Revelation 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NOW I HAVE SEEN YOU

Consider the words Job said to God: “I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you (Job 42:5).

You can use the book of Job as evidence that God gives us questions and no answers. But to do so, you need to cut out the rest of the book of Job, for that’s not how Job heard it. All his life Job had been a good man. All his life he had believed in God, but in the storm Job saw God.

He saw hope, lover, destroyer, giver, taker, dreamer, deliverer. Job saw the tender anger of a God whose unending love is often received with a peculiar mistrust. Job stood as a blade of grass against the consuming fire of God’s splendor. Job’s demands melted like wax as God pulled back the curtain and heaven’s light fell uneclipsed across the earth.

Revelation 2

To Ephesus

Write this to Ephesus, to the Angel of the church. The One with Seven Stars in his right-fist grip, striding through the golden seven-lights’ circle, speaks:

2-3 “I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.

4-5 “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall!

“Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.

6 “You do have this to your credit: You hate the Nicolaitan business. I hate it, too.

7 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I’m about to call each conqueror to dinner. I’m spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God’s orchard.”

To Smyrna
8 Write this to Smyrna, to the Angel of the church. The Beginning and Ending, the First and Final One, the Once Dead and Then Come Alive, speaks:

9 “I can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also see your wealth. And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews, who in fact belong to Satan’s crowd.

10 “Fear nothing in the things you’re about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won’t last forever.

“Don’t quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you.

11 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death.”

To Pergamum
12 Write this to Pergamum, to the Angel of the church. The One with the sharp-biting sword draws from the sheath of his mouth—out come the sword words:

13 “I see where you live, right under the shadow of Satan’s throne. But you continue boldly in my Name; you never once denied my Name, even when the pressure was worst, when they martyred Antipas, my witness who stayed faithful to me on Satan’s turf.

14-15 “But why do you indulge that Balaam crowd? Don’t you remember that Balaam was an enemy agent, seducing Balak and sabotaging Israel’s holy pilgrimage by throwing unholy parties? And why do you put up with the Nicolaitans, who do the same thing?

16 “Enough! Don’t give in to them; I’ll be with you soon. I’m fed up and about to cut them to pieces with my sword-sharp words.

17 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I’ll give the sacred manna to every conqueror; I’ll also give a clear, smooth stone inscribed with your new name, your secret new name.”

To Thyatira
18 Write this to Thyatira, to the Angel of the church. God’s Son, eyes pouring fire-blaze, standing on feet of furnace-fired bronze, says this:

19 “I see everything you’re doing for me. Impressive! The love and the faith, the service and persistence. Yes, very impressive! You get better at it every day.

20-23 “But why do you let that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet mislead my dear servants into Cross-denying, self-indulging religion? I gave her a chance to change her ways, but she has no intention of giving up a career in the god-business. I’m about to lay her low, along with her partners, as they play their sex-and-religion games. The bastard offspring of their idol-whoring I’ll kill. Then every church will know that appearances don’t impress me. I x-ray every motive and make sure you get what’s coming to you.

24-25 “The rest of you Thyatirans, who have nothing to do with this outrage, who scorn this playing around with the Devil that gets paraded as profundity, be assured I’ll not make life any harder for you than it already is. Hold on to the truth you have until I get there.

26-28 “Here’s the reward I have for every conqueror, everyone who keeps at it, refusing to give up: You’ll rule the nations, your Shepherd-King rule as firm as an iron staff, their resistance fragile as clay pots. This was the gift my Father gave me; I pass it along to you—and with it, the Morning Star!

29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, February 12, 2021
Read: Revelation 19:1–9

Threefold Hallelujah Over Babylon’s Fall

After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2     for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

3 And again they shouted:

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:

“Amen, Hallelujah!”

5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    both great and small!”

6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

INSIGHT
Who is the “great prostitute” who’s condemned in Revelation 19:2? It’s clear from Revelation 17:1–6, 15–16 that the prostitute is Babylon. However, this naturally raises the question: what is Babylon? Babylon is the world system that has “corrupted the earth” and killed God’s true servants (19:2). It’s a way of life—both cultural and political—at war with scriptural principles, with God-fearing people, and with God Himself. Not to be missed in the chapter is the contrast between the “great prostitute” and the true bride of Christ—the church. It’s this “bride” that’s the target of so much persecution. Revelation 19 celebrates the final judgment of the world system that opposes God.

A Joyful Celebration - By Anne Cetas
The wedding of the Lamb has come. Revelation 19:7

My friend Sharon passed away one year prior to the death of my friend Dave’s teenage daughter Melissa. They both had been tragically killed in car accidents. One night both Sharon and Melissa were in my dream. They giggled and talked as they hung streamers in a large banquet hall and ignored me when I stepped into the room. A long table with white tablecloths had been set with golden plates and goblets. I asked if I could help decorate, but they didn’t seem to hear me and kept working.

But then Sharon said, “This party is Melissa’s wedding reception.”

“Who’s the groom?” I asked.

Neither responded but smiled and looked at each other knowingly. Finally, it dawned on me—it’s Jesus!

“Jesus is the groom,” I whispered as I woke up.

My dream brings to mind the joyful celebration believers in Jesus will share together when He returns. It’s portrayed in Revelation as a lavish feast called “the wedding supper of the Lamb” (19:9). John the Baptist, who prepared people for the first coming of Christ, had called Him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He also referred to Jesus as “the bridegroom” and to himself as the “friend” (like the best man) who waited for Him (3:29).

On that banquet day and for all eternity we will enjoy unbroken fellowship with Jesus, our groom, and with Sharon and Melissa and all of God’s people.

What does Jesus’ invitation to come to Him for forgiveness and eternal life mean to you? Who could you tell your story to?

I look forward to that day of celebration and seeing You, Jesus. Come quickly.

Read more about Christ’s ultimate triumph in this study of Revelation: ChristianUniversity.org/NT228.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 12, 2021
Are You Listening to God?

They said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." —Exodus 20:19

We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”

Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 13; Matthew 26:26-50

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, February 12, 2021
Looking For a Love You'll Never Find - #8895

Our son had just finished his first day of high school and he thought he had found the "happy hunting ground." For girls, that is. He regaled his sister, then a junior in high school, with stories about all the incredible girls he'd seen that day. The more he talked, the more disgusted she became. Finally, she just blurted out, "You are so superficial!" To which he immediately replied, "Well, of course. I'm a freshman! We're into superficial!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking For a Love You'll Never Find."

Most of us aren't into superficial. We've experienced enough superficial in our relationships for a lifetime. Now we just want something real. But there's more superficial and less real than ever.

A Newsweek writer said "The greatest challenge of this century is going to be to avoid becoming a faceless society." She went on to describe our modern online relationships with acquaintances or friends that we've never really met, or who may not be at all like the person they say they are. We're more connected to more people than ever before, but in many ways, we're more lonely than we've ever been.

Anna Quindlen, the Newsweek columnist, tells about a memoir entitled "The Autobiography of a Face," in which the author describes her childhood after cancer left her with much of her lower jaw gone or distorted. The author said there was one night of the year when she felt the happiest and the most free: Halloween, when she could wear a mask. Quindlen says, "This is the age of the mask." Our superficial world has become a place where, in her words, so many are "looking for something more, someone who will see them across a field of restaurant tables, really see them...looking for that one face in the crowd. Maybe everyone is."

Once there was a woman with an incurable medical problem who was desperate for someone who would care - someone who could cure her. With her money and her medical options all used up, she pushed her way through a crushing crowd to get to a man called Jesus. In faith, she touched the hem of His robe, sure that Jesus would never know in the middle of so many people pressing on Him. But He said, "I know power has gone out from Me." The Bible says she found out that "she could not go unnoticed" by Jesus (Luke 8:43-48). Neither can you. Jesus is the face in the crowd who offers you the authentic love you've been looking for your whole life.

1 Samuel 16:7, our word for today from the Word of God tells us that "man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." Jesus doesn't care about the superficial stuff that's so important to everyone else. He cares about your heart. And because He's God, He knows all the hurt, the darkness, the sin that's there. And He loves you. How can you know that? He's offered living proof - actually, dying proof. The Bible says, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

We didn't care about Him, but He died for us - for the sin that separates us from Him. That's how much He loves you. That's how much He desires to have a relationship with you. His love is the only one you can never lose, because it's not based on your performance. It's based on His promise, "I will never leave you." (Hebrews 13:5). The One who knows you best loves you most!

He doesn't force His love on you. You have to choose it; respond to it. In the Bible's words, "We love Him because He loved us first" (1 John 4:19). Your relationship with Him begins as an act of total trust in the One who loved you enough to die for you. When you say, "Jesus, I'm done running my life. You run it from now on. You're my only hope of being forgiven. I'm yours beginning today."

You want that? Let me encourage you to go to our website today. You'll see an explanation there how to be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

No one on earth has the love to fill that hole in your heart. It's a God-shaped hole, and only He's big enough to fill it. You don't have to do anything to impress Him or to get Him to love you. He already does. Jesus...He's the end of your search.

Zechariah 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S QUESTIONS

Listen to the question God asked Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much” (Job 38:4). One question would have been enough for Job, but it isn’t enough for God. Questions rush forth. They splatter in the chambers of Job’s heart with a wildness and a beauty and a terror that leaves every Job who has ever lived drenched and speechless, watching the Master redefine who’s who in the universe.

God’s questions to Job aren’t intended to teach; they are intended to stun. They aren’t intended to stir the mind; they are intended to bend his knees. “I owe no one anything,” God declares in the crescendo of the wind. “Everything under the heaven is mine” (Job 41:11). Job couldn’t argue. God owed no one anything. No explanations, no excuses. Which makes the fact that he gave us everything even more astounding.

Zechariah 12

Home Again in Jerusalem

War Bulletin:

God’s Message concerning Israel, God’s Decree—the very God who threw the skies into space, set earth on a firm foundation, and breathed his own life into men and women: “Watch for this: I’m about to turn Jerusalem into a cup of strong drink that will have the people who have set siege to Judah and Jerusalem staggering in a drunken stupor.

3 “On the Big Day, I’ll turn Jerusalem into a huge stone blocking the way for everyone. All who try to lift it will rupture themselves. All the pagan nations will come together and try to get rid of it.

4-5 “On the Big Day”—this is God speaking—“I’ll throw all the war horses into a crazed panic, and their riders along with them. But I’ll keep my eye on Judah, watching out for her at the same time that I make the enemy horses go blind. The families of Judah will then realize, ‘Why, our leaders are strong and able through God-of-the-Angel-Armies, their personal God.’

6 “On the Big Day, I’ll turn the families of Judah into something like a burning match in a tinder-dry forest, like a fiercely flaming torch in a barn full of hay. They’ll burn up everything and everyone in sight—people to the right, people to the left—while Jerusalem fills up with people moving in and making themselves at home—home again in Jerusalem.

7-8 “I, God, will begin by restoring the common households of Judah so that the glory of David’s family and the leaders in Jerusalem won’t overshadow the ordinary people in Judah. On the Big Day, I’ll look after everyone who lives in Jerusalem so that the lowliest, weakest person will be as glorious as David and the family of David itself will be godlike, like the Angel of God leading the people.

9 “On the Big Day, I’ll make a clean sweep of all the godless nations that fought against Jerusalem.

10-14 “Next I’ll deal with the family of David and those who live in Jerusalem. I’ll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them. They’ll then be able to recognize me as the One they so grievously wounded—that piercing spear-thrust! And they’ll weep—oh, how they’ll weep! Deep mourning as of a parent grieving the loss of the firstborn child. The lamentation in Jerusalem that day will be massive, as famous as the lamentation over Hadad-Rimmon on the fields of Megiddo:

    Everyone will weep and grieve,
        the land and everyone in it:
    The family of David off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    The family of Nathan off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    The family of Levi off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    The family of Shimei off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    And all the rest of the families off by themselves
        and their women off by themselves.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Read: Psalm 37:1–7

Of David.

Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

INSIGHT
After Psalm 37’s opening exhortation not to be upset by the short-lived vitality and success of those who ignore God (vv. 1–2), a series of commands follow that call for faithful dependence on Him (vv. 3–8). The remainder of the psalm describes the conduct of two kinds of people (the righteous and the wicked), who follow two different paths and end up at two different places (vv. 9–11, 20). In various ways, the wicked harass and prey upon the righteous (vv. 12–15, 32). But the righteous aren’t alone. God—in whom they trust and delight and upon whom they wait—protects them, making them safe and secure (vv. 16–17, 23–26, 32–33). The conclusion speaks powerfully to those who place their faith in God. “The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them . . . because they take refuge in him” (vv. 39–40).

By Leslie Koh

The Ticking Watch

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7


A group of workers were cutting ice out of a frozen lake and storing it in an icehouse when one of them realized he’d lost his watch in the windowless building. He and his friends searched for it in vain.

After they gave up, a young boy who’d seen them exit went into the building. Soon, he emerged with the watch. Asked how he’d found it, he replied: “I just sat down and kept quiet, and soon I could hear it ticking.”

The Bible talks much about the value of being still. And no wonder, for God sometimes speaks in a whisper (1 Kings 19:12). In the busyness of life, it can be hard to hear Him. But if we stop rushing about and spend some quiet time with Him and the Scriptures, we may hear His gentle voice in our thoughts.

Psalm 37:1–7 assures us that we can trust God to rescue us from the “wicked schemes” of evil people, give us refuge, and help us stay faithful. But how can we do this when turmoil is all around us?

Verse 7 suggests: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” We could start by learning to keep silent for a few minutes after prayer. Or by quietly reading the Bible and letting the words soak into our hearts. And then, perhaps, we’ll hear His wisdom speaking to us, quiet and steady as a ticking watch.

How can you be still before God each day? What will help you stay silent and listen?

Loving God, grant me the patience and discipline to stay still for a while each day, that I might hear Your gentle whisper in my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Is Your Mind Stayed on God?
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3

Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature— the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.

“We have sinned with our fathers…[and]…did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6-7). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 11-12; Matthew 26:1-25

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Uninterrupted Service - #8894

Sure, I guess you could become way too dependent on cell phones. But when you travel a lot like I do, there are times when your cell phone is your only link and you really need to communicate. Unfortunately, many of those moments find me in the middle of one of those black holes where you're nowhere near a cell tower. Like trying to find a cell site in great stretches of the Western United States, or try it in the middle of a remote Indian reservation, for example. That's why I get such a chuckle out of a cell phone commercial they had for a while. Remember that guy in the woods talking on his cell phone and saying, "Can you hear me now?" Then he's in a swamp or something and he says, "Can you hear me now?" Finally, he's on top of some mountain, "Can you hear me now?" I wish I had a dollar for every time I've asked that question.

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

That question takes on a far deeper significance when you're in one of those times when you're feeling away from God, and it's God who you're asking, "Can you hear me now?" The valley might be pretty deep, "Lord, can You hear me now?" The wilderness could be lonely and very long, "Lord, can You hear me now?" The guilt and the shame maybe is haunting you constantly, "Lord, can you hear me now?"

And He answers unequivocally in Psalm 139, beginning with verse 7, our word for today from the Word of God: "Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,' even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You."

Well, there it is. No matter where you are, no matter how deep in, no matter how cold inside, no matter how far down, or how far away you feel, the answer to "Can You hear me now, Lord?" is always a resounding "Yes!" He's always there for you, in the depths of your depression, in the hardness of your rebellion, in the coldness of your feelings, in the roller coaster of your emotions He's there! If you feel far from God, remember, He hasn't moved! And if you're running from God, hoping somehow to escape Him, realize that's the ultimate Mission Impossible. He will always run faster than you can.

And if it seems you're having a hard time getting through to God, consider one thing that creates a serious communication breakdown. Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." That means there's a sin you're loving more than Him, a sin you are stubbornly hanging onto. That's serious trouble in the line. But He's still listening for you to say, "God, I'm so sorry for hurting You. I'm sorry for defying You. Forgive me. Change me." Maybe He's been waiting a long time to hear those words from you.

If your feelings are telling you that your Lord can't be reached from where you are now, your feelings are lying to you. It is one of the greatest treasures of belonging to Jesus that you can never again be somewhere that God cannot hear you. And you know what? He loves to hear your voice. Call on Him today...like now.

Zechariah 11 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HE SPEAKS OUT OF THE STORM

In the book of Job he asks, “God, why is this happening to me?” So God speaks. Out of the thunder he speaks. For all of us who would put ditto marks under Job’s question and sign our names to it, he speaks.

For the father who holds a rose taken off his son’s coffin. For the wife who holds the flag taken off her husband’s casket. For the couple with the barren womb and the fervent prayers. For any person who has tried to see God through shattered glass, he speaks. For those of us who have dared to say, “If God is God, then…,” God speaks.

He speaks out of the storm and into the storm, for that is where Job is, and that is where God is best heard.

Zechariah 11

Open your borders to the immigrants, proud Lebanon!
    Your sentinel trees will burn.
Weep, great pine trees! Mourn, you sister cedars!
    Your towering trees are cordwood.
Weep Bashan oak trees!
    Your thick forest is now a field of stumps.
Do you hear the wailing of shepherds?
    They’ve lost everything they once owned.
Do you hear the outrage of the lions?
    The mighty jungle of the Jordan is wasted.
Make room for the returning exiles!

Breaking the Beautiful Covenant
4-5 God commanded me, “Shepherd the sheep that are soon to be slaughtered. The people who buy them will butcher them for quick and easy money. What’s worse, they’ll get away with it. The people who sell them will say, ‘Lucky me! God’s on my side; I’ve got it made!’ They have shepherds who couldn’t care less about them.”

6 God’s Decree: “I’m washing my hands of the people of this land. From now on they’re all on their own. It’s dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, and every person for themselves. Don’t look for help from me.”

7-8 So I took over from the crass, money-grubbing owners, and shepherded the sheep marked for slaughter. I got myself two shepherd staffs. I named one Lovely and the other Harmony. Then I went to work shepherding the sheep. Within a month I got rid of the corrupt shepherds. I got tired of putting up with them—and they couldn’t stand me.

9 And then I got tired of the sheep and said, “I’ve had it with you—no more shepherding from me. If you die, you die; if you’re attacked, you’re attacked. Whoever survives can eat what’s left.”

10-11 Then I took the staff named Lovely and broke it across my knee, breaking the beautiful covenant I had made with all the peoples. In one stroke, both staff and covenant were broken. The money-hungry owners saw me do it and knew God was behind it.

12 Then I addressed them: “Pay me what you think I’m worth.” They paid me an insulting sum, counting out thirty silver coins.

13 God told me, “Throw it in the poor box.” This stingy wage was all they thought of me and my work! So I took the thirty silver coins and threw them into the poor box in God’s Temple.

14 Then I broke the other staff, Harmony, across my knee, breaking the family ties between Judah and Israel.

15-16 God then said, “Dress up like a stupid shepherd. I’m going to install just such a shepherd in this land—a shepherd indifferent to victims, who ignores the lost, abandons the injured, and disdains decent citizens. He’ll only be in it for what he can get out of it, using and abusing any and all.

17 “Doom to you, useless shepherd,
    walking off and leaving the sheep!
A curse on your arm!
    A curse on your right eye!
Your arm will hang limp and useless.
    Your right eye will go stone blind.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Read: Luke 2:25–35

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss[a] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

INSIGHT
Simeon had one clear characteristic: he was in tune with the Spirit. Luke 2 says “the Holy Spirit was on him” (v. 25). The Spirit had revealed that he wouldn’t die before he’d seen Jesus (v. 26) and moved him to go to the temple courts (v. 27). The surrounding verses also reveal the power of the Spirit in his life. The description of Simeon as being “righteous and devout” (v. 25) is connected to the Spirit being on him; and his recognition of Jesus, his song of praise, and his words to Mary and Joseph (vv. 29–35) came though the Spirit.

Waiting in Hope -By Marvin Williams
Simeon . . . was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. Luke 2:25

In the movie Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, a college professor befriended a stray Akita puppy named Hachi. The dog expressed his loyalty by waiting at the train station each day for the professor to return from work. One day, the professor suffered a fatal stroke. Hachi waited hours at the train station, and for the next ten years he returned each day—awaiting His loving master.

Luke tells the story of a man named Simeon who patiently waited for the coming of his Master (Luke 2:25). The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would not see death until he saw the Messiah (v. 26). As a result, Simeon kept waiting for the One who would provide “salvation” for God’s people (v. 30). When Mary and Joseph entered the temple with Jesus, the Holy Spirit whispered to Simeon that He was the One! The wait was finally over! Simeon held Christ in his arms—the hope, salvation, and comfort for all people (vv. 28–32).

If we find ourselves in a season of waiting, may we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah with fresh ears: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). As we await Jesus’ return, He provides the hope and strength we need for each new day.

When have you become weary as you waited for God? What encouraged you to endure during that challenging season?

Jesus, I will wait for You. Through pain, tears, and uncertainty, help me to not become weary but to rest in Your provision.

For hope in the storms of life, read DiscoverySeries.org/Q0746.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Is Your Ability to See God Blinded?

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things… —Isaiah 40:26

The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking on the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their power to think and to visualize correctly. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades, if we will only begin to use our blinded thinking to visualize it.

The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your mind and thoughts under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work? Is it your idea of what a servant should be, or maybe your experience of salvation and sanctification? If so, then your ability to see God is blinded. You will be powerless when faced with difficulties and will be forced to endure in darkness. If your power to see has been blinded, don’t look back on your own experiences, but look to God. It is God you need. Go beyond yourself and away from the faces of your idols and away from everything else that has been blinding your thinking. Wake up and accept the ridicule that Isaiah gave to his people, and deliberately turn your thoughts and your eyes to God.

One of the reasons for our sense of futility in prayer is that we have lost our power to visualize. We can no longer even imagine putting ourselves deliberately before God. It is actually more important to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the area of intercession than in our personal contact with others. The power of visualization is what God gives a saint so that he can go beyond himself and be firmly placed into relationships he never before experienced.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.  Biblical Psychology, 189 L

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 8-10; Matthew 25:31-46

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Breaking Rules, Saving Lives - #8893

Up to that point no living Marine has ever received the Congressional Medal of Honor from the war in Afghanistan...until Dakota Meyer, 23 years old. He has been awarded the nation's highest military honor for saving 36 lives during a vicious, six-hour firefight in the mountains of Afghanistan.

It actually started with an enemy ambush that very quickly pinned down a lot of Meyer's unit. Amazingly, this Kentucky farm boy made a total of five trips into the kill zone to rescue his comrades. And you know what? He had to disobey orders to do it. His superiors told him he couldn't go in. He went in anyway, because people would die if he didn't.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Breaking Rules, Saving Lives."

It hit me as I read this story, sometimes you really do have to kind of go "out-of-bounds" to save dying people; spiritually dying people that is - people without my Jesus. Our word for today from the Word of God is from Ephesians 2:12. It describes these people as "without hope" and "perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18). Now with so many so far from the world of the church, so clueless about all this Christian stuff we take for granted, we will never rescue them unless, well, I guess you might say, "break some of the rules."

I don't mean God's rules, of course. It's never right to do something displeasing to God in order to bring somebody to Him. But I'm talking about the unspoken "rules" of our Christian "cocoon." The fact is, our conventional means of reaching people for Jesus seem to be rescuing less and less. And if we keep on doing what we have been doing, we'll keep on reaching who we have been reaching, and countless souls will be lost forever and we'll be accountable.

Coloring outside the lines, going outside the box - call it whatever you want. We'll have to go beyond those methodological boundaries that a lot of God's people have considered acceptable. We won't see the church as the primary place to rescue people, because most lost folks are, and plan to stay, outside those walls. We'll "seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10). The new front-lines in spiritual rescue? It's places like our living rooms...the gym, the golf course, the locker room, the PTA, the restaurant, the carpool, maybe the hospital, school events, the funeral home. How about on our Facebook page, our smartphone, our personal notes, other social media?

You know, lost people don't speak "Christianese," which is all those rich religious words that us church folks speak without thinking. We just can't afford for people to miss our Jesus because we won't leave our "safe" vocabulary and explain Jesus in everyday language, even though that might be a stretch for us. It's time to break out of the boundaries of Christianese to say it so they get it.

If we hope to reach the dying folks through an event we're having, we may have to go out-of-bounds and make it a non-religious event; Christ-focused, but non-religious, in a non-religious place, with a non-religious program, addressing needs and issues that aren't just "religious."

Paul got in trouble for "disobeying the rules" in order to help people go to heaven. A lot of the religious folks slammed him for becoming "all things to all men that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). But saving the lost was his non-negotiable, not pleasing the found.

And remember, they said, "Jesus, you're a friend of sinners." I imagine He said, "Why, thank you for the compliment." Indeed He was, and He had trouble with the religious folks too. They didn't like the fact He was going out-of-bounds because that's where the dying people were.

Rescuing? It always means risking, including the misunderstanding; maybe the criticism of people who love those unspoken "rules" but aren't reaching the lost. Jesus knows about that. Remember? Yeah, He made the "rules people" pretty uncomfortable.

So they crucified Him, and we were saved.

Revelation 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: MORE THAN CHEESE AND CRACKERS

Rest for the soul. Isn’t that what we need? The story is told about a poor man who lived in Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. He scraped together enough money to buy a third-class ticket on a steamship to New York City. He subsisted for the twelve-day journey on cheese and crackers. On the final day of the voyage, the man stood at the railing beside one of the ship’s stewards. “Why have we not seen you in the dining room?” asked the steward. The traveler explained his lack of money. The steward responded with shock, “Did you not know that three meals a day were included in your ticket? We set you a place every day, but you never came.”

God has set you a place at his table. Avail yourself of every spiritual strength and blessing. Heaven knows, we need the help. And heaven knows, the help is here.

Revelation 1

A revealing of Jesus, the Messiah. God gave it to make plain to his servants what is about to happen. He published and delivered it by Angel to his servant John. And John told everything he saw: God’s Word—the witness of Jesus Christ!

3 How blessed the reader! How blessed the hearers and keepers of these oracle words, all the words written in this book!

Time is just about up.

His Eyes Pouring Fire-Blaze
4-7 I, John, am writing this to the seven churches in Asia province: All the best to you from The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive, and from the Seven Spirits assembled before his throne, and from Jesus Christ—Loyal Witness, Firstborn from the dead, Ruler of all earthly kings.

Glory and strength to Christ, who loves us,
    who blood-washed our sins from our lives,
Who made us a Kingdom, Priests for his Father,
    forever—and yes, he’s on his way!
Riding the clouds, he’ll be seen by every eye,
    those who mocked and killed him will see him,
People from all nations and all times
    will tear their clothes in lament.
        Oh, Yes.

8 The Master declares, “I’m A to Z. I’m The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive. I’m the Sovereign-Strong.”

9-17 I, John, with you all the way in the trial and the Kingdom and the passion of patience in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s Word, the witness of Jesus. It was Sunday and I was in the Spirit, praying. I heard a loud voice behind me, trumpet-clear and piercing: “Write what you see into a book. Send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.” I turned and saw the voice.

I saw a gold menorah
    with seven branches,
And in the center, the Son of Man,
    in a robe and gold breastplate,
    hair a blizzard of white,
Eyes pouring fire-blaze,
    both feet furnace-fired bronze,
His voice a roar,
    right hand holding the Seven Stars,
His mouth a sharp-biting sword,
    his face a blinding sun.

I saw this and fainted dead at his feet. His right hand pulled me upright, his voice reassured me:

17-20 “Don’t fear: I am First, I am Last, I’m Alive. I died, but I came to life, and my life is now forever. See these keys in my hand? They open and lock Death’s doors, they open and lock Hell’s gates. Now write down everything you see: things that are, things about to be. The Seven Stars you saw in my right hand and the seven-branched gold menorah—do you want to know what’s behind them? The Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches; the menorah’s seven branches are the seven churches.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, February 09, 2021
Read: Colossians 3:1–4

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

INSIGHT
Paul had meaningful ties with the Colossian assembly, although it was a church he hadn’t planted. One significant connection was the apostle’s longstanding friendship with Philemon—a leader in the Colossian church that met in his home (see Philemon 1:1–2). Throughout the brief letter of Philemon, Paul leverages his friendship with Philemon on behalf of his relationship with Onesimus, a Colossian believer and runaway slave from Philemon’s household (Colossians 4:9; Philemon 1:8–16). Perhaps these relationships allowed Paul to write to the Colossians with surprising familiarity, as we see in Colossians 2:2: “My goal is that [you] may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that [you] may . . . know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.”


Looking Up -By Kirsten Holmberg
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

The cockeyed squid lives in the ocean’s “twilight zone” where sunlight barely filters through the deep waters. The squid’s nickname is a reference to its two extremely different eyes: the left eye develops over time to become considerably larger than the right—almost twice as big. Scientists studying the mollusk have deduced that the squid uses its right eye, the smaller one, to look down into the darker depths. The larger, left eye, gazes upward, toward the sunlight.

The squid is an unlikely depiction of what it means to live in our present world and also in the future certainty we await as people who “have been raised with Christ” (Colossians 3:1). In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he insists we ought to “set [our] minds on things above” because our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (vv. 2–3).

As earth-dwellers awaiting our lives in heaven, we keep an eye trained on what’s happening around us in our present reality. But just as the squid’s left eye develops over time into one that’s larger and more sensitive to what’s happening overhead, we too can grow in our awareness of the ways God works in the spiritual realm. We may not have yet fully grasped what it means to be alive in Jesus, but as we look “up,” our eyes will begin to see it more and more.

How can you develop your “upward” vision? How can you set your mind on heavenly things?

Loving God, help me to set my mind and heart on those things that are of You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 09, 2021
Are You Exhausted Spiritually?

The everlasting God…neither faints nor is weary. —Isaiah 40:28

Exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep,” but He gave him nothing with which to feed them (John 21:17). The process of being made broken bread and poured-out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other people’s souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you completely— to the very last drop. But be careful to replenish your supply, or you will quickly be utterly exhausted. Until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they will have to draw on His life through you. You must literally be their source of supply, until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and sheep, as well as for Him.

Have you delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving God? If so, then renew and rekindle your desires and affections. Examine your reasons for service. Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies. You have no right to complain, “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that He is your supply. “All my springs are in you” (Psalm 87:7).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 6-7; Matthew 25:1-30

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 09, 2021
The Game Of the King - #8892

My brief visit to Israel some years ago is one of the richest memories of my life. One of those memories took place in this dark, damp, cobblestone basement of a church on the Via Dolorosa. That area was part of the governor's headquarters in Jesus' day. It's called the Praetoriam or the "pavement" in the Bible. As I stood there, I realized I was standing on the very stones where my Savior was humiliated in front of a howling mob and by these brutal Roman soldiers. Our guide showed us some markings that were scratched in the stones by Roman soldiers at that time. The guide explained that those markings made a crude playing board for this cruel game the soldiers played. They called it "The Game of the King." They may have played it with Jesus. It's still being played today.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Game Of the King."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in Matthew 27:27. "Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetoriam and gathered the whole company of soldiers around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and they knelt in front of Him and mocked Him. 'Hail, king of the Jews!' they said. They spit on Him and took the staff and they struck Him on the head again and again. After they had mocked Him, they took off the robe, put His own clothes on Him, and then they led Him away to to crucify Him."

Our Jerusalem guide told us that the Roman soldier who won this game got to pick one of the prisoners to be "the king" who then they abused verbally and physically. In this case, it was the King of Kings - the One who made them! The proper symbols of royalty were there: there was a robe, a crown, a scepter. And their words were right: "King of the Jews." But it was all a mockery.

Now your reaction is pretty much like mine, "Man, that's ugly. That is so perverted." And it is. But the worst part is that some of us may be playing an updated, more polite version of the "Game of the King" even today.

Could it be that you say all the right words about Jesus, you're going to the right meetings, you're carrying all the right symbols. You've got the Bible, the Christian literature, the church involvement - but, in many ways, is it a mockery? Those soldiers called Jesus "king," but they had no intention of being His subjects, of doing what He said. Maybe, in some ways, like you.

Look at your romantic life, for example. Your words may say, "Jesus is Lord," but who's really running your romantic relationships? Or what about your business? Is it run Jesus' way or your way? If we were to listen to a recording of how you talk at home, would they show that Jesus is King of your family relationships or are you? The words, the activities may say that Jesus is King, but who really controls how you use your money, what you decide to listen to, or to watch? What about your sexual fantasies? Does what comes out of your mouth much of the time sound like a subject of King Jesus? Look at who's really running things, in the things that really matter to you.

It's not the words that decide it. If you're saying Christ is Lord but ignoring Him and his ways much of the time, you could be playing a religious version of the "Game of the King." And it is a shameful game. And everyone who plays the game loses.

Listen to the King's sobering question from Luke 6:46. "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?'"

Zechariah 10 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WE ARE WEARY

We are weary. Weary from relationships that don’t work or careers that don’t satisfy or bodies that refuse to heal. Weary from too many trips to the cemetery, therapist, or happy hours that are anything but. Our shoulders slump. Our eyelids droop. We are tired. A tired generation.

Blame it on the “reach for the moon” work ethic. We saddle up the horse called “go get ’em” and do exactly that. Blame our weariness on the Internet revolution. We’re never unplugged. Blame our exhaustion on a peculiar pride we have in margin-less living. We are proud of our long hours and late flights. The consequence? A society of exhaustion.

Are you among them? You don’t have to be. Jesus has an invitation for you: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Zechariah 10

God’s Work of Rebuilding

Pray to God for rain—it’s time for the spring rain—
    to God, the rainmaker,
Spring thunderstorm maker,
    maker of grain and barley.

2-3 “Store-bought gods babble gibberish.
    Religious experts spout rubbish.
They pontificate hot air.
    Their prescriptions are nothing but smoke.
And so the people wander like lost sheep,
    poor lost sheep without a shepherd.
I’m furious with the so-called shepherds.
    They’re worse than billy goats, and I’ll treat them like goats.”

* * *

3-5 God-of-the-Angel-Armies will step in
    and take care of his flock, the people of Judah.
He’ll revive their spirits,
    make them proud to be on God’s side.
God will use them in his work of rebuilding,
    use them as foundations and pillars,
Use them as tools and instruments,
    use them to oversee his work.
They’ll be a workforce to be proud of, working as one,
    their heads held high, striding through swamps and mud,
Courageous and vigorous because God is with them,
    undeterred by the world’s thugs.

* * *

6-12 “I’ll put muscle in the people of Judah;
    I’ll save the people of Joseph.
I know their pain and will make them good as new.
    They’ll get a fresh start, as if nothing had ever happened.
And why? Because I am their very own God,
    I’ll do what needs to be done for them.
The people of Ephraim will be famous,
    their lives brimming with joy.
Their children will get in on it, too—
    oh, let them feel blessed by God!
I’ll whistle and they’ll all come running.
    I’ve set them free—oh, how they’ll flourish!
Even though I scattered them to the far corners of earth,
    they’ll remember me in the faraway places.
They’ll keep the story alive in their children,
    and they will come back.
I’ll bring them back from the Egyptian west
    and round them up from the Assyrian east.
I’ll bring them back to sweet Gilead,
    back to leafy Lebanon.
Every square foot of land
    will be marked by homecoming.
They’ll sail through troubled seas, brush aside brash ocean waves.
    Roaring rivers will turn to a trickle.
Gaudy Assyria will be stripped bare,
    bully Egypt exposed as a fraud.
But my people—oh, I’ll make them strong, God-strong!
    and they’ll live my way.” God says so!

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, February 08, 2021
Read: John 12:25–33, 35–36

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[a] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

INSIGHT
The Greek word f?? phos (light) is used five times in John 12:35–36, and is one of the apostle John’s favorite words. Jesus’ references to Himself as light in John include His words in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” As light, Jesus is the true source of radiance, illumination, and revelation. Those who truly believe in Him (12:36) become children of light—they become His disciples and a part of the light force in the world (Matthew 5:14).

Trust the Light -By John Blase
Believe in the light . . . so that you may become children of light. John 12:36

The weather forecast said bomb cyclone. That’s what happens when a winter storm rapidly intensifies as the atmospheric pressure drops. By the time night fell, the blizzard conditions made the highway to the Denver airport almost impossible to see. Almost. But when it’s your daughter who’s flying home to visit, you do what you have to do. You pack extra clothes and water (just in case you get stranded on the highway), drive very slowly, pray without ceasing, and last but not least, trust your headlights. And sometimes you can achieve the almost impossible.

Jesus foretold of a storm on the horizon, one that would involve His death (John 12:31–33), and one that would challenge His followers to stay faithful and serve (v. 26). It was going to get dark and be almost impossible to see. Almost. So what did Jesus tell them to do? Believe, or trust, the Light (v. 36). That was the only way they could keep going forward and stay faithful.

Jesus would only be with them a little while longer. But believers have His Spirit as our constant guide to light the way. We too will face dark times when it’s almost impossible to see the way ahead. Almost. But by believing, or trusting in the Light, we can press on.

What dark season have you been through lately? How did Jesus, the Light, help you keep going?

Jesus, thank You for being the light in my darkness. Help me to trust and keep going.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 08, 2021
The Cost of Sanctification

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself…” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.

Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.  Biblical Psychology, 189 L

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 4-5; Matthew 24:29-51

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 08, 2021
When You've Been Hurt By Friendly Fire - #8891

Stonewall Jackson was one of the South's greatest generals in the Civil War, and he died on the battlefield - shot by mistake by his own men. He's possibly the most famous victim of one of war's greatest tragedies. They call it friendly fire. It's bad enough that a fellow soldier is killed by enemy fire, but the heartbreak is compounded when someone is shot by their own.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You've Been Hurt By Friendly Fire."

It happens in God's army; people who are deeply wounded, shot by their own. Hurt, betrayed, disappointed by church folks, by people who claim to be Christians. You might be one of those. You know the disillusionment that can cause, the cynicism about anything Christian, the desire to distance yourself from Christian things like you'd keep away from a dog that had bitten you. If you've been spiritually wounded by friendly fire, you're on my heart today. More importantly, you're on God's heart; whether He's on your heart or not.

When you're physically wounded, you find medical help so you can recover. How do you recover from the spiritual and emotional wounds of friendly fire? Let me suggest four steps to spiritual recovery. I don't think you want to keep living with the negativity, and self-pity, and resentment, the withdrawal of those who've been wounded; that stuff that eats you up inside. I think you might be ready for some steps to recovery.

They focus on seven little words in Hebrews 12:1-2, our word for today from the Word of God. These verses are about how to finish as a winner in the spiritual race that we run here during our time on earth. It calls us to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." I wish you could say these four words out loud a few times, "It's all about Jesus." Get your eyes off Christians. Get your eyes off churches. Remember who got you started spiritually and who will be at the finish line. It's Jesus.

Recovery step number one is to realize it wasn't Jesus who hurt you. Maybe you've been withdrawing from Christians. Whatever you do, don't withdraw from Jesus. You've never needed Him more. Recovery step number 2: Defy Satan's strategy to isolate you so he can have you. The Bible says, "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

In Africa, lions try to catch a gazelle that's away from the herd. If they're alone, the lion can have them. If they're with the others, they're usually safe. God never designed for us to try to live for Christ alone. If you're holding back from getting close to some of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you're setting yourself up to be a lion lunch.

So, the third recovery step is this: Realize that God's people are where home is. That's why the Bible warns us not to "give up meeting together" (Hebrews 10:25). There are many believers who don't shoot their own, who are imperfect but genuinely loving people. You've got to risk finding a church like that; you need them. They need you. One other recovery step: Let go of the resentment instead of letting it grow. Ask the God who has forgiven you so much to give you His grace to forgive those who've hurt you. The feelings you harbor aren't hurting them at all, but they're killing you!

Above all, don't let Christians make you miss Jesus! Jesus never said, "Follow My followers" or "Follow My leaders." He said, "Follow Me." It's all about Jesus - the One who died for your sins so you don't have to. It's ultimately Christ you accept or reject, not Christians. It's the cross you have to decide about, not the church. And it's Jesus you'll meet when you've taken your last breath. All that's going to matter is what you've done with Jesus.

If you've never given yourself fully to Him as your only hope, don't let anything or anyone keep you from Him one more day! Tell Him today, "Jesus, I am Yours." I'd be very grateful if we could help you know you really belong to Him. And that's what our website is there for. So I urge you to go there today. It's ANewStory.com.

Jesus is waiting, as He has been for a long, long time, with arms wide open to love you.

Zechariah 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Remember the Sabbath Day

Could you use a reminder on how to slow your life down? One of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day to the Lord your God.”

What did Jesus do on that last Sabbath of his life? Look in the Gospel of Matthew. Find anything? Try Mark. Nothing there? What about Luke? Hmm…it looks like Jesus was quiet that day.

Do you mean that with one week left to live, Jesus observed the Sabbath? Are you telling me that Jesus thought worship was more important than work? That’s exactly what I’m telling you. If Jesus found time in the midst of a racing agenda to stop the rush and sit in the silence, do you think we could, too?

From And The Angels Were Silent

Zechariah 9

The Whole World Has Its Eyes on God

War Bulletin:

God’s Message challenges the country of Hadrach.
    It will settle on Damascus.
The whole world has its eyes on God.
    Israel isn’t the only one.
That includes Hamath at the border,
    and Tyre and Sidon, clever as they think they are.
Tyre has put together quite a kingdom for herself;
    she has stacked up silver like cordwood,
    piled gold high as haystacks.
But God will certainly bankrupt her;
    he will dump all that wealth into the ocean
    and burn up what’s left in a big fire.
Ashkelon will see it and panic,
    Gaza will wring its hands,
    Ekron will face a dead end.
Gaza’s king will die.
    Ashkelon will be emptied out,
    And a villain will take over in Ashdod.

6-8 “I’ll take proud Philistia down a peg:
    I’ll make him spit out his bloody spoils
    and abandon his vile ways.”
What’s left will be all God’s—a core of survivors,
    a family brought together in Judah—
But enemies like Ekron will go the way of the Jebusites,
    into the dustbin of history.
“I will set up camp in my home country
    and defend it against invaders.
Nobody is going to hurt my people ever again.
    I’m keeping my eye on them.

A Humble King Riding a Donkey
9-10 “Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion!
    Raise your voice, Daughter Jerusalem!
Your king is coming!
    a good king who makes all things right,
    a humble king riding a donkey,
    a mere colt of a donkey.
I’ve had it with war—no more chariots in Ephraim,
    no more war horses in Jerusalem,
    no more swords and spears, bows and arrows.
He will offer peace to the nations,
    a peaceful rule worldwide,
    from the four winds to the seven seas.

11-13 “And you, because of my blood covenant with you,
    I’ll release your prisoners from their hopeless cells.
Come home, hope-filled prisoners!
    This very day I’m declaring a double bonus—
    everything you lost returned twice-over!
Judah is now my weapon, the bow I’ll pull,
    setting Ephraim as an arrow to the string.
I’ll wake up your sons, O Zion,
    to counter your sons, O Greece.
From now on
    people are my swords.”

14-17 Then God will come into view,
    his arrows flashing like lightning!
Master God will blast his trumpet
    and set out in a whirlwind.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies will protect them—
    all-out war,
The war to end all wars,
    no holds barred.
Their God will save the day. He’ll rescue them.
    They’ll become like sheep, gentle and soft,
Or like gemstones in a crown,
    catching all the colors of the sun.
Then how they’ll shine! shimmer! glow!
    the young men robust, the young women lovely!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, February 07, 2021
Read: 1 Samuel 30:1–6, 18–19

David Destroys the Amalekites

David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.

INSIGHT
When God enabled David to rescue abducted loved ones (1 Samuel 30:1–20), his success called attention to the failures of Saul to help his own family. Outnumbered by the Philistine army, Saul asked God for help, but he received no answer (28:4–6). Desperate, he turned to a medium in an attempt to call back from the dead his faithful advisor Samuel (vv. 7–9). Samuel did appear, but he told Saul what he didn’t want to hear. The next day the army of Israel would be defeated and Saul, together with his sons, would die (vv. 16–20).

Saul and David both helped show us our need for another King who, by breaking the power of sin and death, would come to the rescue even of His enemies.

Recovering What’s Lost - By Patricia Raybon
But David found strength in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:6

At the phone store, the young pastor steeled himself for bad news. His smartphone, accidentally dropped during our Bible class, was a total loss, right? Actually, no. The store clerk recovered all of the pastor’s data, including his Bible videos and photos. She also recovered “every photo I’d ever deleted,” he said. The store also “replaced my broken phone with a brand-new phone.” As he said, “I recovered all I had lost and more.”

David once led his own recovery mission after an attack by the vicious Amalekites. Spurned by Philistine rulers, David and his army discovered the Amalekites had raided and burned down their town of Ziklag—taking captive “the women and everyone else in it,” including all their wives and children (1 Samuel 30:2–3). “So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep” (v. 4). The soldiers were so bitter with their leader David that they talked of “stoning him” (v. 6).

“But David found strength in the Lord his God” (v. 6). As God promised, David pursued the Amalekites and “recovered everything the Amalekites had taken . . . . Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back” (vv. 18–19). As we face spiritual attacks that “rob” us even of hope, may we find renewed strength in God. He will be with us in every challenge of life.

What spiritual attacks or life loss are you experiencing? Turning from your despair to God, how will you find renewed strength in Him?

God, help me to find hope in You even as I face life’s challenges.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 07, 2021
Spiritual Dejection

We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. —Luke 24:21

Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.

We look for visions from heaven and for earth-shaking events to see God’s power. Even the fact that we are dejected is proof that we do this. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 1-3; Matthew 24:1-28

Jude 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Just Right

When my daughter was small, she wrote a song for me. From a musical standpoint, everything was wrong with it. The lyrics didn't rhyme. The rhythm was off.  Technically the song was a failure. But for me, the song was a masterpiece. Why? Because she wrote it for me. What dad wouldn't like that? What father wouldn't bask in the praise of even an off-key adulation?
Ideally, when we approach God, our motive and the way we sing is as strong as the reason we sing. The words are just right; our worship is as attractive as it is sincere. But many times it isn't. Many times our worship is less than what we want it to be. "Lord, help!"
"You will search for me," God declared. "And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will let you find me" (Jeremiah 29:13).  What a promise!
From And The Angels Were Silent

Jude 1

 I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James, writing to those loved by God the Father, called and kept safe by Jesus Christ. Relax, everything’s going to be all right; rest, everything’s coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!

Fight with All You Have in You
3-4 Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. What has happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks (our Scriptures warned us this would happen), who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license—which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master.

Lost Stars in Outer Space
5-7 I’m laying this out as clearly as I can, even though you once knew all this well enough and shouldn’t need reminding. Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those who defected. And you know the story of the angels who didn’t stick to their post, abandoning it for other, darker missions. But they are now chained and jailed in a black hole until the great Judgment Day. Sodom and Gomorrah, which went to sexual rack and ruin along with the surrounding cities that acted just like them, are another example. Burning and burning and never burning up, they serve still as a stock warning.

8 This is exactly the same program of these latest infiltrators: dirty sex, rule and rulers thrown out, glory dragged in the mud.

9-11 The Archangel Michael, who went to the mat with the Devil as they fought over the body of Moses, wouldn’t have dared level him with a blasphemous curse, but said simply, “No you don’t. God will take care of you!” But these people sneer at anything they can’t understand, and by doing whatever they feel like doing—living by animal instinct only—they participate in their own destruction. I’m fed up with them! They’ve gone down Cain’s road; they’ve been sucked into Balaam’s error by greed; they’re canceled out in Korah’s rebellion.

12-13 These people are eyesores at your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They’re giving you a black eye—carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn’t nailed down. They’re—

Puffs of smoke pushed by gusts of wind;
    late autumn trees stripped clean of leaf and fruit,
Doubly dead, pulled up by the roots;
    wild ocean waves leaving nothing on the beach
    but the foam of their shame;
Lost stars in outer space
    on their way to the black hole.

14-16 Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: “Look! The Master comes with thousands of holy angels to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth.” These are the complainers, the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead.

17-19 But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen: “In the last days there will be people who don’t take these things seriously anymore. They’ll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts.” These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. There’s nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit!

* * *

20-21 But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!

22-23 Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

24-25 And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, February 06, 2021
Read: Ephesians 5:8–14

 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

INSIGHT
In the book of Ephesians, Paul doesn’t mention specific people and situations like he does in other letters. This shows that this letter was likely intended for all believers in Jesus in Asia Minor. However, the book may have been named according to where the letter was first sent.

In Ephesians 5:8–14, Paul refers to all believers in Christ when he explains that before following Him they were in darkness (v. 8). It was a part of their being, not simply a state they were living in. He then explains that living “as children of light” means living in “goodness, righteousness and truth” (vv. 8–9). Respectively, the three original words are practical, showing that believers are to take interest in the well-being of others, to conform to God’s standards, and to follow the truth in Scripture rather than living by the ways of the world.

What’s Your Reputation? -By Arthur Jackson
Now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

At local high school sporting events, Ted was the largest and loudest cheerleader in the stands. Before a degenerative condition took its toll on him, he stood six feet six inches tall and weighed 290 pounds. Ted’s crowd-stirring chants of “Blue!” (the school’s color) and candy-tossing at school events were legendary, earning him the name “Big Blue.”

But Ted’s reputation in his community wasn’t just for cheerleading. Neither was it for the alcohol addiction he experienced as a younger man. No, he will be remembered for his love for God and family, for his generosity and kindness. At a four-hour “home-going service” that celebrated his life, person after person came forward to testify about the vibrant Christlike ways of a man who’d been rescued from darkness by the power of Jesus through the gospel.

In Ephesians 5:8, Paul reminded believers that they “were once darkness” but quickly noted, “but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Such is the call for every believer in Jesus. Children of light, like Ted, have much to offer those engulfed in this world’s darkness. “Fruitless deeds of darkness” are to be avoided (see vv. 3–4, 11). Those in our communities and throughout the world need the brilliant, distinctive witness of those upon whom Jesus has shined (v. 14). How distinctive? As different as light is from darkness.

What are some reasons you hesitate to more intentionally spread Christ’s light in this world? Where are the places around you that need His light?

Father, forgive me for my passivity about being light. Lead me and use me as light in the dark spaces of this world.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, February 06, 2021
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)

I am already being poured out as a drink offering… —2 Timothy 4:6

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents— burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose— the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice…to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?

Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham.  The Highest Good, 548 L

Bible in a Year: Exodus 39-40; Matthew 23:23-39

Zechariah 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: GOD GIVES US HIMSELF

God has followed us on our journey but, we’re quick to turn away. God is slow to anger; he’s determined to stay. Sometimes we don’t accept God’s gifts, but God still gives them. He gives us angels, not just pinned on a lapel, but placed on our path.

And most of all, God gives us himself. Even when we choose our hovel over his house and our trash over his grace, still he follows. Never forcing us, never leaving us. Patiently persistent, faithfully present. Using all of his power to convince us that he is who he is and that he can be trusted to give us new beginnings throughout our journey and, in the end, lead us home. Trust your new beginning to him, won’t you? Follow the God who follows you all the days of your life.

Zechariah 8

Rebuilding the Temple

And then these Messages from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I am zealous for Zion—I care!
    I’m angry about Zion—I’m involved!”

* * *

God’s Message:

3 “I’ve come back to Zion,
    I’ve moved back to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s new names will be Truth City,
    and Mountain of God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    and Mount Holiness.”

* * *

4-5 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Old men and old women will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in.”

* * *

6 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Do the problems of returning and rebuilding by just a few survivors seem too much? But is anything too much for me? Not if I have my say.”

* * *

7-8 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I’ll collect my people from countries to the east and countries to the west. I’ll bring them back and move them into Jerusalem. They’ll be my people and I’ll be their God. I’ll stick with them and do right by them.”

* * *

9-10 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Get a grip on things. Hold tight, you who are listening to what I say through the preaching of the prophets. The Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies has been reestablished. The Temple is being rebuilt. We’ve come through a hard time: You worked for a pittance and were lucky to get that; the streets were dangerous; you could never let down your guard; I had turned the world into an armed camp.

11-12 “But things have changed. I’m taking the side of my core of surviving people:

    Sowing and harvesting will resume,
    Vines will grow grapes,
    Gardens will flourish,
    Dew and rain will make everything green.

12-13 “My core survivors will get everything they need—and more. You’ve gotten a reputation as a bad-news people, you people of Judah and Israel, but I’m coming to save you. From now on, you’re the good-news people. Don’t be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I’m doing.”

Keep Your Lives Simple and Honest
14-17 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“In the same way that I decided to punish you when your ancestors made me angry, and didn’t pull my punches, at this time I’ve decided to bless Jerusalem and the country of Judah. Don’t be afraid. And now here’s what I want you to do: Tell the truth, the whole truth, when you speak. Do the right thing by one another, both personally and in your courts. Don’t cook up plans to take unfair advantage of others. Don’t do or say what isn’t so. I hate all that stuff. Keep your lives simple and honest.” Decree of God.

* * *

18-19 Again I received a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“The days of mourning set for the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be turned into days of feasting for Judah—celebration and holiday. Embrace truth! Love peace!”

* * *

20-21 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“People and their leaders will come from all over to see what’s going on. The leaders will confer with one another: ‘Shouldn’t we try to get in on this? Get in on God’s blessings? Pray to God-of-the-Angel-Armies? What’s keeping us? Let’s go!’

22 “Lots of people, powerful nations—they’ll come to Jerusalem looking for what they can get from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, looking to get a blessing from God.”

* * *

23 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“At that time, ten men speaking a variety of languages will grab the sleeve of one Jew, hold tight, and say, ‘Let us go with you. We’ve heard that God is with you.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, February 05, 2021
Read: Isaiah 41:10–13

So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

11 “All who rage against you
    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
    will be as nothing and perish.
12 Though you search for your enemies,
    you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
    will be as nothing at all.
13 For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
    I will help you.

INSIGHT
Isaiah 41:10–13 begins with a call to courage: “Do not fear.” But this call isn’t an exhortation to “dig deep” and find the grit and determination to keep going. God doesn’t call anyone to forge ahead on their own. Instead, the summons is followed with these encouraging words: “I am with you” (v. 10). This phrase is repeated throughout Scripture, and is intended to give strength and courage. God said these words to Moses when he was sent back to Egypt to speak to Pharaoh (Exodus 3:12). And Jesus spoke these words to His disciples when He commissioned them to go into the world to spread the knowledge of the kingdom of God and to make disciples (Matthew 28:20). God’s dwelling with humanity came in Jesus (Immanuel). He now indwells believers in Christ through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 2:22; 1 John 4:15–16).

Hold Steady -By Dave Branon

I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand. Isaiah 41:13

Harriet Tubman was one of the great American heroes of the nineteenth century. Showing remarkable courage, she guided more than three hundred fellow slaves to freedom after she first escaped slavery by crossing into free territory in the United States North. Not content to simply enjoy her own freedom, she ventured back into slave states nineteen times to lead friends, family, and strangers to freedom, sometimes guiding people on foot all the way to Canada.

What drove Tubman to such brave action? A woman of deep faith, she at one time said this: “I always told God, I’m going to hold steady on you, and you’ve got to see me through.” Her dependence on God’s guidance as she led people out of slavery was a hallmark of her success.

What does it mean to “hold steady” to God? A verse in the prophecy of Isaiah might help us see that in reality it’s He who holds us as we grab His hand. Isaiah quotes God, who said, “I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (41:13).

Harriet held tightly to God, and He saw her through. What challenges are you facing? Hold steady to God as He “takes hold” of your hand and your life. “Do not fear.” He will help you.

What’s your biggest challenge right now? What can you do or say to let God know you trust Him?

Father in heaven, life is hard when I try to do it alone, so I need Your help. Please come alongside me in my greatest challenges and help me know I’m not alone.

Learn to face life’s challenges through your study of Soul Care at ChristianUniversity.org/CC201.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 05, 2021
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (1)

If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. —Philippians 2:17

Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ‘Well done.’ ”

It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket— to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted— not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.

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

Bible in a Year: Exodus 36-38; Matthew 23:1-22

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, February 05, 2021
The Power of Powerlessness - #8890

I had just finished speaking. I was talking with two men, and the subject was manhood and what it really means. In the course of our solving many of the world's problems, I learned that one of the men had a black belt or its equivalent in three different forms of martial arts. I hired him as my bodyguard. Well, almost. The man has the ability to take control of most any hostile situation - except for one. He told me there is only one position in which a person is totally powerless, no matter how strong or how skilled they are: lying face down on the ground. You're absolutely powerless there.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of Powerlessness."

When Mr. Black Belt told me about the total vulnerability of being face down on the ground, General Joshua flashed into my mind. That's Joshua as in the Book of Joshua in the Bible. In fact, there's a wonderful blueprint for winning life's unwinnable battles in the account of Joshua's most powerless moment. It's recorded in Joshua 5, beginning with verse 13, and it's our word for today from the Word of God.

Joshua is leading the Jews into the Promised Land that God has said He would give to them. But immediately, they come upon this massive, seemingly impregnable city; the walls are looming toward the sky. It's the world's oldest city, Jericho. There's no way Joshua's going to breach those walls with anything he knows how to do. You know what? You may be facing one of those "Jerichos" in your life right now, where the size of the challenge is a lot greater than the resources you have.

So, this one's for you. Joshua 5 says, "When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword. Joshua went up to him and asked, 'Are you for us or for our enemies?' 'Neither,' he replied, 'but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.' Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, 'What message does my Lord have for His servant?'"

Here's Joshua, the man who has never lost a battle, going face down on the ground in the most powerless position a man can be in. I don't think Joshua ever surrendered to anyone. But standing before the Commander of the Army of the Lord, he falls down in total surrender. Most Bible scholars believe this "Commander" is actually the Son of God making one of His pre-Bethlehem appearances in the Old Testament.

Face down before Jesus. Could that be where He wants you right now? Maybe that's the only way you're ever going to conquer your Jericho; the only way you're ever going to have peace. When Joshua surrendered, God gave him the miracle plan that pulverized the walls of Jericho. The issue wasn't really the conquest of Jericho; it was the conquest of Joshua. The issue in your life really isn't the conquest of your impossible challenge; it's the conquest of you. It sometimes takes a "Jericho" to level some of us Joshuas.

It could be that you've given Jesus everything: your talent, your time, your money, your service; everything but one thing. Control. It's still my way, my will, my agenda, my plans, my timing. There's someone or something that you're still holding tightly in your hands, and you're afraid or you're unwilling to surrender control. And, consequently, your Jerichos will remain standing.

The most powerful position in the world is powerlessness. The secret of peace; the secret of the release of God's power into your situation is total surrender. At that point, He will commit all His forces to the battles in front of you. To finally surrender is to finally win.