Job 29 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE INSIDE TRACK TO PEACE - July 9, 2021

The next time you fear the future, rejoice in the Lord’s sovereignty. Rejoice in what he has accomplished. Rejoice that he is able to do what you cannot do.

Fill your mind with thoughts of God: “He is the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Romans 1:25). “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). “His years will never end” (Psalm 102:27).

He is king, supreme ruler, absolute monarch, an overlord of all history. An arch of his eyebrow and a million angels will pivot and salute! Every throne is a footstool to his. Every crown is papier-mache next to his. He consults no advisers, he needs no congress, he reports to no one. He is in charge.

Sovereignty gives the saint the inside track to peace. Others see the problems of the world and wring their hands. We see the problems of the world and bend our knees.

Job 29

When God Was Still by My Side

Job now resumed his response:

“Oh, how I long for the good old days,
    when God took such very good care of me.
He always held a lamp before me
    and I walked through the dark by its light.
Oh, how I miss those golden years
    when God’s friendship graced my home,
When the Mighty One was still by my side
    and my children were all around me,
When everything was going my way,
    and nothing seemed too difficult.

7-20 “When I walked downtown
    and sat with my friends in the public square,
Young and old greeted me with respect;
    I was honored by everyone in town.
When I spoke, everyone listened;
    they hung on my every word.
People who knew me spoke well of me;
    my reputation went ahead of me.
I was known for helping people in trouble
    and standing up for those who were down on their luck.
The dying blessed me,
    and the bereaved were cheered by my visits.
All my dealings with people were good.
    I was known for being fair to everyone I met.
I was eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame,
Father to the needy,
    and champion of abused aliens.
I grabbed street thieves by the scruff of the neck
    and made them give back what they’d stolen.
I thought, ‘I’ll die peacefully in my own bed,
    grateful for a long and full life,
A life deep-rooted and well-watered,
    a life limber and dew-fresh,
My soul soaked through with glory
    and my body robust until the day I die.’

21-25 “Men and women listened when I spoke,
    hung expectantly on my every word.
After I spoke, they’d be quiet,
    taking it all in.
They welcomed my counsel like spring rain,
    drinking it all in.
When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
    their faces lit up, their troubles took wing!
I was their leader, establishing the mood
    and setting the pace by which they lived.
    Where I led, they followed.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, July 09, 2021

Read: 2 Peter 1:3–11

Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
2 Peter 1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.

INSIGHT
Peter’s New Testament letters reflect the wisdom of his later years (1 Peter 5:5–6; 2 Peter 1:13–14). As a young believer in Jesus, he’d shown moments of uncommon insight, faith, and courage. But his impulsive misspeaks and fearful betrayal of Jesus must have prompted him to think carefully about what it would take to leave a legacy of stability and spiritual influence. By experience he’d learned that the Spirit of God works in and through our own consciously developed habits of choice and effort (2 Peter 1:3–5). He’d also learned that no virtue stands alone for very long. Yet working together, what begins in faith ends in a reputation of faithful and loyal love. With careful attention, noble desires are complemented by knowledge, knowledge by self-control, self-control by endurance, endurance by devotion to the Father, devotion to the Father by family affection, and family affection by the love Jesus showed both friends and enemies.

By Alyson Kieda
Growing in God’s Grace

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge. 2 Peter 1:5

The English preacher Charles H. Spurgeon (1834–1892) lived life “full throttle.” He became a pastor at age nineteen—and soon was preaching to large crowds. He personally edited all of his sermons, which eventually filled sixty-three volumes, and wrote many commentaries, books on prayer, and other works. And he typically read six books a week! In one of his sermons, Spurgeon said, “The sin of doing nothing is about the biggest of all sins, for it involves most of the others. . . . Horrible idleness! God save us from it!”

Charles Spurgeon lived with diligence, which meant he “[made] every effort” (2 Peter 1:5) to grow in God’s grace and to live for Him. If we’re Christ’s followers, God can instill in us that same desire and capacity to grow more like Jesus, to “make every effort to add to [our] faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge . . . self-control, perseverance . . . godliness” (vv. 5–7).

We each have different motivations, abilities, and energy levels—not all of us can, or should, live at Charles Spurgeon’s pace! But when we understand all Jesus has done for us, we have the greatest motivation for diligent, faithful living. And we find our strength through the resources God has given us to live for and serve Him. God through His Spirit can empower us in our efforts—big and small—to do so.

How are you making every effort to grow more like Christ? What will help you in this endeavor?

Loving God, help me to be diligent to live for You in all I do and say. Thank You for enabling me to do so through Your Spirit inside me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 09, 2021
Will You Examine Yourself?

Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord…" —Joshua 24:19

Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you, or on any particular set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsoever regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? It really is true to say, “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “You cannot serve the Lord…”— but you can place yourself in the proper position where God’s almighty power will flow through you. Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you?

“The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord!’ ” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.”

We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?” No wonder Jesus Christ placed such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). If we really believed that God meant what He said, just imagine what we would be like! Do I really dare to let God be to me all that He says He will be?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. Disciples Indeed, 388 R

Bible in a Year: Job 38-40; Acts 16:1-21

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 09, 2021
The View Through a Dirty Window - #9000

We were zipping along Interstate 80 one afternoon, heading home through Pennsylvania on this beautiful day. I was really enjoying the view as I drove, until that semi pulled out onto the highway in front of us. The truck was belching this heavy black smoke out of its smokestack. Immediately the car in front of us swung into the left lane to pass him. As he was passing, he suddenly turned on his windshield wipers, and we noticed that they immediately began smearing this oily film across his windshield.

He had to pull over as soon as possible because he just couldn't see out anymore. As we passed Smokey the Truck, my wife said, "Don't turn on your wipers!" Our windshield was suddenly getting spattered with lots of little black stuff. It made it a little hard to see, but we managed to get to the next exit where the gas station attendant confirmed that those specks were what we thought - they were oil! He gave us some oil and tar remover, and it came right off. But for us - and especially for the man who had gone ahead of us - that junk on the windshield sure did ruin the view!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The View Through a Dirty Window."

Right now, the view from your life may not be the greatest. Circumstances look pretty discouraging, life looks depressing, people seem annoying or against you, the future is looking fearful, maybe even hopeless, some people in your world aren't looking very good to you right now either. In fact, to be honest, maybe your attitude is really going downhill, you're more negative, you're more critical, you're more sensitive, you're more afraid, you're more short-tempered, or you're more discouraged.

Consider this: maybe it's not the road or the environment or the other drivers. Maybe you're looking through a dirty window and everything and everyone looks dirty as a result. The problem may be the junk on your window, not the junk that's happening outside. Everything looks dirty when you're looking out a dirty window.

In a sense, God is encouraging us to clean the junk off our window in our word for today from the Word of God. In Ephesians 4:31, he addresses some of the feelings in us that make the world and the people around us look pretty dark to us. God says, "Get rid of all bitterness (Got any of that in your heart right now?), rage and anger (Got anyone you're angry with right now?), brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." Notice, "get rid of those attitudes, get rid of those outlooks!" That stuff is like oil on your windshield. And so you are not able to see people clearly, you're not able to see the circumstances clearly, and you're not able to see clearly how you ought to respond.

When you get a dirty window, everything looks bad. You interpret even positive things through your negative filter, nothing people do looks right to you through your dirty window - everything's bad, you keep connecting any present hurt to all the hurts of your past, you pick up all the negatives and you screen out any positives, you're sure it's hopeless so you don't even accept any signs of hope. If you don't get rid of those distorting perspectives, it's going to affect your driving. You can't keep going with your windshield all smudged like this. But remember, a chunk of the problem is your window, not what you're looking at.

How do you clean off the junk that's ruining your view? You ask your Lord for the grace to forgive, for the courage to confront, for the wisdom to leave yesterday's pain out of today's choices. You're stressed, you're swerving, you're blind to what's beautiful around you and it's been that way long enough. It's time to clean that dirty window.

Job 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: HE IS ABLE TO DO WHAT YOU CANNOT - July 8, 2021

What will happen if your job disappears? Or your health diminishes? Or the economy takes a nosedive? Does God have a message for his people when calamity strikes? He certainly had a word for Isaiah. The prophet wrote:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up…above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3).

God calmed the fears of Isaiah, not by removing the problem, but by revealing his divine power and presence. Rejoice that God is able to do what you cannot do! Your anxiety decreases as your understanding of your heavenly father increases.

Job 28

Where Does Wisdom Come From?

“We all know how silver seams the rocks,
    we’ve seen the stuff from which gold is refined,
We’re aware of how iron is dug out of the ground
    and copper is smelted from rock.
Miners penetrate the earth’s darkness,
    searching the roots of the mountains for ore,
    digging away in the suffocating darkness.
Far from civilization, far from the traffic,
    they cut a shaft,
    and are lowered into it by ropes.
Earth’s surface is a field for grain,
    but its depths are a forge
Firing sapphires from stones
    and chiseling gold from rocks.
Vultures are blind to its riches,
    hawks never lay eyes on it.
Wild animals are oblivious to it,
    lions don’t know it’s there.
Miners hammer away at the rock,
    they uproot the mountains.
They tunnel through the rock
    and find all kinds of beautiful gems.
They discover the origins of rivers,
    and bring earth’s secrets to light.

12-19 “But where, oh where, will they find Wisdom?
    Where does Insight hide?
Mortals don’t have a clue,
    haven’t the slightest idea where to look.
Earth’s depths say, ‘It’s not here’;
    ocean deeps echo, ‘Never heard of it.’
It can’t be bought with the finest gold;
    no amount of silver can get it.
Even famous Ophir gold can’t buy it,
    not even diamonds and sapphires.
Neither gold nor emeralds are comparable;
    extravagant jewelry can’t touch it.
Pearl necklaces and ruby bracelets—why bother?
    None of this is even a down payment on Wisdom!
Pile gold and African diamonds as high as you will,
    they can’t hold a candle to Wisdom.

20-22 “So where does Wisdom come from?
    And where does Insight live?
It can’t be found by looking, no matter
    how deep you dig, no matter how high you fly.
If you search through the graveyard and question the dead,
    they say, ‘We’ve only heard rumors of it.’

23-28 “God alone knows the way to Wisdom,
    he knows the exact place to find it.
He knows where everything is on earth,
    he sees everything under heaven.
After he commanded the winds to blow
    and measured out the waters,
Arranged for the rain
    and set off explosions of thunder and lightning,
He focused on Wisdom,
    made sure it was all set and tested and ready.
Then he addressed the human race: ‘Here it is!
    Fear-of-the-Lord—that’s Wisdom,
    and Insight means shunning evil.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, July 08, 2021

Read: Mark 11:20–25

 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly[a] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Read full chapter
Footnotes
Mark 11:23 Some early manuscripts “If you have faith in God,” Jesus answered, 23 “truly

INSIGHT
In Mark’s gospel, Mark uses a literary device called an inclusio so often that it’s sometimes called a “Markan sandwich.” In this literary structure, a story or teaching (A) is interrupted with another (B) before returning to conclude the first story (A). Using this literary technique creates “bookends” before and after a story. This structure helps the reader understand that both stories are connected in significance and meaning. In Mark 11, the story of the cleansing of the temple (vv. 15–19) is bookended before and after with the story of the cursing of the fig tree (vv. 12–14, 20–25). By connecting these two stories, Mark makes it clear that Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree was done as a prophetic sign of the consequences of the corruption and lack of fruit that He saw in Israel’s worship at the time.

By Dave Branon
Blocked Prayers

When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:25

For fourteen years, the Mars rover Opportunity faithfully communicated with the people at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After it landed in 2004, it traversed twenty-eight miles of the Martian surface, took thousands of images, and analyzed many materials. But in 2018, communication between Opportunity and scientists ended when a major dust storm coated its solar panels, causing the rover to lose power.

Is it possible that we can allow “dust” to block our communication with Someone outside of our world? When it comes to prayer—communicating with God—there are certain things that can get in the way.

Scripture says that sin can block our relationship with God. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). Jesus instructs, “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25). Our communication with God can also be hindered by doubt and relationship problems (James 1:5–7; 1 Peter 3:7).

Opportunity’s blockage of communication seems to be permanent. But our prayers don’t have to be blocked. By the work of the Holy Spirit, God lovingly draws us to restored communication with Him. As we confess our sins and turn to Him, by God’s grace we experience the greatest communication the universe has ever known: one-to-one prayer between us and our holy God.

How can confessing your sins to God improve your communication with Him? What can you do to enrich your prayer life?

Father, guide me to discover what’s limiting my communication with You. Thank You for helping me connect with You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 08, 2021
Will To Be Faithful

…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… —Joshua 24:15

A person’s will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will— I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do. The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans. The best thing to do is to remember what you did before when you were touched by God. Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you.

“…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….” Your choice must be a deliberate determination— it is not something into which you will automatically drift. And everything else in your life will be held in temporary suspension until you make a decision. The proposal is between you and God— do not “confer with flesh and blood” about it (Galatians 1:16). With every new proposal, the people around us seem to become more and more isolated, and that is where the tension develops. God allows the opinion of His other saints to matter to you, and yet you become less and less certain that others really understand the step you are taking. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading— the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.

Openly declare to Him, “I will be faithful.” But remember that as soon as you choose to be faithful to Jesus Christ, “You are witnesses against yourselves…” (Joshua 24:22). Don’t consult with other Christians, but simply and freely declare before Him, “I will serve You.” Will to be faithful— and give other people credit for being faithful too.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.  Facing Reality, 34 R

Bible in a Year: Job 36-37; Acts 15:22-41

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 08, 2021

So Dirty, So Clean! - #8999

It might be the dirtiest car I've ever driven. Someone asked me if I wanted to take a picture of our filthy chariot, and I said, "No, I don't want to remember him this way." We had spent weeks on drought-dry back roads. It was never a secret we were coming. You could see the dust long before you could see our car. It was, in the Bible's words, our own "pillar of cloud." Anywhere you rubbed against this car you picked up dirt from it. I wish more people had rubbed against it! Our car had been driven by several drivers during our summer outreach to reservations, and somewhere along the way, the rubber gasket around our trunk lid had been ripped out. One day I opened my trunk to get something, and I was greeted with a lovely blanket of chalky, white dust over everything. By the time we got to a city with a car wash, the automatic windows wouldn't even open. We wondered if their mechanism could be choked with dust. By the way, I don't usually open my windows at car washes. But anyway, we managed to find a car wash that used these words to advertise their services - high-powered, and they weren't lying. No, the water from their hoses could be used in building demolition I think or riot control! They had this soapy spray that seemed to penetrate every filthy crevice of my "dirt mobile." When we drove out, there was no trace anywhere of the dirt that had covered everything only moments before. Oh, P.S. - the windows were working, too!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Dirty, So Clean!"

Our car was dirty on the outside where it was obvious to everyone, and it was dirty on the inside where no one could see - but where it kept things from not working anyway. In many ways, my car was like me with dirt inside and outside that can only be removed by some high-powered cleaning.

The people close to us know the dirt on the outside all too well; the angry outbursts that leave many scars, the mean streak, the selfishness about getting our own way, the dirty talk, the way we treat people sometimes, the backstabbing, the gossiping, the lies, and the deceptions. They don't like it. I don't like it. God sure doesn't like it.

Then there's the dirt on the inside that few, if any, can see. The bitterness we harbor in our heart, the desire for revenge, the dirty fantasies, the self-destructive thoughts, the dark desires and dark feelings that we hope no one ever knows about. While other people may not be able to see the dirt inside, it's still affecting our lives negatively. Things just don't work right when we've got so much dirt inside.

King David talked about his "groaning all day long," his strength being "sapped," and the weight of God's heavy hand on him until he says, "I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord - and You forgave the guilt of my sin" (Psalm 32:3-5). Life just doesn't work right as long as we're carrying the dirt of our sin. Inside, we carry feelings of guilt and shame and regret, and sometimes anxiety about God. Because our sin means we are nowhere near ready to meet our Creator.

It takes some high-powered cleaning to remove human sin. And, thank God, He has provided it at no cost to you; at a very high price to Him. In 1 John 1:7, our word for today from the Word of God, it says, "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." That's what we need so desperately. What no religion on earth can do; total cleaning from the guilt and the penalty of our sin, outside and inside.

And it took Jesus shedding His blood for that to happen. That was the only thing that could pay off the death penalty you and I deserve for hijacking our life from the One who gave it to us. And today, He comes to you offering His high-powered cleaning. Wouldn't it be awesome to go to sleep tonight clean; knowing that you've been forgiven by God for every wrong thing you've ever thought, said or done?

It's within your reach if you'll reach out and say, "Jesus, I'm all Yours." Our website is about beginning this relationship. Check it out - ANewStory.com.

Look, you know what it feels like to be dirty. Now, it's time to know what it feels like to be clean.

Matthew 12:24-50, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: BENEATH THE SHADOW OF GOD’S WINGS - July 7, 2021

Control freaks are easily frustrated. We can’t take control, because control is not ours to take! The Bible has a better idea.  Rather than seeking control, relinquish it. Peace is within reach, not for lack of problems, but because of the presence of a sovereign Lord. Rather than rehearse the chaos of the world, rejoice in the Lord’s sovereignty, as  the apostle Paul did.

From prison he wrote: “The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ” (Philippians 1:12-13). In the innermost of his being, Paul was a man who believed in the steady hand of a good God; protected, preserved by God’s love. He lived beneath the shadow of God’s wings. Do you?


Matthew 12:24-50

But the Pharisees, when they heard the report, were cynical. “Black magic,” they said. “Some devil trick he’s pulled from his sleeve.”

25-27 Jesus confronted their slander. “A judge who gives opposite verdicts on the same person cancels himself out; a family that’s in a constant squabble disintegrates; if Satan banishes Satan, is there any Satan left? If you’re slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil kicking out devils, doesn’t the same mud stick to your own exorcists?

28-29 “But if it’s by God’s power that I am sending the evil spirits packing, then God’s kingdom is here for sure. How in the world do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.

30 “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.

31-32 “There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God’s Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives. If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you’re sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.

33 “If you grow a healthy tree, you’ll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you’ll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree.

34-37 “You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”

Jonah-Evidence
38 Later a few religion scholars and Pharisees cornered him. “Teacher, we want to see your credentials. Give us some hard evidence that God is in this. How about a miracle?”

39-40 Jesus said, “You’re looking for proof, but you’re looking for the wrong kind. All you want is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. The only proof you’re going to get is what looks like the absence of proof: Jonah-evidence. Like Jonah, three days and nights in the fish’s belly, the Son of Man will be gone three days and nights in a deep grave.

41-42 “On Judgment Day, the Ninevites will stand up and give evidence that will condemn this generation, because when Jonah preached to them they changed their lives. A far greater preacher than Jonah is here, and you squabble about ‘proofs.’ On Judgment Day, the Queen of Sheba will come forward and bring evidence that will condemn this generation, because she traveled from a far corner of the earth to listen to wise Solomon. Wisdom far greater than Solomon’s is right in front of you, and you quibble over ‘evidence.’

43-45 “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.

“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”

Obedience Is Thicker than Blood
46-47 While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you.”

48-50 Jesus didn’t respond directly, but said, “Who do you think my mother and brothers are?” He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. “Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, July 07, 2021

Read: Proverbs 1:1–9

Purpose and Theme
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
    for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
    doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
    knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
    and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
    the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
    but fools[c] despise wisdom and instruction.

Prologue: Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom
Warning Against the Invitation of Sinful Men
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
9 They are a garland to grace your head
    and a chain to adorn your neck.

INSIGHT
The book of Proverbs—particularly chapters 1–9—contains advice from a father to his son “for gaining wisdom and instruction” (1:2). The key element of and foundation for wisdom is found in verse 7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” The importance of “the fear of the Lord” is seen in the fact that this phrase is found eleven times in the book of Proverbs (and the challenge “fear the Lord” appears another four times). So, then, what is “the fear of the Lord”? The Hebrew word (yirah) translated “fear” doesn’t mean to be afraid of God. Rather, it means “awe” or “reverence”—an attitude of heart towards the Creator that generates a desire to obey Him. This is where wisdom begins—embracing the greatness of God and desiring to honor Him.

By Elisa Morgan
The Wisdom We Need

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 nlt

Ellen opened her mailbox and discovered a bulky envelope with her dear friend’s return address. Just a few days prior, she’d shared a relational struggle with that friend. Curious, she unwrapped the package and found a colorful beaded necklace on a simple jute string. Attached was a card with a company’s slogan, “Say It in Morse Code,” and words translating the necklace’s hidden and wise message, “Seek God’s Ways.” Ellen smiled as she fastened it around her neck.

The book of Proverbs is a compilation of wise sayings—many penned by Solomon, who was acclaimed as the wisest man of his era (1 Kings 10:23). Its thirty-one chapters call the reader to listen to wisdom and avoid folly, starting with the core message of Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Wisdom—knowing what to do when—comes from honoring God by seeking His ways. In the introductory verses, we read, “Listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck” (vv. 8–9 nlt).

Ellen’s friend had directed her to the Source of the wisdom she needed: Seek God’s ways. Her gift focused Ellen’s attention on where to discover the help she needed.

When we honor God and seek His ways, we’ll receive the wisdom we need for all the matters we face in life. Each and every one.

Where do you go when you need wisdom? How can you keep God’s words in the forefront of your mind?

God, remind me that You’re the Source of the wisdom I need.

To learn more about the book of Proverbs, visit ChristianUniversity.org/Proverbs.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 07, 2021
All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult

Enter by the narrow gate….Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14

If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult.  The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us up to overcome.  Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory?

God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.

Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R

Bible in a Year: Job 34-35; Acts 15:1-21

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 07, 2021
Bogged Down With Baggage - #8998

Mount Luggage - that's what I remember about the day that our whole family was trapped at O'Hare Airport. We had taken our daughter to Chicago to get her to college. There was record rainfall that day. It was like nine and a half inches in a few hours, and O'Hare Airport literally had become an island. It was cut off from the rest of the world. It was like Camp O'Hare! And the overpass that people had to go through to get in was flooded with four feet of water. Well, needless to say, all the people were stranded there; everyone was running trying to get to a phone. This was pre cell phones. Every phone was taken; everybody was trying to find options, "How do I get out of here?" "How can I arrange for a ride if it ever does open up?" "Where can we stay tonight?"

And, of course, I was a Dad with three kids and a wife there, and I'm trying to find a room, a ride. The problem was in order to take advantage of any break I could find, we had to move fast. I mean, it was just a zoo! Well, that's what we could not do (move fast) because we were bringing our daughter to college, and she was bringing her whole world to college with her. And since we had to fly, we all brought luggage, and she brought big trunks. And I think we had something like 12 pieces of luggage, and my daughter was sitting on that pile of baggage in the baggage claim area. And when we needed to move, we were too tied down to do it.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bogged Down With Baggage."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 9, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 2, where Jesus has called His twelve disciples together. And it says, "He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them, 'Take nothing for the journey. No staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic.'"

In essence, Jesus is saying, "I've got kingdom work for you to do. I want you to travel light. Don't get bogged down with a lot of extra gear. Limit yourself to the basics you really need and be ready to move any time when there's a job to do. I don't want you to have to say, 'Whoa! Hold it! We can't take all this weight with us. I've got to go get more. How am I going to carry...'" He wants His servants to be highly mobile; ready to move at His command.

Now, there's a phrase that might describe many of us Western Christians. We're slaves to our stuff. We've got so much stuff! If God were to ask us to make a move for Him or to start a work for Him, or to suddenly give a very large percentage of what we've got to His work, to change our lifestyle to serve Him, we couldn't. We're like our family at O'Hare Airport. We've got so much material baggage we can't move it when He tells us to. We limit God's ways of using us by our accumulation of stuff. We don't own it, it owns us.

Many of us think we don't have much at all. We'll say, "Well, a lot of people have more than I do." But if we look at our Lord, who traveled very light in this world, we've got a lot. God never meant for us to keep enlarging our standard of living to the point where we can't afford to leave all and follow Him. We've got so much debt, so much we own, so much stuff. And instead of continuing to give it away, we build a little kingdom. He may or may not ask you to leave all and follow Him; He did ask a lot of people to do that and He still is. But we need to live so we're always ready to move for Him.

We have a heritage in our faith of leaders and followers of Christ who travel light. Let's not let the accumulation of earth stuff trap us into God's second best. You have to always be ready to leave it all and you've got to be able to leave it all. When God asks you to move or change, you just don't want to be trapped by a mountain of baggage.

Genesis 43, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: Something to Complain About

If you look hard enough and long enough, you’ll find something to complain about!

Adam and Eve did.  Surrounded by all they needed, they set their eyes on the one thing they couldn’t have.

The followers of Moses did.  They could’ve focused on the miracles, but instead they focused on their problems.

What are you looking at?  The one fruit you can’t eat?  Or the million you can?  The manna or the misery?

Philippians 4:8 says “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, lovely, of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.”

Even the garden of Eden looks gray to some.  But it needn’t to you.  Jesus who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!  Give every day a chance!

From Great Day Every Day

Genesis 43

The Second Journey to Egypt

Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”

7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty[a] grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”

17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”

19 So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”

23 “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

24 The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there.

26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”

28 They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.

29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.

31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.”

32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Jeremiah 6:13-20

“From the least to the greatest,
    all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
    all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
    when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
    No, they have no shame at all;
    they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
    they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
16 This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I appointed watchmen over you and said,
    ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
    But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations;
    you who are witnesses,
    observe what will happen to them.
19 Hear, you earth:
    I am bringing disaster on this people,
    the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
    and have rejected my law.
20 What do I care about incense from Sheba
    or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
    your sacrifices do not please me.”

Insight
Jeremiah, often called the “weeping prophet,” brought a depressing message to Israel: “Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people” (6:19). God would bring the consequences of Israel’s choices on them. Calamity was coming (v.15) because Israel had forgotten the path given in the past (v.16). Yet Jeremiah also offered words of hope: One day God would bring “the remnant” back to Israel and raise up a “Branch of righteousness” (23:3-8).

Not A Hitching Post
By David C. McCasland

Ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. —Jeremiah 6:16

You may have heard the saying, “The past is supposed to be a guidepost, not a hitching post.” It’s easy to become tied to memories of “the good old days” instead of using our experiences to find direction for the road ahead. We are all susceptible to the paralyzing effects of nostalgia—a longing for what used to be.

Jeremiah was a priest from a small town near Jerusalem when God called him to be “a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). He was given the very difficult job of pronouncing God’s judgment primarily on the people of Judah, who had turned away from the Lord. Jeremiah made it clear that he was delivering God’s message, not his own (7:1-2).

The Lord said, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’” (6:16).

God urged His people to look back so they could move ahead. The purpose of considering the ancient paths was to find “the good way” marked by God’s faithfulness, His forgiveness, and His forward call.

God can teach us from our past that the best road is the one we walk with Him.

Though I know not what awaits me—
What the future has in store,
Yet I know that God is faithful,
For I’ve proved Him oft before. —Anon.
God’s guidance in the past gives courage for the future.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 06, 2014

Visions Become Reality

The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.

Matthew 22:1-22 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He Cares About You

Maybe you don’t want to trouble God with your hurts.  After all, “He’s got famines and pestilence and wars. He won’t care about my little struggles,” you think.  Why don’t you let Him decide that?

Jesus cared enough about a wedding to provide the wine. He cared enough about the woman at the well to give her answers.  1 Peter 5:7 says, “He cares about you.”

Your first step is to go to the right person.  Go to God.  Your second step is to assume the right posture.  Bow before God.  Luke 18:7 reminds us, “God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow to answer them.”

Listen to the prayer in Psalm 25:1-2: “Lord, I give myself to You, my God.  I trust You.”  So, go…bow…and trust.  It’s worth a try, don’t you think?

from Traveling Light

Matthew 22:1-22
New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Footnotes:

Matthew 22:17 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Peter 3:10-18

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Footnotes:

2 Peter 3:10 Some manuscripts be burned up
2 Peter 3:12 Or as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come

Insight
The exhortation to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord” is the end goal of every believer (2 Peter 3:18; cf. John 17:3; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:10; 3:10; 1 John 5:20). God wants us to grow and not to remain spiritual infants (1 Peter 2:2).

The Growth Chart
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. —2 Peter 3:18

If my family ever moves from the house where we live now, I want to unhinge the pantry door and take it with me! That door is special because it shows how my children have grown over the years. Every few months, my husband and I place our children against the door and pencil a mark just above their heads. According to our growth chart, my daughter shot up 4 inches in just 1 year!

While my children grow physically as a natural part of life, there’s another kind of growth that happens with some effort—our spiritual growth in Christlikeness. Peter encouraged believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge” of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). He said that maturing in our faith prepares us for Christ’s return. The apostle wanted Jesus to come back and find believers living in peace and righteousness (v.14). Peter viewed spiritual growth as a defense against teaching that incorrectly interprets God’s Word and leads people astray (vv.16-17).

Even when we feel discouraged and disconnected from God, we can remember that He will help us advance in our faith by making us more like His Son. His Word assures us that “He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Dear God, I invite Your Holy Spirit
to mold me into the person You want me to be.
Empower me to keep reaching for
the holiness I see in Jesus.
Spiritual growth requires the solid food of God’s Word.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 05, 2014

Don’t Plan Without God

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass —Psalm 37:5
Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love . . . thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not. . . .” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

Genesis 42, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Doesn’t Look Like a Hero

The apostle Paul shaped history.  Yet Paul would die in the jail of a despot.  No headlines announced his execution.  No observer recorded the events.  Doesn’t look like a hero. The fellow who changes the oil in your car could be a hero.  Maybe as he works he prays, asking God to do with the heart of the driver what he does with the engine. I know, I know….  Doesn’t fit our image of a hero.

John Egglen, a deacon, stepped in and gave the sermon for a few folks who had arrived before a snowstorm that prevented the pastor from getting there.  In a moment of courage, he looked straight at a young boy in the service and said, “Look to Jesus. Look!” The boy’s name?  Charles Haddon Spurgeon, England’s “prince of preachers.” You never know… tomorrow’s Spurgeon may be in your church or be your neighbor. And the hero who inspires him might be in your mirror!

From When God Whispers Your Name

Genesis 42

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” 2 He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

3 Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.

6 Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.”

8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 9 Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”

10 “No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”

12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”

13 But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

14 Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! 15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17 And he put them all in custody for three days.

18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. 20 But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.

21 They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.”

22 Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.” 23 They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.

24 He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.

25 Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, 26 they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.

27 At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. 28 “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.”

Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.’

33 “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. 34 But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade[g] in the land.’”

35 As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”

37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”

38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”

Genesis 42:34 Or move about freely


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: John 15:1-13

The Vine and the Branches

 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Insight
There are two sides to the word picture of Jesus and His followers as a vine and branches. On the one side, His followers, the branches, are totally dependent on Him, the vine. But as the vine, He freely and generously supplies what we need to bear fruit.

Dependence Day
By Bill Crowder

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. —John 15:5

In the US, the Fourth of July is a national holiday when outdoor grills are heated up; beaches are packed; and cities and towns have parades and fireworks displays, picnics, and patriotic celebrations. All of this is in remembrance of July 4, 1776, when the 13 American colonies declared their independence.

Independence appeals to all ages. It means “freedom from the control, influence, support, and aid of others.” So it’s not surprising that teenagers talk about gaining their independence. Many adults have the goal of being “independently wealthy.” And senior citizens want to maintain their independence. Whether anyone is ever truly independent is a discussion for another time and place—but it sounds good.

Craving political or personal independence is one thing; daring to pursue spiritual independence is problematic. What we need instead is a recognition and acceptance of our deep spiritual dependence. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Far from being self-reliant, we are totally and eternally dependent on the One who died to set us free. Every day is our “dependence day.”

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee!
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. —Hawks/Lowry
Our greatest strength comes from dependence on our strong God.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 04, 2014

One of God’s Great “Don’ts”

Do not fret— it only causes harm —Psalm 37:8
Fretting means getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, “Do not fret,” but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to “rest in the Lord” then? If this “Do not” doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This “Do not” must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.

Hungry For Something More - #7170

If you look on the backside of an American nickel, you'll see a picture of it. It's that domed mansion of President Thomas Jefferson, known as Monticello. It's a living monument, really, to the genius of one of America's great minds - the author of America's Declaration of Independence.
Monticello reflects so much of his creative genius and his insatiable, inquiring mind. Everywhere you turn, you see these inventive touches that were there years ahead of their time. Maybe the single feature of that house that best reveals the mind of Thomas Jefferson is the direction that its main rooms are facing. His study, bedroom and library, all face west. See, Jefferson loved to look west. He wanted his guests and his friends to be looking west because he said that's where the frontier is. And Thomas Jefferson was always facing the frontier!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hungry for Something More."
Facing that frontier - that's an exciting way to live. With a restless heart that says, "There's more out there, and I want it." You know, that's the heart of the spiritually healthy Jesus-follower. However far you've come in your relationship with Christ, however much you've experienced with Him, you know there's much more. And you want to go beyond anywhere you've gone before.
That is the passion of the great Apostle Paul. Look, he's thirty years into what may have been the most powerful relationship with Jesus anyone ever had. But in Philippians 3, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God, Paul says: "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings... Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it."
Wow! If the great Apostle Paul felt that way - that he had much more of Jesus to experience - you and I should be concerned if we find that our heart isn't restless for more! Oswald Chambers put it this way: "Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation." See, the spiritual level you're at may very well be enough to satisfy your pastor or other Christians. I just hope it isn't enough to satisfy you.
"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." There is so much more - a greater experience of the closeness of Jesus, of the power of Jesus, of the moment-by-moment leading of Jesus.
There are two major spiritual frontiers to hunger for. First, greater intimacy with Jesus. I'm by nature a doer. I'm more Martha than I am Mary. I'm busy running around serving Jesus. But I need; I want to experience more of the realness of His presence and His love. I want to be better at hearing the sound of His voice in my soul. I want to be a lot more like Him a lot more minutes of the day.
The second frontier is a greater impact for Jesus; making a greater difference for Him than I have ever made before. The road to His glorious "more" is increased time with Him each day, more "cuddle time" where I just love on Him and let Him love on me; a passionate pursuit of the personal orders from Jesus that He has for that day every time I open His book. Every time we're in His book, every time we're in a Christian meeting, we should go with this prayer in our heart, "Jesus, help me come away with more of You!" And then, we need to be mining each day for every possible opportunity to have an impact on somebody else's life for Him.
"More, Lord, I want more. I want all You have for me. I want to go beyond anywhere I've ever gone with You before!" Let that be the cry of a hungry heart, and don't ever be content with how far you've come. There's so much more! Keep facing the frontier!