that death is only temporary for believers (1 Corinthians 15:21–22). I knew I’d see Jacquie again because both of us had trusted in Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin (vv. 3–4). When Jesus came back to life after His crucifixion, death lost its ultimate power to separate believers from each other and from God. After we die, we’ll live again in heaven with God and all of our spiritual brothers and sisters—forever.

Because Jesus is alive today, believers in Him have hope in times of loss and sorrow. Death has been swallowed up in the victory of the cross (v. 54). By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Reflect & Pray
How has God comforted you in times of sorrow? How might He want to use you to comfort someone who’s grieving today?

Dear Jesus, thank You for dying for my sin. I believe that You’re alive today because God raised You from the dead.

Read Life After Loss: Grieving with Hope at DiscoverySeries.org/CB131.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
The Nature of Regeneration

When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16

If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.

The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “…until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.

Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.

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

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 26-27; Philippians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
Your Stabilizer When You're Crashing - #8802

There have been a lot of airplane crashes over the years. And there's a few that you just don't forget. I'll tell you, one was the crash of United Flight 232 many years ago. Captain Al Haynes and his crew were desperately trying to control a plane that was almost out of control because of an equipment failure. They were diverted from Chicago to Sioux City, Iowa. Man, I still remember this. There was no way they were able to maneuver that plane to the airport. Their best hope of saving at least some lives was to try to bring it down in a nearby cornfield. Captain Haynes became literally a national hero when somehow he managed to do just that. Tragically, there were lives lost in the crash landing and the subsequent fire, but there were many survivors from a crash that could have easily killed all aboard. Captain Haynes said he had a hero that day himself. His crew had checked every procedure book to see what to do in an emergency like they were facing. There was no procedure. So Captain Haynes' hero was the flight controller that talked him through that terrifying crisis. Here's how the captain put it: "There's nothing like a calm, soothing voice talking to you, telling you everything you need to know."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Stabilizer When You're Crashing."

That's part of what saved lives that day of the crash - one voice, one person who was outside the situation, who had the big picture, who gave them guidance no one else could give them. The "calm, soothing voice, telling you everything you need to know" - the flight controller.

Every one of us needs a flight controller to help us know what to do when all the usual procedures aren't enough for what we're facing. To give us guidance in a world that has more unpredictables and more uncertainties than ever. Actually, much like a jetliner, we were designed for a flight controller. We were designed by a flight controller; by the Flight Controller of a hundred billion galaxies. He runs the universe. God's supposed to be the One who's running us. He's not. In the Bible's words, "We all...have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6).

So we're confused about our direction, we're unsure of the flight plan that will give our life some meaning, and we're missing the One who can help us avoid our crashes or survive life's crashes. So many people have discovered, in Jesus Christ, the flight plan they were made for and the Flight Controller who made the rest of their life secure.

It just doesn't get any more secure than this promise from Jesus, recorded in Hebrews 13:5 and 8. It's our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus says: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Others could make that promise; but only the Son of God can keep that promise. So you never need to face another life situation, another storm without the personal love and power of Jesus Christ Himself. He is, the Bible continues, "the same yesterday and today and forever" - your one fixed point in a world that is constantly changing. He'll never leave you because He loves you beyond words. And He loves you so much that He died for you to pay for the sin that would otherwise keep you from Him and from heaven forever.

Jesus has been the Flight Controller for my life, for all her years for my wife and through our most painful times. When we lost a baby, Jesus was the difference. When the finances were caving in, Jesus was the difference. When the accident was nearly fatal, when the loss of a loved one was very sudden and very painful, when they said my wife might not make it, when the doctor's news was awful; always, Jesus was the difference. And when she suddenly went to heaven four years ago, on that day (the worst day of my life), Jesus was the difference.

He wants to be that for you. Acknowledge Him as your only hope of having a personal relationship with God, having your sins forgiven, and tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." We'd love to help you do that. Just go to our website. It's ANewStory.com.

I know you will find Jesus to be what so many have found Him to be, including me, that calm, soothing voice in your soul, talking to you and telling you everything you need to know.

Jeremiah 38 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  THE DIVINE ARTIST

Do your days feel like a hike on an Appalachian Trail in winter? A struggle to place one foot in front of the other? If so, I urge you friend, hang on! Hang on. Don’t give up. Help is here. It may not come in the manner you requested or as quickly as you desire, but it will come. Assume that something good is going to happen. The door of tomorrow is unlocked from the inside, just turn the knob and step out.

The Divine Artist isn’t finished. The earth is his studio. Every person on earth is one of his projects. Every event on earth is a part of his great mural. He is not finished. The scripture says in Philippians 1, “God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.” Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Jeremiah 38

From the Dungeon to the Palace

Shaphatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling the people, namely:

2 “This is God’s Message: ‘Whoever stays in this town will die—will be killed or starve to death or get sick and die. But those who go over to the Babylonians will save their necks and live.’

3 “And, God’s sure Word: ‘This city is destined to fall to the army of the king of Babylon. He’s going to take it over.’”

4 These officials told the king, “Please, kill this man. He’s got to go! He’s ruining the resolve of the soldiers who are still left in the city, as well as the people themselves, by spreading these words. This man isn’t looking after the good of this people. He’s trying to ruin us!”

5 King Zedekiah caved in: “If you say so. Go ahead, handle it your way. You’re too much for me.”

6 So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah the king’s son that was in the courtyard of the palace guard. They lowered him down with ropes. There wasn’t any water in the cistern, only mud. Jeremiah sank into the mud.

7-9 Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, a court official assigned to the royal palace, heard that they had thrown Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was holding court in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-melek went immediately from the palace to the king and said, “My master, O king—these men are committing a great crime in what they’re doing, throwing Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern and leaving him there to starve. He’s as good as dead. There isn’t a scrap of bread left in the city.”

10 So the king ordered Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, “Get three men and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

11-12 Ebed-melek got three men and went to the palace wardrobe and got some scraps of old clothing, which they tied together and lowered down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebed-melek the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, “Put these scraps of old clothing under your armpits and around the ropes.” Jeremiah did what he said.

13 And so they pulled Jeremiah up out of the cistern by the ropes. But he was still confined in the courtyard of the palace guard.

14 Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance of the Temple of God. The king said to Jeremiah, “I’m going to ask you something. Don’t hold anything back from me.”

15 Jeremiah said, “If I told you the whole truth, you’d kill me. And no matter what I said, you wouldn’t pay any attention anyway.”

16 Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah right there, but in secret, “As sure as God lives, who gives us life, I won’t kill you, nor will I turn you over to the men who are trying to kill you.”

17-18 So Jeremiah told Zedekiah, “This is the Message from God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘If you will turn yourself over to the generals of the king of Babylon, you will live, this city won’t be burned down, and your family will live. But if you don’t turn yourself over to the generals of the king of Babylon, this city will go into the hands of the Chaldeans and they’ll burn it down. And don’t for a minute think there’s any escape for you.’”

19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “But I’m afraid of the Judeans who have already deserted to the Chaldeans. If they get hold of me, they’ll rough me up good.”

20-22 Jeremiah assured him, “They won’t get hold of you. Listen, please. Listen to God’s voice. I’m telling you this for your own good so that you’ll live. But if you refuse to turn yourself over, this is what God has shown me will happen: Picture this in your mind—all the women still left in the palace of the king of Judah, led out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and as they’re led out they are saying:

“‘They lied to you and did you in,
    those so-called friends of yours;
And now you’re stuck, about knee-deep in mud,
    and your “friends,” where are they now?’

23 “They’ll take all your wives and children and give them to the Chaldeans. And you, don’t think you’ll get out of this—the king of Babylon will seize you and then burn this city to the ground.”

24-26 Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know of this conversation, if you know what’s good for you. If the government officials get wind that I’ve been talking with you, they may come and say, ‘Tell us what went on between you and the king, what you said and what he said. Hold nothing back and we won’t kill you.’ If this happens, tell them, ‘I presented my case to the king so that he wouldn’t send me back to the dungeon of Jonathan to die there.’”

27 And sure enough, all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him. He responded as the king had instructed. So they quit asking. No one had overheard the conversation.

28 Jeremiah lived in the courtyard of the palace guards until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, October 05, 2020

Today's Scripture & Insight:

Philippians 1:3–11

Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Insight
Paul reminds us that our relationship with God isn’t based on our efforts but on God’s will: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). In another of Paul’s letters, he observed how God first draws us to the good news of Jesus. He wrote, “For [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4). God’s Holy Spirit is at work in us so that we may grow to “know [God] better” (v. 17).

We enter into relationship with Him through the death and resurrection of His Son. It’s God Himself who continues the work that characterizes this relationship. Paul calls us to increase in love so that we’re “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:9–11).

Begin with the End
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I was often asked that question as a child. And the answers changed like the wind. A doctor. A firefighter. A missionary. A worship leader. A physicist—or actually, MacGyver (a favorite TV character)! Now, as a dad of four kids, I think of how difficult it must be for them to be asked that question. There are times when I want to say, “I know what you’ll be great at!” Parents can sometimes see more in their children than the children can see in themselves.

This resonates with what Paul saw in the Philippian believers—those he loved and prayed for (Philippians 1:3). He could see the end; he knew what they’d be when all was said and done. The Bible gives us a grand vision of the end of the story—resurrection and the renewal of all things (see 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21). But it also tells us who’s writing the story.

Paul, in the opening lines of a letter he wrote from prison, reminded the Philippian church that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Jesus started the work and He’ll complete it. The word completion is particularly important—the story doesn’t just end, for God leaves nothing unfinished. By:  Glenn Packiam

Reflect & Pray
Where are you in your story? How can you trust Jesus to take the “pen” from your hand and to bring your story to completion?

Dear Jesus, You’re in charge of my story. It’s not up to me to make it happen. I surrender my life to You. Help me to trust You.

To learn more about who you are and how you can best serve God, visit ChristianUniversity.org/SF108.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 05, 2020
The Nature of Degeneration

Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… —Romans 5:12

The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).

Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10.  Not Knowing Whither, 867 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 23-25; Philippians 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 05, 2020

Boomeranging Satan - #8801

When I came home from my first trip to Australia, my kids were eager to see what souvenirs I brought back for them. I couldn't fit the kangaroo in my suitcase, but there was one very Australian item I did bring back - a boomerang. Those things are amazing. You know, if you throw it right, that boomerang will go out, make a U-turn, and come right back to you. It's probably a good idea, then, to pay attention after you throw your boomerang. I can just see a klutz like me throwing it, turning my back, and getting boomed with my own boomerang!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Boomeranging Satan."

If you're trying to live for Jesus Christ, I can guarantee you Satan is throwing things at you, trying his best to bring you down. Maybe you're dodging some of those missiles from hell right now, and you're feeling the pressure. Here's the good news. When the devil throws his boomerang to take you down, you can duck and you can send it right back to hit him in the head; thus making him wish he had never thrown it. Would you like to do that with the stuff he's been throwing at you?

Then you might be interested in our word for today from the Word of God. In Luke 4 beginning in verse 1, the Bible tells us that "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end He was hungry. The devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'It is written, man does not live on bread alone.'"

Actually, there were three boomerangs from Satan that were thrown at Jesus that day. Each time Jesus makes His choice by stubbornly standing on what the Bible says instead of falling for what Satan says. Notice the outcome a few verses later: "When the devil had finished this tempting, he left Him until an opportune time. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread throughout the whole countryside." This is awesome! The temptations that were intended to bring Jesus down only made Him stronger and more powerful in the Holy Spirit. And Satan skulks away muttering, "I blew it!" He was hit by his own boomerang! I love it!

That's exactly what can happen to you as the devil throws his temptations at you. Probably he does to you what he did to your Lord - he waits 'till you're in a "desert," a "wilderness," until you're vulnerable. Then He pushes the buttons that appeal to some deep need you have: to be loved, to be noticed, to be accepted, to be successful, to stop hurting, or to get some relief.

Your enemy, of course, is expecting you to fall for what he's throwing at you. He can use this to get you discouraged, or maybe to get you to compromise, to make you focus on yourself again, to mess with your priorities, to get you to lash out, or turn back, or just give up.

But God says if you "resist the devil," he will "flee from you" (James 4:7). First, you have to recognize who these feelings and who this pressure is coming from. Then, you have to make a conscious choice that says, "I know who this is. I'm not falling for this! I am taking my stand against the devil's schemes!" (Ephesians 6:10)

Finally, you stand stubbornly on what God says and you make your choice based on God's Word, whether you feel like it or not, not on Satan's lies. What will Satan do? Is he going to fight you? Well, the Bible says He's going to flee from you if you resist him. Every time you pass the test like this, you become stronger and you become more confident in Christ.

The thing that was supposed to bring you down just ended up making you more powerful spiritually than you were before because you've tasted victory in Christ! And Satan? I suspect he's going to wish he never threw his boomerang your direction. It misses you and hits him!

Jeremiah 37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Definitive Answer

At some point, we all stand at an intersection and ask this question:  Is God good when the outcome is not?
The definitive answer to the goodness of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ.  He's the only picture of God ever taken. He pressed his fingers into the sore of the leper. He inclined his ear to the cry of the hungry. He didn't retreat at the sight of pain.  Just the opposite. Cruel accusations of jealous men?  Jesus knows their sting.
Is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain?  This was Paul's opinion.  He said, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Your pain won't last forever, my friend, but you will. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us! You'll get through this! God is good even when the outcome is different.  Hang onto this promise!
From You'll Get Through This

Jeremiah 37

In an Underground Dungeon

 King Zedekiah son of Josiah, a puppet king set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the land of Judah, was now king in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his officials nor the people themselves paid a bit of attention to the Message God gave by Jeremiah the prophet.

3 However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Pray for us—pray hard!—to the Master, our God.”

4-5 Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in those days. This was before he had been put in jail. Pharaoh’s army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.

6-10 Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God: “I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, ‘Get this: Pharaoh’s army, which is on its way to help you, isn’t going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they’ll leave and go home to Egypt. And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. I, God, am telling you: Don’t kid yourselves, reassuring one another, “The Babylonians will leave in a few days.” I tell you, they aren’t leaving. Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.’”

11-13 When the Chaldean army pulled back from Jerusalem, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some personal business. When he got to the Benjamin Gate, the officer on guard there, Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, grabbed Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him, “You’re deserting to the Chaldeans!”

14-16 “That’s a lie,” protested Jeremiah. “I wouldn’t think of deserting to the Chaldeans.”

But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested him and took him to the police. The police were furious with Jeremiah. They beat him up and threw him into jail in the house of Jonathan the secretary of state. (They were using the house for a prison cell.) So Jeremiah entered an underground cell in a cistern turned into a dungeon. He stayed there a long time.

17 Later King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him. The king questioned him privately, “Is there a Message from God?”

“There certainly is,” said Jeremiah. “You’re going to be turned over to the king of Babylon.”

18-20 Jeremiah continued speaking to King Zedekiah: “Can you tell me why you threw me into prison? What crime did I commit against you or your officials or this people? And tell me, whatever has become of your prophets who preached all those sermons saying that the king of Babylon would never attack you or this land? Listen to me, please, my master—my king! Please don’t send me back to that dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary. I’ll die there!”

21 So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be assigned to the courtyard of the palace guards. He was given a loaf of bread from Bakers’ Alley every day until all the bread in the city was gone. And that’s where Jeremiah remained—in the courtyard of the palace guards.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, October 04, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

2 Kings 6:15–17

 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Insight
Elisha had been both a protégé of and a servant to Elijah for some seven to ten years when Elijah departed this world in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:9–12). Once Elisha assumed the role of prophet of Israel, however, his ministry would have a very different nature and character than that of his mentor. While in Elijah’s ministry miracles were often destructive and negative (drought, famine, calling fire from heaven to destroy enemy troops, etc.), Elisha’s ministry was usually positive and helpful. Performing exactly twice as many miracles as his predecessor, Elisha was God’s instrument to purify polluted water, cleanse a poisoned stew, restore a lost axe-head, heal a leper, and more. Although these two men served in the same era and both were instruments in the hands of the God of Israel, the overall tone and spirit of their respective ministries were very different.

Strange Comfort
Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see. 2 Kings 6:17

The verse on the card Lisa received didn’t seem to match her situation: “Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). I have cancer! she thought in confusion. I’ve just lost a baby! A verse about angel soldiers doesn’t apply.

Then the “angels” began to show up. Cancer survivors gave her their time and a listening ear. Her husband got released early from an overseas military assignment. Friends prayed with her. But the moment she most felt God’s love was when her friend Patty walked in with two boxes of tissues. Placing them on the table, she started crying. Patty knew. She’d endured miscarriages too.

“That meant more than anything,” Lisa says. “The card made sense now. My ‘angel soldiers’ had been there all along.”

When an army besieged Israel, a host of literal angels protected Elisha. But Elisha’s servant couldn’t see them. “What shall we do?” he cried to the prophet (v. 15). Elisha simply prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see” (v. 17).

When we look to God, our crisis will show us what truly matters and that we’re not alone. We learn that God’s comforting presence never leaves us. He shows us His love in infinitely surprising ways. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray
What’s your first reaction when you receive bad news? When you endured a crisis, how did you view God in new ways?

Loving God, thank You for the complete reliability of Your presence. Open my eyes so that I may see You in a new way today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 04, 2020
The Vision and The Reality

…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2

Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.

There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.

Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 20-22; Ephesians 6

Jeremiah 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Prayer Guidance

When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do. I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray! Can you relate? But wouldn't we all like to pray. . More? Better? Deeper? Stronger? With more fire, faith, or fervency?
Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. We want to pray, but when? We want to pray, but why? We have our doubts about prayer, our checkered history of unmet expectations, unanswered questions. We aren't the first. The sign-up for Prayer 101 contains familiar names: John, James, Andrew, and Peter. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance.
So here's my challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com.  It will encourage you and give you a building block for your growth in prayer. Then get ready to change your life forever!

Jeremiah 34

Freedom to the Slaves

God’s Message to Jeremiah at the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon mounted an all-out attack on Jerusalem and all the towns around it with his armies and allies and everyone he could muster:

2-3 “I, God, the God of Israel, direct you to go and tell Zedekiah king of Judah: ‘This is God’s Message. Listen to me. I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he is going to burn it to the ground. And don’t think you’ll get away. You’ll be captured and be his prisoner. You will have a personal confrontation with the king of Babylon and be taken off with him, captive, to Babylon.

4-5 “‘But listen, O Zedekiah king of Judah, to the rest of the Message of God. You won’t be killed. You’ll die a peaceful death. They will honor you with funeral rites as they honored your ancestors, the kings who preceded you. They will properly mourn your death, weeping, “Master, master!” This is a solemn promise. God’s Decree.’”

6-7 The prophet Jeremiah gave this Message to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, gave it to him word for word. It was at the very time that the king of Babylon was mounting his all-out attack on Jerusalem and whatever cities in Judah that were still standing—only Lachish and Azekah, as it turned out (they were the only fortified cities left in Judah).

8-10 God delivered a Message to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people of Jerusalem to decree freedom to the slaves who were Hebrews, both men and women. The covenant stipulated that no one in Judah would own a fellow Jew as a slave. All the leaders and people who had signed the covenant set free the slaves, men and women alike.

11 But a little while later, they reneged on the covenant, broke their promise and forced their former slaves to become slaves again.

12-14 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: “God, the God of Israel, says, ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt. At the time I made it clear: “At the end of seven years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has had to sell himself to you. After he has served six years, set him free.” But your ancestors totally ignored me.

15-16 “‘And now, you—what have you done? First you turned back to the right way and did the right thing, decreeing freedom for your brothers and sisters—and you made it official in a solemn covenant in my Temple. And then you turned right around and broke your word, making a mockery of both me and the covenant, and made them all slaves again, these men and women you’d just set free. You forced them back into slavery.

17-20 “‘So here is what I, God, have to say: You have not obeyed me and set your brothers and sisters free. Here is what I’m going to do: I’m going to set you free—God’s Decree—free to get killed in war or by disease or by starvation. I’ll make you a spectacle of horror. People all over the world will take one look at you and shudder. Everyone who violated my covenant, who didn’t do what was solemnly promised in the covenant ceremony when they split the young bull into two halves and walked between them, all those people that day who walked between the two halves of the bull—leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, palace officials, priests, and all the rest of the people—I’m handing the lot of them over to their enemies who are out to kill them. Their dead bodies will be carrion food for vultures and stray dogs.

21-22 “‘As for Zedekiah king of Judah and his palace staff, I’ll also hand them over to their enemies, who are out to kill them. The army of the king of Babylon has pulled back for a time, but not for long, for I’m going to issue orders that will bring them back to this city. They’ll attack and take it and burn it to the ground. The surrounding cities of Judah will fare no better. I’ll turn them into ghost towns, unlivable and unlived in.’” God’s Decree.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, October 03, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Ephesians 5:25–33

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[b] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Insight
In Ephesians 5:26–27 we find an example of a Greek hina clause. This type of clause is used to express purpose. It’s often translated as “in order that” or “so that.” In verses 26–27 (niv) it’s twice translated simply as “to.” A final occurrence appears at the end of verse 27, which translated literally reads: “but that she might be holy and blameless.”

Each of these clauses expresses a purpose for Christ’s sacrificial love for the church. The first purpose is for the church’s sanctification, to be set apart from the sinful world and found in God’s kingdom (v. 26; see Colossians 1:12–13). The second is that Jesus might present the church, His bride, to Himself. The final purpose is so the church would be “holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27).

Paul uses this example of purposeful love to instruct husbands in how to love their wives. A husband’s love ought to have a purpose—to imitate Christ’s love for the church.

Removing the Intruder
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Ephesians 5:25

It wasn’t quite dawn when my husband rose from bed and went into the kitchen. I saw the light flip on and off and wondered at his action. Then I recalled that the previous morning I’d yelped at the sight of an “intruder” on our kitchen counter. Translated: an undesirable creature of the six-legged variety. My husband knew my paranoia and immediately arrived to remove it. This morning he’d risen early to ensure our kitchen was bug-free so I could enter without concern. What a guy!

My husband awoke with me on his mind, putting my need before his own. To me, his action illustrates the love Paul describes in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Paul goes on, “Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself” (v. 28). Paul’s comparison of a husband’s love to the love of Christ pivots on how Jesus put our needs before His own. My husband knows I’m afraid of certain intruders, and so he made my concern his priority.

That principle doesn’t apply to husbands only. After the example of Jesus, each of us can lovingly sacrifice to help remove an intruder of stress, fear, shame, or anxiety so that someone can move more freely in the world. By:  Elisa Morgan

Reflect & Pray
What “intruder” might God be asking you to address to help another? How might you allow someone to help rid your life of certain “intruders”?

Dear God, thank You for the gift of Your Son who’s removed the intruder of sin from my life and reconciled me to You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 03, 2020
The Place of Ministry

He said to them, "This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." —Mark 9:29

“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.

When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.

We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own.  Biblical Ethics, 99 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 17-19; Ephesians 5:17-33

Hebrews 9 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: OUR EVER-PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE

The father may have thought he was walking the road to Capernaum all alone. Quite the contrary. Christ had supernaturally gone into the nobleman’s residence and not only healed the son, but also won the hearts of the entire household. Was the father’s prayer answered? By all means. It was answered in a manner greater than he had requested.

Yours will be as well. Perhaps the answer will come this side of heaven. Perhaps it awaits you on the other side. Either way, this story urges you and me to keep walking and believing in our God who is our “ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1 NIV). Ever present. You’ll never be put on hold or told to check back later. Ever present. As near as your next breath. Ever present help. He is here to help. That’s the message of this miracle, and that’s the message of the Gospel. Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Hebrews 9

A Visible Parable

That first plan contained directions for worship, and a specially designed place of worship. A large outer tent was set up. The lampstand, the table, and “the bread of presence” were placed in it. This was called “the Holy Place.” Then a curtain was stretched, and behind it a smaller, inside tent set up. This was called “the Holy of Holies.” In it were placed the gold incense altar and the gold-covered ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the covenant tablets, and the angel-wing-shadowed mercy seat. But we don’t have time to comment on these now.

6-10 After this was set up, the priests went about their duties in the large tent. Only the high priest entered the smaller, inside tent, and then only once a year, offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s accumulated sins. This was the Holy Spirit’s way of showing with a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can’t just walk in on God. Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can’t really get to the heart of the matter, can’t assuage the conscience of the people, but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It’s essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.

Pointing to the Realities of Heaven
11-15 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.

16-17 Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.

18-22 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God’s “will”—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, “This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God.” He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

23-26 That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren’t needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

27-28 Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, October 02, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

John 10:22–30

Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims

Then came the Festival of Dedication[a] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[b]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Insight
The Festival of Dedication, also known as Hanukkah or the Feast of Lights, celebrates the rededication of the temple in 164 bc after it had been desecrated by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 bc. It’s in this context that Jesus says, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), which recalls the central belief of Judaism known as the shema, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). By recalling the shema, Jesus identifies Himself with the God of Israel. For Jesus to be one with the Father is nothing less than a claim to deity.

He Won’t Let Us Go
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28

Julio was biking across the George Washington Bridge—a busy, double-decked thoroughfare connecting New York City and New Jersey—when he encountered a life-or-death situation. A man was standing on a ledge over the Hudson River preparing to jump. Knowing that the police wouldn’t arrive in time, Julio acted quickly. He recalls getting off his bike and spreading out his arms, saying something like: “Don’t do it. We love you.” Then, like a shepherd with a crook, he grabbed the distraught man, and with the help of another passerby, brought him to safety. According to reports, Julio wouldn’t let go of the man, even after he was safe.  

Two millennia earlier, in a life-or-death situation, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said He would lay down His life to save and never let go of those who believed in Him. He summarized how He would bless His sheep: they would know Him personally, have the gift of eternal life, would never perish, and would be secure in His care. This security didn’t depend on the ability of the frail and feeble sheep, but on the sufficiency of the Shepherd who’ll never let one be snatched “out of [His] hand” (John 10:28–29).

When we were distraught and feeling hopeless, Jesus rescued us; now we can feel safe and secure in our relationship with Him. He loves us, pursues us, finds us, saves us, and promises to never let us go. By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray
What makes you feel insecure in your relationship with Jesus? How do you feel knowing that your security in Him depends on His sufficiency and not your weakness?

Jesus, when I let go of You because of my sin, You never let go of me because of Your grace.

To learn more about Jesus’ offer of salvation and His resurrection, visit ChristianUniversity.org/CA206.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 02, 2020
The Place of Humiliation
If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. —Mark 9:22

After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6, Mark 9:14-23).

“If you can do anything….” It takes the valley of humiliation to remove the skepticism from us. Look back at your own experience and you will find that until you learned who Jesus really was, you were a skillful skeptic about His power. When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?

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

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 14-16; Ephesians 5:1-16

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 02, 2020
Trapped Where You Don't Want To Be - #8800

It seemed harmless enough when I entered. I was just a kid at an amusement park in Chicago, and the ride was just this big cylinder that made you feel like you were walking into a washing machine. They called it The Rotor. I stood against the edge and I waited for it to do its thing. Then it started to do what something called The Rotor might be expected to do - it rotated. As it began to spin faster and faster, the floor started to disappear in front of my feet. I was plastered against the side of that cylinder, looking down into this yawning black hole. I hated it. I wanted off. Too bad!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Trapped Where You Don't Want To Be."

It's one thing to be stuck on a ride you really don't want to be on. It's something else to be stuck in a life you really don't want to be in. And a lot of people are; sometimes, people that might surprise you.

I read a few years ago in this national magazine a candid interview with a guy that they called at that time "TV's hottest action hero." He was starring in one of the most successful, talked about shows on American television, but he seemed to be on a ride he really didn't want to be on. Too often, his feelings of being as he said "trapped" and "caged," cause it actually caused him to revert to alcohol for some relief. Here's how he felt about it in his own words. "I should be able to wake up in the morning without going, 'Oh, no! Where's my boot?' Or, 'Where am I?' Or 'One of my friends didn't happen to bring my car home, did they?' It's not a very clever way to live, and I don't want to live like that." This admirably successful star went on to say: "I have a few drinks and I'm not so worried about tomorrow and I'm not thinking about yesterday. Then the next day, I go, 'Oh, don't let me do that again.' So why do I do it again, and again, and again?"

His battle echoes the battle raging in a lot of hearts; the feeling of being trapped in a cycle that's going nowhere and leaving us disappointed or even disgusted. It's not a new struggle. One of the writers of the Bible, Paul, wrote these words in Romans 7, beginning in verse 15. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "I do not understand what I do...I have the desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing...Who will rescue me?"

There's a me I want to be, and then there's the me I am. In between is this darkness that I can't overcome. I think we all know that feeling. That darkness has got a name. The Bible calls it sin. We're trapped in a cycle of doing things we know we shouldn't do, treating people ways we later regret--especially people we love, and of handling life in ways that hurt us and hurt other people.

And, as the Bible writer suggests, our only hope is spiritual rescue. We can't get ourselves out of our sin. We can't get ourselves out of the hell that is the eternal death penalty for our sin. We need a rescuer. Paul goes on to answer his "who will rescue me?" question, with these words, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Sin's power could only be broken by a sacrifice that was even more powerful--the death of Jesus Christ, God's Son, on the cross. He gave His life there to pay for my sin and to break its hold on me and on you. Three days later, He demonstrated His supreme power by walking out of His grave. Death couldn't hold Him, and now He stands ready to walk into your life with all that love and all that power so you can be forgiven for every sin and be rescued from sin's cycle of defeat and despair.

But you do have to grab the Rescuer and let Him rescue you. He's waiting to do just that this very day. It's a matter of you talking to Him and saying, "Jesus, I'm tired of my sin. I'm ready to turn from my sin and turn to You as my only hope. You died to rescue me. And here I am." That's how your new beginning happens.

Listen, if you want to begin this incredibly life-changing relationship with Him, would you go to our website? I think it will give you information you need to get this settled. It's ANewStory.com.

Things don't have to be the way they've always been. Jesus died so you could be free, and He's waiting to do for you what only He can do.

Jeremiah 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NOT-YET-ANSWERED PRAYERS

The Gospel of John tells a story about a man from Capernaum who approached Jesus in Cana. “Come heal my son?” the man asked. And Jesus said the boy would be healed, and the man set out for Capernaum. Do you find yourself somewhere between Cana and Capernaum? Like the official, you begged Jesus for help, and like the official, you didn’t receive the answer in the way you wanted. This is the issue of not-yet-answered prayer or the not-answered-in-the-way-I-asked prayer. How should we react?

I’m sorry that the job did not materialize or the cancer chose to metastasize. Life has its share of dark, dank moments. Read the Bible from the table of contents in the front to the maps in the back, and you will not find any promise of a pain-free life on this side of heaven. But you will find this assurance: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV). You are never alone.


Jeremiah 21

Start Each Day with a Sense of Justice

 God’s Message to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to him with this request: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has waged war against us. Pray to God for us. Ask him for help. Maybe God will intervene with one of his famous miracles and make him leave.”

3-7 But Jeremiah said, “Tell Zedekiah: ‘This is the God of Israel’s Message to you: You can say good-bye to your army, watch morale and weapons flushed down the drain. I’m going to personally lead the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, against whom you’re fighting so hard, right into the city itself. I’m joining their side and fighting against you, fighting all-out, holding nothing back. And in fierce anger. I’m prepared to wipe out the population of this city, people and animals alike, in a raging epidemic. And then I will personally deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his princes, and any survivors left in the city who haven’t died from disease, been killed, or starved. I’ll deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—yes, hand them over to their enemies, who have come to kill them. He’ll kill them ruthlessly, showing no mercy.’

8-10 “And then tell the people at large, ‘God’s Message to you is this: Listen carefully. I’m giving you a choice: life or death. Whoever stays in this city will die—either in battle or by starvation or disease. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who have surrounded the city will live. You’ll lose everything—but not your life. I’m determined to see this city destroyed. I’m that angry with this place! God’s Decree. I’m going to give it to the king of Babylon, and he’s going to burn it to the ground.’

11-14 “To the royal house of Judah, listen to God’s Message!
    House of David, listen—God’s Message to you:
‘Start each day by dealing with justice.
    Rescue victims from their exploiters.
Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—
    for once it starts, it can’t be put out.
Your evil regime
    is fuel for my anger.
Don’t you realize that I’m against you,
    yes, against you.
You think you’ve got it made,
    all snug and secure.
You say, “Who can possibly get to us?
    Who can crash our party?”
Well, I can—and will!
    I’ll punish your evil regime.
I’ll start a fire that will rage unchecked,
    burn everything in sight to cinders.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, October 01, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Colossians 1:25–27

 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Insight
Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae was unusual because most of his letters were addressed to churches he had helped establish. In fact, having not been to Colossae may have prompted him to prove his credentials for the ministry of an apostle (Colossians 1:25). While presenting himself as a servant of the church, Paul’s role is primarily a commission given to him by God Himself. He specifies the scope of that commission, stating that he’s been sent uniquely to “present to [the gentiles] the word of God in its fullness” (v. 25). All of this provided validation for his claim in Colossians 1:1, where he identified himself as “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”

How to Reflect Christ
God has chosen to make known . . . the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

Thérèse of Lisieux was a joyful and carefree child—until her mother died when she was just four years old. She became timid and easily agitated. But many years later on Christmas Eve, all of that changed. After celebrating the birth of Jesus with her church community, she experienced God releasing her from her fear and giving her joy. She attributed the change to the power of God leaving heaven and becoming a man, Jesus, and through His dwelling in her.

What does it mean for Christ to dwell within us? It’s a mystery, said Paul to the Colossian church. It’s one that God “kept hidden for ages and generations” (Colossians 1:26), but which He disclosed to God’s people. To them God revealed “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27). Because Christ now dwelled in the Colossians, they experienced the joy of new life. No longer were they enslaved to the old self of sin.

If we’ve asked Jesus to be our Savior, we too live out this mystery of His dwelling in us. Through His Spirit, He can release us from fear, as He did Thérèse, and grow within us the fruit of His Spirit, such as joy, peace, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).

Let’s give thanks for the wonderful mystery of Christ within us. By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray
How do you see Jesus reflected in your life? In the lives of those you love who follow Him?

Jesus, thank You for lowering Yourself and becoming a man, and for living within me. Help me to understand more of Your work in my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 01, 2020
The Place of Exaltation

…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 11-13; Ephesians 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 01, 2020
Manageable Mandates - #8799

A friend of mine who's served on his local school board for many years. And, of course, this year there are unique challenges. But over the years, they've had challenges too. The more demands that have been placed on schools in recent years, the more complicated the work becomes and they've got more things to figure out. One of the days that he was most frustrated that kind of surfaced in a conversation we had. And he said, "You know, our state keeps passing mandates to us for things our school system has to do, but lots of times they give us the mandate without the money. They decide what we have to do, and we get to figure out how to pay for it."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Manageable Mandates."

Mandates without resources--that's got to be frustrating. Thankfully, God never gives us a mandate without providing the resources to carry it out! That's important for you to know right now, especially if you sense that He's leading you to do something where you have no clue where the resources are going to come from.

Over and over in our many years of serving Him, we made 1 Thessalonians 5:24 our bottom line. Short verse, but boy is it packed. We've never been disappointed. It's our word for today from the Word of God. It simply makes this promise, maybe one that's got your name on it today. "The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it." To put it simply, God will never abandon you in the middle of something He's told you to do.

Right now your Lord may be leading you toward some uncharted territory. There's plenty of that these days. You're being asked to shoulder a responsibility, a burden, or a challenge that you're not sure you can handle. Good. That sounds like one of those exciting times when it will be just a little bit of you and a whole lot of God. Your promise is that if He is calling you to do something, He will actually do it through you. Your job is to stay pure and show up!

God's plan is not going to take you where His grace won't keep you. Maybe you can't see where the money would possibly come from to carry out what God is mandating, but God's Word teaches us that what God orders, God pays for! Or as one missionary pioneer said, "If it's God's will, it's God's bill!"

Or you may just feel personally inadequate for what God is leading you to do. Good. That gets you out of the way and it insures that God's going to get all the glory. The great Apostle Paul put it this way: "Not that we are competent in ourselves...but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent" (2 Corinthians 3:5).

God is glorified when people who don't have what it takes are the ones He uses to get it done. We're talking like a divine takeover of you, filling you with His strength, His ideas, His words, His wisdom, His love.

He will provide the emotional resources you need, the human resources, and the financial resources. Remember, God's promise in Philippians 4:19 is "My God will meet all your needs, according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Not according to your measly resources, but according to His unlimited resources!

So really, isn't that all you need to know as you're facing that challenge that's bigger than you are, or maybe you're even considering giving up on a calling that God has given to you. What you need to know is that your Lord will never abandon you in the middle of what He's told you to do. What God mandates, God provides for!

Jeremiah 33 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Content

What if God’s only gift to you were his grace to save you. Would you be content? Content! That’s the word. A state of heart in which you would be at peace if God gave you nothing more than he already has. You beg him to save the life of your child. You implore him to remove the cancer from your body. You plead with him to keep your business afloat. What if his answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?
You see, from heaven’s perspective, grace IS enough. If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain? Having been given eternal life, dare we grumble at an aching body? Let me be quick to add. God has not left you with “just” salvation. He has already given you grace upon grace. The vast majority of us have been saved and then blessed even more!

From In the Grip of Grace

Jeremiah 33

Things You Could Never Figure Out on Your Own

While Jeremiah was still locked up in jail, a second Message from God was given to him:

2-3 “This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’

4-5 “This is what God, the God of Israel, has to say about what’s going on in this city, about the homes of both people and kings that have been demolished, about all the ravages of war and the killing by the Chaldeans, and about the streets littered with the dead bodies of those killed because of my raging anger—about all that’s happened because the evil actions in this city have turned my stomach in disgust.

6-9 “But now take another look. I’m going to give this city a thorough renovation, working a true healing inside and out. I’m going to show them life whole, life brimming with blessings. I’ll restore everything that was lost to Judah and Jerusalem. I’ll build everything back as good as new. I’ll scrub them clean from the dirt they’ve done against me. I’ll forgive everything they’ve done wrong, forgive all their rebellions. And Jerusalem will be a center of joy and praise and glory for all the countries on earth. They’ll get reports on all the good I’m doing for her. They’ll be in awe of the blessings I am pouring on her.

10-11 “Yes, God’s Message: ‘You’re going to look at this place, these empty and desolate towns of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, and say, “A wasteland. Unlivable. Not even a dog could live here.” But the time is coming when you’re going to hear laughter and celebration, marriage festivities, people exclaiming, “Thank God-of-the-Angel-Armies. He’s so good! His love never quits,” as they bring thank offerings into God’s Temple. I’ll restore everything that was lost in this land. I’ll make everything as good as new.’ I, God, say so.

12-13 “God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: ‘This coming desolation, unfit for even a stray dog, is once again going to become a pasture for shepherds who care for their flocks. You’ll see flocks everywhere—in the mountains around the towns of the Shephelah and Negev, all over the territory of Benjamin, around Jerusalem and the towns of Judah—flocks under the care of shepherds who keep track of each sheep.’ God says so.

A Fresh and True Shoot from the David-Tree
14-18 “‘Watch for this: The time is coming’—God’s Decree—‘when I will keep the promise I made to the families of Israel and Judah. When that time comes, I will make a fresh and true shoot sprout from the David-Tree. He will run this country honestly and fairly. He will set things right. That’s when Judah will be secure and Jerusalem live in safety. The motto for the city will be, “God Has Set Things Right for Us.” God has made it clear that there will always be a descendant of David ruling the people of Israel and that there will always be Levitical priests on hand to offer burnt offerings, present grain offerings, and carry on the sacrificial worship in my honor.’”

19-22 God’s Message to Jeremiah: “God says, ‘If my covenant with day and my covenant with night ever fell apart so that day and night became haphazard and you never knew which was coming and when, then and only then would my covenant with my servant David fall apart and his descendants no longer rule. The same goes for the Levitical priests who serve me. Just as you can’t number the stars in the sky nor measure the sand on the seashore, neither will you be able to account for the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who serve me.’”

23-24 God’s Message to Jeremiah: “Have you heard the saying that’s making the rounds: ‘The two families God chose, Israel and Judah, he disowned’? And have you noticed that my people are treated with contempt, with rumors afoot that there’s nothing to them anymore?

25-26 “Well, here’s God’s response: ‘If my covenant with day and night wasn’t in working order, if sky and earth weren’t functioning the way I set them going, then, but only then, you might think I had disowned the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and that I wouldn’t set up any of David’s descendants over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it is, I will give them back everything they’ve lost. The last word is, I will have mercy on them.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Ephesians 3:14–21

A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Insight
Paul had a very close relationship with the Ephesian believers. He visited Ephesus toward the end of his second missionary journey, and upon leaving he promised to return (Acts 18:19–21). At the start of his third journey (18:23–21:17), Paul returned to Ephesus and taught the church for three years before going to Macedonia (19:1–20; 20:31). On the return leg back to Jerusalem, Paul had a tearful reunion with the Ephesian church leaders (20:17–38). About five or six years later, while in prison in Rome (Ephesians 3:1), Paul wrote to encourage believers to “live a life worthy of [their] calling” (4:1). Paul’s unwavering commitment was to pray fervently for the growth of his spiritual children (1:15–16). Ephesians 1:15–23 is one of two recorded prayers of Paul in Ephesians. In his second prayer (3:14–21), Paul prays that having been “rooted and established in love,” they would “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (vv. 17–18).

Rooted in Love
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power . . . to grasp . . . the love of Christ. Ephesians 3:17–18

“That’s all it takes!” Megan said. She had clipped a stem from her geranium plant, dipped the cut end into honey, and stuck it into a pot filled with compost. Megan was teaching me how to propagate geraniums: how to turn one healthy plant into many plants, so I would have flowers to share with others. The honey, she said, was to help the young plant establish roots.

Watching her work, I wondered what kinds of things help us establish spiritual roots. What helps us mature into strong, flourishing people of faith? What keeps us from withering up or failing to grow? Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says that we are “rooted and established in love” (Ephesians 3:17). This love comes from God, who strengthens us by giving us the Holy Spirit. Christ dwells in our hearts. And as we begin to “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (v. 18), we can have a rich experience of God’s presence as we’re “completely filled and flooded with God Himself” (v. 19 amp).

Growing spiritually requires rooting into the love of God—meditating on the truth that we are beloved by the God who is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (v. 20). What an incredible basis for our faith! By:  Amy Peterson

Reflect & Pray
How can you cultivate a habit of meditating on God’s love? Who could you share the truth of God’s love with today?

God, thank You for Your love for me. Help me to meditate on the truth of that love. May Your love grow in my heart, bringing beauty to my life and to a world in need.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The Assigning of the Call

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church… —Colossians 1:24

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
How Satan Sets You Up - #8798

When you've done youth ministry as long as I have, you've seen a lot of volleyball. Yep! Some of the dramatic moments in a volleyball game, of course, come when one player slams that ball over the net and right into the ground before any opponent can touch it. He or she just spikes it in. But often there's an important move that precedes spiking it in; that's when another teammate lofts that ball up and into perfect position for someone else to spike it in. That's how to score points: first, you set it up, then you spike it in.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Satan Sets You Up."

Satan scores his points in much the same way a volleyball team does. First the setup, which then makes it easy to spike it in. And he may be setting you up right now for a defeat you would never dream you could fall for. But if you allow him to continue to set you up, it's only a matter of time before he spikes it in and you lose. There are so many people who can testify to that pattern that led to a terrible defeat.

There's an example of one of Satan's favorite setups in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 3, beginning with verse 7. As crowds gathered to hear John the Baptist, the Bible says, "John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.'" John's calling people to turn from their sinful ways and commit themselves to a major life change.

But there was a group of people who thought they were above that; people who didn't think they needed to repent or to change. John addressed them directly: "And do not begin to say, 'We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham...every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

Some of the people who heard John's call to repentance said to themselves, "Hey, we're God's chosen people...we're in a privileged position. The same rules don't apply to us. We don't have to repent!" John said that attitude put a person in a position to be one of the trees God would cut down.

Entitlement: That's the attitude that Satan uses as his setup shot to spike a life-shattering sin right into your life. You feel "entitled" to some relief, to some pleasure, to some affection, to some sin. You feel entitled to get even or to be bitter. I know a friend who's abandoned his marriage, abandoned his ministry, believing that he's "entitled" to some love from someone else. He says, "Why are so many other people entitled to get a divorce and I'm not?" He's bought the entitlement lie, and Satan is using that to leave behind an awful trail of scarred and bleeding lives.

Be careful! This setup shot of feeling "entitled" is subtle. It's expressed in feelings like, "I deserve it after all I've done; after all I've been through." Or "I need it. I'm entitled to look after my needs for awhile." Or "You know others are. Why can't I?" If you're entertaining feelings like those, listen to the alarms going off today. You're being set up for something you never thought you would do or become.

Satan uses the entitlement lie to give people an excuse for adultery, for involvement with pornography, for getting a divorce, sexual involvement, and harboring bitterness; all things that God hates. All things that Jesus died to rescue you from.

Don't buy the entitlement lie; it is Satan's setup shot to spike something devastating into your life.