Luke 5:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God's Best Idea

Your dad makes you come to church, but he can't make you listen.  At least that's what you've always muttered to yourself.  But this morning you listen because he speaks of a God who loves prodigals, and you feel like the worst sort of one.   You can't keep the pregnancy a secret much longer.  Soon your parents will know.   The preacher will know.  He says God already knows.  You wonder what God thinks!
Grace is God's best idea.   Rather than tell us to change, he creates the change.  Do we clean up so he can accept us?  No, he accepts us and begins cleaning us up.  What a difference this makes.
Can't forgive your past?  Christ can, and he is on the move, aggressively budging you from graceless to grace-shaped living.  Forgiven people forgiving people.  Deep sighs of relief.
Grace is everything Jesus!
From GRACE

Luke 5:1-16

Push Out into Deep Water

Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.

4 When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.”

5-7 Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.

8-10 Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. “Master, leave. I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.” When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee’s sons, coworkers with Simon.

10-11 Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.
Invitation to a Changed Life

12 One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, “If you want to, you can cleanse me.”

13 Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.

14-16 Jesus instructed him, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.” But the man couldn’t keep it to himself, and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to listen and be healed of their sicknesses. As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, March 06, 2022

Today's Scripture
Romans 8:22–27
(NIV)

     All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

26–28     Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.

Insight

Romans 8 is significant in understanding the role of the Spirit of God in the lives of believers in Jesus. The chapter’s emphasis on the Spirit’s ministry includes His role as liberating us from sin and death and empowering us to please God (vv. 2–8). His powerful indwelling presence (vv. 9–11) helps us in overcoming our fallen human nature (vv. 12–13). He’s the One whose ministry brings us into the family of God and who bears witness to our status as His children (vv. 14–17). The Spirit’s assistance in prayer comes into focus in verses 26–27. But not only do believers in Jesus have the Spirit’s help in prayer, Christ also intercedes for us: “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (v. 34). By: Arthur Jackson

Tongue-Tied in Prayer

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8:26

When my baby brother underwent surgery, I was concerned. My mother explained that “tongue-tie” (ankyloglossia) was a condition he was born with and that without help, his ability to eat and eventually to speak would be hindered. Today we use the term tongue-tied to describe being at a loss for words or too shy to speak.

Sometimes we can be tongue-tied in prayer, not knowing what to say. Our tongues tie up in spiritual clichés and repetitive phrases. We arrow our emotions heavenward, wondering if they will reach God’s ears. Our thoughts zigzag along an unfocused path.

Writing to first-century Roman believers in Christ, the apostle Paul addressed what to do when we struggle to know how to pray, inviting us to find help from the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). The concept of “help” here is to carry a heavy load. And “wordless groans” indicates an interceding presence as the Spirit carries our needs to God.

When we’re tongue-tied in prayer, God’s Spirit helps shape our confusion, pain, and distraction into the perfect prayer that moves from our hearts to God’s ears. He listens and answers, bringing the exact kind of comfort we may not have known we needed until we asked Him to pray for us. By:  Elisa Morgan

Reflect & Pray

When have you not known what or how to pray? How did God help you through that situation?

Dear God, thank You for Your Spirit’s help when I don’t know how to pray.

Learn more about prayer.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 06, 2022

Taking the Next Step
…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. —2 Corinthians 6:4

When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.

Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 1-2; Mark 10:1-31

Deuteronomy 16 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Jesus' Seamless Perfection

Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter urges us to be "clothed with humility." David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves "with cursing." Garments can symbolize character, and like His garment, Jesus' character was seamless. The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth-from God's thoughts to Jesus' actions. From God's tears to Jesus' compassion. From God's word to Jesus' response. All one piece. A picture of the character of Jesus.
But when Christ was nailed to the cross, He took off His robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe. He wore our sin so we could wear His righteousness.
From He Chose the Nails

Deuteronomy 16

Observe the month of Abib by celebrating the Passover to God, your God. It was in the month of Abib that God, your God, delivered you by night from Egypt. Offer the Passover-Sacrifice to God, your God, at the place God chooses to be worshiped by establishing his name there. Don’t eat yeast bread with it; for seven days eat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry—that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt for as long as you live. There is to be no sign of yeast anywhere for seven days. And don’t let any of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening be left over until morning.

5-7 Don’t sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns that God, your God, gives you other than the one God, your God, designates for worship; there and there only you will offer the Passover-Sacrifice at evening as the sun goes down, marking the time that you left Egypt. Boil and eat it at the place designated by God, your God. Then, at daybreak, turn around and go home.

8 Eat unraised bread for six days. Set aside the seventh day as a holiday; don’t do any work.

9-11 Starting from the day you put the sickle to the ripe grain, count out seven weeks. Celebrate the Feast-of-Weeks to God, your God, by bringing your Freewill-Offering—give as generously as God, your God, has blessed you. Rejoice in the Presence of God, your God: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite who lives in your neighborhood, the foreigner, the orphan and widow among you; rejoice at the place God, your God, will set aside to be worshiped.

12 Don’t forget that you were once a slave in Egypt. So be diligent in observing these regulations.

13-15 Observe the Feast-of-Booths for seven days when you gather the harvest from your threshing-floor and your wine-vat. Rejoice at your festival: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite, the foreigner, and the orphans and widows who live in your neighborhood. Celebrate the Feast to God, your God, for seven days at the place God designates. God, your God, has been blessing you in your harvest and in all your work, so make a day of it—really celebrate!

16-17 All your men must appear before God, your God, three times each year at the place he designates: at the Feast-of-Unraised-Bread (Passover), at the Feast-of-Weeks, and at the Feast-of-Booths. No one is to show up in the Presence of God empty-handed; each man must bring as much as he can manage, giving generously in response to the blessings of God, your God.

* * *

18-19 Appoint judges and officers, organized by tribes, in all the towns that God, your God, is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly and honestly. Don’t twist the law. Don’t play favorites. Don’t take a bribe—a bribe blinds even a wise person; it undermines the intentions of the best of people.

20 The right! The right! Pursue only what’s right! It’s the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you.

* * *

21-22 Don’t plant fertility Asherah trees alongside the Altar of God, your God, that you build. Don’t set up phallic sex pillars—God, your God, hates them.

Today's Scripture
Psalm 32
(NIV)

Of David. A maskil.a

1 Blessed is the one

whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.a

2 Blessed is the one

whose sin the Lord does not count against themb

and in whose spirit is no deceit.c

3 When I kept silent,d

my bones wasted awaye

through my groaningf all day long.

4 For day and night

your hand was heavyg on me;

my strength was sappedh

as in the heat of summer.b

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.i

I said, “I will confessj

my transgressionsk to the Lord.”

And you forgave

the guilt of my sin.l

6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you

while you may be found;m

surely the risingn of the mighty waterso

will not reach them.p

7 You are my hiding place;q

you will protect me from troubler

and surround me with songs of deliverance.s

8 I will instructt you and teach youu in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my loving eye onv you.

9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,

which have no understanding

but must be controlled by bit and bridlew

or they will not come to you.

10 Many are the woes of the wicked,x

but the Lord’s unfailing love

surrounds the one who trustsy in him.

11 Rejoice in the Lordz and be glad, you righteous;

sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Insight

Psalm 32 is one of the great penitential psalms in which the writer confesses his sin to God. It’s intriguing that David makes mention of his bones in verse 3. “Bones” as understood here is representative of his physical health. David uses the same terminology in Psalm 6:2, where he says, “Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony,” and the term appears frequently throughout the Psalms and Proverbs. It’s dangerous to assume that physical affliction is a sign of God’s judgment (see the book of Job), but the biblical poets knew well that sin wears us out emotionally and physically. A failure to repent will have an adverse effect on our spiritual and physical health. Confession is good for the soul and for our entire being. By: Tim Gustafson

Safe Hands

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble.
Psalm 32:7

Like the unraveling of a rope, the threads of Doug Merkey’s life were breaking one by one. “My mother had lost her prolonged battle with cancer; a long-term romantic relationship was failing; my finances were depleted; my vocation was foggy. . . . The emotional and spiritual darkness around me and within me was deep and debilitating and seemingly impenetrable,” the pastor and sculptor wrote. These collective events, combined with living in a cramped attic, became the setting from which his sculpture The Hiding Place emerged. It depicts Christ’s strong, nailed-scarred hands openly cupped together as a place of safety.

Doug explained the design of his artwork this way: The “sculpture is Christ’s invitation to hide in Him.” In Psalm 32, David wrote as one who had found the ultimate safe place—God Himself. He offers us forgiveness from our sin (vv. 1–5) and encourages us to offer prayer in the midst of tumult (v. 6). In verse 7, the psalmist declares his trust in God: “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”

When trouble shows up, where do you turn? How good it is to know that when the fragile cords of our earthly existence begin to unravel, we can run to the God who has provided eternal safety through the forgiving work of Jesus. By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

What has it meant or what will it mean for you to find shelter, safety, and forgiveness in Jesus? How does He provide what you need for your cares, fears, and burdens?

Father, You know the times I’ve sought to piece my life together without You. Help me to forsake my misguided plans for safety and to run swiftly to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 05, 2022 
Is He Really My Lord?

…so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus… —Acts 20:24

Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it— to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal Savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 — “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

“Do you love Me?” Then, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:17). He is not offering us a choice of how we can serve Him; He is asking for absolute loyalty to His commission, a faithfulness to what we discern when we are in the closest possible fellowship with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is not the same as the call— the need is the opportunity to exercise the call. The call is to be faithful to the ministry you received when you were in true fellowship with Him. This does not imply that there is a whole series of differing ministries marked out for you. It does mean that you must be sensitive to what God has called you to do, and this may sometimes require ignoring demands for service in other areas.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R

Bible in a Year: Numbers 34-36; Mark 9:30-50

Deuteronomy 15 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Because God So Loved the World - March 4, 2022

Life, at times, appears to fall to pieces. It seems irreparable. But it’s going to be okay. How can you know? Because, as John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world.”

Those are God’s arms you feel. Trust him. Believe him. Allow the only decision maker in the universe to comfort you. Since he has no needs, you cannot tire him. Since he is without age, you cannot lose him. Since he has no sin, you cannot corrupt him.

Paul said in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” If God can make a billion galaxies, can’t he make good out of our bad and sense out of our faltering lives? Of course he can! He is not just alive, but he is life himself. John 5:26 confirms for us: “The Father has life in himself.” He is God! And God loves you.

Deuteronomy 15

At the end of every seventh year, cancel all debts. This is the procedure: Everyone who has lent money to a neighbor writes it off. You must not press your neighbor or his brother for payment: All-Debts-Are-Canceled—God says so. You may collect payment from foreigners, but whatever you have lent to your fellow Israelite you must write off.

4-6 There must be no poor people among you because God is going to bless you lavishly in this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, your very own land. But only if you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, diligently observing every commandment that I command you today. Oh yes—God, your God, will bless you just as he promised. You will lend to many nations but won’t borrow from any; you’ll rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

7-9 When you happen on someone who’s in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don’t look the other way pretending you don’t see him. Don’t keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don’t count the cost. Don’t listen to that selfish voice saying, “It’s almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,” and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He’ll call God’s attention to you and your blatant sin.

10-11 Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.

12-15 If a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman was sold to you and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you must set him or her free, released into a free life. And when you set them free don’t send them off empty-handed. Provide them with some animals, plenty of bread and wine and oil. Load them with provisions from all the blessings with which God, your God, has blessed you. Don’t for a minute forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, redeemed you from that slave world.

For that reason, this day I command you to do this.

16-17 But if your slave, because he loves you and your family and has a good life with you, says, “I don’t want to leave you,” then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the doorpost, marking him as your slave forever. Do the same with your women slaves who want to stay with you.

18 Don’t consider this an unreasonable hardship, this setting your slave free. After all, he’s worked six years for you at half the cost of a hired hand.

Believe me, God, your God, will bless you in everything you do.

* * *

19-23 Set apart to God, your God, all the firstborn males in your herds and flocks. Don’t use the firstborn from your herds as work animals; don’t shear the firstborn from your flocks. These are for you to eat every year, you and your family, in the Presence of God, your God, at the place that God designates for worship. If the animal is defective, lame, say, or blind—anything wrong with it—don’t slaughter it as a sacrifice to God, your God. Stay at home and eat it there. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat it, the same as with a gazelle or a deer. Only you must not eat its blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, March 04, 2022

Today's Scripture
Matthew 6:19–24
(NIV)

A Life of God-Worship

19–21     “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

22–23     “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!

24     “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

Insight

In Matthew 6:19–24, Jesus teaches His disciples by using comparison. By comparing earthly treasures with heavenly treasures, He shows that what we cherish exposes our hearts. “Treasures in heaven” (v. 20) most likely refers to spiritual wealth. Bible commentator Craig Blomberg suggests it’s “the compassionate use of material resources to meet others’ physical and spiritual needs.”

In comparing good and bad eyes (vv. 22–23), Jesus is telling His listeners that what they focus on will fill their hearts. These examples lead to the comparison of two masters—God and money (v. 24). The word serve is key to understanding this verse. Serve is related to the term doulos, which refers to a slave rather than an employee. Jesus is saying that a slave’s loyalty is undivided. That’s the kind of undivided devotion Jesus calls His followers to—a “hatred” of anything that distracts from devotion to Him (see Matthew 10:34–39; 12:30; Luke 14:26).

Unshakable Faith

Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
Luke 12:15

Kevin walked into the nursing facility after his dad passed away to pick up his belongings. The staff handed him two small boxes. He said he realized that day that it really didn’t take an abundance of possessions to be happy.

His dad, Larry, had been carefree and always ready with a smile and an encouraging word for others. The reason for his happiness was another “possession” that didn’t fit into a box: an unshakable faith in his Redeemer, Jesus.

Jesus urges us to “store up . . . treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). He didn’t say we couldn’t own a home or buy a car or save for the future or have numerous possessions. But He urged us to examine the focus of our hearts. Where was Larry’s focus? His heart was set on loving God by loving others. He would wander up and down the halls where he lived, greeting and encouraging those he met. If someone was in tears, he was there with a comforting word or listening ear or heartfelt prayer. His mind was focused on living for God’s honor and the good of others.

We might want to ask ourselves if we could be happy with fewer things that clutter and distract us from the more important matters of loving God and others. “Where [our] treasure is, there [our] heart will be also” (v. 21). What we value is reflected in how we live. By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray

Are there ways in which your priorities are out of order? What changes do you think God might want you to make?

I love You, dear God, and want You as my greatest love. Show me how I can become more like You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 04, 2022
Is This True of Me?

None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself… —Acts 20:24

It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide. You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense.

What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”? If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work.” That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most. Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.

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: Numbers 31-33; Mark 9:1-29

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 04, 2022

The Maestro at His Best - #9170

When the famous violinist Paganini played a concert in one of the great halls of Europe, it was equivalent to the draw of like a modern rock concert. Well, the story is told of one such night in Paris. As Paganini appeared on the stage, there's this excited buzz in the audience, and there was expectant applause. But as the maestro began to play, a string broke on his exquisite violin. Well, any concern passed pretty quickly as he picked up the tune on his remaining three strings. Unbelievably, another string snapped, followed moments later by a third string. Now the buzz in the audience was more anxious, I mean, like disgruntled; it wasn't expectant anymore. But the old maestro just raised his hand - called for silence. And as the audience became quiet again, he made a simple announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen Paganini and one string." What followed was easily the most amazing musical performance the crowd had ever seen, or would ever see, as the maestro played a rich and flawless melody on one string.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Maestro at His Best."

When did the master most powerfully demonstrate his skill? When he had the least to work with - one string. When does the Lord Jesus, our Master, most powerfully demonstrate how much He can do? When He has the least to work with. When our strings are broken, we have almost nothing left, that's when He plays His masterpieces.

That's what the great Apostle Paul learned when virtually all the strings of his life had broken. His testimony is in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. It's our word for today from the Word of. God. Paul had been given some spiritual revelations that no man had ever experienced before. He says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh...Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.'"

See, because Paul experiences God's power the most when he has nothing left, he says, "Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me...For when I am weak, then I am strong." Why? Because the less there is of you, the more there is of God and the more of His power you experience. Which actually can make you, much like Paul, actually embrace your hard times, even your hurting times with a sense of expectancy instead of dread or discouragement. It's not that you like the pain, but you realize what pain can produce. And all through it, you have God's unbreakable promise, "My grace is sufficient for you."

Our weakness (oh how I've experienced it so many times) means an opportunity for a display of His strength and His glory: a chance to experience God's ability to heal, to intervene, to carry you. The famous British journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge, who gloriously came to Christ late in life, put it this way, "Everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction, not through happiness."

So maybe most of your strings have broken and you're down to one string. Well, that's the moment when the Maestro is at His very best. He lovingly holds you in His arms and He says, "Almighty God and one string." He's about to play something beautiful, something unforgettable, something amazing through your life.

Deuteronomy 14 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Heavens Declare - March 3, 2022

The Bible says that “The heavens declare the glory of God!” Our universe is God’s preeminent missionary. Doesn’t a painting suggest a painter? Don’t stars suggest a star maker? Doesn’t creation imply a creator?

Now look within you. Look at your sense of right and wrong. Who told you a moral compass exists? What is this magnetic pole that pulls the needles on the compass of your conscience if not God? Heavens above, moral code within. God did this. The wonders above you and within you testify to his existence. But God not only made the world. He loves the world. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world.” Try that on for size. The one who formed you pulls for you. Untrumpable power stoked by unstoppable love!

Deuteronomy 14

You are children of God, your God, so don’t mutilate your bodies or shave your heads in funeral rites for the dead. You only are a people holy to God, your God; God chose you out of all the people on Earth as his cherished personal treasure.

3-8 Don’t eat anything abominable. These are the animals you may eat: ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, mountain sheep—any animal that has a cloven hoof and chews the cud. But you may not eat camels, rabbits, and rock badgers because they chew the cud but they don’t have a cloven hoof—that makes them ritually unclean. And pigs: Don’t eat pigs—they have a cloven hoof but don’t chew the cud, which makes them ritually unclean. Don’t even touch a pig’s carcass.

9-10 This is what you may eat from the water: anything that has fins and scales. But if it doesn’t have fins or scales, you may not eat it. It’s ritually unclean.

11-18 You may eat any ritually clean bird. These are the exceptions, so don’t eat these: eagle, vulture, black vulture, kite, falcon, the buzzard family, the raven family, ostrich, nighthawk, the hawk family, little owl, great owl, white owl, pelican, osprey, cormorant, stork, the heron family, hoopoe, bat.

19-20 Winged insects are ritually unclean; don’t eat them. But ritually clean winged creatures are permitted.

21 Because you are a people holy to God, your God, don’t eat anything that you find dead. You can, though, give it to a foreigner in your neighborhood for a meal or sell it to a foreigner.

Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

22-26 Make an offering of ten percent, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year. Bring this into the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates for worship and there eat the tithe from your grain, wine, and oil and the firstborn from your herds and flocks. In this way you will learn to live in deep reverence before God, your God, as long as you live. But if the place God, your God, designates for worship is too far away and you can’t carry your tithe that far, God, your God, will still bless you: exchange your tithe for money and take the money to the place God, your God, has chosen to be worshiped. Use the money to buy anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, or beer—anything that looks good to you. You and your family can then feast in the Presence of God, your God, and have a good time.

27 Meanwhile, don’t forget to take good care of the Levites who live in your towns; they won’t get any property or inheritance of their own as you will.

28-29 At the end of every third year, gather the tithe from all your produce of that year and put it aside in storage. Keep it in reserve for the Levite who won’t get any property or inheritance as you will, and for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow who live in your neighborhood. That way they’ll have plenty to eat and God, your God, will bless you in all your work.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, March 03, 2022

Today's Scripture
1 Samuel 23:15–24
(NIV)

David kept out of the way in the wilderness of Ziph, secluded at Horesh, since it was plain that Saul was determined to hunt him down.

16–18     Jonathan, Saul’s son, visited David at Horesh and encouraged him in God. He said, “Don’t despair. My father, Saul, can’t lay a hand on you. You will be Israel’s king and I’ll be right at your side to help. And my father knows it.” Then the two of them made a covenant before God. David stayed at Horesh and Jonathan went home.

19–20     Some Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Did you know that David is hiding out near us in the caves and canyons of Horesh? Right now he’s at Hakilah Hill just south of Jeshimon. So whenever you’re ready to come down, we’d count it an honor to hand him over to the king.”

21–23     Saul said, “God bless you for thinking about me! Now go back and check everything out. Learn his routines. Observe his movements—where he goes, who he’s with. He’s very shrewd, you know. Scout out all his hiding places. Then meet me at Nacon and I’ll go with you. If he is anywhere to be found in all the thousands of Judah, I’ll track him down!”

24–27     So the Ziphites set out on their reconnaissance for Saul.

Meanwhile, David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the desert south of Jeshimon.

Insight

The relationship between David and Jonathan was truly remarkable. Jonathan was the son of King Saul and heir to the throne that David had been anointed to occupy. Jonathan believed so strongly in God’s selection and anointing of David as king, however, that he helped and encouraged his friend, at great personal cost. In a sense, Jonathan was doing what Jesus described as the mark of a true friend when He said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jonathan was laying aside much of what his life might have been to be a friend to David. By: Bill Crowder

Encouraged in God

Saul’s son Jonathan went to David . . . and helped him find strength in God.
1 Samuel 23:16

In 1925, Langston Hughes, an aspiring writer working as a busboy at a hotel, discovered that a poet he admired (Vachel Lindsey) was staying there as a guest. Hughes shyly slipped Lindsey some of his own poetry, which Lindsey later praised enthusiastically at a public reading. Lindsey’s encouragement resulted in Hughes receiving a university scholarship, furthering him on his way to his own successful writing career.

A little encouragement can go a long way, especially when God is in it. Scripture tells of an incident when David was on the run from King Saul, who was trying “to take his life.” Saul’s son Jonathan sought David out “and helped him find strength in God. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel’ ” (1 Samuel 23:15–17).

Jonathan was right. David would be king. The key to the effective encouragement Jonathan offered is found in the simple phrase “in God” (v. 16). Through Jesus, God gives us “eternal encouragement and good hope” (2 Thessalonians 2:16). As we humble ourselves before Him, He lifts us as no other can.

All around us are people who need the encouragement God gives. If we seek them out as Jonathan sought David and gently point them to God through a kind word or action, He’ll do the rest. Regardless of what this life may hold, a bright future in eternity awaits those who trust in Him. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

How did someone provide special encouragement to you in your faith journey? What can you do to strengthen someone’s faith today?

Loving God, there’s nothing like the encouragement You give. Please give me opportunities to help others find new strength in You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 03, 2022
His Commission to Us

Feed My sheep. —John 21:17

This is love in the making. The love of God is not created— it is His nature. When we receive the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit, He unites us with God so that His love is demonstrated in us. The goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not just to unite us with God, but to do it in such a way that we will be one with the Father in exactly the same way Jesus was. And what kind of oneness did Jesus Christ have with the Father? He had such a oneness with the Father that He was obedient when His Father sent Him down here to be poured out for us. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).

Peter now realizes that he does love Him, due to the revelation that came with the Lord’s piercing question. The Lord’s next point is— “Pour yourself out. Don’t testify about how much you love Me and don’t talk about the wonderful revelation you have had, just ‘Feed My sheep.’ ” Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions— I have to feed His sheep. We will not be delivered or released from His commission to us. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by following your own natural human emotions, sympathies, or understandings. That will only serve to revile and abuse the true love of God.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own.  Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Numbers 28-30; Mark 8:22-38

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 03, 2022
Too Busy for the Beauty - #9169

As we drove through Utah that day I kept "oohing" and "ahhing" at one magnificent view after another. Majestic mountains, and this rugged terrain, fabulous vistas - I loved it! Then my wife reminded me that I'd seen all this before. Oh, more accurately, I should have seen it before. See, I had traveled these same scenic highways on a bus with our Native American outreach team On Eagles' Wings a couple of years before. But much of the time, I had my head down, I was buried in my work or preparation or I was busy talking with one of the team members. In the process, I totally missed some of this country's greatest beauty.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Too Busy for the Beauty."

So I missed some wonderful beauty because, yeah, too busy. Unfortunately, that's not the only time in my life I've made that mistake. And I don't think I'm the only one who's made it. In our overheated, overscheduled lives, it's just so easy to speed right by some things that are too beautiful to miss - in our surroundings, in our son, in our daughter, our grandchild, our husband or wife, in the blessings that God's unfolding right in front of us. And even in hearing the voice of God.

Many of us have been - well, OK here's a word that isn't one - "Martha-ed." Yeah. Now, even though it's not a word, it is a familiar reality I think. Let's watch busy, busy Martha missing the beauty around her in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Luke 10, beginning with verse 38, and I have to tell you, I see a mirror here almost. And I see what I'm like sometimes. Maybe it's a mirror for you, too. You decide.

Here's what it says. "Martha opened her home to Jesus. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better.'"

Martha has the Son of God in her home! Mary realizes what an opportunity this is, but Martha's so busy she misses it. And she turns negative toward her sister, she starts attacking her. I think Martha is the patron saint of all of us who are sometimes too busy to stop and see the beauty right in front of us. For someone listening today, God's trying to say to you, "Would you slow down and smell the flowers?" You are missing precious, never-again moments in the life of your child, or in your relationship with your husband or wife, moments that will never come again. Or maybe beauty in other people that you care about. Your busyness may have made you mechanical, robotic, brittle, maybe even insensitive or mean. That kind of busy is too busy.

And maybe, like Martha, you've even become so busy that, well, you're even missing time with your Jesus. Your time to listen at His feet has been crowded to the edges instead of being the sun around which all the other planets of your life and your schedule revolve. You're missing God's voice. You're missing God's fingerprints all over your day. You're speeding by a lot of things that really, really matter.

It's time to look at those priorities, isn't it? So many beautiful things are right in front of you, but you're doing so much, moving so fast you're missing them. These are moments, these are memories, these are opportunities that may never be there again. Don't let them slip through your fingers.

Luke 4:31-44, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Loves So Much - March 2, 2022

This is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life!”

Any serious consideration of Christ must include these words. God so loved the world. We’d expect an anger-fueled God. One who punishes the world, forsakes the world—but loves the world? This world? Heartbreakers, hope-snatchers. But God loves!

And he loves so much he gave his…declarations? Rules? Dicta? Edicts? No. The mind-bending claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave his Son…his only Son. Scripture equates Jesus with God. God then, gave himself. Why? So that whoever believes in him shall not perish.

Luke 4:31-44

31-32 He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to.

33-34 In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, “Stop! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to. You’re the Holy One of God and you’ve come to destroy us!”

35 Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of them all and left. The demon didn’t hurt him.

36-37 That knocked the wind out of everyone and got them whispering and wondering, “What’s going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone who orders demonic spirits to get out and they go?” Jesus was the talk of the town.
He Healed Them All

38-39 He left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.

40-41 When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, “Son of God! You’re the Son of God!” But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.

42-44 He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn’t go on. He told them, “Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?” Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, March 02, 2022

Today's Scripture
1 Peter 4:7–11
(NIV)

The end of all things is near.e Therefore be alert and of sober mindf so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply,g because love covers over a multitude of sins.h 9 Offer hospitalityi to one another without grumbling.j 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,k as faithfull stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.m If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,n so that in all things God may be praisedo through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Insight

In 1 Peter 4:10, Peter highlights the importance of spiritual gifts: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace.” All believers in Jesus have been given spiritual gifts to use in service to God. The apostle Paul names a number of these gifts in three of his letters. Romans 12:6–8 includes prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, and leading. First Corinthians 12:8–10 includes a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, distinguishing between spirits, different tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Paul stresses that the Holy Spirit distributes these gifts “just as he determines” (v. 11). Paul’s final list, found in Ephesians 4:11–13, includes apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These gifts are vital for the church to build each other up in the faith and knowledge of Christ. By: Alyson Kieda

Managing Our Gifts

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.
1 Peter 4:10

In 2013, British actor David Suchet was filming the final TV episodes as Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian detective Hercule Poirot—and also starring in a stage play—when he took on “the biggest role in [his] life.” Between those projects he recorded an audio version of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation—752,702 words—over two hundred hours.

Suchet, who became a believer in Jesus after reading the book of Romans in a Bible he found in a hotel room, called the project the fulfillment of “a 27-year-long ambition. I felt totally driven. I did so much research on every part of it that I couldn’t wait to get going.” Then he donated his wages.

His recording remains an inspiring example of how to glorify God by stewarding a gift, then sharing it. Peter urged such stewardship in his letter to first-century believers. Persecuted for worshiping Jesus, not Caesar, they were challenged to focus instead on living for God by nurturing their spiritual gifts. “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11). Like all gifts, we can develop them “so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”

Suchet offered his talents to God. We can do the same. Whatever God has given to you, manage it well for His glory.   


Reflect & Pray

How would you describe your God-given talents and spiritual gifts? What could you do to manage or steward them better for His glory?

Heavenly Father, at times I’ve squandered my gifts and talents. Sharpen my commitment to manage the gifts You’ve given me so the world praises You.

To learn more about your personality and gifting, visit Discover Yourself and Others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 02, 2022

Have You Felt the Pain Inflicted by the Lord?

He said to him the third time, "…do you love Me?" —John 21:17

Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.

Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….”  So Send I You, 1325 R

Bible in a Year: Numbers 26-27; Mark 8:1-21

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 02, 2022

Generals With Secrets - #9168

It was some weeks ago, but man it had been a week for bombshells. One of America's most revered military leaders, and then the head of the super-secret CIA, resigned because of an admitted affair. For all the secrets of his agency, his personal secret exploded into headlines around the world.

I just groaned when I heard about the sordid revelations. Well, sadly, it doesn't take me long to remember other "generals" whose secrets have blown their world apart, including high-powered politicians and you know, sadly, even preachers. With the scandal spotlight turned on military leaders, my mind raced to another general who had a dark secret. And even though his exploits were in a different time, his story is the story of too many of us guys.

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

Now, according to the Biblical history in our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Kings 5:1, Naaman was a "commander of the army" of the king of Syria. A "great man and highly regarded...a valiant soldier." But Naaman was a general with a secret; something that, in spite of all his conquests, he could not conquer. Like most men's secrets: Whether it's an addiction, or an affair, a collapsing marriage, a raging temper, a pattern of deceit, or that ticking emotional time bomb just behind all their smiles and their bravado.

Well, for General Naaman, it was a killer disease - leprosy; that medical monster that eats away fingers and feet and faces, and ultimately life itself. I can only imagine the general's disbelief the morning he saw that first telltale spot as he bathed. The man who had won so many victories was powerless against this one. That's a feeling many of us men know when we face our inner monster.

Well, General Naaman organized a convoy to accompany him to seek out a prophet in Israel who reportedly could help. Of course, champions don't go to country preachers. Oh, no! Naaman went to the king! Who responded, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?" So General Naaman had no choice but to lead his whole convoy out to the "boonies" where the prophet Elisha lived.

Now, he tried to buy a cure with the fortune he brought with him, but no deal. Elisha was a prophet who had a non-profit ministry. And the prescription he gave this military icon infuriated him. Like most guys, Naaman wanted to do something big to solve his problem. But the prophet told him to go dunk himself seven times in the dirty, stinkin' Jordan River. And even though Naaman was dying from his disease, his reply was simple, "Ain't gonna happen, Rev.!"

Naaman's servants convinced him to give it a try, and what a scene it must have been. One of the Middle East's greatest and proudest, stripped down, holding his nose, walking into a repulsively muddy river. Strange thing about God; He doesn't heal the proud. He heals us when we finally humble ourselves and do it His way.

And the Bible reports the outcome: "So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times...and his flesh was restored and it became clean like that of a young man." And General Naaman announced for all to hear, "I will never again make sacrifices to any other god but the Lord." Wow!

You know, for so many "generals" - "make it happen" guys like me and you maybe - the problem isn't leprosy. It's cancer. Spiritual cancer. That's what drives all the dark things that we hate, but we still do. Things that hurt the people we love - the searing words, the anger; the marital betrayal. Secret or not, our "disease" is no secret to us, and it's no secret to God.

But, thank God, Jesus tells us where to find the cure. And he tells us that God saves us "not by works so no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:9). So much for my pride. He points, not to a dirty river, but a bloody cross where Jesus "carried our sins in His body" and "freed us from our sins by His blood" (1 Peter 2:24, Revelation 1:5). That can happen for you today if you are willing to say, "Jesus, I cannot save myself. I'm coming to You. I'm asking you right now to be my Savior from my sin."

If you go to our website you'll find out how to begin this relationship for sure. It's ANewStory.com. This is the day the man you have been becomes a new creation in Christ.

Deuteronomy 13 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: To Be Born Again - March 1, 2022

Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Born again? You must be kidding. Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again. Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be?

Jesus answers in John 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

A twenty-six word parade of hope! If you know nothing in the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here. He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! John 3:16.

Deuteronomy 13

When a prophet or visionary gets up in your community and gives out a miracle-sign or wonder, and the miracle-sign or wonder that he gave out happens and he says, “Let’s follow other gods” (these are gods you know nothing about), “let’s worship them,” don’t pay any attention to what that prophet or visionary says. God, your God, is testing you to find out if you totally love him with everything you have in you. You are to follow only God, your God, hold him in deep reverence, keep his commandments, listen obediently to what he says, serve him—hold on to him for dear life!

5 And that prophet or visionary must be put to death. He has urged mutiny against God, your God, who rescued you from Egypt, who redeemed you from a world of slavery and put you on the road on which God, your God, has commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from your company.

6-10 And when your brother or son or daughter, or even your dear wife or lifelong friend, comes to you in secret and whispers, “Let’s go and worship some other gods” (gods that you know nothing about, neither you nor your ancestors, the gods of the peoples around you near and far, from one end of the Earth to the other), don’t go along with him; shut your ears. Don’t feel sorry for him and don’t make excuses for him. Kill him. That’s right, kill him. You throw the first stone. Take action at once and swiftly with everybody in the community getting in on it at the end. Stone him with stones so that he dies. He tried to turn you traitor against God, your God, the one who got you out of Egypt and the world of slavery.

11 Every man, woman, and child in Israel will hear what’s been done and be in awe. No one will dare to do an evil thing like this again.

12-17 When word comes in from one of your cities that God, your God, is giving you to live in, reporting that evil men have gotten together with some of the citizens of the city and have broken away, saying, “Let’s go and worship other gods” (gods you know nothing about), then you must conduct a careful examination. Ask questions, investigate. If it turns out that the report is true and this abomination did in fact take place in your community, you must execute the citizens of that town. Kill them, setting that city apart for holy destruction: the city and everything in it including its animals. Gather the plunder in the middle of the town square and burn it all—town and plunder together up in smoke, a holy sacrifice to God, your God. Leave it there, ashes and ruins. Don’t build on that site again. And don’t let any of the plunder devoted to holy destruction stick to your fingers. Get rid of it so that God may turn from anger to compassion, generously making you prosper, just as he promised your ancestors.

18 Yes. Obediently listen to God, your God. Keep all his commands that I am giving you today. Do the right thing in the eyes of God, your God.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, March 01, 2022

Today's Scripture
Ephesians 6:18–20
(NIV)

In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

19–20     And don’t forget to pray for me. Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out.

Insight

Paul’s instructions on prayer in Ephesians 6:18–20 addressed the reality of spiritual warfare and the Ephesian believers’ need for spiritual armor. The spiritual conflict before them was made all the more daunting because of the rampant idolatry and occult practices that prevailed in their community (see Acts 19:19, 25–27). In Ephesians 6:10–17, the apostle described for this church family the challenges they faced and the resources available to them. Nevertheless, even with the elements of spiritual armor in place, Paul made it clear that prayer is a key component for living out their faith in such a harsh place. In battling spiritual forces, we need to enlist the aid of the greatest spiritual power in the universe—the true and living God Himself. By: Bill Crowder

A Friendly Conversation

[Pray for me] that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
Ephesians 6:19

Catherine and I were good friends in high school. When we weren’t talking on the phone, we were passing notes in class to plan our next sleepover. Sometimes we rode horses together and partnered on school projects.

One Sunday afternoon, I started to think about Catherine. My pastor had spoken that morning about how to have eternal life, and I knew my friend didn’t believe the Bible’s teachings the way I did. I felt a burden to call her and explain how she could have a relationship with Jesus. I hesitated, though, because I was afraid she would reject what I said and distance herself from me.

I think this fear keeps a lot of us quiet. Even the apostle Paul had to ask people to pray that he would “fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19). There’s no getting around the risk involved with sharing the good news, yet Paul said he was “an ambassador”—someone speaking on behalf of God (v. 20). We are too. If people reject our message, they’re also rejecting the One who sent the message. God experiences the sting along with us.

So what compels us to speak up? We care about people, like God does (2 Peter 3:9). That’s what led me to finally call Catherine. Amazingly, she didn’t shut me down. She listened. She asked questions. She asked Jesus to forgive her sin and decided to live for Him. The risk was worth the reward. By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Reflect & Pray

Whom might God want you to speak to on His behalf? What’s stopping you? What effect would prayer have on this situation?

Dear Father, give me the courage to reach out to people who don’t know You. Give me wisdom to know when and how to start conversations about You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 01, 2022
The Piercing Question

Do you love Me? —John 21:17

Peter’s response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35; also see Matthew 26:33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within our inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confesses his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).

Unless we are experiencing the hurt of facing every deception about ourselves, we have hindered the work of the Word of God in our lives. The Word of God inflicts hurt on us more than sin ever could, because sin dulls our senses. But this question of the Lord intensifies our sensitivities to the point that this hurt produced by Jesus is the most exquisite pain conceivable. It hurts not only on the natural level, but also on the deeper spiritual level. “For the Word of God is living and powerful…, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…”— to the point that no deception can remain (Hebrews 4:12). When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible to think and respond properly, because when the Lord speaks directly to us, the pain is too intense. It causes such a tremendous hurt that any part of our life which may be out of line with His will can feel the pain. There is never any mistaking the pain of the Lord’s Word by His children, but the moment that pain is felt is the very moment at which God reveals His truth to us.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

Bible in a Year: Numbers 23-25; Mark 7:14-37

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 01, 2022
The Thrill of Feeding Yourself - #9167

You probably wouldn't think it's any big deal that you could turn over by yourself, or burp yourself, or feed yourself. Hey, but it's a big deal when your grandson starts doing it, and he's kind of new. Yeah, I remember when he was, and that first time he turned over...that was a milestone! In fact, Mom called and said, "I wish you could see him now. He's feeding himself Cheerios!" Yeah, that was another milestone. What? Well, yeah. You know, I guess I was dancing in the streets! I was so happy. Now, see, he had just been studying his hand for months. He would sit there going, ahhhh looking at his hand, flexing those fingers, eventually trying to grab available targets like noses and glasses. But now, boy, he had it together. He was sitting in a high chair with Cheerios on a tray and he was reaching to one of those O's, wrapping his fingers around it, and putting it in his mouth all by himself! And then he smiled and laughed real big. What a guy!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Thrill of Feeding Yourself."

I know I sound like a grandfather, or something else, but the fact is that all of us grownup types know what a big deal the accomplishment of being able to finally feed yourself really is. We know this is the beginning of lots of times that he will do that in his life! Right? He's moved from needing someone else to feed him to being able to feed himself. Did you know God is wishing that some of us would get to that point?

Too many of us depend way too much on getting fed spiritually by somebody else. We're living on the nourishment that's given to us by someone on Christian radio, or TV, or a pastor or youth leader or Bible study leader, some Christian concert, or conference, retreats. And that's all good stuff. But if you've known Jesus for very long, what others feed you should be supplemental to what you're getting directly from God and His Word. That's fundamental.

That's OK for a baby to be fed by someone else in his early days - we expect that. And many new followers of Jesus are really dependent on an older Christian feeding them spiritually. But just like with our grandson, it shouldn't always be that way. Many people who have belonged to Jesus for many years are still kind of babies when it comes to feeding themselves. Listen, it's time now to take this big step toward growing up in God.

You want to be able to get most of what you need spiritually directly from God Himself, especially as He speaks to you personally through His Word, the Bible. You need to know that like if you were marooned on an island, and cut off from every Christian you know and every Christian meeting you attend, you'd be OK spiritually as long as you've got your Bible.

As you sit there with God's words in your lap, there's a special prayer you need to pray. It's in Psalm 119:17-18, and it's our word for today from the Word of God. David says it this way: "I will obey Your word. Open my eyes (I pray this so many times!) that I may see wonderful things in Your law." This is going direct, without anyone between you and God. You ask God to open your eyes to help you see some wonderful things in His Book. Feeding yourself spiritually? Well, it begins when you first set a non-negotiable daily time with the Lord. Then offer Him your heart, offer Him your mind as a blank piece of paper to show you whatever He wants. And ask the Holy Spirit to show you something in your life that you can immediately, that day, apply God's words to. Learn something from God, and then live it that day.

It's really exciting to experience God taking something that's in His heart and planting it in your heart with no one in between. Don't abandon those great opportunities to hear from Him through others, like your pastor, for example. It's great to have a special meal, prepared by someone who really knows how to cook spiritually. But there's no substitute for you opening your Lord's love letter each new day and finding your own personal message from Him.

I remember our grandson got really excited when he finally started feeding himself. And he should. That's an important step in growing into all a child is created to be, especially if you're a child of God.

Deuteronomy 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: But God - February 28, 2022

“But God raised him from the dead” (Acts 2:24).

God’s sovereignty bids us to fight the onslaught of fret with the sword that is etched with the words but God. The company is downsizing, but God is still sovereign. The cancer is back, but God still occupies the throne. I was an anxious, troubled soul, but God has given me courage.

The ultimate proof of providence is the death of Christ on the cross. No deed was more evil. Yet God not only knew of the crucifixion; he ordained it. Everyone thought the life of Jesus was over—but God. His Son was dead and buried, but God raised him from the dead. God took the crucifixion of Friday and turned it into the celebration of Sunday. Can he not do a reversal for you?

Deuteronomy 12

These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess.

2-3 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you’re driving out worship their gods—wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees. Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites.

4 Stay clear of those places—don’t let what went on there contaminate the worship of God, your God.

5-7 Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there. Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. Feast there in the Presence of God, your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God, your God.

8-10 Don’t continue doing things the way we’re doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish. Until now you haven’t arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God, your God, is giving you. But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he’ll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You’ll be able to settle down and live in safety.

11-12 From then on, at the place that God, your God, chooses to mark with his name as the place where you can meet him, bring everything that I command you: your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, tithes and Tribute-Offerings, and the best of your Vow-Offerings that you vow to God. Celebrate there in the Presence of God, your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and maids, including the Levite living in your neighborhood because he has no place of his own in your inheritance.

13-14 Be extra careful: Don’t offer your Absolution-Offerings just any place that strikes your fancy. Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you.

15 It’s permissible to slaughter your nonsacrificial animals like gazelle and deer in your towns and eat all you want from them with the blessing of God, your God. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat.

16-18 But you may not eat the blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water. Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings. All these you must eat in the Presence of God, your God, in the place God, your God, chooses—you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God, your God, all the things you’ve been able to accomplish.

19 And make sure that for as long as you live on your land you never, never neglect the Levite.

20-22 When God, your God, expands your territory as he promised he would do, and you say, “I’m hungry for meat,” because you happen to be craving meat at the time, go ahead and eat as much meat as you want. If you’re too far away from the place that God, your God, has marked with his name, it’s all right to slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that God has given you, as I’ve commanded you. In your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. Just as the nonsacrificial animals like the gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat them; the ritually unclean and clean may eat them at the same table.

23-25 Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don’t eat the blood. Blood is life; don’t eat the life with the meat. Don’t eat it; pour it out on the ground like water. Don’t eat it; then you’ll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God’s eyes.

26-27 And this: Lift high your Holy-Offerings and your Vow-Offerings and bring them to the place God designates. Sacrifice your Absolution-Offerings, the meat and blood, on the Altar of God, your God; pour out the blood of the Absolution-Offering on the Altar of God, your God; then you can go ahead and eat the meat.

28 Be vigilant, listen obediently to these words that I command you so that you’ll have a good life, you and your children, for a long, long time, doing what is good and right in the eyes of God, your God.

29-31 When God, your God, cuts off the nations whose land you are invading, shoves them out of your way so that you displace them and settle in their land, be careful that you don’t get curious about them after they’ve been destroyed before you. Don’t get fascinated with their gods, thinking, “I wonder what it was like for them, worshiping their gods. I’d like to try that myself.” Don’t do this to God, your God. They commit every imaginable abomination with their gods. God hates it all with a passion. Why, they even set their children on fire as offerings to their gods!

32 Diligently do everything I command you, the way I command you: don’t add to it; don’t subtract from it.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, February 28, 2022

Today's Scripture
1 Peter 2:1–3
,
9–10
(NIV)

Therefore, rid yourselvesu of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slanderv of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,w so that by it you may grow upx in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.y

Insight

Scripture often uses food metaphors to describe its value. Peter urges us to adopt the attitude and appetite of hungry “newborn babies . . . [who] crave pure spiritual milk” so that we “will grow into a full experience of salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 nlt). As we grow and mature, we move from drinking milk to eating “solid food” (1 Corinthians 3:2), for “solid food is for the mature” (Hebrews 5:14). Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Job treasured the words of God more than his “daily bread” (Job 23:12). Ezekiel ate God’s words to satisfy his hunger, testifying, “So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey” (Ezekiel 3:3). We can emulate Jeremiah’s excitement and satisfaction: “When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16 nlt). By: K. T. Sim

Choosing Celebration

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 14:30

Writer Marilyn McEntyre shares the story of learning from a friend that “the opposite of envy is celebration.” Despite this friend’s physical disability and chronic pain, which limited her ability to develop her talents in the ways she’d hoped, she was somehow able to uniquely embody joy and to celebrate with others, bringing “appreciation into every encounter” before she passed away.

That insight—“the opposite of envy is celebration”—lingers with me, reminding me of friends in my own life who seem to live out this kind of comparison-free, deep, and genuine joy for others.

Envy is an easy trap to fall into. It feeds on our deepest vulnerabilities, wounds, and fears, whispering that if we were only more like so-and-so, we wouldn’t be struggling, and we wouldn’t be feeling bad.

As Peter reminded new believers in 1 Peter 2, the only way to “rid [ourselves]” of the lies that envy tells us is to be deeply rooted in the truth, to “have tasted”—deeply experienced—“that the Lord is good” (vv. 1–3). We can “love one another deeply, from the heart” (1:22) when we know the true source of our joy—“the living and enduring word of God” (v. 23).

We can surrender comparison when we remember who we really are—beloved members of “a chosen people, . . . God’s special possession.” We're called “out of darkness into his wonderful light” (2:9).

Reflect & Pray

What examples of comparison-free joy have influenced your life? How does remembering your place in the body of Christ free you from the need to compare yourself to others?

Loving God, source of all that’s good, help me to let go of envy’s lies, the kind of lies that suck out joy and “rot the bones.” Help me to instead celebrate the countless beautiful gifts of life in Your kingdom.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 28, 2022
“Do You Now Believe?”

"By this we believe…." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?" —John 16:30-31

“Now we believe….” But Jesus asks, “Do you…? Indeed the hour is coming…that you…will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.

We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation— just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption

Bible in a Year: Numbers 20-22; Mark 7:1-13

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 28, 2022

Only One Choice - #9166

As I was "remoting" my way across our TV channels, I came to a quick stop when I saw that one particular movie was on - "Chariots of Fire." You know, years ago, it won the Oscar for "Best Movie," but that's not why I stopped to watch it. It was because of how that movie impacted me the first time I saw it. It's the story of Eric Liddell, a famous Scottish Olympic runner. He had reached his dream of representing the United Kingdom as a 100-meter runner in the 1924 Olympics. Then, en route to the Games, he learned his event would be on Sunday - the day that Eric Liddell believed was reserved for God; a day on which his deep convictions would not allow him to participate.

The movie portrays the pressure placed on Eric Liddell to run that Sunday; pressure that came even from the future King of England. Liddell actually puts God first and stands his ground. Then he accepts the suggestion that he run later in an event that was not his event - the 400-meter race. And there is this memorable moment in the movie when another runner slips Eric Liddell a note just before his race. It reads, "The old Book says, 'He that honors Me I will honor.'" That day Eric Liddell won the gold ... and, as the movie points out at the end, went on to become a missionary to China who died for the Lord in a prison camp. And as the movie says, "All Scotland mourned."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Only One Choice."

Eric Liddell realized that when there's a choice between compromising and your convictions, there's really only one choice - taking your stand, no matter what it may cost. And God did honor this man who honored him. And 60 years after this man's integrity made Olympic headlines, a Hollywood producer told that story to the world in the year's best movie, which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 4:5. It's only eight words. This is a good memory verse for you, and you should. These eight words will give you a compass to guide you through thousands of decisions in your life ... big and small. Here we go: "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord."

Your mission remains unchanged, whether you're at work, at school, at home, in your relationships, on line - always do the right thing. Always tell the truth, always do the honest thing, always take the high road, always say no to temptation, always forgive, always put the other person first, always give God the glory, and when there's a question, always err on the side of integrity. Your job is just to do the right thing even when it costs. That's what the word "sacrifices" tells us - "offer right sacrifices."

But often all your righteous efforts will not be nearly enough to make it happen. That's where the second part of the verse comes in. After you've done the right thing, "trust in the Lord" to do what you could never do. You do your best; God does the rest. But He does it in response to you doing the right thing. Your commitment to the right thing isn't what will bring about the result you need. It's the trigger that causes God to show up and do amazing things.

Just in case you're afraid of the consequences of making the right choice, doing the right thing, you might let those consequences stop you. Well, remember all of the "yeah, buts" and all of the consequences of doing God's will; they're God's problem. You "trust in the Lord" after you've made the right sacrifice.

Life is so much less confusing when you've already decided your bottom line, "I will always do what's right. I will always do what God can honor." "Offer right sacrifices" then, "trust in the Lord." Before you run each day's race, let God hand you His note that says, "He that honors Me I will honor" (1 Samuel 2:30).

 

Deuteronomy 11 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: On-and-Off Salvation

On-and-off salvation never appears in the Bible. Scripture contains no example of a person who was saved, then lost, then re-saved, then lost again. Where there is no assurance of salvation, there is no peace; no joy. Is this the life God creates? God's grace creates a confident soul who declares, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." Trust God's hold on you! His faithfulness does not depend on yours. His performance is not predicated on yours. His love is not contingent on your own. Your candle may flicker-but it will not expire!
From GRACE

Deuteronomy 11

So love God, your God;
    guard well his rules and regulations;
    obey his commandments for the rest of time.

2-7 Today it’s very clear that it isn’t your children who are front and center here: They weren’t in on what God did, didn’t see the acts, didn’t experience the discipline, didn’t marvel at his greatness, the way he displayed his power in the miracle-signs and deeds that he let loose in Egypt on Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land, the way he took care of the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, burying them in the waters of the Red Sea as they pursued you. God drowned them. And you’re standing here today alive. Nor was it your children who saw how God took care of you in the wilderness up until the time you arrived here, what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the Earth opened its jaws and swallowed them with their families—their tents, and everything around them—right out of the middle of Israel. Yes, it was you—your eyes—that saw every great thing that God did.

8-9 So it’s you who are in charge of keeping the entire commandment that I command you today so that you’ll have the strength to invade and possess the land that you are crossing the river to make your own. Your obedience will give you a long life on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10-12 The land you are entering to take up ownership isn’t like Egypt, the land you left, where you had to plant your own seed and water it yourselves as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are about to cross the river and take for your own is a land of mountains and valleys; it drinks water that rains from the sky. It’s a land that God, your God, personally tends—he’s the gardener—he alone keeps his eye on it all year long.

13-15 From now on if you listen obediently to the commandments that I am commanding you today, love God, your God, and serve him with everything you have within you, he’ll take charge of sending the rain at the right time, both autumn and spring rains, so that you’ll be able to harvest your grain, your grapes, your olives. He’ll make sure there’s plenty of grass for your animals. You’ll have plenty to eat.

16-17 But be vigilant, lest you be seduced away and end up serving and worshiping other gods and God erupts in anger and shuts down Heaven so there’s no rain and nothing grows in the fields, and in no time at all you’re starved out—not a trace of you left on the good land that God is giving you.

18-21 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you’ll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth.

22-25 That’s right. If you diligently keep all this commandment that I command you to obey—love God, your God, do what he tells you, stick close to him—God on his part will drive out all these nations that stand in your way. Yes, he’ll drive out nations much bigger and stronger than you. Every square inch on which you place your foot will be yours. Your borders will stretch from the wilderness to the mountains of Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand in your way. Everywhere you go, God-sent fear and trembling will precede you, just as he promised.

26 I’ve brought you today to the crossroads of Blessing and Curse.

27 The Blessing: if you listen obediently to the commandments of God, your God, which I command you today.

28 The Curse: if you don’t pay attention to the commandments of God, your God, but leave the road that I command you today, following other gods of which you know nothing.

29-30 Here’s what comes next: When God, your God, brings you into the land you are going into to make your own, you are to give out the Blessing from Mount Gerizim and the Curse from Mount Ebal. After you cross the Jordan River, follow the road to the west through Canaanite settlements in the valley near Gilgal and the Oaks of Moreh.

31-32 You are crossing the Jordan River to invade and take the land that God, your God, is giving you. Be vigilant. Observe all the regulations and rules I am setting before you today.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, February 27, 2022

Today's Scripture
Isaiah 61:1–7
(NIV)

Announce Freedom to All Captives

1–7     61 The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me

because God anointed me.

He sent me to preach good news to the poor,

heal the heartbroken,

Announce freedom to all captives,

pardon all prisoners.

God sent me to announce the year of his grace—

a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies—

and to comfort all who mourn,

To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,

give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,

Messages of joy instead of news of doom,

a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.

Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness”

planted by God to display his glory.

They’ll rebuild the old ruins,

raise a new city out of the wreckage.

They’ll start over on the ruined cities,

take the rubble left behind and make it new.

You’ll hire outsiders to herd your flocks

and foreigners to work your fields,

But you’ll have the title “Priests of God,”

honored as ministers of our God.

You’ll feast on the bounty of nations,

you’ll bask in their glory.

Because you got a double dose of trouble

and more than your share of contempt,

Your inheritance in the land will be doubled

and your joy go on forever.

Insight

Jesus read from Isaiah 61 not long after He began His public ministry (Luke 4:18–19). Then He proclaimed to an astonished synagogue audience in Nazareth, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21). Interestingly, as He read Isaiah, Christ stopped before the last part of Isaiah 61:2, which reads, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” This omission was surely intentional. Jesus was likely signaling two things: He was declaring Himself to be the long-awaited One, and He was informing the people this wasn’t a time for judgment. It was the time for proclaiming good news, setting captives free, and comforting the brokenhearted. Salvation had arrived.

By: Tim Gustafson

The Joy of Good News

The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news.
Isaiah 61:1

One evening in 1964, the Great Alaska earthquake shocked and writhed for more than four minutes, registering a 9.2 magnitude. In Anchorage, whole city blocks disappeared, leaving only massive craters and rubble. Through the dark, terrifying night, news reporter Genie Chance stood at her microphone, passing along messages to desperate people sitting by their radios: a husband working in the bush heard that his wife was alive; distraught families heard that their sons on a Boy Scout camping trip were okay; a couple heard that their children had been found. The radio crackled with line after line of good news—pure joy amid the ruin.

This must have been something like what Israel felt when they heard these words from the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (61:1).  As they looked over the wasteland of their wrecked lives and grim future, Isaiah’s clear voice brought good news at the very moment when all seemed lost. God intended to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives. . . . [To] rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated” (vv. 1, 4). In the midst of their terror, the people heard God’s assuring promise, His good news.

For us today, it’s in Jesus that we hear God’s good news—this is what the word gospel means. Into our fears, pains, and failures, He delivers good news. And our distress gives way to joy. By:  Winn Collier

Reflect & Pray

Where do you need to experience good news? When has God’s good news replaced your fear and worry with joy?

God, I need some good news. I hear bad news all the time. I need to hear what You say about things. I need the joy You bring.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 27, 2022
The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus

Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11

“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.

The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

Bible in a Year: Numbers 17-19; Mark 6:30-56