Genesis 35 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Known by Jesus - August 25, 2021

According to Philippians 2:7, Jesus took “the very nature of a servant.” He became like us so he could serve us. He entered the world not to demand our allegiance but to display his affection.

He knew you’d be sleepy, he knew you’d be grief stricken, and hungry. He knew you’d face pain. If not the pain of the body, the pain of the soul. He knew you’d face thirst. If not a thirst for water, at least a thirst for truth. And the truth we glean from the image of a thirsty Christ on the cross is: Jesus understands.

When we feel lonely, knowing someone understands can make all the difference. You can be surrounded by people but still feel lonely if you don’t feel known. And you can be alone but not feel lonely if you are known. God became flesh, so we would always feel known by him.

Genesis 35

God spoke to Jacob: “Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau.”

2-3 Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, “Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we’re going to Bethel. I’m going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I’ve gone since.”

4-5 They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they’d been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.

6-7 Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that’s where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother.

8 And that’s when Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak).

9-10 God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: “Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that’s your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler).”

11-12 God continued,

I am The Strong God.
    Have children! Flourish!
A nation—a whole company of nations!—
    will come from you.
Kings will come from your loins;
    the land I gave Abraham and Isaac
I now give to you,
    and pass it on to your descendants.

13 And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him.

14-15 Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God’s-House).

* * *

16-17 They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”

18 With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).

19-20 Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”

* * *

21-22 Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.

* * *

22-26 There were twelve sons of Jacob.

The sons by Leah:

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn

Simeon

Levi

Judah

Issachar

Zebulun.

The sons by Rachel:

Joseph

Benjamin.

The sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid:

Dan

Naphtali.

The sons by Zilpah, Leah’s maid:

Gad

Asher.

These were Jacob’s sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.

* * *

27-29 Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Today's Scripture
1 Timothy 5:1–8
(NIV)

Widows, Elders and Slaves

5 Do not rebuke an older mang harshly,h but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger meni as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.j 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents,k for this is pleasing to God.l 5 The widow who is really in needm and left all alone puts her hope in Godn and continues night and day to prayo and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.p 7 Give the people these instructions,q so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has deniedr the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Insight

Some cultures give appropriate honor to the elderly; other cultures seem to despise old age. God cares deeply about the marginalized, and the concept of respect for the aged was written into ancient Jewish law. Leviticus 19, which repeats the Ten Commandments including the one to honor parents (v. 3), also says, “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God” (v. 32). Paul upholds this notion of respect for the elderly in his letter to Timothy in two different yet related ways: Timothy was to show utmost respect for an “older man” he may need to correct (this was due to Timothy’s leadership position, see 1 Timothy 5:1), and he was to see that the church cared for widows in genuine need—those without family to provide for them (vv. 3–8). Children and grandchildren of widows were to show respect for their elders by caring for them. By: Tim Gustafson

A Good Reason

Put [your] religion into practice by caring for [your] own family.
1 Timothy 5:4

The two women occupied the aisle seats across from each other. The flight was two hours, so I couldn’t help but see some of their interactions. It was clear they knew each other, might even be related. The younger of the two (probably in her sixties) kept reaching in her bag to hand the older (I’d guess in her nineties) fresh apple slices, then homemade finger sandwiches, then a towelette for clean up, and finally a crisp copy of the New York Times. Each hand-off was done with such tenderness, such dignity. As we stood to exit the plane, I told the younger woman, “I noticed the way you cared for her. It was beautiful.” She replied, “She’s my best friend. She’s my mother.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all say something like that? Some parents are like best friends. Some parents are nothing like that. The truth is those relationships are always complicated at best. While Paul’s letter to Timothy doesn’t ignore that complexity, it still calls us to put our “religion into practice” by taking care of parents and grandparents—our “relatives,” our “own household” (1 Timothy 5:4, 8).

We all too often practice such care only if family members were or are good to us. In other words, if they deserve it. But Paul offers up a more beautiful reason to repay them. Take care of them because “this is pleasing to God” (v. 4). By:  John Blase


Reflect & Pray

If your parents are still living, how would you describe your relationship with them? Regardless of what kind of job they did as parents, what are some ways you can take care of them right now?

Father, give me grace and mercy as I seek to care for those who cared for me. And help me to remember the reason I’m doing it.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
The Golden Street's Matchmakers - #9033

I meet a lot of single people in their twenties and thirties, and of course, a lot of them would like to be married. Either they haven't found the right person yet, or they found someone with like commitment phobia who hears wedding bells and runs the other way. Our mate selection process, as you may know very personally, is a little uncertain and sometimes messed up, actually.

Maybe we should consider the Yenta idea. Yenta is the Hebrew matchmaker. She brings people together. It works! I mean, it was popularized in Fiddler on the Roof in that song, "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match" which I will not sing for you. That old Hebrew culture left nothing to chance when it came to getting people together. Yenta got in the middle and made sure it happened. Well, have I got a Yenta job for you!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Golden Street's Matchmakers."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 5. I'm reading verses 19 and 20. We're told, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ...not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." Well, what's reconciliation? It's bringing two people together, right? "We are therefore," it says, "Christ's ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." I describe this as the golden street's matchmakers; making sure that you get the message out so that someone you know can go to heaven with you.

I had the privilege at a major national youth convention to ask young people to stand to their feet; young people who were willing to claim one friend for Christ. Not the whole world, just to say, "This one friend, I will do whatever it takes to reach that person and to stand and pray aloud by name for that person right now." And across that auditorium in our nation's capitol, thousands of kids stood with the name that God had laid on their heart.

If I asked you to do that - to say, "I will live my life to take this one person to heaven with me" who would yours be? There's no way that person can get to heaven unless he or she gets to Jesus, and there's probably no way he or she can get to Jesus unless they have a matchmaker.

And God says that's you and me; someone who holds Jesus in one hand and that person you care about in the other and brings them together. This is not some laid back, "Well, I hope it works" process. No, notice the words in this passage as though God were asking you to. I'm going to ask you on God's behalf, He couldn't be here, so I'm going to ask you intensely, "I implore you, I beg you be reconciled to God." There's nothing passive about this.

Not long ago we were jolted in our community by three sudden deaths; a couple of them teenagers. Someone called it a wakeup call, and it was. That kind of thing reminds you that time is short; heaven and hell are very eternal. And nothing, nothing is more important than letting the people you know hear about your Jesus. It's more than just living your life in front of them. It's more than even loving them. You've got to tell them, pray daily for them, make a commitment to live your life to redeem theirs. So, who do you want to have in heaven with you that you need to tell about how to get there?

Will you step up to being God's matchmaker - His ambassador? A matchmaker makes sure that people get together, and God is asking you to do whatever it takes, whatever it costs, to bring two people together forever - a person you care about and the Christ who died for them.

Genesis 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Is Always Near - August 24, 2021

What a world Jesus left. The God of the universe was born into the poverty of a peasant girl and spent his first night in the feed trough of a cow. John 1:14 says,“The Word became flesh and lived among us.” The God of the universe left the glory of heaven and moved into the neighborhood. Our neighborhood! Who could have imagined he would do such a thing?

When God came to earth, he ensured our salvation, he ensured grace, he ensured hope, and he ensured something else—that we would never be lonely again. Perhaps you feel lonely today. Perhaps you’ve felt lonely for weeks or even months. We cannot avoid loneliness. It is common to every human experience. But in Christ, God is always near. God loves to be with the ones he loves.

Genesis 34

One day Dinah, the daughter Leah had given Jacob, went to visit some of the women in that country. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her. Shechem went to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

5-7 Jacob heard that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the fields with the livestock so he didn’t say anything until they got home. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to Jacob to work out marriage arrangements. Meanwhile Jacob’s sons on their way back from the fields heard what had happened. They were outraged, explosive with anger. Shechem’s rape of Jacob’s daughter was intolerable in Israel and not to be put up with.

8-10 Hamor spoke with Jacob and his sons, “My son Shechem is head over heels in love with your daughter—give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and we’ll give our daughters to you. Live together with us as one family. Settle down among us and make yourselves at home. Prosper among us.”

11-12 Shechem then spoke for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: “Please, say yes. I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife.”

13-17 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”

18 That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.

19 The young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that he proceeded to do what had been asked. He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.

20-23 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public square and spoke to the town council: “These men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country for them. And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves are. This is a very good deal for us—these people are very wealthy with great herds of livestock and we’re going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask and have them settle down with us.”

24 Everyone who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised.

25-29 Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. When the rest of Jacob’s sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah’s rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.

30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You’ve made my name repulsive to the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn’t stand a chance; they’d wipe me and my people right off the map.”

31 They said, “Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Today's Scripture
Genesis 1:11–13,29–30
(NIV)

 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation:f seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.g” And it was so.h 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kindsi and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.j 13 And there was evening, and there was morningk—the third day.

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.f 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of lifeg in it—I give every green plant for food.h” And it was so.

Insight

In addition to the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2, we find several passages in Scripture that portray God as Creator and Provider. Psalm 8 points to God’s hand in creation and His care for humanity: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (vv. 3–4). In Job 38–39, God names many of the creatures and other wonders He’s created and His provision for them. Psalm 104 pictures God stretching “out the heavens like a tent” (v. 2) and declares, “All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time” (v. 27). The New Testament describes Jesus as the Creator (John 1:1–3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15–17). By: Alyson Kieda

God’s Provision
See how the flowers of the field grow. . . . Will he not much more clothe you?
Matthew 6:28, 30

We trekked deeper and deeper into the forest, venturing farther and farther away from the village at Yunnan Province, China. After an hour or so, we heard the deafening roar of the water. Quickening our steps, we soon reached a clearing and were greeted by a beautiful view of a curtain of white water cascading over the gray rocks. Spectacular!

Our hiking companions, who lived in the village we had left an hour earlier, decided that we should have a picnic. Great idea, but where was the food? We hadn’t brought any. My friends disappeared into the surrounding forest and returned with an assortment of fruits and vegetables and even some fish. The shuixiangcai looked strange with its small purple flowers, but tasted heavenly!

I was reminded that creation declares God’s extravagant provision. We can see proof of His generosity in “all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit” (Genesis 1:12 nlt). God has made and given us for food “every seed-bearing plant . . . and every tree that has fruit with seed in it” (v. 29).

Do you sometimes find it hard to trust God to meet your needs? Why not take a walk in nature? Let what you see remind you of Jesus’ assuring words: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need [all these things]” (Matthew 6:31–32). By:  Poh Fang Chia

Reflect & Pray

How has God provided for you in the past? How can you continue to lean on His provision in the present?

Loving Father, You’re a generous provider. Help me to trust You to meet my needs

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
The Spiritual Search

What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? —Matthew 7:9

The illustration of prayer that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our relationship is to Him (see Matthew 5:45). Never say that it is not God’s will to give you what you ask. Don’t faint and give up, but find out the reason you have not received; increase the intensity of your search and examine the evidence. Is your relationship right with your spouse, your children, and your fellow students? Are you a “good child” in those relationships? Do you have to say to the Lord, “I have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings”? You cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of a “good child.”

We mistake defiance for devotion, arguing with God instead of surrendering. We refuse to look at the evidence that clearly indicates where we are wrong. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been living as God’s child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12).

I am a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship with God. We are all good at producing spiritual fog that blinds our sight. But if we will search out and examine the evidence, we will see very clearly what is wrong— a friendship, an unpaid debt, or an improper attitude. There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then Jesus says, regarding His children, “Everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

Bible in a Year: Psalms 116-118; 1 Corinthians 7:1-19

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
The Truth Alarm - #9032

You see them in motel rooms, most public buildings, and you should see them on the ceilings in your house - smoke detectors. Those little plastic monitoring devices that sound an obnoxious alarm when there's smoke in the room. Just ask me; I proved it the day I left my English muffin in the toaster oven too long. The smoke detector did its job; a job that can actually save lives. You want an alarm to go off when there's smoke in your house, especially if it's warning you about something that could do major damage.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Truth Alarm."

Years ago, I asked God to install a spiritual smoke detector in my heart - one that would actually go off inside me whenever I was saying something that was less than the truth. I think we all need an inner alarm like that, because lies do so much damage if you don't put them out right away.

We tend to think of lying maybe as a "lesser" sin. God doesn't. No, listen to what He says in Proverbs 6, beginning with verse 16. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him." What follows is God's hate list. Only one sin is mentioned twice in His hate list: "a lying tongue" and "a false witness that pours out lies." See, that lie you tell? That's serious business. You're messing with something God detests.

When you lie, you violate the Ninth Commandment of God's sacred law. When you lie, you become an ally of the devil because Jesus told us the devil is "the father of lies" (John 8:44). When you lie, you start a series of events that usually means more lies to cover up the lie and it ultimately means damage to relationships, reputations, respect, and most certainly, your relationship with the God who hates lying.

We even tend to lie to ourselves about the fact that we are lying! We're just "exaggerating" or it's only a "white lie," whatever that is. But in God's book, you're lying whenever you're intending to deceive someone or mislead them. That's why we need to ask God for that inner alarm that reminds us that we're saying something, or we're about to say something, that is less than what God knows to be true.

Lying is so common that we can do it with little guilt or remorse. We lie to get ahead, we lie to get our way, we lie to get even, we lie to get out of a jam. The reason doesn't matter. God hates it. And He clearly commands: "Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor" (Ephesians 4:25).

Deceiving, lying, distorting the truth - it starts a spiritual fire that can do so much damage and actually end up consuming you. But inside you lives the Holy Spirit of Almighty God who Jesus called "the Spirit of truth" (John 15:26), and He is your inner alarm system to let you know when you've crossed from what's real into what's false. Ask Him to ring it loud when you're about to let something less than the truth cross your lips. We've become desensitized to lying. We need God Himself to awaken our calloused conscience and defy our rationalizations, and not let us get away with anything less than the truth.

Telling the truth may hurt. But it can never do as much damage as not telling the truth, because our God hates lying.

Genesis 33 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: The God of Forward Motion - August 23, 2021

Believe in the Jesus who believes in you. “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'” (Jeremiah 29:11).

What will God do for you? It is not ours to say what God will do. It simply falls to us to stand up, take up, and walk. Jesus is serious about this command. When he found the just-healed man in the temple, he told him, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14). To indulge in inertia, as the man had done, well that is to sin. Stagnant, do-nothingness is deemed as a serious offense.

God is the God of forward motion, the God of tomorrow. The God of what’s next?, and he is ready to write a new chapter in your biography.

Genesis 33

Jacob Meets Esau

Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.

Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”

6 Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. 7 Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.

8 Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”

“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.

9 But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”

10 “No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.

12 Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”

13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

15 Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”

“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 17 Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.[a]

18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,[b] he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver,[c] he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.[d]

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, August 23, 2021

Today's Scripture
Acts 1:1–8
(NIV)

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

1 In my former book,a Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teachb 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven,c after giving instructionsd through the Holy Spirit to the apostlese he had chosen.f 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to themg over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.h 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but waiti for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.j 5 For John baptized witha water,k but in a few days you will be baptized withb the Holy Spirit.”l

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restorem the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.n 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;o and you will be my witnessesp in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,q and to the ends of the earth.”r

Insight

After conquering the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the Assyrians adopted a policy of racial assimilation. They deported the Jews to Assyria and brought in other people groups to repopulate Samaria and marry the remaining Jews still in the land. This new group, the Samaritans, eventually devised their own religion, a hybrid of Judaism and paganism (2 Kings 17:22–41) with a temple of their own on Mount Gerizim (see John 4:20–23), creating deep-seated hostility between the two peoples (Ezra 4:1–3; Luke 9:51–55; John 4:9). In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when reaching the Jews was His priority, He told His disciples not to go to the gentile or Samaritan towns to preach (Matthew 10:5–6). Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus specifically commanded His disciples to “be [his] witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

By: K. T. Sim

Loving Your Enemy

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria.
Acts 1:8

I ducked into a room before she saw me. I was ashamed of hiding, but I didn’t want to deal with her right then—or ever. I longed to tell her off, to put her in her place. Though I'd been annoyed by her past behavior, it’s likely I had irritated her even more!

The Jews and Samaritans also shared a mutually irritating relationship. Being a people of mixed origin and worshiping their own gods, the Samaritans—in the eyes of the Jews—had spoiled the Jewish bloodline and faith, erecting a rival religion on Mount Gerizim (John 4:20). In fact, the Jews so despised Samaritans they would walk the long way around rather than take the direct route through their country.

Jesus revealed a better way. He brought salvation for all people, including Samaritans. So He ventured into the heart of Samaria to bring living water to a sinful woman and her town (vv. 4–42). His last words to His disciples were to follow His example. They must share His good news with everyone, beginning in Jerusalem and dispersing through Samaria until they reached “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Samaria was more than the next geographical sequence. It was the most painful part of the mission. The disciples had to overcome lifetimes of prejudice to love people they didn’t like.

Does Jesus matter more to us than our grievances? There’s only one way to be sure. Love your “Samaritan.”

By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

How can you begin to show love to those who aren’t very loving? When have you been loving to a difficult person and then found them softening?

Father, may the waves of Your love crash over me, producing a torrent that streams to others through me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 23, 2021

Prayer—Battle in “The Secret Place”

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. —Matthew 6:6

Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “…pray to your Father who is in the secret place….” Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.

We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, “This needs to be done, and I have to do that today.” Jesus says to “shut your door.” Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from “the secret place”— He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in “the secret place,” it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into “the secret place,” and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and “pray to your Father who is in the secret place,” every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 113-115; 1 Corinthians 6

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 23, 2021

A Precarious Planet - #9031

There have been a lot of changes in the space program over the years, but I'll tell you, I like thinking back to those original pioneering flights to the moon. Those are pretty heroic deals - the Apollo missions. It was mind-blowing to think that we had reached the point where men like us could actually walk on that moon that had just been that distant light in the night for millennia. It really was a big deal!

But Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts to first walk on the moon, put things in perspective when their spacecraft was about halfway to the moon. He said he looked out the window at our earth and then he put his thumb up in his line of vision. He said, "Suddenly, no earth." WOW! This planet that's like our everything could be covered by a man's thumb. But not only is it a small planet in the cosmic scheme of things, but well, as events will often remind us, it's a vulnerable little place, too.

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

A while back, when Japan was rocked by a 9.0 earthquake and then inundated by that monster tsunami and they even fought fears of a nuclear meltdown, I think, you know, the whole world felt the tremors. I couldn't help but think about what a precarious planet we live on. Some tectonic plates move a relatively few feet and a chunk of our world convulses for a few seconds. A nation moves, the earth's axis shifts and the landscape changes forever. And in those little brief convulsions that can spawn a monstrous wall of water that erases towns and sweeps away everything in its path. And destructive tsunami waves race 5,000 miles across the Pacific and they're felt in California and Oregon. All because of some sliding rock beneath the ocean.

You know, on a normal day we just breeze through our life, acting like we'll be here forever. And then comes the wakeup call of some trauma or tragedy that briefly snaps us out of our complacency. Life really is fragile. Eternity really is close. And I could be there in a moment.

Occasionally I'll see one of those road signs with a five-word warning. It happens to be our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Amos 4:12 - "Prepare to meet your God."

You know, in the days of the tragedy like a great tsunami, the difference between life and death is the warning and whether or not you get to high ground before the tsunami hits.

Every day on this planet, a "tsunami" called death sweeps 150,000 people into eternity ready or not. Since it happens with, you know, one heart attack here and one traffic accident there, we don't see it on the news like we do an attack of a killer wave. But it's real, it's relentless, and it's coming my way. God clearly tells us what to expect: "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). "Judgment!" I mean, that's facing the penalty for a lifetime of marginalizing God and hijacking the running of my life from Him.

The tsunami warning of God has sounded. The warning is clear. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). But the high ground is within reach. It says, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Romans 6:23). He took on Himself the full fury of the tsunami of God's judgment for my sins when He died on the cross. The Bible says, "He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross" (1 Peter 2:24). He did what no religion on earth could do. He paid the death penalty for our sins so we could be forgiven, and clean, and ready for eternity whenever it comes, however it comes.

The high ground is on a hill with a cross on it. Millions of people have fled to that cross and found safety. I have. And Jesus stands there today, extending His invitation to you. If you've never come to Him, if you've never given yourself to Him, put your life (your fragile life) in His hands, tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

This is a turning-point time in your life. I want to encourage you to go to our website, because you're going to find some very encouraging information there about securing this relationship with God. The website is ANewStory.com.

It's a precarious planet. It's a fragile life we have. Yes, we have an appointment with God and there's a way to be ready. This is a good day to run to Him.

Matthew 20:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Our Reluctance

Perhaps the most amazing response to God's gift is our reluctance to accept it. We feel better if we earn it. So we create religious hoops and hop through them-making God a trainer, us his pets, and religion a circus.
If only, when God smiles and says we are saved, we'd salute him, thank him, and live like those who've just received a gift from the commander in chief. We seldom do that, though. To accept grace is to admit failure. We opt to impress God with how good we are rather than confessing how great he is. We dizzy ourselves with doctrine.  Burden ourselves with rules. We think that God will smile on our efforts. But He doesn't. God's smile is not for the healthy hiker who boasts that he made the journey alone. It is, instead, for the crippled leper who begs God for a back on which to ride!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Matthew 20:1-16

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

 “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

3-5 “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

5-6 “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’

7 “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

8 “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’

9-12 “Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’

13-15 “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’

16 “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, August 22, 2021
Today's Scripture-1 Samuel 24:1–4,14–18 (NIV)

David Spares Saul’s Life

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.g” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to lookh for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cavei was there, and Saul went in to relievej himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spokek of when he saidb to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ”l Then David crept up unnoticed and cutm off a corner of Saul’s robe.

 “Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog?c A flea?d 15 May the Lord be our judgee and decidef between us. May he consider my cause and upholdg it; may he vindicateh me by deliveringi me from your hand.”

16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice,j David my son?” And he wept aloud. 17 “You are more righteous than I,”k he said. “You have treated me well,l but I have treated you badly.m 18 You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord deliveredn me into your hands, but you did not kill me.

Insight

Threatened by David’s successes (1 Samuel 18:5–9, 30) and resentful of God’s blessings upon him, Saul tried to kill him (vv. 10–12; 19:2, 9–11). Pursued by Saul, David escaped to the mountainous stronghold of En Gedi (23:26–29). In this episode, David had the opportunity to kill Saul, but refrained because Saul was “the Lord’s anointed” (24:6). Later, David had yet another opportunity, but he chose not to for the same reason. Since Saul was “the Lord’s anointed,” only God Himself had the authority to take his life (26:9–11). David wouldn’t take revenge, but left room for God’s judgment (see Romans 12:19). By: K. T. Sim

Not Seeking Revenge

[Saul said], “The Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me.”
1 Samuel 24:18

The farmer climbed into his truck and began his morning inspection of the crops. On reaching the farthest edge of the property, his blood began to boil. Someone had used the farm’s seclusion to illegally dump their trash—again.

As he filled the truck with the bags of food scraps, the farmer found an envelope. On it was printed the offender’s address. Here was an opportunity too good to ignore. That night he drove to the offender’s house and filled his garden with not just the dumped trash but his own!

Revenge is sweet, some say, but is it right? In 1 Samuel 24, David and his men were hiding in a cave to escape a murderous King Saul. When Saul wandered into the same cave to relieve himself, David’s men saw a too-good-to-ignore opportunity for David to get revenge (vv. 3–4). But David went against this desire to get even. “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master,” he said (v. 6). When Saul discovered that David chose to spare his life, he was incredulous. “You are more righteous than I,” he exclaimed (vv. 17–18).

As we or our loved ones face injustice, opportunities to take revenge on offenders may well come. Will we give in to these desires, as the farmer did, or go against them, like David? Will we choose righteousness over revenge? By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

When have you most felt like getting even with someone? How can David’s response guide you as you seek justice for yourself and others?

Jesus, lover of our enemies, may I seek justice Your way.

Visit odbu.org/SF107to learn more about finding personal peace in forgiveness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 22, 2021
“I Indeed. . . But He”

I indeed baptize you with water…but He…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. —Matthew 3:11

Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, “I indeed…but He…”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— but He begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.

Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. “He will baptize you….” The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.

“I indeed” was this in the past, “but He” came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

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Bible in a Year: Psalms 110-112; 1 Corinthians 5
 

Genesis 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: By Grace Through Faith

The supreme force in salvation is God's grace. Not our works. Not our talents. Not our feelings. Not our strength. Faith is not born at the negotiating table where we barter our gifts in exchange for God's goodness. Faith is not an award given to the most learned. It's not a prize given to the most disciplined.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."
We, like Paul, are aware of two things. We are great sinners and we need a great Savior. Salvation is God's sudden, calming presence during the stormy seas of our lives. Death is disarmed. Failures are forgiven. Life has real purpose. And God is not only within sight-He is within reach!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Genesis 32

And Jacob went his way. Angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them he said, “Oh! God’s Camp!” And he named the place Mahanaim (Campground).

3-5 Then Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir in Edom. He instructed them: “Tell my master Esau this, ‘A message from your servant Jacob: I’ve been staying with Laban and couldn’t get away until now. I’ve acquired cattle and donkeys and sheep; also men and women servants. I’m telling you all this, my master, hoping for your approval.’”

6 The messengers came back to Jacob and said, “We talked to your brother Esau and he’s on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him.”

7-8 Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. He thought, “If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away.”

9-12 And then Jacob prayed, “God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, ‘Go back to your parents’ homeland and I’ll treat you well.’ I don’t deserve all the love and loyalty you’ve shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I’m afraid he’ll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. You yourself said, ‘I will treat you well; I’ll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.’”

13-16 He slept the night there. Then he prepared a present for his brother Esau from his possessions: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty camels with their nursing young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put a servant in charge of each herd and said, “Go ahead of me and keep a healthy space between each herd.”

17-18 Then he instructed the first one out: “When my brother Esau comes close and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these?’—answer him like this, ‘Your servant Jacob. They are a gift to my master Esau. He’s on his way.’”

19-20 He gave the same instructions to the second servant and to the third—to each in turn as they set out with their herds: “Say ‘Your servant Jacob is on his way behind us.’” He thought, “I will soften him up with the succession of gifts. Then when he sees me face-to-face, maybe he’ll be glad to welcome me.”

21 So his gifts went before him while he settled down for the night in the camp.

22-23 But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.

24-25 But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.

26 The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.”

Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.”

27 The man said, “What’s your name?”

He answered, “Jacob.”

28 The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.”

29 Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?”

The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him.

30 Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!”

31-32 The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don’t eat the hip muscle; because Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint.)

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, August 21, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 107:1–3,23–32 (NIV)

Give thanks to the Lord,f for he is good;g

his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemedh of the Lord tell their story—

those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gatheredi from the lands,

from east and west, from north and south.

Some went out on the seaa in ships;b

they were merchants on the mighty waters.

24 They saw the works of the Lord,c

his wonderful deeds in the deep.

25 For he spoked and stirred up a tempeste

that lifted high the waves.f

26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;

in their perilg their courage meltedh away.

27 They reeledi and staggered like drunkards;

they were at their wits’ end.

28 Then they criedj out to the Lord in their trouble,

and he brought them out of their distress.k

29 He stilled the storml to a whisper;

the wavesm of the seab were hushed.n

30 They were glad when it grew calm,

and he guided themo to their desired haven.

31 Let them give thanksp to the Lord for his unfailing loveq

and his wonderful deedsr for mankind.

32 Let them exalts him in the assemblyt of the people

and praise him in the council of the elders.

Insight

The Hebrew word yâm, translated “sea” in Psalm 107:23, occurs nearly four hundred times in the Old Testament. The root word from which yâm is derived means “to roar.” As is the case in Psalm 107:23, on many occasions the word is used of bodies of water—seas, rivers, lakes, etc. Biblical uses of the word sea, however, also aptly picture chaos—roaring, troublesome, untamed waters (see Psalm 46:2–3). Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia comments: “To the land-loving Hebrews the sea was a dangerous and stormy place, and it furnished an apt simile for the troubled restless soul of the sinner (Isaiah 57:20) and for the rebellious, seething nations of the world (Daniel 7:2; Matthew 13:47; Revelation 13:1).” With such an understanding, some Bible scholars interpret the phrase “there was no longer any sea” in Revelation 21:1 to mean the absence of “restless godlessness.” By: Arthur Jackson

Carried Through the Storm

He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:29

During Scottish missionary Alexander Duff’s first voyage to India in 1830, he was shipwrecked in a storm off the coast of South Africa. He and his fellow passengers made it to a small, desolate island; and a short time later, one of the crew found a copy of a Bible belonging to Duff washed ashore on the beach. When the book dried, Duff read Psalm 107 to his fellow survivors, and they took courage. Finally, after a rescue and yet another shipwreck, Duff arrived in India.

Psalm 107 lists some of the ways God delivered the Israelites. Duff and his shipmates no doubt identified with and took comfort in the words: “He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven” (vv. 29–30). And, like the Israelites, they too “[gave] thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind” (v. 31).

We see a parallel to Psalm 107:28–30 in the New Testament (Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–41). Jesus and His disciples were in a boat at sea when a violent storm began. His disciples cried out in fear, and Jesus—God in flesh—calmed the sea. We too can take courage! Our powerful God and Savior hears and responds to our cries and comforts us in the midst of our storms. By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

When have you cried out to God in a “storm”? What was the result?

Thank You, God, for not leaving me to face the storms on my own. I need You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 21, 2021

The Ministry of the Unnoticed

Blessed are the poor in spirit… —Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things that do not seem worthy of notice by our standards. “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” This literally means, “Blessed are the paupers.” Paupers are remarkably commonplace! The preaching of today tends to point out a person’s strength of will or the beauty of his character— things that are easily noticed. The statement we so often hear, “Make a decision for Jesus Christ,” places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him— something very different. At the foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the genuine loveliness of those who are commonplace. I am truly blessed in my poverty. If I have no strength of will and a nature without worth or excellence, then Jesus says to me, “Blessed are you, because it is through your poverty that you can enter My kingdom.” I cannot enter His kingdom by virtue of my goodness— I can only enter it as an absolute pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am being of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord. “He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). And if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Who are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly not the ones who thought they did, but those who did not have even the slightest idea that they were influencing us. In the Christian life, godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ.  My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 107-109; 1 Corinthians 4

Genesis 31 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Time to Stand Up! - August 20, 2021

Life feels stuck when life makes no progress. When you battle the same discouragement you faced a decade ago or struggle with the same fears you faced a year ago. When you wake up to the same hang-ups and habits. When heartache becomes a permanent mailing address.

Jesus sees you, my friend, and he has a new version of you waiting to happen. He says to you what he said to the man at the pool of Bethesda: “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” (John 5:8 NLT).

Stand up. Do something. Write a letter. Apply for the job. Reach out to a counselor. Stand up. Pick up. Pick up your mat. Make a clean break with the past. And walk. Set your sights on a new destination, and begin the hike. Getting unstuck means getting excited about getting out.

Genesis 31

 Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were talking behind his back: “Jacob has used our father’s wealth to make himself rich at our father’s expense.” At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn’t treating him the same.

3 That’s when God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.”

4-9 So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, “I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn’t treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn’t changed; he’s still with me. You know how hard I’ve worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals’ the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals’ the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father’s livestock to reward me.

10-11 “Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates. In the dream an angel of God called out to me, ‘Jacob!’

“I said, ‘Yes?’

12-13 “He said, ‘Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban’s been doing to you. I’m the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.’”

14-16 Rachel and Leah said, “Has he treated us any better? Aren’t we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he’s spent all that. Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children’s. Go ahead. Do what God told you.”

17-18 Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camels and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19-21 Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead.

22-24 Three days later, Laban got the news: “Jacob’s run off.” Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, “Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.”

25 When Laban reached him, Jacob’s tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there, too.

26-30 “What do you mean,” said Laban, “by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn’t you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn’t permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.’ I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?”

31-32 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force. But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it.” Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen the gods.

33-35 Laban went through Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn’t find them. He went from Leah’s tent to Rachel’s. But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, “Don’t think I’m being disrespectful, my master, that I can’t stand before you, but I’m having my period.” So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn’t find the household gods.

36-37 Now it was Jacob’s turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: “So what’s my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You’ve ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that’s yours? Let’s see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us.

38-42 “In the twenty years I’ve worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I’ve done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict.”

43-44 Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”

45 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.

46-47 Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).

48-50 Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”

51-53 Laban continued to Jacob, “This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won’t cross this line to hurt you and you won’t cross this line to hurt me. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us.”

53-55 Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain. Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, August 20, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 121
(NIV)

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heavenb and earth.c

3 He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watchesd over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches overe you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sunf will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harmg—

he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.h

Insight

Three times a year, all male Israelites were to come to the temple in Jerusalem to observe the three annual national feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16): Passover (Unleavened Bread), Pentecost (Weeks), and Tabernacles. As the pilgrims walked the mountain paths to Jerusalem, they sang from an anthology of fifteen songs known as the “Pilgrim Psalms,” characteristically titled “A song of ascents” in the superscription.

Psalm 121, known as “The Traveler’s Psalm,” is a prayer for journeying mercies, addressing safety and security concerns as we journey through life. This psalm is dominated by the Hebrew verb šamar, rendered watches/watch (vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) or keep (v. 7), meaning “to preserve, to guard, to watch carefully over.” Even as the psalmist speaks of unknown dangers, he confidently affirms that God—our Helper (vv. 1–3) and Keeper (vv. 4–8)—will continually watch over us. By: K. T. Sim

Peace in the Chaos

[Our] help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:2

Something that sounded like firecrackers roused Joanne from sleep. Glass shattered. Wishing she didn’t live alone, she got up to see what was going on. The dark streets were empty and the house seemed to be okay—then she saw the broken mirror.

Investigators found a bullet only a half-inch from the gas line. If it had struck the line, she probably wouldn’t have made it out alive. Later they discovered it was a stray bullet from nearby apartments, but Joanne was afraid to be at home. She prayed for peace, and once the glass was cleaned up, her heart calmed.

Psalm 121 is a reminder for us to look to God in times of trouble. Here, we see that we can have peace and calm because our “help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (v. 2). The God who created the universe helps and watches over us (v. 3)—even while we sleep—but He Himself never sleeps (v. 4). He watches over us day and night (v. 6), “both now and forevermore” (v. 8).

No matter what kind of situations we find ourselves in, God sees. And He’s waiting for us to turn to Him. When we do, our circumstances may not always change, but He’s promised His peace in the midst of it all. By:  Julie Schwab

Reflect & Pray

When have you experienced God’s peace in a troubling situation? How have you seen Him help others?

Loving God, thank You for Your peace. Please continue to calm my heart in the areas of my life that feel chaotic

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 20, 2021

Christ-Awareness

…and I will give you rest. —Matthew 11:28

Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, “Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already.” Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.

A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.

If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, “Come to Me…and I will give you rest,” that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 105-106; 1 Corinthians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 20, 2021

The King Thing - #9030

I'm not sure who "Simon" was, but I know a lot of kids - including me - have had to play his little game. You know, "Simon says." Just in case you were lucky enough to escape Simon, it goes like this. One person, often a grownup or another student, stands up in front and gives you commands. "Simon says stand up. Simon says sit down. Simon says hop on one foot. Simon says wave at all the girls in the class." The trick is that in the middle of all these commands, the leader slips in one command without a "Simon says." If you obey that command, you're out. You're only supposed to do what Simon says.

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

So that's the game: do something just because someone else says it. We're all grown up now, but some of us are still playing that game. Some of us have a tendency to let someone else do our thinking for us, and we just unthinkingly, uncritically go along with what they say. Especially if it's a Christian leader we really like and respect. Anything he or she says must be right. Not always.

We tend to have what I call this "king thing." It goes back at least as far as God's ancient people in our word for today from the Word of God. In 1 Samuel 8, beginning in verse 6, the Jews say, "Give us a king to lead us." Up to that point, they had been governed by God's direct leading through His appointed judge, Samuel. Samuel didn't like this king idea, but "the Lord told him: 'Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. Warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.'"

So, Samuel told them about how a king would take some of their money to build his kingdom, how he would take their children to run his kingdom and fight his battles. But the Bible says, "The people refused to listen to Samuel. 'No!' they said. 'We want a king over us...to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles.'" They got their king, along with the burdens of having one.

As God's people, we still have this king thing today. We want a human to follow, to fight our battles, to do our thinking. So we tend to elevate a human leader higher than any human should be elevated. Our "king" may be a powerful Christian speaker, a Christian radio personality, a charismatic Christian leader, a compelling Christian writer, or even a great church. Now the Bible clearly teaches that we should honor and respect those who teach us God's truth, who are in positions of spiritual leadership.

But no one's right about everything. No one's right all the time. Every teacher, every leader has their flaws; they have imbalances in what they teach. That's why, in the Book of Acts, the Bereans were described as being "of more noble character...for they received the message (this is from the Apostle Paul) with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." They even checked out what Paul said. God has given us teachers to teach His truth to us, but that doesn't mean we just put away our Bible and stop thinking for ourselves. That's how cults and theological detours get started.

See, your primary source of truth must always be the Word of God, which you personally, one-on-one with God, examine every day to see what is true; trusting His Holy Spirit to lead you into truth. Jesus promised He would do that. The "Simon says" approach of doing it or believing it just because someone up in front says it, that's for children. Spiritual maturity recognizes that only one King is worthy of our total reverence and trust, and that's the King of Kings.

Matthew 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: Do You Want to Be Well? - August 19, 2021

On one particular day Jesus was drawn to the pool of Bethesda. His eyes landed upon a man who “had been sick for thirty-eight years…[Jesus] asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’ ‘I can’t, sir,’ the sick man said, ‘for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me'” (John 5:5-7 NLT).

What an odd question to ask a sick person: Would you like to get well? To us Jesus asks, “Would you like to get well?” Or do you like being sick? Getting well means getting up, getting a job, and getting to work. Do you really want to be healed? That’s the question Jesus asked then. That’s the question Jesus asks all of us still.

Matthew 19

When Jesus had completed these teachings, he left Galilee and crossed the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Great crowds followed him there, and he healed them.

3 One day the Pharisees were badgering him: “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

4-6 He answered, “Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh—no longer two bodies but one. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”

7 They shot back in rebuttal, “If that’s so, why did Moses give instructions for divorce papers and divorce procedures?”

8-9 Jesus said, “Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hard heartedness, but it is not part of God’s original plan. I’m holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery.”

10 Jesus’ disciples objected, “If those are the terms of marriage, we haven’t got a chance. Why get married?”

11-12 But Jesus said, “Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn’t for everyone. Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked—or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you’re capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.”
To Enter God’s Kingdom

13-15 One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left.

16 Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17 Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.”

18-19 The man asked, “What in particular?”

Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”

20 The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?”

21 “If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”

22 That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.

23-24 As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.”

25 The disciples were staggered. “Then who has any chance at all?”

26 Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

27 Then Peter chimed in, “We left everything and followed you. What do we get out of it?”

28-30 Jesus replied, “Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, August 19, 2021

Today's Scripture
Luke 22:14–23
(NIV)

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostlesy reclined at the table.z 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.a 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”b

17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it,c and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenantd in my blood, which is poured out for you.a 21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.e 22 The Son of Manf will go as it has been decreed.g But woe to that man who betrays him!” 23 They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

Insight

The Passover meal commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. A lamb is eaten with bitter herbs symbolizing the bitterness of slavery in Egypt, while unleavened bread symbolizes their hasty departure. Jesus, however, shockingly altered the Passover meal ceremony, indicating that this particular meal was a covenant-making one in which God’s covenant with humanity would be renewed through Jesus’ sacrificial death. In this way the Passover would find “fulfillment in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16).

The transformation of the Passover meal’s significance occurs through Jesus’ decision to become the Passover lamb in order to deliver the world from sin, evil, and death. The fulfillment of the Passover is the messianic banquet (14:15–24) celebrating God’s deliverance of all creation. At Jesus’ second coming, this banquet will celebrate the complete fulfillment of this deliverance, though Christ’s victory is already won and celebrated now. By: Monica La Rose

Remember and Celebrate

[Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Luke 22:19

On December 6, 1907, explosions rocked a small community in the US state of West Virginia, producing one of the worst disasters in the history of the coal-mining industry. Some 360 miners were killed, and it’s been estimated that this horrific tragedy left behind about 250 widows and 1,000 children without fathers. Historians maintain that the memorial service became the seedbed from which the celebration of Father’s Day in the US would eventually grow. Out of great loss came remembrance and—eventually—celebration.

The greatest tragedy in human history occurred when human beings crucified their Creator. Yet, that dark moment also produced both remembrance and celebration. The night before He would go to the cross, Jesus took the elements of Israel’s Passover and created His own memorial celebration. Luke’s record describes the scene this way: “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’ ” (Luke 22:19).

Still today, whenever we take communion, we honor His great, unflinching love for us—remembering the cost of our rescue and celebrating the gift of life His sacrifice produced. As Charles Wesley said in his great hymn, “Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

By:  Bill Crowder

Reflect & Pray

How often do you find yourself just going through the motions when taking communion? What are some ways to keep your focus on the cross?

Father, when I come to the memorial table, help me to remember why my forgiveness was so costly, and help me to celebrate Your great, awesome love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Self-Awareness
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28

God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.

Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one— “Come to Me….” The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes.  The Highest Good, 544 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 103-104; 1 Corinthians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 19, 2021

Holding On Tight - #9029

Sometimes something happens in the news that just leaves images you just can't forget. For me, one of those is that massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan. That was one of those. Those images of that inescapable wall of water consuming everything in its path! I mean, those are moments that are more than impressive. They're moving! Sometimes even the usually dispassionate reporters get caught up in a story like that.

I heard this one reporter telling, with some real emotion, about a scene she had witnessed in a survivors' shelter. It was a dad holding his three-year-old daughter. When the tsunami hit, he grabbed her in his arms. Those raging waters nearly pulled her out of his arms. He had to hold onto her, literally for dear life, and he saved her. And now, even though they had been safe in the shelter for two days, he was still clinging tightly to his little girl. He refused to let her go.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Holding On Tight."

That man loves that girl. He fought for her. He saved her, and he will not let her go.

Now, I'm a father, but I actually see myself in that little child with a Heavenly Father who has saved me from what would otherwise have carried me into an unthinkable eternity. In the words of the Bible, "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness" (Colossians 1:13). Here's how the Bible describes the unshakeable relationship God wants to have with all those who belong to Him; that He wants to have with you. It says, "The Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs" (Zephaniah 3:17 - NLB).

See, God offers you a security that transcends even life's most devastating losses. There's the disturbing question to ask about everything and everyone that we depend on, "Is it something or someone I can lose?" If it is, then you can never have any real security, or any lasting peace. You never know when you'll lose what you've been hanging onto. But when you belong to Jesus, you're forever safe because He's hanging onto you! And He will not let you go.

In John 10:28, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus says, "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish...No one can snatch them out of My Father's hand." See, God fought for your life. He gave everything to save you. From what? From the spiritual death penalty that we all deserve for taking the life that God gave us and doing our life our way instead of His way in thousands of choices we make over a lifetime. We have, in essence, said we believe in God but then we take over the running of our life, and that's called sin. And the Bible says, "The soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4). The tsunami of God's judgment was headed for me. Until the very God I have defied stepped in to save me by sending His one and only Son to die on a cross to pay the price for my sin. He did that for you too.

From the moment you tell Jesus you're giving yourself to Him as your Rescuer from your sin, God becomes your Father and you become His child. And He will never let go of you. He gave His Son to rescue you. He's not about to lose you now. The question is, are you sure there's been a time when you told Jesus, "You're my only hope. I'm Yours." If you're not sure; you want to be, make this the day you turn to Him. Talk to Him. You say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You died for me. You walked out of Your grave so You could walk into my life, and I'm giving myself to You."

Then this is a good time for you to go to our website. It's kind of a crossroads website. Many people there have come away knowing they belong to Jesus. I want you to go there today. It's ANewStory.com. That's the website.

God has promised He'll hold on tight to the one He has saved. And I'll tell you, in the cascading waters of these uncertain times we're living in, it's really good to know that He's holding onto you.

Genesis 30 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily:  Being Stuck - August 18, 2021

The man near the pool of Bethesda didn’t use the word stuck, but he could have. For thirty-eight years near the edge of a pool, it was just him, his mat, and his paralyzed body. They must have made a miserable sight. Crowds of people—blind, lame, despondent, dejected, one after the other—awaiting their chance to be placed in the pool where healing waters bubbled up.

All the gospels’ stories of help and healing invite us to embrace this wonderful promise: “Wherever Jesus went he healed people of every sort of illness. And what pity he felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help” (Matthew 9:35–36 TLB). Jesus had a heart for the hurting in his day. He still does today.

Genesis 30

When Rachel realized that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, “Give me sons or I’ll die!”

2 Jacob got angry with Rachel and said, “Am I God? Am I the one who refused you babies?”

3-5 Rachel said, “Here’s my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her. Let her substitute for me so I can have a child through her and build a family.” So she gave him her maid Bilhah for a wife and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.

6-8 Rachel said, “God took my side and vindicated me. He listened to me and gave me a son.” She named him Dan (Vindication). Rachel’s maid Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel said, “I’ve been in an all-out fight with my sister—and I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali (Fight).

9-13 When Leah saw that she wasn’t having any more children, she gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob for a wife. Zilpah had a son for Jacob. Leah said, “How fortunate!” and she named him Gad (Lucky). When Leah’s maid Zilpah had a second son for Jacob, Leah said, “A happy day! The women will congratulate me in my happiness.” So she named him Asher (Happy).

14 One day during the wheat harvest Reuben found some mandrakes in the field and brought them home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, “Could I please have some of your son’s mandrakes?”

15 Leah said, “Wasn’t it enough that you got my husband away from me? And now you also want my son’s mandrakes?”

Rachel said, “All right. I’ll let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

16-21 When Jacob came home that evening from the fields, Leah was there to meet him: “Sleep with me tonight; I’ve bartered my son’s mandrakes for a night with you.” So he slept with her that night. God listened to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a fifth son. She said, “God rewarded me for giving my maid to my husband.” She named him Issachar (Bartered). Leah became pregnant yet again and gave Jacob a sixth son, saying, “God has given me a great gift. This time my husband will honor me with gifts—I’ve given him six sons!” She named him Zebulun (Honor). Last of all she had a daughter and named her Dinah.

22-24 And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, “God has taken away my humiliation.” She named him Joseph (Add), praying, “May God add yet another son to me.”

* * *

25-26 After Rachel had had Joseph, Jacob spoke to Laban, “Let me go back home. Give me my wives and children for whom I’ve served you. You know how hard I’ve worked for you.”

27-28 Laban said, “If you please, I have learned through divine inquiry that God has blessed me because of you.” He went on, “So name your wages. I’ll pay you.”

29-30 Jacob replied, “You know well what my work has meant to you and how your livestock has flourished under my care. The little you had when I arrived has increased greatly; everything I did resulted in blessings for you. Isn’t it about time that I do something for my own family?”

31-33 “So, what should I pay you?”

Jacob said, “You don’t have to pay me a thing. But how about this? I will go back to pasture and care for your flocks. Go through your entire flock today and take out every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. That way you can check on my honesty when you assess my wages. If you find any goat that’s not speckled or spotted or a sheep that’s not black, you will know that I stole it.”

34 “Fair enough,” said Laban. “It’s a deal.”

35-36 But that very day Laban removed all the mottled and spotted billy goats and all the speckled and spotted nanny goats, every animal that had even a touch of white on it plus all the black sheep and placed them under the care of his sons. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Meanwhile Jacob went on tending what was left of Laban’s flock.

37-42 But Jacob got fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled the bark, leaving white stripes on them. He stuck the peeled branches in front of the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. When the flocks were in heat, they came to drink and mated in front of the streaked branches. Then they gave birth to young that were streaked or spotted or speckled. Jacob placed the ewes before the dark-colored animals of Laban. That way he got distinctive flocks for himself which he didn’t mix with Laban’s flocks. And when the sturdier animals were mating, Jacob placed branches at the troughs in view of the animals so that they mated in front of the branches. But he wouldn’t set up the branches before the feebler animals. That way the feeble animals went to Laban and the sturdy ones to Jacob.

43 The man got richer and richer, acquiring huge flocks, lots and lots of servants, not to mention camels and donkeys.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 139:1–6 23–24
(NIV)

You have searched me,f Lord,

and you knowg me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;h

you perceive my thoughtsi from afar.

3 You discern my going outj and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.k

4 Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.l

5 You hem me inm behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,n

too loftyo for me to attain.


Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:1–6 — 1890 Darby Bible (DARBY)

1 Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off; 3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; 4 For there is not yet a word on my tongue, but lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me. 6 O knowledge too wonderful for me! it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Psalm 139:1–6 — GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Insight

Psalm 139 echoes three different types of psalms: praise, lament, and wisdom. However, one key theme throughout is indicated by verses at the beginning and end of the psalm: God searches us, and He knows us (vv. 1, 23). The word used for “search” is a term that could be used in a legal case when someone is cross-examined; in other words, it involves God’s diligent probing. The word used for “know” means to know someone intimately and personally. It’s a word that’s sometimes used to refer to sexual relations. Used here, it shows that God knows the depths of our very being, which is pointed out by the psalmist who notes that God knit us together (v. 13). When the psalmist invites God to search his heart and “anxious thoughts” (v. 23), however, he’s vulnerably asking Him to know him on an even deeper level. By: Julie Schwab

God Knows Your Story

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalm 139:23

As I drove home after lunch with my best friend, I thanked God out loud for her. She knows me and loves me in spite of things I don’t love about myself. She’s one of a small circle of people who accept me as I am—my quirks, habits, and screw-ups. Still, there are parts of my story I resist sharing even with her and others that I love—times where I’ve clearly not been the hero, times I’ve been judgmental or unkind or unloving.

But God does know my whole story. He’s the One I can freely talk to even if I’m reluctant to talk with others.

The familiar words of Psalm 139 describe the intimacy we enjoy with our Sovereign King. He knows us completely! (v. 1). He’s “familiar with all [our] ways” (v. 3). He invites us to come to Him with our confusion, our anxious thoughts, and our struggles with temptation. When we’re willing to yield completely to Him, He reaches out to restore and rewrite the parts of our story that make us sad because we’ve wandered from Him.

God knows us better than anyone else ever can, and still . . . He loves us! When we daily surrender ourselves to Him and seek to know Him more fully, He can change our story for His glory. He’s the Author who’s continuing to write it.

By:  Cindy Hess Kasper
Reflect & Pray

What assurance do you have that God will always love you unconditionally? How can you make yielding to Him a daily practice?

Precious Father, thank You for loving me as Your child despite the times I’ve disappointed You. Help me to yield all of myself to You in full assurance that You’re faithfully walking beside me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Have You Ever Been Speechless with Sorrow?

When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. —Luke 18:23

The rich young ruler went away from Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to say in response to Jesus’ words. He had no doubt about what Jesus had said or what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words with which to respond. Have you ever been there? Has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him? Maybe He has pointed out certain personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind. If so, then you have often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, and He will not plead with you. But every time He meets you at the place where He has pointed, He will simply repeat His words, saying, “If you really mean what you say, these are the conditions.”

“Sell all that you have…” (Luke 18:22). In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that. That is where the battle is truly fought— in the realm of your will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His harsh and unyielding statements that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is difficult— it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.

I can be so rich in my own poverty, or in the awareness of the fact that I am nobody, that I will never be a disciple of Jesus. Or I can be so rich in the awareness that I am somebody that I will never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute and poor even in my sense of awareness of my destitution and poverty? If not, that is why I become discouraged. Discouragement is disillusioned self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus— not love for Jesus Himself.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 100-102; 1 Corinthians 1


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
The Single Difference That Makes a Hero - #9028

Tyler's story really touched me and showed me what makes someone a hero. In this case - an eight-year-old hero. Since he didn't have school on Martin Luther King Day, Tyler went to stay at his grandpa's trailer for the night. He wasn't the only one. Nine people slept that night in that little trailer.

Tyler woke up with a fire next to him. The blanket covering his four-year-old cousin was in flames. Tyler worked fast to get his loved ones out of that trailer. He and six of his relatives made it outside, but his grandfather and uncle didn't. And his disabled grandpa needed a wheelchair to get around. With Tyler's sister trying unsuccessfully to grab his hand, the little guy ran back into the house now engulfed in flames. He was not going to let his loved ones die in those flames.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Single Difference That Makes a Hero."

Tyler's body was found next to his grandfather's and his uncle's in the next room. The boy's mom said through her tears (I saw this on the news), "It looked like he had his arms around his grandpa, trying to find a way to carry him."

The superintendent of the district where Tyler was a 4th-grader summed it up pretty well. "According to emergency personnel, Tyler was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake eight other people in the residence at the time. In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others and he is truly a hero."

At sporting events it's very common in our country. We hear the word "hero" bandied around a lot. But little Tyler truly shows us what the word really means - self-abandonment. From Tyler's trailer fire to the collapsing Twin Towers of September 11 and virtually every rescue we've ever heard of, that's the difference that makes a person a life-saving hero - caring so much about not letting people die that you forget about yourself. It's not about me; it's about the people in danger.

Not just people in a burning building but people we know. Who are today one day closer to an unthinkable eternity because they're one heartbeat away from having to pay the eternal death penalty for their sin. Which Jesus already paid! The Bible says, "The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us" (Galatians 1:4). Hanging on a cross, He paid for our sin so we can trade the hell we deserve for the heaven we could never deserve.

But somebody has to tell them they're in need of rescue, and that's God's only Son. And that God's only Son loves them enough to die for them, that Jesus is reaching out His hand for them, that they only have to grab Him as their only hope.

In our word for today from the Word of God in Jude 23, God summons us this way: "snatch others from the fire and save them."

But sometimes we're with doomed people we know for years and we never tell them about our Jesus. They stay lost because we don't tell them the way home. And they'll be lost forever if we remain silent. It's because we're afraid; afraid they won't like us anymore, afraid of what they'll think, afraid we'll mess it up, afraid they might laugh at us or reject us. Did you notice all the fears that keep us from going in for the rescue have one thing in common? They're all about "me"; what might happen to me if I try to rescue them.

And that's where the hero difference can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone we care about. Self-abandonment; caring so much about not letting them die that you forget about yourself. Because you're more concerned about what will happen to them than what it might cost you.

I've stood by the casket of someone I never told. It's one of the most awful feelings in the world. I can't have that back. But there are people around me who still have a chance. They just need to know what Jesus did for them.

Our orders from God are so clear. "Rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). The consequences of holding back are awful: "He will die for his sin, and (God says) I will hold you accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 3:18).

But there's still time now, if I'll just forget about myself like my Savior did.