Lamentations 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WELCOME JESUS INTO THE TURBULENCE

We’d rather be spared the storm.  Or if the storm comes, let it be mild and our deliverance quick. Let the job dismissal come with a severance package and an offer of a better position.  Let the marital strife turn quickly to romance.  Sometimes it does.  But when it doesn’t, when we are thorax-deep in turbulence, Jesus wants us to know his name and hear him say, “I AM coming.”

Such was the experience of the disciples.  The moment they invited Christ into their boat was the moment they reached their destination.  “So they gladly took him aboard, and at once the boat reached the shore they were making for” (John 6:21).

Follow the example of the disciples.  Welcome Jesus into the midst of this turbulent time. Don’t let the storm turn you inward.  Let it turn you upward.  Remember, my friend, you are never alone.

Lamentations 5

Give Us a Fresh Start

 “Remember, God, all we’ve been through.
    Study our plight, the black mark we’ve made in history.
Our precious land has been given to outsiders,
    our homes to strangers.
Orphans we are, not a father in sight,
    and our mothers no better than widows.
We have to pay to drink our own water.
    Even our firewood comes at a price.
We’re nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed,
    worn out and without any rest.
We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt
    just to get something to eat.
Our parents sinned and are no more,
    and now we’re paying for the wrongs they did.
Slaves rule over us;
    there’s no escape from their grip.
We risk our lives to gather food
    in the bandit-infested desert.
Our skin has turned black as an oven,
    dried out like old leather from the famine.
Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion,
    and our virgins in the cities of Judah.
They hanged our princes by their hands,
    dishonored our elders.
Strapping young men were put to women’s work,
    mere boys forced to do men’s work.
The city gate is empty of wise elders.
    Music from the young is heard no more.
All the joy is gone from our hearts.
    Our dances have turned into dirges.
The crown of glory has toppled from our head.
    Woe! Woe! Would that we’d never sinned!
Because of all this we’re heartsick;
    we can’t see through the tears.
On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined,
    jackals pace and prowl.
And yet, God, you’re sovereign still,
    your throne intact and eternal.
So why do you keep forgetting us?
    Why dump us and leave us like this?
Bring us back to you, God—we’re ready to come back.
    Give us a fresh start.
As it is, you’ve cruelly disowned us.
    You’ve been so very angry with us.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 Timothy 1:12–17

The Lord’s Grace to Paul

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Insight
In 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul recalled how some thirty years earlier he had mercilessly persecuted believers in Jesus, and yet Jesus had mercifully saved him on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1–19; 22:3–21; 26:9–18). He considered himself the least qualified and the most undeserving recipient of God’s mercy and grace (1 Timothy 1:13–14). Yet God told Ananias that Paul was to be His “chosen instrument” to take the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 9:15). Paul saw another reason God chose to save him: he was “a prime example of [God’s] great patience with even the worst sinners.” Because God saved Paul, “others [would] realize that they, too, can believe in [God] and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16 nlt). God had us in mind when He saved Paul—an amazing thought! Paul makes it clear that if Jesus could save and use him, the worst of sinners, then no one is beyond God’s mercy and saving grace.


What’s Wrong with the World?
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15

There is an oft-heard story that The London Times posed a question to readers at the turn of the twentieth century. What’s wrong with the world?

That’s quite the question, isn’t it? Someone might quickly respond, “Well, how much time do you have for me to tell you?” And that would be fair, as there seems to be so much that’s wrong with our world. As the story goes, The Times received a number of responses, but one in particular has endured in its brief brilliance. The English writer, poet, and philosopher G. K. Chesterton penned this four-word response, a refreshing surprise to the usual passing-of-the-buck: “Dear Sirs, I am.”

Whether the story is factual or not is up for debate. But that response? It’s nothing but true. Long before Chesterton came along, there was an apostle named Paul. Far from a lifelong model citizen, Paul confessed his past shortcomings: “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man” (v. 13). After naming who Jesus came to save (“sinners”), he goes on to make a very Chesterton-like qualification: “of whom I am the worst” (v. 15). Paul knew exactly what was and is wrong with the world. And he further knew the only hope of making things right—“the grace of our Lord” (v. 14). What an amazing reality! This enduring truth lifts our eyes to the light of Christ’s saving love.  By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray
What is wrong with the world? Can you own the answer Paul and Chesterton gave? What is one way you can accept that without sliding into self-hatred?  

God, thank You for Your immense patience with me, a sinner. To You be honor and glory forever and ever.

To learn about answering questions related to the Christian faith, visit ChristianUniversity.org/CA101.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith… —Jude 20

There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman— an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.

Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 62-64; 1 Timothy 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Calling Off the Pity Party - #8813

One of my favorite cartoon characters is Pigpen. You know, from Peanuts. Maybe you're a Charlie Brown fan like I am, but Pigpen is that little fellow you always know when he's coming. Yeah, he never has to make a lot of noise, because there's this cloud of dust that precedes him wherever he goes and also follows him wherever he goes. Actually, I know some real people like Pigpen. Now wait, wait! I don't mean people who haven't showered for a month, but the dirt they circulate - it's emotional dirt. It's called self-pity. Every time they talk it seems like they're preoccupied with themselves, their needs, their latest problems, the unfair treatment they've gotten, their aches and pains. Listen, we all slip into the pit of self-pity once in a while, but some people live there. There's a great alternative to living in that Pigpen cloud of dust called self-pity.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Calling Off the Pity Party."

I'll tell you, you talk about having an excuse for a pity party, this man had everything going wrong. His name is Joseph. You remember the story in the Bible. Of all 12 sons, Joseph's Dad treated him with preferential treatment. So his brothers turned against him, left him for dead in a pit. Slave traders came and took him away to Egypt.

But Joseph got a great job there from a powerful man. And the man's wife tried to make moves on him after that, and he refused to do it. Well, she accused him of having done it, and in her anger she gets him thrown into prison. So, his family is against him, he lost his job for doing the right thing. Now he's in prison. He doesn't know for how long he's going to be there. But here's what the Bible says about Joseph. It tells us that he knew the secret of how to be in a pit without being in "the pits"; how to be in a pit without having a pity party. And here's the secret of why Joseph was so unsinkable when everything went wrong and had everything to complain about.

Genesis 40:2-7 - "Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men - the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt - had a dream that same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh's officials, 'Why are your faces so sad today?'"

Okay, get this: Joseph was walking around this prison, not feeling sorry for himself, which I think justifiably he could have. No, he's looking for who needs him. He learned to live daily, I think, asking a question like this, even in his prison, "Who needs me here?" There was no time to just focus on how bad his situation was. No, he wanted to help these guys in their situation. And eventually, one of these men that Joseph cared about got him out of that prison.

The very best way to get out of your prison of depression and self-pity is to live each day looking for someone who needs you, not for what you need. Maybe it's the new kid at school, that friend who's struggling right now, an excluded person who needs somebody to include them - bring him in, put an arm around them, or that friend who's out of work, or maybe a lonely older person you know. You might not have to look any farther than your own family to find that someone who needs you today.

But Jesus told us we would find our life; not by looking for it, not by hanging onto it, but by giving it away. Not because you feel like it, you probably don't. But because Jesus lived like that, and because you know that's where to find light at the end of your own personal tunnel.

Remember, even when you get home tonight, ask yourself this question, "So, who needs me here right now?"

Lamentations 4 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE GREAT I AM IS NEAR

Jesus says to us what he said to the disciples on the stormy sea.  “It is I!  Don’t be afraid” (John 6:20).

The literal translation of what Jesus said is “I AM; don’t be afraid.”  I AM.  That’s God’s name.  When we wonder if God is coming, he answers with his name, “I AM!”  When we wonder if he is able, he declares, “I AM.”  When we see nothing but darkness, feel nothing but doubt, and wonder if God is near or aware, the welcome answer from Jesus is this: “I AM!”

Pause for a moment and let him tell you his name.  Your greatest need is his presence.  Yes, you want this storm to pass.  Yes, you want the winds to still.  But yes, yes, yes, you want to know, need to know, and must know that the great I AM is near. Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Lamentations 4

Waking Up with Nothing

Oh, oh, oh . . .
How gold is treated like dirt,
    the finest gold thrown out with the garbage,
Priceless jewels scattered all over,
    jewels loose in the gutters.

2 And the people of Zion, once prized,
    far surpassing their weight in gold,
Are now treated like cheap pottery,
    like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter.

3 Even wild jackals nurture their babies,
    give them their breasts to suckle.
But my people have turned cruel to their babies,
    like an ostrich in the wilderness.

4 Babies have nothing to drink.
    Their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths.
Little children ask for bread
    but no one gives them so much as a crust.

5 People used to the finest cuisine
    forage for food in the streets.
People used to the latest in fashions
    pick through the trash for something to wear.

6 The evil guilt of my dear people
    was worse than the sin of Sodom—
The city was destroyed in a flash,
    and no one around to help.

7 The splendid and sacred nobles
    once glowed with health.
Their bodies were robust and ruddy,
    their beards like carved stone.

8 But now they are smeared with soot,
    unrecognizable in the street,
Their bones sticking out,
    their skin dried out like old leather.

9 Better to have been killed in battle
    than killed by starvation.
Better to have died of battle wounds
    than to slowly starve to death.

10 Nice and kindly women
    boiled their own children for supper.
This was the only food in town
    when my dear people were broken.

11 God let all his anger loose, held nothing back.
    He poured out his raging wrath.
He set a fire in Zion
    that burned it to the ground.

12 The kings of the earth couldn’t believe it.
    World rulers were in shock,
Watching old enemies march in big as you please,
    right through Jerusalem’s gates.

13 Because of the sins of her prophets
    and the evil of her priests,
Who exploited good and trusting people,
    robbing them of their lives,

14 These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets,
    grimy and stained from their dirty lives,
Wasted by their wasted lives,
    shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags.

15 People yell at them, “Get out of here, dirty old men!
    Get lost, don’t touch us, don’t infect us!”
They have to leave town. They wander off.
    Nobody wants them to stay here.
Everyone knows, wherever they wander,
    that they’ve been kicked out of their own hometown.

16 God himself scattered them.
    No longer does he look out for them.
He has nothing to do with the priests;
    he cares nothing for the elders.

17 We watched and watched,
    wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing.
We mounted our lookouts and looked
    for the help that never showed up.

18 They tracked us down, those hunters.
    It wasn’t safe to go out in the street.
Our end was near, our days numbered.
    We were doomed.

19 They came after us faster than eagles in flight,
    pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert.

20 Our king, our life’s breath, the anointed of God,
    was caught in their traps—
Our king under whose protection
    we always said we’d live.

21 Celebrate while you can, O Edom!
    Live it up in Uz!
For it won’t be long before you drink this cup, too.
    You’ll find out what it’s like to drink God’s wrath,
Get drunk on God’s wrath
    and wake up with nothing, stripped naked.

22 And that’s it for you, Zion. The punishment’s complete.
    You won’t have to go through this exile again.
But Edom, your time is coming:
    He’ll punish your evil life, put all your sins on display.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

2 Corinthians 12:1–10

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Insight
Responding to false teachers who said he wasn’t a genuine apostle because he didn’t have ecstatic spiritual experiences, Paul deliberately boasted about the many visions and surpassingly great revelations he’d received (2 Corinthians 12:1–7). Converted and commissioned to be an apostle through a vision of the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:1–19; 22:17–21), Paul brought the gospel into Europe led by a vision of “a man of Macedonia” (16:6–10). And Paul, “caught up to paradise,” saw what heaven was like (2 Corinthians 12:1–4). Such boasting is uncharacteristic of Paul, for he wouldn’t “boast about [himself], except about [his] weaknesses” (v. 5; see also 11:30; Galatians 6:14).

Golden Scars
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 2 Corinthians 11:30

In the Netherlands, a group of fashion designers offer a “Golden Joinery” workshop. Inspired by the Japanese technique Kintsugi, where broken porcelain is visibly repaired with gold, participants collaborate in mending clothes in ways that highlight the mending work rather than trying to mask it. Those who are invited bring “a dear but broken garment and mend it with gold.” As they remake their clothes, the repair becomes ornamental, a “golden scar.”

Articles of clothing are transformed in ways that highlight the places where they were torn or frayed. Perhaps this is something like what Paul meant when he said that he would “boast” in the things that showed his weakness. Although he’d experienced “surpassingly great revelations,” he doesn’t brag about them (2 Corinthians 12:6). He is kept from getting proud and overconfident, he says, by a “thorn” in his flesh (v. 7). No one knows exactly what he was referring to—perhaps depression, a form of malaria, persecution from enemies, or something else. Whatever it was, he begged God to take it away. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9).

Just as the rips and tears in old clothes can become sights of beauty as they’re remade by designers, the broken and weak places in our lives can become places where God’s power and glory may shine. He holds us together, transforms us, and makes our weaknesses beautiful. By:  Amy Peterson

Reflect & Pray
What are some weaknesses you try to keep hidden from the world? How has God revealed His power through your weakness?

God, may all my scars become golden as You heal and repair me in ways that bring glory to Your name.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification… —1 Thessalonians 4:3

Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.

All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them.  Workmen of God, 1341 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 59-61; 2 Thessalonians 3


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Expensive Peace - #8812

It's an amazing true story from the history of the Cree Indians of western Canada. Through many courageous exploits, a young man named Maskepetoon became known as the bravest warrior in the tribe. One day a man came to Maskepetoon's camp talking about peace - something his tribe had never known because of that relentless bloodshed between his Cree tribe and their longtime enemies, the Blackfoot. But this man with a black book called the Bible introduced this warrior to the Creator of all. The missionary told him of how the Creator God's Son defeated the Evil Manitou, the Enemy of all. He climbed to the top of a hill and gave His life on a cross as a peace offering. That meant peace could be restored between the Creator of all and the people He had made.

Maskepetoon knew that the ancient symbol of peace among the Plains Cree had always been two crossed sticks. And it was two crossed sticks that the Creator God's Son had died on. Maskepetoon decided he wanted to be like Jesus, the bravest warrior of all.

In the past, when one tribe had wanted to make peace with another, they would send their bravest warrior to meet the enemy with a special offering tied onto two crossed sticks. But that seemed impossible now when there was killing every time a Blackfoot warrior saw a Cree warrior. But in spite of the danger, Maskepetoon went into Blackfoot country on just such a mission. The camp they came to first happened to be the camp of Many Swans, a violent chief who was seeking revenge for the sons he'd lost to Cree warriors.

Maskepetoon climbed to the top of a nearby hill, raised a flag and waited for the Blackfoot band to see them. With them, they brought a beautiful pair of beaded moccasins, tied onto two crossed sticks and a Bible that told of the peace the Creator had made with all men. Pretending to want peace, Many Swans tricked the Cree peacemakers into laying down their weapons, after which he and his warriors killed them all. But the chief's wife was furious with her husband. She was tired of all the killing. Ultimately, the Blackfoot people agreed. But none of them was brave enough to risk going to talk peace with the Cree, especially after what they had done to Maskepetoon.

So the chief's wife went, carrying with her the ancient symbol of peace - a frame of crossed sticks with a specially beaded pair of moccasins tied to its center. The Cree chief, who had himself made peace with the Creator through Jesus' death, welcomed her Under his leadership, the Cree met together with the Blackfoot on a high hill, where a peace treaty was signed. And their long war was finally over.

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

In so many ways, this is my story. This is your story. It's the story of peace made possible by the death of the greatest Warrior of them all - on two crossed beams - for you. Because of our sin, the Bible says we are "alienated from God"; we are "enemies" (Colossians 1:21). We are hopelessly cut off from the God who made us; the God we will meet on Judgment Day. And, in the Bible's words, "there is no peace" (Isaiah 57:21) when you're away from God. The turmoil in your soul is living proof of that.

But here comes the hope. It's in Colossians 1:20, our word for today from the Word of God. God says His Son came to reconcile our broken relationship with Him "by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross." He climbed to the top of a hill called Skull Hill and died as the sacrifice for your sin. The Bible puts it this way: "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).

And that blood-bought peace can be yours today. Finally, peace with God. Finally, peace in your heart. If you will lay down all the other things you've counted on to make it with God and put your total trust in Jesus, who died for you, who rose again for you. That's a step I would love to help you take this very day.

There's a lot of great information about getting started with Jesus on our website. That website is ANewStory.com. Your new story can begin there today. The war can end. Peace can begin. Peace that costs you nothing. Peace that cost the Great Warrior, Jesus, everything.

Lamentations 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM

“…[Jesus’] disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.  A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough” (John 6:16–18).

The disciples were too far from the shore, too long in the struggle, and too small against the waves.  And Jesus was nowhere to be seen.  Have you ever encountered a dangerous, ominous, seemingly godforsaken storm?  Storms overtake us.  And it sometimes seems they will never end.

But then the unimaginable happens.  John gives no details, just this economical statement: “They saw Jesus… walking on the water” (John 6:19). That is all we need to know.  Before Jesus stills the storms, he comes to us in the midst of storms. And He’ll come and meet you in yours. Remember, friend, you are never alone.

Lamentations 3

God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness

I’m the man who has seen trouble,
    trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger.
He took me by the hand and walked me
    into pitch-black darkness.
Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand
    over and over and over again.

4-6 He turned me into a scarecrow
    of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
    poured on the trouble and hard times.
He locked me up in deep darkness,
    like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.

7-9 He shuts me in so I’ll never get out,
    manacles my hands, shackles my feet.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
    he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
    He’s got me cornered.

10-12 He’s a prowling bear tracking me down,
    a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
    When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
He took out his bow and arrows
    and used me for target practice.

13-15 He shot me in the stomach
    with arrows from his quiver.
Everyone took me for a joke,
    made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
    bloated me with vile drinks.

16-18 He ground my face into the gravel.
    He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
    I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished.
    God is a lost cause.”

It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
    the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
    the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
    and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
    to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
    quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
    to stick it out through the hard times.

28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
    Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
    The “worst” is never the worst.

31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
    walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way:

34-36 Stomping down hard
    on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
    in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
    the Master does not approve of such things.

God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37-39 Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?
    It’s the Master who gives such orders.
Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
    good things and hard things alike, into being?
And why would anyone gifted with life
    complain when punished for sin?

40-42 Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
    and reorder our lives under God.
Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
    praying to God in heaven:
“We’ve been contrary and willful,
    and you haven’t forgiven.

43-45 “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.
    You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds
    so no prayers could get through.
You treated us like dirty dishwater,
    threw us out in the backyard of the nations.

46-48 “Our enemies shout abuse,
    their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
We’ve been to hell and back.
    We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
Rivers of tears pour from my eyes
    at the smashup of my dear people.

49-51 “The tears stream from my eyes,
    an artesian well of tears,
Until you, God, look down from on high,
    look and see my tears.
When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
    the pain breaks my heart.

52-54 “Enemies with no reason to be enemies
    hunted me down like a bird.
They threw me into a pit,
    then pelted me with stones.
Then the rains came and filled the pit.
    The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’

55-57 “I called out your name, O God,
    called from the bottom of the pit.
You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears!
    Get me out of here! Save me!’
You came close when I called out.
    You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’

58-60 “You took my side, Master;
    you brought me back alive!
God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.
    Give me my day in court!
Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes,
    their plots to destroy me.

61-63 “You heard, God, their vicious gossip,
    their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief,
    hatching out malice, day after day after day.
Sitting down or standing up—just look at them!—
    they mock me with vulgar doggerel.

64-66 “Make them pay for what they’ve done, God.
    Give them their just deserts.
Break their miserable hearts!
    Damn their eyes!
Get good and angry. Hunt them down.
    Make a total demolition here under your heaven!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, October 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 23:32–34, 44–46

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[a] When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Insight
In Luke 23:34, Jesus asked God to forgive those who mocked Him and hung Him on the cross. The people and rulers scoffed, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One” (v. 35). What they didn’t understand was that Jesus was saving others—and them—by freely giving Himself. One simply needs to accept this gift of salvation.

Psalm 22 resonates through Luke’s words. The words of Psalm 22:8—“Let [the Lord] deliver him, since he delights in him”—are reflected in Luke 23:35. That Jesus was mocked is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:6–18, which describes “villains” surrounding Him, piercing His hands and feet, and casting lots for His clothes. The mockers likely didn’t realize their actions were fulfilling Old Testament prophecy and therefore proving Christ was the Messiah.

Stronger than Hate
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34

Within twenty-four hours of his mother Sharonda’s tragic death, Chris found himself uttering these powerful, grace-filled words: “Love is stronger than hate.” His mother, along with eight others, had been killed at a Wednesday night Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. What was it that had so shaped this teenager’s life that these words could flow from his lips and his heart? Chris is a believer in Jesus whose mother had “loved everybody with all her heart.”  

In Luke 23:26–49 we get a front row seat to an execution scene that included two criminals and the innocent Jesus (v. 32). All three were crucified (v. 33). Amid the gasps and sighs and the likely groans from those hanging on the crosses, the following words of Jesus could be heard: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (v. 34). The hate-filled initiative of the religious leaders had resulted in the crucifixion of the very One who championed love. Though in agony, Jesus’ love continued to triumph.

How have you or someone you love been the target of hate, ill-will, bitterness, or ugliness? May your pain prompt your prayers, and may the example of Jesus and people like Chris encourage you by the power of the Spirit to choose love over hate. By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray
When have you found it hard to love someone? Is there someone you find it hard to forgive now? What steps might you take?

Father, forgive me when I find it hard to forgive others. Help me to demonstrate that love is stronger than hate.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 19, 2020
The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." —John 18:36

The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation….For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.

We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.

It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 56-58; 2 Thessalonians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 19, 2020
The Reason For the Heat - #8811

Our friend is incredibly creative - including creating jewelry. You know, she told us about how she made a beautiful gold ring. Actually the ring is designed in wax. When she has the ring design that she wants carved in the wax, she pours plaster-of-Paris around that molded wax ring. Then she puts it in an oven. Well, of course, the intense heat melts the wax away until there's no wax left, just a vacuum, which is shaped like the ring she wants. Then she puts this in a centrifuge, and that spins gold into the vacuum where the wax used to be. Gold rushes in where it used to be just wax. And out comes something very beautiful and a whole lot more valuable.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason For the Heat."

I have a feeling someone's listening right now, and well, it's like you're in the oven. The heat around you is rising, and sometimes it seems almost unbearable. There's stress and there's conflict, maybe grief or pain or heavy pressure. And it's hard not to ask, "Why, God? Why are You making me feel this heat that's so intense and why is it lasting so long?"

It could be that part of the answer is in our word for today from the Word of God in Malachi 3:2-3. "He will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." The fire you're feeling might be the Refiner's fire. It's not designed to burn you or hurt you. It's designed to melt away the impurities and make you more valuable than you've ever been.

And notice, the Refiner only puts things that are valuable in the fire like gold and silver. So the heat you're feeling may not be because something's wrong, but because God thinks you're worth refining! He puts you in the fire because He believes in you, He loves you, He sees what you could be if you could just lose some of that "wax."

When the heat is on, God has our attention as He does at no other time. We really know Him when we really need Him, and we really need Him when it's hot. God may be using the fire right now to get you to examine some corners of your heart or of your life that you've never really surrendered fully to His Lordship. He may use the oven to show you junk you've accumulated that has got to go before He can take you to the next level. He wants to enlarge your view of Him. He wants to prepare you for greater things.

After a recent "A Word With You" broadcast, I got this email: "Our home burned on December 25. I was very thankful God was with us during the fire and we all made it out, but I was still very depressed over the loss we suffered of our home." She goes on to tell about driving down the road and hearing a message that day where we talked about purifying fire.

She says, "That was the beginning of our blessings from God concerning the fire. Although we are a spiritual family, we had not truly connected with God in a while. He has brought us a long way since December 25. Just as that day symbolized the birth of Jesus, it will also serve as the rebirth of us spiritually." She said, "Although we did lose everything we owned materially, we gained something much more precious that night, something that will be with us no matter what may come - a heart filled with love for our Savior."

Well, that's why you're in the fire, to burn away all the wax, so God can pour His gold where once there was only wax. He is making something very, very beautiful.

Hebrews 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He is Preparing a Place

God's purpose from all eternity is to prepare a family to indwell the kingdom of God. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).
God's plotting for our good. In all the setbacks, He is ordaining the best for our future. Every event of our day is designed to draw us toward our God and our destiny. When people junk you in the pit, God can use it for good. When family members sell you out, God will recycle the pain. Falsely accused?  Utterly abandoned?  You may stumble but you will not fall.  You will get through this!
Not because you are strong, but because God is. Not because you are big, but because God is. Not because you're good, but because God is. He has a place prepared for you!
From You'll Get Through This

Hebrews 12
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
    but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
    the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

12-13 So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

14-17 Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity. Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

An Unshakable Kingdom
18-21 Unlike your ancestors, you didn’t come to Mount Sinai—all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble—to hear God speak. The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to stop. When they heard the words—“If an animal touches the Mountain, it’s as good as dead”—they were afraid to move. Even Moses was terrified.

22-24 No, that’s not your experience at all. You’ve come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just. You’ve come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant. The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel’s—a homicide that cried out for vengeance—became a proclamation of grace.

25-27 So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

28-29 Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!

Sunday, October 18, 2020
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Isaiah 55:1–7

Invitation to the Thirsty

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Insight
Having one’s thirst quenched and being satisfied with fine food are metaphors for the blessings that will flow from God’s covenant with David. We share in these blessings through Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who fulfilled God’s promise to David of an eternal dynasty through his descendant (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Through David and his descendant—Jesus—God would give an endless “witness” to the world that Yahweh is “the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 55:4–5). The church is later described as such a witness (Acts 1:8).

Listening Beyond the Stars
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Isaiah 55:6

Imagine life without mobile phones, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth devices, or microwave ovens. That’s the way it is in the little town of Green Bank, West Virginia, known as “the quietest town in America.” It’s also the location of the Green Bank Observatory, the world’s largest steerable radio telescope. The telescope needs “quiet” to “listen” to naturally occurring radio waves emitted by the movement of pulsars and galaxies in deep space. It has a surface area larger than a football field and stands in the center of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area established to prevent electronic interference to the telescope’s extreme sensitivity.

This intentional quiet enables scientists to hear “the music of the spheres.” It also reminds me of our need to quiet ourselves enough to listen to the One who created the universe. God communicated to a wayward and distracted people through the prophet Isaiah, “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you” (Isaiah 55:3). God promises His faithful love to all who will seek Him and turn to Him for forgiveness.

We listen intentionally to God by turning from our distractions to meet Him in Scripture and in prayer. God isn’t distant. He longs for us to make time for Him so He can be the priority of our daily lives and then for eternity. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray
Why is listening to God so vital in your life? In what ways do you plan to take time for Him?

Help me to be quiet before You today, loving God, even if it’s only for a moment! Nothing matters more than being with You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 18, 2020
The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion

…they went forth for His name’s sake… —3 John 7

Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.

Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.

The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.

The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 53-55; 2 Thessalonians 1

Lamentations 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Chats in the Closet

Religious leaders loved to make theater out of their prayers. The show nauseated Jesus. In Matthew 6:6 He said, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and He will reward you."
The words surely stunned Jesus' audience. The people were simple farmers and stonemasons. They couldn't enter the temple. But they could enter their closets. The point? He is low on fancy, high on accessibility. You need not woo him with location! Or wow him with eloquence. It's the power of a simple prayer.
Join me every day for 4 weeks, to pray 4 minutes, a simple prayer. Sign on at BeforeAmen.com. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Before Amen

Lamentations 2

God Walked Away from His Holy Temple

Oh, oh, oh . . .
How the Master has cut down Daughter Zion
    from the skies, dashed Israel’s glorious city to earth,
    in his anger treated his favorite as throwaway junk.

2 The Master, without a second thought, took Israel in one gulp.
    Raging, he smashed Judah’s defenses,
    made hash of her king and princes.

3 His anger blazing, he knocked Israel flat,
    broke Israel’s arm and turned his back just as the enemy approached,
    came on Jacob like a wildfire from every direction.

4 Like an enemy, he aimed his bow, bared his sword,
    and killed our young men, our pride and joy.
    His anger, like fire, burned down the homes in Zion.

5 The Master became the enemy. He had Israel for supper.
    He chewed up and spit out all the defenses.
    He left Daughter Judah moaning and groaning.

6 He plowed up his old trysting place, trashed his favorite rendezvous.
    God wiped out Zion’s memories of feast days and Sabbaths,
    angrily sacked king and priest alike.

7 God abandoned his altar, walked away from his holy Temple
    and turned the fortifications over to the enemy.
    As they cheered in God’s Temple, you’d have thought it was a feast day!

8 God drew up plans to tear down the walls of Daughter Zion.
    He assembled his crew, set to work and went at it.
    Total demolition! The stones wept!

9 Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble:
    her kings and princes off to exile—no one left to instruct or lead;
    her prophets useless—they neither saw nor heard anything from God.

10 The elders of Daughter Zion sit silent on the ground.
    They throw dust on their heads, dress in rough penitential burlap—
    the young virgins of Jerusalem, their faces creased with the dirt.

11 My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot.
    My insides have turned to jelly over my people’s fate.
    Babies and children are fainting all over the place,

12 Calling to their mothers, “I’m hungry! I’m thirsty!”
    then fainting like dying soldiers in the streets,
    breathing their last in their mothers’ laps.

13 How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem?
    What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion?
    Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding.

14 Your prophets courted you with sweet talk.
    They didn’t face you with your sin so that you could repent.
    Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions.

15 Astonished, passersby can’t believe what they see.
    They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem.
    Is this the city voted “Most Beautiful” and “Best Place to Live”?

16 But now your enemies gape, slack-jawed.
    Then they rub their hands in glee: “We’ve got them!
    We’ve been waiting for this! Here it is!”

17 God did carry out, item by item, exactly what he said he’d do.
    He always said he’d do this. Now he’s done it—torn the place down.
    He’s let your enemies walk all over you, declared them world champions!

18 Give out heart-cries to the Master, dear repentant Zion.
    Let the tears roll like a river, day and night,
    and keep at it—no time-outs. Keep those tears flowing!

19 As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer.
    Pour your heart out face-to-face with the Master.
    Lift high your hands. Beg for the lives of your children
    who are starving to death out on the streets.

20 “Look at us, God. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this?
    Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised?
    Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master’s own Sanctuary?

21 “Boys and old men lie in the gutters of the streets,
    my young men and women killed in their prime.
    Angry, you killed them in cold blood, cut them down without mercy.

22 “You invited, like friends to a party, men to swoop down in attack
    so that on the big day of God’s wrath no one would get away.
    The children I loved and reared—gone, gone, gone.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Psalm 95:1–7

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

3 For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

Insight
Psalm 95 belongs to a group of psalms called “enthronement psalms” or “royal psalms” because they use the royal image of a king celebrating and declaring God’s sovereign reign over all creation and over all history. Other examples of enthronement psalms are Psalms 47, 93, 96–99. The royal psalms include such statements as “the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth” (47:2); His “throne was established long ago . . . from all eternity” (93:2); “the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods” (95:3).

Psalm 95 is easily outlined into two parts: a call to worship God as King (vv. 1–7a) and a warning not to reject Him as King (vv. 7b–11). In his warning, the psalmist draws from the Israelites’ history of rebellion against and lack of faith in God at Meribah and Massah (v. 8; see Exodus 17:1–7). The writer of Hebrews had Psalm 95 in view when he wrote Hebrews 3:7–11.

A Singer’s Heart
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1

The praise song drifted downstairs . . . at 6:33 on a Saturday morning. I didn’t think anyone else was awake, but my youngest daughter’s scratchy voice proved me wrong. She was barely conscious, but there was already a song on her lips.

My youngest is a singer. In fact, she can’t not sing. She sings when she wakes up. When she goes to school. When she goes to bed. She was born with a song in her heart—and most of the time, her songs focus on Jesus. She’ll praise God anytime, anywhere.

I love the simplicity, devotion, and earnestness of my daughter’s voice. Her spontaneous and joyful songs echo invitations to praise God found throughout Scripture. In Psalm 95, we read, “Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (v. 1). Reading further, we learn that this praise flows from an understanding of who He is (“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods,” v. 3)—and whose we are (“For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture,” v. 7).

For my daughter, those truths are her first thought in the morning. By God’s grace, this little worshiper offers us a profound reminder of the joy of singing to Him.  By:  Adam R. Holz

Reflect & Pray
What prompts you to praise God for His faithfulness to you? What songs help you to remember and focus on His character and goodness?

God, thank You for who You are and for what You’ve done for me—and for all Your people—by inviting us to be sheep in Your pasture. Let today be filled with my songs of praise for Your goodness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 17, 2020
The Key of the Greater Work

…I say to you, he who believes in Me,…greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. —John 14:12

Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a “wise” man does not (see Matthew 11:25).

Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…” (John 14:13). Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.  The Place of Help, 1051 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 50-52; 1 Thessalonians 5

Lamentations 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: BIDDY CHAMBERS

During World War I, Biddy Chambers, her husband, and small daughter moved to Egypt, where he served as a chaplain.  He taught, she transcribed.  It was a perfect partnership.

Then her husband’s complications from appendicitis rendered Biddy a widow.  All dreams of a teaching ministry would have to be abandoned, right?  No.  She turned her husband’s notes into pamphlets.  Eventually they were compiled into a book, My Utmost for His Highest.  This work of Oswald Chambers has sold more than thirteen million copies and has been translated into more than thirty-five languages.

The next time you feel overwhelmed remind yourself of the One who is standing next to you.  Give him what you have, offer thanks, and watch him go to work.  Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Lamentations 1

Worthless, Cheap, Abject!

Oh, oh, oh . . .
How empty the city, once teeming with people.
    A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations,
    once queen of the ball, she’s now a drudge in the kitchen.

2 She cries herself to sleep each night, tears soaking her pillow.
    No one’s left among her lovers to sit and hold her hand.
    Her friends have all dumped her.

3 After years of pain and hard labor, Judah has gone into exile.
    She camps out among the nations, never feels at home.
    Hunted by all, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.

4 Zion’s roads weep, empty of pilgrims headed to the feasts.
    All her city gates are deserted, her priests in despair.
    Her virgins are sad. How bitter her fate.

5 Her enemies have become her masters. Her foes are living it up
    because God laid her low, punishing her repeated rebellions.
    Her children, prisoners of the enemy, trudge into exile.

6 All beauty has drained from Daughter Zion’s face.
    Her princes are like deer famished for food,
    chased to exhaustion by hunters.

7 Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything,
    when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help.
    Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence.

8 Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast.
    All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface.
    Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.

9 She played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow,
    and now she’s crashed royally, with no one to hold her hand:
    “Look at my pain, O God! And how the enemy cruelly struts.”

10 The enemy reached out to take all her favorite things. She watched
    as pagans barged into her Sanctuary, those very people for whom
    you posted orders: keep out: this assembly off-limits.

11 All the people groaned, so desperate for food, so desperate to stay alive
    that they bartered their favorite things for a bit of breakfast:
    “O God, look at me! Worthless, cheap, abject!

12 “And you passersby, look at me! Have you ever seen anything like this?
    Ever seen pain like my pain, seen what he did to me,
    what God did to me in his rage?

13 “He struck me with lightning, skewered me from head to foot,
    then he set traps all around so I could hardly move.
    He left me with nothing—left me sick, and sick of living.

14 “He wove my sins into a rope
    and harnessed me to captivity’s yoke.
    I’m goaded by cruel taskmasters.

15 “The Master piled up my best soldiers in a heap,
    then called in thugs to break their fine young necks.
    The Master crushed the life out of fair virgin Judah.

16 “For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears,
    and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul.
    My children are wasted, my enemy got his way.”

17 Zion reached out for help, but no one helped.
    God ordered Jacob’s enemies to surround him,
    and now no one wants anything to do with Jerusalem.

18 “God has right on his side. I’m the one who did wrong.
    Listen everybody! Look at what I’m going through!
    My fair young women, my fine young men, all herded into exile!

19 “I called to my friends; they betrayed me.
    My priests and my leaders only looked after themselves,
    trying but failing to save their own skins.

20 “O God, look at the trouble I’m in! My stomach in knots,
    my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion.
    Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses.

21 “Oh, listen to my groans. No one listens, no one cares.
    When my enemies heard of the trouble you gave me, they cheered.
    Bring on Judgment Day! Let them get what I got!

22 “Take a good look at their evil ways and give it to them!
    Give them what you gave me for my sins.
    Groaning in pain, body and soul, I’ve had all I can take.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, October 16, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Matthew 13:31–35

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,
    I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[b]

Footnotes
Matthew 13:33 Or about 27 kilograms
Matthew 13:35 Psalm 78:2

Insight
Matthew’s use of Old Testament prophecy is often intriguing, and that’s certainly the case in Matthew 13:35. After Jesus had told several parables, Matthew asserts that this type of teaching fulfills prophecy. The statement he cites, however, doesn’t come from one of the acknowledged prophets of Israel but from one of their psalmists—Asaph, the worship leader in Psalm 78:2. This might have surprised Jewish readers in the first century, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to us. In a sense, all of the Old Testament points to Jesus in one way or another. When walking with two disciples on the Emmaus Road on resurrection day, Jesus explained to them, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, “what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

Slow, but Sure
Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree.  Matthew 13:32

I ran into an old friend who told me what he’d been up to, but I confess it seemed too good to be true. Within a few months of that conversation, however, his band was everywhere—from charting top singles on the radio to having a hit song pulsing under TV ads. His rise to fame was meteoric.

We can be obsessed with significance and success—the big and the dramatic, the quick and the meteoric. But the parables of the mustard seed and yeast compare the way of the kingdom (God’s reign on earth) to small, hidden, and seemingly insignificant things whose work is slow and gradual.

The kingdom is like its King. Christ’s mission culminated in His life, like a seed, being buried in the ground; like yeast, being hidden in the dough. Yet He rose. Like a tree breaking through the dirt, like bread when the heat is turned up. Jesus rose.

We’re invited to live according to His way, the way that’s persisting and permeating. To resist the temptation to take matters into our own hands, to grasp for power and to justify our dealings in the world by the outcomes they may produce. The outcome—“a tree . . . that the birds come and perch in its branches” (v. 32) and the bread that provides a feast—will be Christ’s doing, not ours. By:  Glenn Packiam

Reflect & Pray
What small and seemingly insignificant things could you do to encourage or bless the people in your life? Where do you need to turn away from comparison with others or from a false picture of significance and success?

Dear Jesus, thank You for often working in small, hidden, and seemingly insignificant ways. Help me to trust You’re at work even when I can’t see You. Grant me the grace to remain faithful.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 16, 2020
The Key to the Master’s Orders

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. —Matthew 9:38

The key to the missionary’s difficult task is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer, not work— that is, not work as the word is commonly used today, which often results in the shifting of our focus away from God. The key to the missionary’s difficult task is also not the key of common sense, nor is it the key of medicine, civilization, education, or even evangelization. The key is in following the Master’s orders— the key is prayer. “Pray the Lord of the harvest….” In the natural realm, prayer is not practical but absurd. We have to realize that prayer is foolish from the commonsense point of view.

From Jesus Christ’s perspective, there are no nations, but only the world. How many of us pray without regard to the persons, but with regard to only one Person— Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced through distress and through conviction of sin. This is the harvest for which we have to pray that laborers be sent out to reap. We stay busy at work, while people all around us are ripe and ready to be harvested; we do not reap even one of them, but simply waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities and programs. Suppose a crisis were to come into your father’s or your brother’s life— are you there as a laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? Is your response, “Oh, but I have a special work to do!” No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ’s own, “a servant [who] is not greater than his master” (John 13:16), and someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls us to no special work— He calls us to Himself. “Pray the Lord of the harvest,” and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 47-49; 1 Thessalonians 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 16, 2020
Wasting What's Worth So Much - #8810

Some of us are a little "old school." We still pay our bills with an envelope and a stamp and mail it in. At least we pay our bills. I know what it is to need a stamp; you've got something that has to be mailed - could be an urgent bill. You've got spoiled by having electricity in your house, and you really don't want to see what it's like without it. Your electric bill is due, the check is written, the envelope is addressed, and you can't find a stamp. But something that happened during a recent election has to be the ultimate postage desperation. An absentee ballot arrived with an unusual stamp on the envelope; a picture of an inverted World War I airplane. The news report said that stamp may very well have been a rare collector's item worth $200,000! Postage rates might continue to go up, but this is like out of control!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Wasting What's Worth So Much."

The sad thing is that somebody pretty much wasted what was worth so much. But that was just a stamp, and maybe money that got wasted. What's tragic is when a person makes that mistake with their life. And, sadly, many people have no idea what they're worth. They live like it with choices that cause them so much hurt, so much disappointment and so many scars. If you don't know what you're worth, you go through life just settling...settling for whatever love, whatever pleasure, whatever acceptance you can get. Usually at a high price tag to the very worth you're trying to find.

Cindy was like that. She'd never had many dates or a lot of male attention. She called me one night because a guy she'd dated two or three times wanted her to have sex with him. She valued her virginity, but she didn't want to lose the one guy who made her feel wanted. I gave her what she called for - I gave her reasons to save her virginity. Frankly, it didn't do much good. When he threatened to leave, she agreed to have sex with him. She called back a couple of weeks later. The guy had gotten what he wanted, and he dumped her, leaving her feeling more worthless even than she had before.

One sad example of the kinds of compromises and bad choices you make when you don't know what you're worth and you're trying to find it. There's only one person who can really change that, and that's the One who gave you your worth in the first place. The Bible says you are "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).

See, it breaks your Creator's heart when you trash the masterpiece He made when He made you. That's what our sinning does - all those countless times we've said or done things that defy God's laws. The selfishness, the angry things, the hurting things, the dirty things, the things that are more important to us than God. All those choices have cut us off from the One who gave us our worth. And only He can get us back to Him. You discover your worth when you open up to God's amazing love.

Love described in our word for today from the Word of God in Revelation 5:9. It says of Jesus, "With your blood You purchased men for God." That's how much you are worth to Jesus - the shedding of His blood to get you back. It was the only way the death penalty for your sin and mine could be paid; someone who had no sin, taking our punishment for us. That's what Jesus did for you on the cross, and that is how much He loves you.

And that's why what you do with Jesus is so important. Without Him, you'll never experience the love you were made for. The forgiveness He paid for. The heaven you hope you'll get to. But He's come to you today, where you are, to offer you an opportunity to begin a personal love relationship with Him, if you'll turn from the sin that He had to die for and pin all your hopes on Him. He is, after all, the only One you can totally, totally trust.

I'm praying you'll reach out to Him this very day. And I'm going to just continue to pray that you'll go to our website. Because that's where you will find the information that will help you through what God's Word says, to be sure you belong to Jesus. That website is ANewStory.com.

Jesus loved you enough to die for you. Why not live for the One who loves you the most, and discover how valuable you really are.

Hebrews 11:20-40 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHAT’S IN YOUR BASKET?

Do you face fifteen thousand problems?  Before you count yourself out, turn and look at the One standing next to you!  Christ can help you do the impossible.  You simply need to give him what you have and watch him work.

John 6:11 says, “Jesus took the loaves…”  This is the story of the day Jesus fed the five thousand men, plus women and children.  He didn’t have to use the loaves.  He made manna fall for the Israelites.  Instead, he chose to use the single basket of a small boy.

What’s in your basket?  All you have is a wimpy prayer?  Give it.  All you have is a meager skill?  Use it.  All you have is strength for one step?  Take it.  God used three nails and a crude cross to redeem humanity.  If God can turn a basket into a buffet, don’t you think he can do something with your five loaves and two fishes of faith?  Remember, you are never alone.

Hebrews 11:20-40

20 By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.

21 By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph’s sons in turn, blessing them with God’s blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.

22 By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

23 By an act of faith, Moses’ parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child’s beauty, and they braved the king’s decree.

24-28 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God’s people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah’s camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king’s blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn’t touch them.

29 By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.

30 By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.

31 By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.

32-38 I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn’t deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

39-40 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Ephesians 4:4–16

 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”[b]

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Insight
In Ephesians 4, Paul states that when Christ ascended, He “gave gifts to his people” (v. 8). In Romans 12:3–8, Paul writes that believers in Jesus have been given individual gifts to be used to support others in the body of believers. Included in this list are prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing mercy. In 1 Corinthians 12–14, Paul gives another list, along with detailed instructions on how to use these gifts to build up the church. These “gifts of the Spirit” are to be used “for the common good” (12:1, 7).


Preach or Plow?
From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16

According to the family legend, two brothers, one named Billy and the other Melvin, were standing on the family’s dairy farm one day when they saw an airplane doing some skywriting. The boys watched as the plane sketched out the letters “GP” overhead.

Both brothers decided that what they saw had meaning for them. One thought it meant “Go preach.” The other read it as “Go plow.” Later, one of the boys, Billy Graham, dedicated himself to preaching the gospel, becoming an icon of evangelism. His brother Melvin went on to faithfully run the family dairy farm for many years.

Skywriting signs aside, if God did call Billy to preach and Melvin to plow, as seems to be the case, they both honored God through their vocations. While Billy had a long preaching career, his success doesn’t mean that his brother’s obedience to his calling to plow was any less important.

While God does assign some to be in what we call full-time ministry (Ephesians 4:11–12), that doesn’t mean those in other jobs and roles aren’t doing something just as important. In either case, as Paul said, “each part [should do] its work” (v. 16). That means honoring Jesus by faithfully using the gifts He’s given us. When we do, whether we “go preach” or “go plow,” we can make a difference for Jesus wherever we serve or work. By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray
How can you use your gifts to honor God in your vocation? How can you encourage others you know so they too can use their calling as a way to serve Jesus?

Help me, God, to be used right where You put me. Help me to see that my words, actions, and work ethic can profoundly affect others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 15, 2020
The Key to the Missionary’s Message

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. —1 John 2:2

The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message is the limitless importance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is someone who is immersed in the truth of that revelation.

The real key to the missionary’s message is the “remissionary” aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness, His goodness, or even His revealing of the fatherhood of God to us. “…repentance and remission of sins should be preached…to all nations…” (Luke 24:47). The greatest message of limitless importance is that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins….” The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is “for the whole world.” When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.

A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 45-46; 1 Thessalonians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Downsizing For Success - #8809

Every time the economy or corporate profits take another dip in their roller coaster ride, you start hearing corporations say that word again - downsizing. Many companies have done that and probably will come to the conclusion that one way to increase their profitability is to decrease the number of employees. So they downsize to be more successful.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Downsizing For Success."

Actually, God believes in downsizing, too, as His strange means of bringing about something bigger. In fact, that might be what He's doing in your life right now.

He sure did it to Gideon in our word for today from the Word of God in Judges 7, beginning with verse 2. Here's the situation: the Midianites have invaded Israel year after year during harvest time to plunder their harvests, and nobody has been able to stop them. God calls Gideon to do it even though Gideon argues that he may be the least qualified guy around. Of course, that happens a lot in the Bible and today.

Gideon is able to muster an army of 32,000 men to go against a Midianite army of 132,000 men! And the Bible says, "the Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men'" - don't you love it? - "'for Me to deliver Midian into their hands.'" I'm sure Gideon didn't laugh, but I can't help it. Outnumbered four to one, and he's got too many men?

God tells him to let go anyone who is afraid, and suddenly Gideon has 22,000 men. Now he's outnumbered six to one. After God has him downsize again, Gideon has 300 men left. He's outnumbered more than 40 to 1 now! But miraculously, that force wins the battle, and the Midianites aren't seen again!

Now why does God follow this strange plan for winning: reducing, taking away, cutting back, making smaller? God gave His reason to Gideon, "in order that Israel may not boast against Me that her own strength has saved her." It's a pattern throughout the Bible - God loves to win major victories with inadequate resources. He arranges mismatches and impossible situations so that we will see how big He is and He will get all the glory!

God knows we all have pride issues, we tend to be controlling people, and we tend to rely on the methods that have always seemed to get it done for us. But God puts us in situations where, like Gideon, we're left saying, "If there's a victory here, it's going to have absolutely nothing to do with me." So if you find yourself out-manned, out-gunned, and under-resourced right now - if it seems like God has been cutting you back and putting limitations on you - realize this may very well be the prelude to an amazing victory!

God's working on that wonderful addition and subtraction thing He does. John puts it this way: "He must become greater; I must become less." As God reduces the amount of you there is, He is increasing the amount of Him there is in the situation. He's been downsizing you so there can be more of Him, so He can show you a victory bigger than you ever thought you could be a part of.

God isn't downsizing so you'll lose, He's downsizing you for a victory so big that only He can get the glory for it.