Ezekiel 44 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A FAR GREATER GIFT

We ask God, “Where are you taking me? Where is the path?” And he doesn’t tell us. Oh, he may give us a hint or two, but that’s all. If he did, would we understand? Would we comprehend our location? No, we’re unacquainted with this jungle. So rather than give us an answer, Jesus gives us a far greater gift. He gives us himself.

Does he remove the jungle? No, the vegetation is still thick. Does he purge the predators? No, danger still lurks. Jesus doesn’t give hope by changing the jungle; he restores our hope by giving us himself. And he has promised to stay until the very end. “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We need that reminder. We all need that reminder, for all of us need hope.

Ezekiel 44

Sanctuary Rules

Then the man brought me back to the outside gate complex of the Sanctuary that faces east. But it was shut.

2-3 God spoke to me: “This gate is shut and it’s to stay shut. No one is to go through it because God, the God of Israel, has gone through it. It stays shut. Only the prince, because he’s the prince, may sit there to eat in the presence of God. He is to enter the gate complex through the porch and leave by the same way.”

4 The man led me through the north gate to the front of the Temple. I looked, and—oh!—the bright Glory of God filling the Temple of God! I fell on my face in worship.

5 God said to me, “Son of man, get a grip on yourself. Use your eyes, use your ears, pay careful attention to everything I tell you about the ordinances of this Temple of God, the way all the laws work, instructions regarding it and all the entrances and exits of the Sanctuary.

6-9 “Tell this bunch of rebels, this family Israel, ‘Message of God, the Master: No more of these vile obscenities, Israel, dragging irreverent and unrepentant outsiders, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, into my Sanctuary, feeding them the sacrificial offerings as if it were the food for a neighborhood picnic. With all your vile obscenities, you’ve broken trust with me, the solemn covenant I made with you. You haven’t taken care of my holy things. You’ve hired out the work to foreigners who care nothing for this place, my Sanctuary. No irreverent and unrepentant aliens, uncircumcised in heart or flesh, not even the ones who live among Israelites, are to enter my Sanctuary.’

10-14 “The Levites who walked off and left me, along with everyone else—all Israel—who took up with all the no-god idols, will pay for everything they did wrong. From now on they’ll do only the menial work in the Sanctuary: guard the gates and help out with the Temple chores—and also kill the sacrificial animals for the people and serve them. Because they acted as priests to the no-god idols and made my people Israel stumble and fall, I’ve taken an oath to punish them. Decree of God, the Master. Yes, they’ll pay for what they’ve done. They’re fired from the priesthood. No longer will they come into my presence and take care of my holy things. No more access to The Holy Place! They’ll have to live with what they’ve done, carry the shame of their vile and obscene lives. From now on, their job is to sweep up and run errands. That’s it.

15-16 “But the Levitical priests who descend from Zadok, who faithfully took care of my Sanctuary when everyone else went off and left me, are going to come into my presence and serve me. They are going to carry out the priestly work of offering the solemn sacrifices of worship. Decree of God, the Master. They’re the only ones permitted to enter my Sanctuary. They’re the only ones to approach my table and serve me, accompanying me in my work.

17-19 “When they enter the gate complex of the inside courtyard, they are to dress in linen. No woolens are to be worn while serving at the gate complex of the inside courtyard or inside the Temple itself. They’re to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes—nothing that makes them sweat. When they go out into the outside courtyard where the people gather, they must first change out of the clothes they have been serving in, leaving them in the sacred rooms where they change to their everyday clothes, so that they don’t trivialize their holy work by the way they dress.

20 “They are to neither shave their heads nor let their hair become unkempt, but must keep their hair trimmed and neat.

21 “No priest is to drink on the job—no wine while in the inside courtyard.

22 “Priests are not to marry widows or divorcees, but only Israelite virgins or widows of priests.

23 “Their job is to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, to show them how to discern between unclean and clean.

24 “When there’s a difference of opinion, the priests will arbitrate. They’ll decide on the basis of my judgments, laws, and statutes. They are in charge of making sure the appointed feasts are honored and my Sabbaths kept holy in the ways I’ve commanded.

25-27 “A priest must not contaminate himself by going near a corpse. But when the dead person is his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, he can approach the dead. But after he has been purified, he must wait another seven days. Then, when he returns to the inside courtyard of the Sanctuary to do his priestly work in the Sanctuary, he must first offer a sin offering for himself. Decree of God, the Master.

28-30 “As to priests owning land, I am their inheritance. Don’t give any land in Israel to them. I am their ‘land,’ their inheritance. They’ll take their meals from the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel offered to God in worship is theirs. The best of everything grown, plus all special gifts, comes to the priests. All that is given in worship to God goes to them. Serve them first. Serve from your best and your home will be blessed.

31 “Priests are not to eat any meat from bird or animal unfit for ordinary human consumption, such as carcasses found dead on the road or in the field.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, January 11, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 2:1–12
The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,z during the time of King Herod,a Magia from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?b We saw his starc when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehemd in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’b”e

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.f Then they opened their treasures and presented him with giftsg of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warnedh in a dreami not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Insight
Herod apparently knew that the prophecies about the Messiah must be true. That’s why he asked the “chief priests and teachers of the law” to tell him where the Messiah would be born (Matthew 2:4–6). Yet, having learned what the Scriptures prophesied, Herod tried to thwart that prophecy by killing the baby boys in Bethlehem. By: Tim Gustafson

The Only King
They bowed down and worshiped him. Matthew 2:11

As five-year-old Eldon listened to the pastor talk about Jesus leaving heaven and coming to earth, he gasped when the pastor thanked Him in prayer for dying for our sins. “Oh, no! He died?” the boy said in surprise.

From the start of Christ’s life on earth, there were people who wanted Him dead. Wise men came to Jerusalem during the reign of King Herod inquiring, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). When the king heard this, he became fearful of one day losing his position to Jesus. So he sent soldiers to kill all the boys two years old and younger around Bethlehem. But God protected His Son and sent an angel to warn His parents to leave the area. They fled, and He was saved (vv. 13–18).

When Jesus completed His ministry, He was crucified for the sins of the world. The sign placed above His cross, though meant in mockery, read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (27:37). Yet three days later He rose in victory from the grave. After ascending to heaven, He sat down on the throne as King of kings and Lord of lords (Philippians 2:8–11).

The King died for our sins—yours, mine, and Eldon’s. Let’s allow Him to rule in our hearts. By: Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to have Jesus as your King? Are there areas of your life where He’s not?

Jesus, thank You for willingly dying for our sins and offering forgiveness. Teach us to submit to Your rule.

To learn more about Christ’s life, visit christianuniversity.org/tgs.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 11, 2021
What My Obedience to God Costs Other People

As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon…, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. —Luke 23:26

If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.

When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).

A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.

Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13).  Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 11, 2021
Teflon Love - #8871

OK, I'm not much of a cook, but when my wife was really busy and under the weather, we got to eat my cooking for dinner. Which meant a very limited menu which invariably included the grilled cheese option. Now, when I would prepare that gourmet specialty, I would reach for my trusty skillet - the one that's coated with Teflon. You don't have to be a headliner on the Food Channel to know that life is a lot easier when you have a pan that things don't stick to; they just sort of slide right off.

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

Most churches, most families, most workplaces could use some Teflon, don't you think? I mean I'm talking people who don't let things stick to them; they just let them slide right off. I hope you are one or that you want to become one!

The Apostle Peter is talking about that kind of relationships in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in 1 Peter 4:8. He simply says, "Above all..." Whoa! Now, wait a minute! What follows you know is going to be the most important point. "Above all, love each other deeply." Why? He says, "Because love covers a multitude of sins." He was talking to people who were undergoing a lot of pressure, a lot of pain for their commitment to Jesus Christ. The last thing they needed was grief from each other! So he recommends sort of a Teflon approach to relationships: love people enough that your love will enable you to overlook their wrongdoings.

Overlooking love - that's Teflon love! "Un-love" keeps score all the time; it marks down every time it gets offended or wounded, it harbors, and it never forgets an offense. If you're that kind of person in your relationships, then when someone crosses you, you don't let it go, you let it grow.

But Jesus-style love has no scorecard. If you love as He's told us to, then you simply refuse to store the negatives from other people or about other people. You're Teflon, and the negatives don't stick to you. They slide off.

Could it be that you've been allowing hard feelings toward someone you know to start growing in you? Is there some resentment, some anger, some bitterness that you've allowed to stick to your soul toward someone in your family; maybe even your mate or your child or your parent? Or maybe it's hard feelings toward someone at church, or where you work, in that ministry you're involved with. The Bible calls it a "root of bitterness" and says what will happen if you allow it to grow in you much longer. It says, "It will cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15).

If there's any unforgiveness in your heart, hear your Lord's word, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another." You may say, "Yeah, but what about the way they treated me?" God shoots down all our "yeah buts" with His next sentence, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13). Wow! You don't treat people as they've treated you. No, our example is to treat them as Jesus has treated you!

So ask your Lord for a dose of His love that will cover rather than harbor the wrongs against you. Love enough to cover not just a few of them, but like it says, a multitude of sins.

See, things don't stick to someone who has God's Teflon love. They slide off!

Ezekiel 43, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily:  Stubborn Peace

Who do you know with a stubborn peace? Their problems aren't any different, but there's a serenity that softens the corners of their lips.
A priest visited just such a man in the hospital.  The man was nearing death. The priest noticed an empty chair beside the bed and wondered if someone else had been there. The old man smiled, "I place Jesus on that chair, and I talk to him." The priest was puzzled so the man explained. "Years ago a friend told me prayer is as simple as talking to a good friend.  So every day I pull up a chair and Jesus and I have a good talk."
When his daughter informed the priest her father had died, she explained, "When I got to his room, I found him dead.  Strangely, his head was resting, not on the pillow, but on an empty chair beside his bed."  The picture of stubborn peace!
From The Applause of Heaven

Ezekiel 43

The Meaning of the Temple

The man brought me to the east gate. Oh! The bright Glory of the God of Israel rivered out of the east sounding like the roar of floodwaters, and the earth itself glowed with the bright Glory. It looked just like what I had seen when he came to destroy the city, exactly like what I had seen earlier at the Kebar River. And again I fell, face to the ground.

4-5 The bright Glory of God poured into the Temple through the east gate. The Spirit put me on my feet and led me to the inside courtyard and—oh! the bright Glory of God filled the Temple!

6-9 I heard someone speaking to me from inside the Temple while the man stood beside me. He said, “Son of man, this is the place for my throne, the place I’ll plant my feet. This is the place where I’ll live with the Israelites forever. Neither the people of Israel nor their kings will ever again drag my holy name through the mud with their whoring and the no-god idols their kings set up at all the wayside shrines. When they set up their worship shrines right alongside mine with only a thin wall between them, they dragged my holy name through the mud with their obscene and vile worship. Is it any wonder that I destroyed them in anger? So let them get rid of their whoring ways and the stinking no-god idols introduced by their kings and I’ll move in and live with them forever.

10-11 “Son of man, tell the people of Israel all about the Temple so they’ll be dismayed by their wayward lives. Get them to go over the layout. That will bring them up short. Show them the whole plan of the Temple, its ins and outs, the proportions, the regulations, and the laws. Draw a picture so they can see the design and meaning and live by its design and intent.

12 “This is the law of the Temple: As it radiates from the top of the mountain, everything around it becomes holy ground. Yes, this is law, the meaning, of the Temple.

13-14 “These are the dimensions of the altar, using the long (twenty-one-inch) ruler. The gutter at its base is twenty-one inches deep and twenty-one inches wide, with a four-inch lip around its edge.

14-15 “The height of the altar is three and a half feet from the base to the first ledge and twenty inches wide. From the first ledge to the second ledge it is seven feet high and twenty-one inches wide. The altar hearth is another seven feet high. Four horns stick upward from the hearth twenty-one inches high.

16-17 “The top of the altar, the hearth, is square, twenty-one by twenty-one feet. The upper ledge is also square, twenty-four and a half feet on each side, with a ten-and-a-half-inch lip and a twenty-one-inch-wide gutter all the way around.

“The steps of the altar ascend from the east.”

18 Then the man said to me, “Son of man, God, the Master, says: ‘These are the ordinances for conduct at the altar when it is built, for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood on it.

19-21 “‘For a sin offering, give a bull to the priests, the Levitical priests who are from the family of Zadok who come into my presence to serve me. Take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar that project from the four corners of the top ledge and all around the lip. That’s to purify the altar and make it fit for the sacrifice. Then take the bull for the sin offerings and burn it in the place set aside for this in the courtyard outside the Sanctuary.

22-24 “‘On the second day, offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. Purify the altar the same as you purified it for the bull. Then, when you have purified it, offer a bull without blemish and a ram without blemish from the flock. Present them before God. Sprinkle salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to God.

25-26 “‘For seven days, prepare a goat for a sin offering daily, and also a bull and a ram from the flock, animals without blemish. For seven days the priests are to get the altar ready for its work, purifying it. This is how you dedicate it.

27 “‘After these seven days of dedication, from the eighth day on, the priests will present your burnt offerings and your peace offerings. And I’ll accept you with pleasure, with delight! Decree of God, the Master.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Corinthians 6:1–6

Lawsuits Among Believers

 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? 2 Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

Insight
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he gives his readers ways of thinking about judgment that implies more than crime and punishment. Making good judgments is more about our heart and humility than law. On one hand, Paul reasons, we aren’t even good judges of our own motives let alone the motives of others (4:1–5; 5:12). On the other hand, he didn’t want them to underestimate their capacities for good judgment in matters that might at first seem too difficult to resolve. For example, Paul saw it to be poor judgment to drag some disputes between believers in Jesus into public courts. While certain civil and criminal matters must be handled by the proper authorities, others could be handled by calm and discerning minds. Much can be learned by proving our faith—and settling differences—as we love others well as the Spirit guides us (6:1–8; John 13:35; 1 Corinthians 13:1–13).

Paper Crowns
The Lord’s people will judge the world. 1 Corinthians 6:2

After a holiday meal at my house, everyone opened party favors filled with candy, small toys, and confetti. But there was something else in the favors—a paper crown for each of us. We couldn’t resist trying them on, and we smiled at each other as we sat around the table. For just a moment, we were kings and queens, even if our kingdom was a dining room littered with the remnants of our dinner.

This sparked a memory of a Bible promise I don’t often think about. In the next life, all believers will share ruling authority with Jesus. Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians 6 where he asks, “Do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world?” (v. 2). Paul referenced this future privilege because he wanted to inspire believers to settle disputes peacefully on earth. They had been suing each other and consequently harming the reputation of other believers in their community.

We become better at resolving conflict as the Holy Spirit produces self-control, gentleness, and patience within us. By the time Jesus returns and completes the Spirit’s work in our lives (1 John 3:2–3), we’ll be ready for our eventual role as “a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and . . . reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). Let’s hold on to this promise that glitters in Scripture like a diamond set in a crown of gold. By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Reflect & Pray
How does the Holy Spirit influence your words and actions when you experience conflict? How does this affect those around you?

Almighty God, thank You for the wonderful future I have with You. Help me to look to You when it’s hard to cooperate with others.

To learn more about the Spirit’s work in our lives, visit ChristianUniversity.org/ST410-12.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 10, 2021
The Opened Sight

I now send you, to open their eyes…that they may receive forgiveness of sins… —Acts 26:17-18

This verse is the greatest example of the true essence of the message of a disciple of Jesus Christ in all of the New Testament.

God’s first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words, “…that they may receive forgiveness of sins….” When a person fails in his personal Christian life, it is usually because he has never received anything. The only sign that a person is saved is that he has received something from Jesus Christ. Our job as workers for God is to open people’s eyes so that they may turn themselves from darkness to light. But that is not salvation; it is conversion— only the effort of an awakened human being. I do not think it is too broad a statement to say that the majority of so-called Christians are like this. Their eyes are open, but they have received nothing. Conversion is not regeneration. This is a neglected fact in our preaching today. When a person is born again, he knows that it is because he has received something as a gift from Almighty God and not because of his own decision. People may make vows and promises, and may be determined to follow through, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we are brought to the place where we are able to receive something from God on the authority of Jesus Christ, namely, forgiveness of sins.

This is followed by God’s second mighty work of grace: “…an inheritance among those who are sanctified….” In sanctification, the one who has been born again deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God’s ministry to others.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L

Bible in a Year: Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8:1-17

Ezekiel 42, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Summit

Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened" (Matthew 11:28).
I wish I could say it happens all the time; but it doesn't. Sometimes He asks and I don't listen. Other times He asks and I just don't go. But sometimes I follow. I leave behind the deadlines, the schedule and walk the narrow trail up the mountain with Him.
You've been there. You've turned your back on the noise and sought His voice. You've stepped away from the masses and followed the Master as He led you up the winding path to the summit. The roar of the marketplace is down there, the perspective of the peak is up here.
He gently reminds you, "You'll go nowhere tomorrow that I haven't already been."  "The victory is already yours."  "My delight is one decision away-seize it!" Ah, the words on the sacred summit. A place of permanence in a world of transition.
From The Applause of Heaven

Ezekiel 42

The man led me north into the outside courtyard and brought me to the rooms that are in front of the open space and the house facing north. The length of the house on the north was one hundred seventy-five feet, and its width eighty-seven and a half feet. Across the thirty-five feet that separated the inside courtyard from the paved walkway at the edge of the outside courtyard, the rooms rose level by level for three stories. In front of the rooms on the inside was a hallway seventeen and a half feet wide and one hundred seventy-five feet long. Its entrances were from the north. The upper rooms themselves were narrower, their galleries being wider than on the first and second floors of the building. The rooms on the third floor had no pillars like the pillars in the outside courtyard and were smaller than the rooms on the first and second floors. There was an outside wall parallel to the rooms and the outside courtyard. It fronted the rooms for eighty-seven and a half feet. The row of rooms facing the outside courtyard was eighty-seven and a half feet long. The row on the side nearest the Sanctuary was one hundred seventy-five feet long. The first-floor rooms had their entrance from the east, coming in from the outside courtyard.

10-12 On the south side along the length of the courtyard’s outside wall and fronting on the Temple courtyard were rooms with a walkway in front of them. These were just like the rooms on the north—same exits and dimensions—with the main entrance from the east leading to the hallway and the doors to the rooms the same as those on the north side. The design on the south was a mirror image of that on the north.

13-14 Then he said to me, “The north and south rooms adjacent to the open area are holy rooms where the priests who come before God eat the holy offerings. There they place the holy offerings—grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. These are set-apart rooms, holy space. After the priests have entered the Sanctuary, they must not return to the outside courtyard and mingle among the people until they change the sacred garments in which they minister and put on their regular clothes.”

15-16 After he had finished measuring what was inside the Temple area, he took me out the east gate and measured it from the outside. Using his measuring stick, he measured the east side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

17 He measured the north side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

18 He measured the south side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

19 Last of all he went to the west side and measured it: eight hundred seventy-five feet.

20 He measured the wall on all four sides. Each wall was eight hundred seventy-five feet. The walls separated the holy from the ordinary.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, January 09, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Ruth 1:3–5, 20–21

But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi;[a] call me Mara,[b] for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Insight
The book of Ruth isn’t the only time we see the name Mara or Marah (bitter) in the Bible. In Exodus we read how the Israelites had just escaped slavery in Egypt when God miraculously parted the Red Sea. After the Israelites crossed the sea, He released the water so their Egyptian pursuers were swallowed up. The result? “When the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (14:31). Yet, three days later, the Israelites couldn’t find water and began to doubt Moses (and God). They found an oasis, but because its water was undrinkable, they named the place Marah. God instructed Moses to throw a piece of wood in the water and it immediately became sweet (15:22–25; see Numbers 33:8–9).

Dig It Up
Get rid of all bitterness. Ephesians 4:31

When Rebecca’s brother and sister-in-law started having marriage problems, Rebecca prayed earnestly for their reconciliation. But they divorced. Then her sister-in-law took the children out of state and their dad didn’t protest. Rebecca never again saw the nieces she dearly loved. Years later she said, “Because of trying to handle this sadness on my own, I let a root of bitterness start in my heart, and it began to spread to my family and friends.”

The book of Ruth tells about a woman named Naomi who struggled with a heart of grief that grew into bitterness. Her husband died in a foreign land, and ten years later both her sons died. She was left destitute with her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah (1:3–5). When Naomi and Ruth returned to Naomi’s home country, the whole town was excited to see them. But Naomi told her friends: “The Almighty has made my life very bitter. . . . The Lord has afflicted me” (vv. 20–21). She even asked them to call her “Mara,” meaning bitter.

Who hasn’t faced disappointment and been tempted toward bitterness? Someone says something hurtful, an expectation isn’t met, or demands from others make us resentful. When we acknowledge to ourselves and God what’s happening deep in our hearts, our tender Gardener can help us dig up any roots of bitterness—whether they’re still small or have been growing for years—and can replace them with a sweet, joyful spirit. By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray
What areas of life do you tend to become bitter about? What’s growing inside your heart that needs God’s loving care?

God, help me to see the goodness in life You’re always displaying. And dig up any root of bitterness in my heart that dishonors You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 09, 2021
Prayerful Inner-Searching

May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

“Your whole spirit….” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139. The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”

Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight.

We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 23-24; Matthew 7

2 Peter 3 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE RIGHT VISION
God, your rescuer, has the right vision. He also has the right direction. He made the boldest claim in the history of humanity when he declared, “I am the way” (John 14:6). People wondered if the claim was accurate. He answered their questions by cutting a path through the underbrush of sin and death…and escaping alive. He’s the only one who ever did, and he is the only one who can help you and me do the same.

He has the right vision — he has seen the homeland. He has the right directions — he has cut the path. But most of all, he is the right person because he is our God. Who knows the jungle better than the one who made it? And who knows the pitfalls of the path better than the one who has walked it?

2 Peter 3

In the Last Days
 My dear friends, this is now the second time I’ve written to you, both letters reminders to hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention. Keep in mind what the holy prophets said, and the command of our Master and Savior that was passed on by your apostles.

3-4 First off, you need to know that in the last days, mockers are going to have a heyday. Reducing everything to the level of their puny feelings, they’ll mock, “So what’s happened to the promise of his Coming? Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything’s going on just as it has from the first day of creation. Nothing’s changed.”

5-7 They conveniently forget that long ago all the galaxies and this very planet were brought into existence out of watery chaos by God’s word. Then God’s word brought the chaos back in a flood that destroyed the world. The current galaxies and earth are fuel for the final fire. God is poised, ready to speak his word again, ready to give the signal for the judgment and destruction of the desecrating skeptics.

The Day the Sky Will Collapse
8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.

10 But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.

11-13 Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.

14-16 So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation. Our good brother Paul, who was given much wisdom in these matters, refers to this in all his letters, and has written you essentially the same thing. Some things Paul writes are difficult to understand. Irresponsible people who don’t know what they are talking about twist them every which way. They do it to the rest of the Scriptures, too, destroying themselves as they do it.

17-18 But you, friends, are well-warned. Be on guard lest you lose your footing and get swept off your feet by these lawless and loose-talking teachers. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Glory to the Master, now and forever! Yes!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, January 08, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:

John 1:35–42

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter[a]).


Footnotes
John 1:42 Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean rock.

Insight
The term “Lamb of God” is unique to John. Twice in John 1, John the Baptist calls Jesus the “Lamb of God” (vv. 29, 36). Verse 29 includes the description “who takes away the sin of the world!” This is a reference to the sin offering prescribed in the law of Moses (see Leviticus 4), where a lamb was one of several animals used as a sacrifice.

This isn’t the only place where the apostle John refers to Jesus as a lamb. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is described as “the Lamb, who was slain” (5:12) and the Lamb who opens the seals (6:1, 3, 5, 7). The blood of the Lamb overcomes the enemy (12:11), and the names of those who believe in Christ are recorded in the Lamb’s book of life (13:8).


God of the Invisible
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people. Hebrews 6:10

“Sometimes I feel as if I’m invisible. But I so want God to use me.”

Ann was tidying up the exercise room at the hotel I was visiting when we struck up a conversation. As we talked, I discovered she had an amazing story.

“I used to be a crack addict and prostitute living on the streets,” she said. “But I knew God wanted me to put down my pipe and walk with Him. One day years ago I knelt at Jesus’ feet, and He set me free.”

I thanked Ann for sharing what God had done for her and assured her she wasn’t invisible—He had used her in our conversation in a beautiful way to remind me of His power to transform lives.

God loves to use people others might overlook. The apostle Andrew isn’t as well known as his brother Peter, but the Bible recounts that “the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon [Peter] and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’. . . . And he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41–42).

Peter met Jesus through Andrew. When Andrew, one of John the Baptist’s disciples, learned about Jesus from John, he followed Jesus and believed—and immediately told his brother. Andrew’s quiet faithfulness had an impact that would shake the world.

God values faithful service over fame. He can use us powerfully wherever we are—even when no one is looking. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray
Whose quiet faithfulness made a difference in your life? How can you serve God by serving someone else today?

Thank You for never overlooking me, Father! I’m thankful You can use me to make a difference wherever I am.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 08, 2021
Is My Sacrifice Living?

Abraham built an altar…; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar… —Genesis 22:9

This event is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not— “Lord, I am ready to go with You…to death” (Luke 22:33). But— “I am willing to be identified with Your death so that I may sacrifice my life to God.”

We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. Then we enter into a relationship with God whereby we may sacrifice our lives to Him.

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a “living sacrifice”— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him.  Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L

Bible in a Year: Genesis 20-22; Matthew 6:19-34

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 08, 2021
When the Rain Just Won't Stop - #8870

Every once in a while the sun just decides to take a vacation for a few days. Not too long ago, we had one of those stretches of weather when we didn't see the old boy for the better part of a week. It was just like one rainy day after another. Everyone around here and everything around here was soaked. I was running into our headquarters one morning on a day like that, as one of my co-workers was, and we were both trying to avoid getting drenched in the process. I made some comment about the relentless rain, but he was looking at a little bigger picture than I was. Remembering last summer's withering drought, he said, "This is going to be good for us later on."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Rain Just Won't Stop."

You might be going through one of those seasons in your life when the "rain" never seems to stop. It's been stress, bad news, struggle, disappointment, grief, confusion. We all take our turn facing those seasons when we keep waking up to another rainy day.

Our word for today from the Word of God has been, for 2,000 years, a bright light for dark days. The well-worn words of Romans 8:28 have helped millions of believers see a bigger picture when it seemed as if it would never stop raining. As familiar as you might be with these words, they may literally have your name on them for this particular season of your life. So, listen to them with your heart; "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

One great saint described Romans 8:28 as "a soft pillow for a long night." I hope you will let it be that for you. Because it gives you God's ironclad assurance that there is meaning in what you're going through; there is a holy purpose for God either sending or allowing those things in your life. His purpose for our dark times is seldom explained, but it's always there. It doesn't say everything is good. No, it says everything is being worked together for good. For your good, if you're one of those "who love Him."

So you can say, no matter how many days it's been raining, "This is going to be good for us later on." God simply wouldn't let this happen if it wasn't going to be good for you later on. Romans 8:29 tells us that the ultimate good God is going to bring out of this is to make you more like His Son. I believe God shapes and allows the circumstances to come into your life that will best develop some quality of Jesus in us. There's nothing greater God could do for you than to plant in you the way Jesus loves people, the way Jesus treats people, the way Jesus is patient with people, the way Jesus understands what a hurting person is going through, and this kind of bondedness is what Jesus had with His Father.

And that may take a lot of rainy days for God to make you the man or woman He created you to be and redeemed you to be. He's toughening you, or maybe He's tenderizing you, purging you of old ways of doing things, squeezing you into new and better priorities, sensitizing you to people that maybe you've hurt or neglected, moving you to burn some old bridges or to treat some old wounds. What gets you through the rainy days is the calm assurance that "God is working all this together for my good to make a better me."

Are you going to enjoy one rainy day after another? Not necessarily. But it sure helps to see them in the big picture perspective. God is using these days to prepare you for better days ahead. So if you got up this morning and found that it was raining again, lean hard on Romans 8:28 and say, with all the confidence of a blood-bought child of God, "This is going to be very good for us later on."

Ezekiel 41, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN YOUR RESCUER APPEARS

Our Shepherd majors in restoring hope to the soul. Whether you are a lamb lost on a craggy ledge or a city slicker alone in a deep jungle, everything changes when your rescuer appears. Your loneliness diminishes because you have fellowship. Your despair decreases because you have vision. Your confusion begins to lift because you have direction.

Now,  you still haven’t left the jungle. It hasn’t changed, but you have. You have changed because your hope has been restored. And you have hope because you have met someone who can lead you out. Your Good Shepherd knows that you were not made for this place so he has come to guide you out. He is the perfect one to do so — he has the right vision, and he urges you to lift your eyes from the jungle around you to see the heaven above you.

Ezekiel 41

He brought me into the Temple itself and measured the doorposts on each side. Each was ten and a half feet thick. The entrance was seventeen and a half feet wide. The walls on each side were eight and three-quarters feet thick.

He also measured the Temple Sanctuary: seventy feet by thirty-five feet.

3-4 He went further in and measured the doorposts at the entrance: Each was three and a half feet thick. The entrance itself was ten and a half feet wide, and the entrance walls were twelve and a quarter feet thick. He measured the inside Sanctuary, thirty-five feet square, set at the end of the main Sanctuary. He told me, “This is The Holy of Holies.”

5-7 He measured the wall of the Temple. It was ten and a half feet thick. The side rooms around the Temple were seven feet wide. There were three floors of these side rooms, thirty rooms on each of the three floors. There were supporting beams around the Temple wall to hold up the side rooms, but they were freestanding, not attached to the wall itself. The side rooms around the Temple became wider from first floor to second floor to third floor. A staircase went from the bottom floor, through the middle, and then to the top floor.

8-11 I observed that the Temple had a ten-and-a-half-foot-thick raised base around it, which provided a foundation for the side rooms. The outside walls of the side rooms were eight and three-quarters feet thick. The open area between the side rooms of the Temple and the priests’ rooms was a thirty-five-foot-wide strip all around the Temple. There were two entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one placed on the north side, the other on the south. There were eight and three-quarters feet of open space all around.

12 The house that faced the Temple courtyard to the west was one hundred twenty-two and a half feet wide, with eight-and-three-quarters-foot-thick walls. The length of the wall and building was one hundred fifty-seven and a half feet.

13-14 He measured the Temple: one hundred seventy-five feet long. The Temple courtyard and the house, including its walls, measured a hundred seventy-five feet. The breadth of the front of the Temple and the open area to the east was a hundred seventy-five feet.

15-18 He measured the length of the house facing the courtyard at the back of the Temple, including the shelters on each side: one hundred seventy-five feet. The main Sanctuary, the inner Sanctuary, and the vestibule facing the courtyard were paneled with wood, and had window frames and door frames in all three sections. From floor to windows the walls were paneled. Above the outside entrance to the inner Sanctuary and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner Sanctuary and the main Sanctuary, angel-cherubim and palm trees were carved in alternating sequence.

18-20 Each angel-cherub had two faces: a human face toward the palm tree on the right and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the left. They were carved around the entire Temple. The cherubim–palm tree motif was carved from floor to door height on the wall of the main Sanctuary.

21-22 The main Sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe. In front of the Holy Place was something that looked like an altar of wood, five and a quarter feet high and three and a half feet square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that stands before God.”

23-26 Both the main Sanctuary and the Holy Place had double doors. Each door had two leaves: two hinged leaves for each door, one set swinging inward and the other set outward. The doors of the main Sanctuary were carved with angel-cherubim and palm trees. There was a canopy of wood in front of the vestibule outside. There were narrow windows alternating with carved palm trees on both sides of the porch.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, January 07, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Numbers 10:8–10

“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. 9 When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies. 10 Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

Insight
The description of the trumpets in Numbers 10:1–10 marks a significant transition for the Israelites. After spending eleven months camped at Sinai where they received direction and instruction from God, they were now to continue their journey to Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham for his descendants (Genesis 17:8). They were to use the trumpets to call “the community together and for having the camps set out” (Numbers 10:2).

Throughout Israel’s history, trumpets and other instruments, such as animal horns, were used for various reasons: to signal movement, in war, to call the Israelites to assemble, and to mark festivals. For example, trumpets were used when the Israelites moved the ark of the covenant (1 Chronicles 13:7–8; 15:24) and when they dedicated and purified the temple (2 Chronicles 5:12–13; 29:26). The ark and temple were where God dwelt and met with the Israelite priests, and where He communicated with His people.


Sound the Trumpets
At your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets. Numbers 10:10

“Taps” is a trumpet call played by the US military at the end of the day as well as at funerals. I was amazed when I read the unofficial lyrics and discovered that many of the verses end with the phrase “God is nigh” (God is near). Whether before the dark of each night settles in or while mourning the loss of a loved one, the lyrics offer soldiers the beautiful assurance that God is near.

In the Old Testament, trumpets were also a reminder to the Israelites that God was near. In the middle of celebrating the feasts and festivals that were part of the covenant agreement between God and the nation of Israel, the Jews were to “sound the trumpets” (Numbers 10:10). Blowing a trumpet was a reminder not only of God’s presence but also that He was available when they needed Him most—and He longed to help them.

Today, we still need reminders that God is near. And in our own style of worship, we too can call out to God in prayer and song. Perhaps our prayers can be thought of as trumpets asking God to help us. And the beautiful encouragement is that God always hears those calls (1 Peter 3:12). To each of our pleas, He responds with the assurance of His presence that strengthens and comforts us in the difficulties and sorrows of life.

By:  Lisa M. Samra


Reflect & Pray
When have your prayers felt like calls for help? How does the reminder that God listens to our prayers encourage you?

Heavenly Father, thank You that You respond to my call for help and assure me of Your powerful presence and love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 07, 2021
Intimate With Jesus

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?" —John 14:9

These words were not spoken as a rebuke, nor even with surprise; Jesus was encouraging Philip to draw closer. Yet the last person we get intimate with is Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come: “…I have called you friends…” (John 15:15). True friendship is rare on earth. It means identifying with someone in thought, heart, and spirit. The whole experience of life is designed to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His Word, but do we really know Him?

Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away…” (John 16:7). He left that relationship to lead them even closer. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to walk more intimately with Him. The bearing of fruit is always shown in Scripture to be the visible result of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ (see John 15:1-4).

Once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely and we never lack for understanding or compassion. We can continually pour out our hearts to Him without being perceived as overly emotional or pitiful. The Christian who is truly intimate with Jesus will never draw attention to himself but will only show the evidence of a life where Jesus is completely in control. This is the outcome of allowing Jesus to satisfy every area of life to its depth. The picture resulting from such a life is that of the strong, calm balance that our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

Bible in a Year: Genesis 18-19; Matthew 6:1-18

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 07, 2021
When the Lid Comes Off Your Life - #8869

She was only days old when she was abandoned by her parents. The lady who found her took her to an orphanage where she spent the first year of her life. It was a caring place, but of necessity, it was unheated. So she was too bundled up most of the time to fully develop her motor skills, and she was one of some twenty infants in tiny cribs in a small room. She got to play sometimes in their playroom, but it was pretty small, too. Small is the word, I guess, that would really describe her whole world. Then one day a couple from America came and her caregiver placed her in their arms. That day, she had her first ever ride in a motorized vehicle and her first view of the world beyond the orphanage. Since then, there's not a day that goes by that she doesn't have some new experiences that just keep blowing the walls off her world. She's not an orphan anymore. She's home!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Lid Comes Off Your Life."

This is not just the story of one little girl. Spiritually speaking, it's the story of millions of people across this world - including me. Something happened. Actually, someone happened that has blown the walls off our world. For someone listening right now whose world has felt pretty small and pretty empty, you might be minutes away from the step that will blow the lid off your life.

For that little girl from the orphanage, her life could pretty well be divided up into "B.F." and "A.F." - before she had a family and after she got a family. For me, and for so many others, it's "B. C." and "A. D." - before Christ and after Christ; before we began a personal relationship with Jesus and after we did. In fact, once you belong to Him and see how life was supposed to be all along, you tend to see all the years without Him the way the famous British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge saw his fifty plus years without Christ. His autobiography is entitled, "Chronicles of Wasted Years."

There are some folks who think that giving themselves to Jesus will actually limit their life. How wrong they are. Jesus made this awesome promise in our word for today from the Word of God in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." The opposite of full is empty. And that's how so many people feel inside, how they feel when they think about what their life really means. It just seems empty.

Jesus said He came to make it full. And better yet, He came so that, as the Bible says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life" (John 3:36), a full life on earth - eternal life in heaven. Because when you find Jesus, you find what and who you were made for. The Bible says about Jesus, we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Without Him, it just doesn't work.

To make this God-life available to you, it cost Jesus His life. The sin that separates you and me from God could only be removed by God's Son paying the death penalty for it - the penalty that we deserve. Then He walked out of His grave to prove that He really is the Life-Giver. When you get Jesus, you plug into the plan you were made for; you get heaven's direction for your decisions; you get inexhaustible, "unloseable" love; you get God's grace to help you weather every crisis; you have someone who's bigger than every challenge that's bigger than you are.

In short, the lid comes off your life. But not until you place your life in His hands; hands that still bear the nail prints that prove how much He loves you. Maybe you're not sure you've ever done that. This could be your day to begin your personal relationship with Jesus by telling Him that you're ready to turn from the sin that He died for and put all your trust in Him.

If that's what you're ready to do; if you're ready to begin life as it was meant to be, centered on the One who made you for Himself, then I would encourage you to go to our website today. There's a lot of helpful information there that has been a real encouragement to people at the same crossroads moment that you're at right now. Just go to ANewStory.com.

Jesus came a long way. He paid a high price to hold you in His arms and make you one of His family. He's the home that your heart's been needing, and it's time to find your home.

Ezekiel 40, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily Devotionals : HE RESTORES MY SOUL

Can you imagine, just for a moment, how it feels to be out of hope? If you can, you can relate to many people in this world. For many people life is a jungle. Our jungles are composed of thickets of contagious diseases and broken hearts and empty wallets. Our forests are framed with hospital walls and divorce courts. What would it take to restore your hope?

Three answers come quickly to mind. The first would be a person who knows the way out, someone you can trust. And from him you need some vision, someone to lift your spirits. Perhaps most important, you need direction. If you have someone who can take you from this place to the right place—there, now you’ve found someone who can restore your hope. Jesus offers to do this for you. Or, to use the words of King David, “He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:3).

Ezekiel 40

Measuring the Temple Complex

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year on the tenth of the month—it was the fourteenth year after the city fell—God touched me and brought me here. He brought me in divine vision to the land of Israel and set me down on a high mountain. To the south there were buildings that looked like a city. He took me there and I met a man deeply tanned, like bronze. He stood at the entrance holding a linen cord and a measuring stick.

4 The man said to me, “Son of man, look and listen carefully. Pay close attention to everything I’m going to show you. That’s why you’ve been brought here. And then tell Israel everything you see.”

5 First I saw a wall around the outside of the Temple complex. The measuring stick in the man’s hand was about ten feet long. He measured the thickness of the wall: about ten feet. The height was also about ten feet.

6-7 He went into the gate complex that faced the east and went up the seven steps. He measured the depth of the outside threshold of the gate complex: ten feet. There were alcoves flanking the gate corridor, each ten feet square, each separated by a wall seven and a half feet thick. The inside threshold of the gate complex that led to the porch facing into the Temple courtyard was ten feet deep.

8-9 He measured the inside porch of the gate complex: twelve feet deep, flanked by pillars three feet thick. The porch opened onto the Temple courtyard.

10 Inside this east gate complex were three alcoves on each side. Each room was the same size and the separating walls were identical.

11 He measured the outside entrance to the gate complex: fifteen feet wide and nineteen and a half feet deep.

12 In front of each alcove was a low wall eighteen inches high. The alcoves were ten feet square.

13 He measured the width of the gate complex from the outside edge of the alcove roof on one side to the outside edge of the alcove roof on the other: thirty-seven and a half feet from one top edge to the other.

14 He measured the inside walls of the gate complex: ninety feet to the porch leading into the courtyard.

15 The distance from the entrance of the gate complex to the far end of the porch was seventy-five feet.

16 The alcoves and their connecting walls inside the gate complex were topped by narrow windows all the way around. The porch also. All the windows faced inward. The doorjambs between the alcoves were decorated with palm trees.

17-19 The man then led me to the outside courtyard and all its rooms. A paved walkway had been built connecting the courtyard gates. Thirty rooms lined the courtyard. The walkway was the same length as the gateways. It flanked them and ran their entire length. This was the walkway for the outside courtyard. He measured the distance from the front of the entrance gateway across to the entrance of the inner court: one hundred fifty feet.

19-23 Then he took me to the north side. Here was another gate complex facing north, exiting the outside courtyard. He measured its length and width. It had three alcoves on each side. Its gateposts and porch were the same as in the first gate: eighty-seven and a half feet by forty-three and three-quarters feet. The windows and palm trees were identical to the east gateway. Seven steps led up to it, and its porch faced inward. Opposite this gate complex was a gate complex to the inside courtyard, on the north as on the east. The distance between the two was one hundred seventy-five feet.

24-27 Then he took me to the south side, to the south gate complex. He measured its gateposts and its porch. It was the same size as the others. The porch with its windows was the same size as those previously mentioned. It also had seven steps up to it. Its porch opened onto the outside courtyard, with palm trees decorating its gateposts on both sides. Opposite to it, the gate complex for the inner court faced south. He measured the distance across the courtyard from gate to gate: one hundred seventy-five feet.

28-31 He led me into the inside courtyard through the south gate complex. He measured it and found it the same as the outside ones. Its alcoves, connecting walls, and vestibule were the same. The gate complex and porch, windowed all around, measured eighty-seven and a half by forty-three and three-quarters feet. The vestibule of each of the gate complexes leading to the inside courtyard was forty-three and three-quarters by eight and three-quarters feet. Each vestibule faced the outside courtyard. Palm trees were carved on its doorposts. Eight steps led up to it.

32-34 He then took me to the inside courtyard on the east and measured the gate complex. It was identical to the others—alcoves, connecting walls, and vestibule all the same. The gate complex and vestibule had windows all around. It measured eighty-seven and a half by forty-three and three-quarters feet. Its porch faced the outside courtyard. There were palm trees on the doorposts on both sides. And it had eight steps.

35-37 He brought me to the gate complex to the north and measured it: same measurements. The alcoves, connecting walls, and vestibule with its windows: eighty-seven and a half by forty-three and three-quarters feet. Its porch faced the outside courtyard. There were palm trees on its doorposts on both sides. And it had eight steps.

38-43 There was a room with a door at the vestibule of the gate complex where the burnt offerings were cleaned. Two tables were placed within the vestibule, one on either side, on which the animals for burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were slaughtered. Two tables were also placed against both outside walls of the vestibule—four tables inside and four tables outside, eight tables in all for slaughtering the sacrificial animals. The four tables used for the burnt offerings were thirty-one and a half inches square and twenty-one inches high. The tools for slaughtering the sacrificial animals and other sacrifices were kept there. Meat hooks, three inches long, were fastened to the walls. The tables were for the sacrificial animals.

44-46 Right where the inside gate complex opened onto the inside courtyard there were two rooms, one at the north gate facing south and the one at the south gate facing north. The man told me, “The room facing south is for the priests who are in charge of the Temple. And the room facing north is for the priests who are in charge of the altar. These priests are the sons of Zadok, the only sons of Levi permitted to come near to God to serve him.”

47 He measured the inside courtyard: a hundred seventy-five feet square. The altar was in front of the Temple.

48-49 He led me to the porch of the Temple and measured the gateposts of the porch: eight and three-quarters feet high on both sides. The entrance to the gate complex was twenty-one feet wide and its connecting walls were four and a half feet thick. The vestibule itself was thirty-five feet wide and twenty-one feet deep. Ten steps led up to the porch. Columns flanked the gateposts.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, January 06, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 John 3:1–6

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Insight
In 1 John 3:2, John reminds his “dear friends” of the return of Jesus with the phrase “when Christ appears.” The promise of Jesus’ physical return is a consistent theme in the New Testament and was shared by the Savior Himself (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; John 14:1–3), then echoed by the angels following His ascension (Acts 1:11). This return is integral to our hope in Christ which carries us through the difficulties of life. In 1 John, however, the apostle’s focus isn’t on endurance in times of trial. Rather, he points us to the appearing of Jesus as the ultimate culmination of God’s plan for His children to be made fully like Him. Notice the pattern of John’s hopeful words: Christ shall appear, we shall see Him, and we’ll be finally and completely conformed to Him. When Jesus returns, God’s transforming work in us will be complete.

Depths of Love
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

Three-year-old Dylan McCoy had just learned to swim when he fell through a rotted plywood covering into a forty-foot deep, stone-walled well in his grandfather’s backyard. Dylan managed to stay afloat in ten feet of water until his father went down to rescue him. Firefighters brought ropes to raise the boy, but the father was so worried about his son that he’d already climbed down the slippery rocks to make sure he was safe.

Oh, the love of a parent! Oh, the lengths (and depths) we will go for our children!

When the apostle John writes to believers in the early church who were struggling to find footing for their faith as false teaching swirled about them, he extends these words like a life-preserver: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Naming believers in Jesus as “children” of God was an intimate and legal labeling that brought validity to all who trust in Him.

Oh, the lengths and depths God will go for His children!  

There are actions a parent will take only for their child—like Dylan’s dad descending into a well to save his son. And like the ultimate act of our heavenly Father, who sent His only Son to gather us close to His heart and restore us to life with Him (vv. 5–6). By:  Elisa Morgan

Reflect & Pray
When has God rescued you from a dark well of need? How have you seen Him bring you to a place of hope?

Oh, heavenly Father, thank You for reaching into the well of my need to rescue me and bring me back to You!

Read more about the love of God at DiscoverySeries.org/Q0612.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 06, 2021
Worship

He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. —Genesis 12:8

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.

Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L

Bible in a Year: Genesis 16-17; Matthew 5:27-48

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 06, 2021
Today's Storm, Tomorrow's Strength - #8868

Besides all the other upheaval of 2020, it was like a record year for hurricanes. They went through the entire English alphabet of names, then started on the Greek alphabet! It's reminiscent of those two massive hurricanes that hit within days of each other. Remember? Harvey swamped Texas. Irma devastated Florida.

First, they talked about rescue - saving lives. Then came the long slog they call recovery. Weeks. Months. Years. But the aftermath of Florida's previous monster hurricane, Hurricane Andrew, actually yielded some unforeseen good from the storm. Andrew's killer winds revealed these fatal weaknesses in a lot of their buildings and the need for much stronger building codes. As a result, Hurricane Irma, with all her punishing gusts, couldn't do the damage Andrew had done.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Today's Storm, Tomorrow's Strength"

From that tale of two hurricanes, a tale of many storm-ravaged lives emerges. From the devastation of one storm came a new strength to withstand future storms. That's what's happened in many a life torn up by one of life's Category 5 storms. Heartbreaking losses. A life-altering medical hit. A shipwrecked relationship. A family crisis. Or, as in my life, the loss of the one you love deeply.

For many, from the rubble of that storm came something stronger than ever before. And you know what that is? That's hope! A defiant hope! Yes, life-storms do damage. But they also expose where there are weak spots - in my character, in my relationship with God, in a family, in a marriage, in our parenting. Weak spots in because of past wounds that we've never dealt with.

Often, a major life-storm means a major life-loss of some kind: your health, your income, your future plans, your marriage, your loved one. And that loss leaves a gaping hole. I'm not sure that hole ever goes away. But after the storm, you have a choice. Let your loss - and the hole it leaves - define your life from now on. Goodbye, hope. Or begin to rebuild your life around that hole. And to rebuild your life ON what you've learned from that loss. Now that's a blueprint for hope.

That's the perspective in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 5:3-5. It shows the constructive possibilities from a destructive event. "We can rejoice, too," it says, "when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love."

Great athletes have served their time in the weight room usually, pushing hard to increase their bench press. And lifting more than you've ever lifted before hurts. There's pain. But coaches want to see you in that weight room. Because the pain of lifting more than you've ever lifted before will make you stronger than you've ever been before. More powerful, more confident, more valuable, more useful to God than you've ever been before.

No, you can't stop the storm or its effects. But you can choose to not retreat but to rebuild. Working with God on the vulnerabilities that the storm revealed. Rebuilding stronger than ever before. Ready for whatever storms may come.

Or, in the Bible's words: "In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

2 Peter 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: AN OPPORTUNITY TO BEGIN AGAIN

God knows the way forward. No matter what kind of disappointment or grief or trouble or heartache you’ve encountered, God offers an opportunity to begin again. In his plan prodigals get a new robe, the weary find new strength, and the lonely find a friend.

Your current circumstances will not get the final say in your life. To all the Noahs of the world, to all who search the horizon for a glimpse of hope, God proclaims, “Yes!” And he comes—he comes as a dove, he comes bearing fruit from a distant land, from our future home. He comes with a leaf of promise that he can make all things new. By God’s grace you can find your way to dry land, you can watch the waters subside, you can step out on fresh soil. With God as your guide, you, yes you, can begin again.

2 Peter 2

Lying Religious Leaders

But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong.

2-3 They give the way of truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on.

4-5 God didn’t let the rebel angels off the hook, but jailed them in hell till Judgment Day. Neither did he let the ancient ungodly world off. He wiped it out with a flood, rescuing only eight people—Noah, the sole voice of righteousness, was one of them.

6-8 God decreed destruction for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A mound of ashes was all that was left—grim warning to anyone bent on an ungodly life. But that good man Lot, driven nearly out of his mind by the sexual filth and perversity, was rescued. Surrounded by moral rot day after day after day, that righteous man was in constant torment.

9 So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.

Predators on the Prowl
10-11 God is especially incensed against these “teachers” who live by lust, addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don’t hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures. Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn’t think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before God.

12-14 These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end. Their evil will boomerang on them. They’re so despicable and addicted to pleasure that they indulge in wild parties, carousing in broad daylight. They’re obsessed with adultery, compulsive in sin, seducing every vulnerable soul they come upon. Their specialty is greed, and they’re experts at it. Dead souls!

15-16 They’ve left the main road and are directionless, having taken the way of Balaam, son of Beor, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil. But Balaam was stopped in his wayward tracks: A dumb animal spoke in a human voice and prevented the prophet’s craziness.

17-19 There’s nothing to these people—they’re dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell. They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they’re dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they’re addicted to corruption—and they are—they’re enslaved.

20-22 If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left. Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command. They prove the point of the proverbs, “A dog goes back to its own vomit” and “A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, January 05, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Jeremiah 15:15–18

Lord, you understand;
    remember me and care for me.
    Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
    think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
16 When your words came, I ate them;
    they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
    Lord God Almighty.
17 I never sat in the company of revelers,
    never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
    and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
    and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
    like a spring that fails.

Insight
In Jeremiah 15:15–18, several metaphors vividly capture Jeremiah’s experience of his calling as a prophet. In verse 16, he uses the metaphor of eating to capture the idea of fully embracing and internalizing God’s words. Some scholars suggest that to “bear [God’s] name” in this context may allude to the shared name that results from marriage. In addition, the words joy and delight elsewhere in Jeremiah are always connected with wedding festivities (7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:11).

In Jeremiah 15:18, the prophet uses the metaphor of streambeds or wadis to capture his bewilderment at the stark contrast between his initial intimacy with God and his current anguish. Such streambeds in the summertime were often dried up and therefore unreliable sources of water. In this way, Jeremiah vividly captures a feeling of deep betrayal at experiencing God in this way, rather than as the everlasting “spring of living water” He’d described Himself as (2:13).

To learn more about how the geography of the Holy Land enhances our understanding of the Bible, visit ChristianUniversity.org/NT110.

A Ripening Process
When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight. Jeremiah 15:16

Early in his fifty-year ministry in Cambridge, England, Charles Simeon (1759–1836) met a neighboring pastor, Henry Venn, and his daughters. After the visit, the daughters remarked how harsh and self-assertive the young man seemed. In response, Venn asked his daughters to pick a peach from the trees. When they wondered why their father would want the unripe fruit, he responded, “Well, my dears, it is green now, and we must wait; but a little more sun, and a few more showers, and the peach will be ripe and sweet. So it is with Mr. Simeon.”

Over the years Simeon did soften through God’s transforming grace. One reason was his commitment to read the Bible and pray every day. A friend who stayed with him for a few months witnessed this practice and remarked, “Here was the secret of his great grace and spiritual strength.”

Simeon in his daily time with God followed the practice of the prophet Jeremiah, who faithfully listened for God’s words. Jeremiah depended on them so much that he said, “When your words came, I ate them.” He mulled and chewed over God’s words, which were his “joy” and “heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16).

If we too resemble a sour green fruit, we can trust that God will help to soften us through His Spirit as we get to know Him through reading and obeying the Scriptures. By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray
How has reading the Bible changed you? Why might you sometimes not read it?

God, the Scriptures feed me and protect me from sin. Help me to read them every day.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 05, 2021
The Life of Power to Follow

Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." —John 13:36

“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).

Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “…He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.

All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit” — the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither

Bible in a Year: Genesis 13-15; Matthew 5:1-26

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 05, 2021
Two Broken Men, One Big Difference - #8867

Whenever we passed a park, I shifted into nagging mode to get my dad to stop, because I loved the swings. Didn't do that spinning carousel thing - never did enjoy throwing up. Then, the seesaw - now that was fun, too.

Of course, when it was little Ronnie and big Daddy, it didn't work too well. Somehow I kept ending up with my end of the seesaw suspended in the air as my dad thought it was fun to just sit there with his end on the ground for a while. Now here's what was really not fun - having no one on the other end. You just sit there with your end of that thing on the ground - and nothing on the other side to lift you up. That's what happened to my dad the night of the greatest loss of his life.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Two Broken Men, One Big Difference."

Whenever you lose someone or something important to you, it triggers one of the most intense, potentially most destructive emotions there is. Grief. I was overwhelmed with it on the day in May when that became the worst day of my life. That's the day my Karen, the love of my life since I was 19, was suddenly gone. How could I have known the night before when I told her I loved her as I left for a trip, that I'd never be able to tell her that again?

For my dad, it was that night when I was four, when he and my mom left our little apartment in a panic to get my baby brother to the hospital. I never saw him again. The doctors couldn't do anything for little Steven. Six months old - he was gone.

I saw my dad totally crushed and devastated. Unable to recover. Crying all the time. Today I'd say he was inconsolable.

In my dad's unspeakable loss - and years later in mine - we were both broken men. Both with many tears. But as I compare my grief to what I saw in my dad, there is one massive difference. Hope. Because in my darkest hour, I had my relationship with Jesus. My dad had nowhere to turn.

He was "on the ground" with nothing on the other side to lift him up. But, praise God, the day I lost the love of my life, Jesus was there with His unloseable love enveloping my wounded heart.

That's the difference in knowing Jesus, spelled out in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, our word for today from the Word of God. Where Paul says to some grieving people who belong to Jesus: "You do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." He goes on to say "for we believe that Jesus died and rose again."

Eventually, in his grief, my dad started dropping me off to go to Sunday School at a nearby church. That's where I learned how much Jesus loved me. So much that He died on an awful cross to pay for every bad thing that I've ever done or that you've ever done. And then three days later He crushed death as He walked out of His grave! One Sunday I came running out to the car and I gushed, "Daddy, today I asked Jesus into my heart." I know he didn't understand. But a few months later he did - and he came with all his sin and his brokenness to the only One who could forgive and heal - Jesus.

Here's the difference between someone who's listening right now who has begun a relationship with Jesus and someone who hasn't. With Jesus, yes, you grieve. But there's something on the other side of the scale - hope. Jesus. With His love, with His heaven, without Jesus, it's just the agony of grief with nothing on the other side to lift you up. Hurt with hope or hurt without hope.

If you're doing life; if you're doing heartbreak and death without Jesus in your heart, I pray today will be the day you reach out to Him and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." I'd love to help you get that settled, if you'll just go and check out the life-giving information on our website. That's ANewStory.com.

So much loss. So much hurt. But, oh, there's hope. And hope has a name. His name is Jesus.

Ezekiel 39, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: AN OPPORTUNITY TO BEGIN AGAIN

God knows the way forward. No matter what kind of disappointment or grief or trouble or heartache you’ve encountered, God offers an opportunity to begin again. In his plan prodigals get a new robe, the weary find new strength, and the lonely find a friend.

Your current circumstances will not get the final say in your life. To all the Noahs of the world, to all who search the horizon for a glimpse of hope, God proclaims, “Yes!” And he comes—he comes as a dove, he comes bearing fruit from a distant land, from our future home. He comes with a leaf of promise that he can make all things new. By God’s grace you can find your way to dry land, you can watch the waters subside, you can step out on fresh soil. With God as your guide, you, yes you, can begin again.

Ezekiel 39

Call the Wild Animals!

 “Son of man, prophesy against Gog. Say, ‘A Message of God, the Master: I’m against you, Gog, head of Meshech and Tubal. I’m going to turn you around and drag you out, drag you out of the far north and down on the mountains of Israel. Then I’ll knock your bow out of your left hand and your arrows from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you’ll be slaughtered, you and all your troops and the people with you. I’ll serve you up as a meal to carrion birds and scavenging animals. You’ll be killed in the open field. I’ve given my word. Decree of God, the Master.’

6 “I’ll set fire to Magog and the far-off islands, where people are so seemingly secure. And they’ll realize that I am God.

7 “I’ll reveal my holy name among my people Israel. Never again will I let my holy name be dragged in the mud. Then the nations will realize that I, God, am The Holy in Israel.

8 “It’s coming! Yes, it will happen! This is the day I’ve been telling you about.

9-10 “People will come out of the cities of Israel and make a huge bonfire of the weapons of war, piling on shields large and small, bows and arrows, clubs and spears, a fire they’ll keep going for seven years. They won’t need to go into the woods to get fuel for the fire. There’ll be plenty of weapons to keep it going. They’ll strip those who stripped them. They’ll rob those who robbed them. Decree of God, the Master.

11 “At that time I’ll set aside a burial ground for Gog in Israel at Traveler’s Rest, just east of the sea. It will obstruct the route of travelers, blocking their way, the mass grave of Gog and his mob of an army. They’ll call the place Gog’s Mob.

12-16 “Israel will bury the corpses in order to clean up the land. It will take them seven months. All the people will turn out to help with the burials. It will be a big day for the people when it’s all done and I’m given my due. Men will be hired full-time for the cleanup burial operation and will go through the country looking for defiling, decomposing corpses. At the end of seven months, there’ll be an all-out final search. Anyone who sees a bone will mark the place with a stick so the buriers can get it and bury it in the mass burial site, Gog’s Mob. (A town nearby is called Mobville, or Hamonah.) That’s how they’ll clean up the land.

17-20 “Son of man, God, the Master, says: Call the birds! Call the wild animals! Call out, ‘Gather and come, gather around my sacrificial meal that I’m preparing for you on the mountains of Israel. You’ll eat meat and drink blood. You’ll eat off the bodies of great heroes and drink the blood of famous princes as if they were so many rams and lambs, goats and bulls, the choicest grain-fed animals of Bashan. At the sacrificial meal I’m fixing for you, you’ll eat fat till you’re stuffed and drink blood till you’re drunk. At the table I set for you, you’ll stuff yourselves with horses and riders, heroes and fighters of every kind.’ Decree of God, the Master.

21-24 “I’ll put my glory on display among the nations and they’ll all see the judgment I execute, see me at work handing out judgment. From that day on, Israel will realize that I am their God. And the nations will get the message that it was because of their sins that Israel went into exile. They were disloyal to me and I turned away from them. I turned them over to their enemies and they were all killed. I treated them as their polluted and sin-sated lives deserved. I turned away from them, refused to look at them.

25-29 “But now I will return Jacob back from exile, I’ll be compassionate with all the people of Israel, and I’ll be zealous for my holy name. Eventually the memory will fade, the memory of their shame over their betrayals of me when they lived securely in their own land, safe and unafraid. Once I’ve brought them back from foreign parts, gathered them in from enemy territories, I’ll use them to demonstrate my holiness with all the nations watching. Then they’ll realize for sure that I am their God, for even though I sent them off into exile, I will gather them back to their own land, leaving not one soul behind. After I’ve poured my Spirit on Israel, filled them with my life, I’ll no longer turn away. I’ll look them full in the face. Decree of God, the Master.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, January 04, 2021
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Footnotes
Psalm 100:3 Or and not we ourselves

Insight
While worship of God may include joyful praise and thanksgiving, as Psalm 100 describes, the biblical concept of worship is much broader. The Hebrew word translated “worship” (‘bd) in Psalm 100:2 is more often translated “serve” or “work.” For example, Adam was to “work” (same Hebrew word) the ground in the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). Later this word became associated with the “service” of God in the tabernacle and temple (see Numbers 3:7). Because tabernacle and temple service involved praise of God, offering sacrifices, and other religious practices, the word came to mean “worship” as we understand it today. But the concept really has to do with serving God more than singing praises and offering thanksgiving. These expressions of worship are just some ways we can serve God. As Paul says, believers are to offer their whole bodies and minds to God as an act of spiritual worship (Romans 12:1–2).

A Lifestyle of Worship
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.Psalm 100:2

As I waited in the breakfast buffet line at a Christian conference center, a group of women entered the dining hall. I smiled, saying hello to a woman who stepped into the line behind me. Returning my greeting, she said, “I know you.” We scooped scrambled eggs onto our plates and tried to figure out where we’d met. But I was pretty sure she’d mistaken me for someone else.

When we returned for lunch, the woman approached me. “Do you drive a white car?”

I shrugged. “I used to. A few years ago.”

She laughed. “We stopped at the same traffic light by the elementary school almost every morning,” she said. “You’d always be lifting your hands, singing joyfully. I thought you were worshiping God. That made me want to join in, even on tough days.”

Praising God, we prayed together, hugged, and enjoyed lunch.

My new friend affirmed that people notice how Jesus’ followers behave, even when we think no one is watching. As we embrace a lifestyle of joyful worship, we can come before our Creator anytime and anywhere. Acknowledging His enduring love and faithfulness, we can enjoy intimate communion with Him and thank Him for His ongoing care (Psalm 100). Whether we’re singing praises in our cars, praying in public, or spreading God’s love through kind acts, we can inspire others to “praise his name” (v. 4). Worshiping God is more than a Sunday morning event. By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray
In what ways can you joyfully worship God throughout the day? When has someone else's worship led to your own?

Almighty God, please help me live to worship You with contagious joy and gratitude.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 04, 2021

Why Can I Not Follow You Now?

Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?" —John 13:37

There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.

At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.

Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.

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: Genesis 10-12; Matthew 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 04, 2021
God's Gerbils - #8866

Gerbils are pretty funny and they're extremely predictable. At least, the one our kids had. He sure was fun. He was a pet. When I checked on him in his little cage upstairs, he was almost always doing the same thing - the wheel. There he was, chugging away, running on his gerbil wheel. If you went back a few hours later…the wheel. If I had spoken "Gerbilese," I would have pointed out that even though he was expending a lot of energy, he wasn't going anywhere. But I think I know what his response would be. He would just run faster on the wheel that was going nowhere!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Gerbils."

These next few moments are dedicated to a special group of people - really busy Christians. Many of whom are, unknowingly, spiritual gerbils running faster and faster on a wheel, but often really not going anywhere because they're doing a lot of the right things for a lot of the wrong reasons.

The right reason to be serving is plainly spelled out in our word for today from the Word of God, where Jesus asks what is probably the most important question He ever asked. After Peter's triple denial of his Lord and Jesus' resurrection from the dead, Jesus calls him aside for a man-to-man talk in John 21, beginning in verse 15. And there's the question.

"Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon...do you truly love Me more than these?' 'Yes, Lord,' he said, 'you know that I love You.' Jesus said, 'Feed My lambs.'" Jesus goes on to ask His question a second time, and then again. "Jesus said, 'Simon...do you love Me?' Peter said, 'Lord...You know that I love You.' Jesus said, 'Feed My sheep.'"

Notice, Jesus didn't ask, "Why did you fail Me?" or "Will you work for Me?" All He wanted to know was "Do you love Me?" That's all He wants to know from you - do you love Him? Notice that the assignment, "Feed My sheep," comes only after Jesus is sure, and Peter is sure, that he's doing it for love.

Which leads to the inevitable question about your spiritual service. What are you doing it for? Basically, there are three reasons people do Christian things: duty, recognition, or love. And the first two don't count. Maybe you've been busy for God mostly out of a sense of duty. That's why you're easily frustrated, you're often depleted, you're way too stressed. It's a spiritual gerbil wheel, isn't it? You're Martha, fulfilling all your responsibilities, but you're neglecting your relationship with Jesus. And the relationship matters way more to Him than the responsibilities.

Maybe you're doing it for recognition - Gerbil wheel. Not to mention glory-stealing - using only what God should be getting glory for to get glory for yourself. Doing the work of the Lord for duty or for recognition is inevitably going to feel hollow, unsatisfying, exhausting, and frustrating, because you're supposed to be doing it as an overflow of your love for Jesus.

And chances are good it used to be, it was because you loved Him. But now what's supposed to be a joy has become a gerbil wheel because your reasons for doing it got mixed up. Maybe it's time to say, "Jesus, I repent of doing the right things for the wrong reasons. I just want to spend the time with You that I need to spend to fall in love with You again." When you do, then all your spiritual service becomes simply loving Jesus in front of people. It's all for Him! And then the results don't matter...the recognition doesn't matter, just as long as you know that Jesus is smiling.

The longer you do it for yourself, the more miserable it grows. But the longer you do it for Jesus, the sweeter He grows.