Deuteronomy 24 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Whoever - March 16, 2022

Whoever—God’s wonderful word of welcome. We lose much in life—jobs and chances, we lose at love. We lose youth and idealism. We lose much, but we never lose our place on God’s “whoever” list.

I love to hear my wife say “whoever.” Sometimes it’s my favorite fragrance wafting from the kitchen: strawberry cake! I follow the smell like a bird dog follows a trail. Yet I’ve learned to still my fork until Denalyn gives clearance. “Who’s it for?” I ask. She might say, “For a friend. Max, don’t touch it!” Or she might throw open the door of delight and say, “Whoever!” And since I qualify as a “whoever,” I say “yes.”

I hope you will too. Not to the cake, but to God. No status too low. No hour too late. No place too far. However. Whenever. Wherever. Whoever includes you…forever.

Deuteronomy 24

 If a man marries a woman and then it happens that he no longer likes her because he has found something wrong with her, he may give her divorce papers, put them in her hand, and send her off. After she leaves, if she becomes another man’s wife and he also comes to hate her and this second husband also gives her divorce papers, puts them in her hand, and sends her off, or if he should die, then the first husband who divorced her can’t marry her again. She has made herself ritually unclean, and her remarriage would be an abomination in the Presence of God and defile the land with sin, this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.

5 When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or be given any business or work duties. He gets one year off simply to be at home making his wife happy.

6 Don’t seize a handmill or an upper millstone as collateral for a loan. You’d be seizing someone’s very life.

7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his kinsmen, someone of the People of Israel, to enslave or sell him, the kidnapper must die. Purge that evil from among you.

8-9 Warning! If a serious skin disease breaks out, follow exactly the rules set down by the Levitical priests. Follow them precisely as I commanded them. Don’t forget what God, your God, did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.

10-13 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, don’t enter his house to claim his pledge. Wait outside. Let the man to whom you made the pledge bring the pledge to you outside. And if he is destitute, don’t use his cloak as a bedroll; return it to him at nightfall so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you. In the sight of God, your God, that will be viewed as a righteous act.

14-15 Don’t abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite or foreigner living in your land and in your city. Pay him at the end of each workday; he’s living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he’ll protest to God and you’ll have sin on your books.

16 Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin.

17-18 Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don’t take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. Don’t ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

19-22 When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don’t go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work. When you shake the olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches and strip them bare—what’s left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don’t take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Today's Scripture
Ezra 4:1–5
,
24
(NIV)

The Building Stopped: Cease Rebuilding in That City

1–2     4 Old enemies of Judah and Ben-jamin heard that the exiles were building The Temple of the God of Israel. They came to Zerubbabel and the family heads and said, “We’ll help you build. We worship your God the same as you. We’ve been offering sacrifices to him since Esar-haddon king of Assyria brought us here.”

3     Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the family heads of Israel said to them, “Nothing doing. Building The Temple of our God is not the same thing to you as to us. We alone will build for the God of Israel. We’re the ones King Cyrus of Persia commanded to do it.”

4–5     So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Dariusv king of Persia.

 
Insight

The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are considered the “post-exilic” narratives of the Old Testament. The previous narratives found in the books of Kings and Chronicles described the conditions that led to the people of Judah being given over to the discipline of exile in Babylon. Now, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther pick up the story, describing the events following the conclusion of Judah’s seventy years in captivity. As such, they present three different pictures with three different priorities. In Ezra, the theme is the rebuilding of the broken-down temple that Nebuchadnezzar had left in ruins upon defeating and sacking Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s focus was reestablishing the security of the returning exiles by rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. The book of Esther gives a view of what was happening among those Jews who’d remained behind in the land of their captivity. Each book describes circumstances filled with challenges and struggles. By: Bill Crowder

Thanks, but No Thanks

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
2 Corinthians 6:14

A Christian school for autistic children in India received a big donation from a corporation. After checking that there were no strings attached, they accepted the money. But later, the corporation requested to be represented on the school board. The school director returned the money. She refused to allow the values of the school to be compromised. She said, “It’s more important to do God’s work in God’s way.”

There are many reasons to decline help, and this is one of them. In the Bible we see another. When the exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem, King Cyrus commissioned them to rebuild the temple (Ezra 3). When their neighbors said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God” (4:2), the leaders of Israel declined. They concluded that by accepting the offer of help, the integrity of the temple rebuilding project might have been compromised and idolatry could have crept into their community since their neighbors also worshiped idols. The Israelites made the right decision, as their “neighbors” then did all they could to discourage the building.

With the help of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of wise believers in Jesus, we can develop discernment. We can also be confident to say no to friendly offers that may hide subtle spiritual dangers because God’s work done in His way will never lack His provision. By:  Poh Fang Chia

Reflect & Pray

What are the dangers of joining hands with those who would bring a conflict of interest to God’s work? How can you develop discernment?

Loving Father, You know my need. Help me to be wise and discerning in knowing when to partner with others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 16, 2022

The Master Will Judge

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10

Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.

“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 28-29; Mark 14:54-72

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
D-Day's Battle Cry for Us - #9178

Most Americans weren't around on that D-Day of course. And even though we weren't, we should be very glad they succeeded when they hit those Normandy beaches. They stopped one of the most powerful threats to freedom in history. Of course it was Nazi Germany.

Steven Spielberg used his cinematic genius to help this generation get a little taste of what that victory cost. It was in the movie "Saving Private Ryan," and it carried a very strong "R" rating because there were brutal D-Day violence scenes it portrayed. I'll tell you this: Hollywood has no rating for how awful it really was.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "D-Day's Battle Cry For Us."

The heroism of the Allied troops who waded ashore that day just defies words. They knew what they were headed for. A beach laced with deadly landmines. Nazi sharpshooters and artillery on the sheer cliffs above them, positioned to just mow them down as they hit the beach.

But they still charged into the face of the enemy for a cause greater than themselves. They were some of the greatest of the Greatest Generation. In the words of President Reagan on an earlier D-Day anniversary, "We are all the children of their sacrifice."

But now, years later, I've been profoundly challenged in my personal faith by their sacrifice. Actually, in the words of a correspondent who watched those warriors charge the beach, he said, "Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the disregard of it."

That hits me personally. Because there have been so many times when fear has stopped me from doing the right thing, even the life-saving thing. That is the central mission of my faith; the one that caused Jesus to charge onto our "beach" to set us free. Knowing He would die brutally for that Cause. "Jesus, we are all the children of Your sacrifice."

His mission, He said, was to "seek and save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). Lost because we've defied the God who made us. We've become our own god, running the life He's supposed to run. In the Bible's words, "Each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6), leaving us with this awful eternal death sentence. Which Jesus shed His holy blood to pay so we wouldn't have to. I know that. But the people around me have no idea that what Jesus did on the cross was for them. This is life-or-death information! I've got it. They need to hear it.

Then why don't I tell them? Why do so many of my fellow Jesus-followers choke on this life-saving Good News? Fear of what they'll think of me, of them rejecting me, of me messing it up. Do you know all the fears have one thing in common? They're all about me. What will happen to me if I "go in for the rescue?"

Back to D-Day. "Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the disregard of it." Sure, you're afraid. But you refuse to let your fear decide what you will do. Because of what's at stake. The greater Cause - someone's eternity. That's what I should be afraid of. What's going to happen to them if I don't risk to rescue them, if I let my fear decide what I do. God underscores how urgent our mission is when He says in Jude 23, "Snatch others from the fire and save them."

Even the heroic Apostle Paul had battles with fear, believe it or not. It's in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning with verse 2. "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and with much trembling." This is the great Apostle Paul. "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with the demonstration of the Spirit's power."

See, he didn't let his fear decide, even though he was afraid. He still told them about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because spiritual rescue wasn't about him. It's not about me. It's a demonstration of the Spirit's power. Hallelujah! I don't go in alone! The Hero of eternity's D-Day at the cross goes in with me.

Deuteronomy 23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Measure Yourself by the Cross - March 15, 2022

Do a simple exercise with me. Measure your life against just these four standards from the Ten Commandments. “You must not steal.” Have you ever stolen anything? A paper clip? A parking space? You thief. “You must not lie.” Those who say they haven’t just did. “You must not commit adultery.” Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust, you’ve committed adultery in your heart (Matthew 5:28 NIV). “You must not murder.” Before you claim innocence, Jesus said, “Anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder” (Matthew 5:22 MSG).

Jesus made his position clear. “Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NCV). So where does that leave us? Well it leaves us drawing hope from 1 Corinthians 15:3: Christ died for our sins. In place of, on behalf of! So don’t measure yourself by keeping commandments. Measure yourself by the cross.

Deuteronomy 23

No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God.

2 No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.

3-6 No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. Those nations didn’t treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God, your God, loves you! Don’t even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.

7 But don’t spurn an Edomite; he’s your kin.

And don’t spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land.

8 Children born to Edomites and Egyptians may enter the congregation of God in the third generation.

* * *

9-11 When you are camped out, at war with your enemies, be careful to keep yourself from anything ritually defiling. If one of your men has become ritually unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there until evening when he can wash himself, returning to the camp at sunset.

12-14 Mark out an area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourselves. Along with your weapons have a stick with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your excrement. God, your God, strolls through your camp; he’s present to deliver you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don’t permit anything indecent or offensive in God’s eyes.

* * *

15-16 Don’t return a runaway slave to his master; he’s come to you for refuge. Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don’t take advantage of him.

17-18 No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute. And don’t bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God, your God.

19-20 Don’t charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest. You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God, your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess.

21-23 When you make a vow to God, your God, don’t put off keeping it; God, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don’t you’re guilty. But if you don’t make a vow in the first place, there’s no sin. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God, your God. You promised it, so do it.

24-25 When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you’re full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag. And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Today's Scripture
Matthew 5:13–16
(NIV)

Salt and Light

13     “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14–16     “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Insight

In the ancient world, with no refrigeration, salt’s most common use was to preserve food and keep it from spoiling. When Jesus said His followers were “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), He was calling them to stand as obstacles to the inevitable corruption in society.

Salt in Jesus’ day was often impure—coming from salt marshes where many impurities corrupted the important mineral. When those impurities dominated the salt used in preservation, the salt failed to do its job and the meat would spoil. Jesus’ challenge to His listeners was to avoid the very impurities they were tasked with preventing in the world around them.

Christ’s description of His faithful followers in the Sermon on the Mount challenges even believers today to live counter–culturally, staving off corruption in the world and living a life of purity and faith.

No Formula Needed

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

When Jen was young, her well-intentioned Sunday school teacher instructed the class in evangelism training, which included memorizing a series of verses and a formula for sharing the gospel. She and a friend nervously tried this out on another friend, fearful they’d forget an important verse or step. Jen doesn’t “remember if the evening ended in conversion [but guesses] it did not.” The approach seemed to be more about the formula than the person.

Now, years later, Jen and her husband are modeling for their own children a love for God and sharing their faith in a more inviting way. They understand the importance of teaching their children about God, the Bible, and a personal relationship with Jesus, but they’re doing so through a living, daily example of a love for God and the Scriptures. They’re demonstrating what it means to be the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) and to reach out to others through kindness and hospitable words. Jen says, “We cannot impart words of life to others if we don’t possess them ourselves.” As she and her husband show kindness in their own lifestyle, they’re preparing their children “to invite others into their faith.”

We don’t need a formula to lead others to Jesus—what matters most is that a love for God compels and shines through us. As we live in and share His love, God draws others to know Him too. By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

How have you shared the good news with another? What was the result? What are some other ways you could share about Jesus?

Dear God, I want others to experience the loving relationship I have with You. Help me in my walk and talk to draw others to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Discipline of Dismay

As they followed they were afraid. —Mark 10:32

At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).

There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.

Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.

The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.   So Send I You, 1301 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 26-27; Mark 14:27-53

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Day After The End of The World - #9177

They call it the Mayan prophecy. Yeah, it was a few years ago. If people had been right about it, you wouldn't be listening to me right now. It was December 21, 2012. Yeah, they said years ago that was the day everybody was talking about as the predicted "end of the world." I'm guessing it didn't happen.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Day After the End of the World."

What was amazing was that a prophecy supposedly made by an ancient Indian tribe centuries ago (and actually a lot of scholars claim there was not even such a prediction), but it was taken so seriously by so many people. It was all over social media; people all over the place were talking about it. It was even all the buzz at our grandson's middle school.

This fascination with the end of the world - that's not anything new. History's full of dates, come and gone, set by would-be doomsday prophets. Good thing we're not living in Old Testament times. One wrong prediction proved you were a false prophet, and you got stoned to death.

There seems to be this strange sense, somewhere in our soul, that this world has an expiration date. And that sense is right. Because one day - on the day and in the way of God's choosing - the world as we know it will be done. God - the One who rules the future - says this in His book, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar...and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare....That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat" (2 Peter 3:10-12). Wow!

So, yes, one day this world as we know it will end. But you won't. No matter how or when this world ends. What matters for us is not when the planet's time runs out; it's when our time runs out. We're created in God's image, so we're creatures of eternity. Oh, our bodies are made to wear out (let's face it, they give us plenty of reminders of that!) - but our souls...oh, they're made to go on forever.

Whatever guesses people may float about what happens to our souls, only God knows. And in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, He says it's one of two destinations. One where, "He will be glorified in His holy people...and marveled at among all those who believed." And the other is where people will be "shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power."

See, the destination isn't decided then. No, it's decided now, based on what we do with God's Son, Jesus, because of what He did for us. When He, according to the Bible, "carried our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). God says, "Nothing impure will ever enter" heaven (Revelation 21:27). So we can't go there with our sins of a lifetime. And only Jesus can forgive them, because only Jesus died for them.

The Bible says, "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." You know, at Christmas time, if you leave someone's Christmas gift unopened under the tree, don't blame them if you never get to enjoy it. They paid the price for it. You've got to reach out and make that gift yours. That's Just like what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid the price, the awful price. See, we deserve the hell - the penalty for our sin. But you've got to reach out and make His gift yours.

End of the world? Not such a big deal. End of my time in this world? A very big deal. Next stop - appointment with Almighty God. There's nothing to fear about the end of life - about meeting God there - when you know every sin of your life has been forgiven by the One who died for them - His Son, Jesus.

You could get that settled even today. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. I'm pinning all my hopes on You." Go to our website and get the whole story. In fact, it's called ANewStory.com. You'll be ready for eternity whenever and however it comes.

Luke 6:1-26 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Only One and Only - March 14, 2022

Jesus invites, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest…let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28).

Do yourself a favor. Underscore, underline, and accept this invitation. Jesus says let me teach you how to handle long Mondays and cranky in-laws. Let me teach you why people fight and death comes and forgiveness counts. We need answers. Jesus offers them.

But can we trust him? Only one way to know. Seek him out. Lift up your eyes, set your sights on Jesus. No passing glances or occasional glimpses. Search the crowded streets and shadow-casting roofs until you spot his face, then set your sights on him. You’ll find the only One and Only!

Luke 6:1-26

In Charge of the Sabbath

On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?”

3-4 But Jesus stood up for them. “Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions.”

5 Then he said, “The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”

6-8 On another Sabbath he went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath violation. He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: “Get up and stand here before us.” He did.

9 Then Jesus addressed them, “Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?”

10-11 He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out—it was as good as new! They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.
The Twelve Apostles

12-16 At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles:

Simon, whom he named Peter,

Andrew, his brother,

James,

John,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Matthew,

Thomas,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Simon, called the Zealot,

Judas, son of James,

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
You’re Blessed

17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

22-23 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do?.?.?.?and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.
Give Away Your Life

24
But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
What you have is all you’ll ever get.

25
And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long.

And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

26 “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, March 14, 2022

Today's Scripture
Micah 6:1–8
(NIV)

What God Is Looking For

1–2     6 Listen now, listen to God:

“Take your stand in court.

If you have a complaint, tell the mountains;

make your case to the hills.

And now, Mountains, hear God’s case;

listen, Jury Earth—

For I am bringing charges against my people.

I am building a case against Israel.

3–5     “Dear people, how have I done you wrong?

Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer!

I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;

I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.

I sent Moses to lead you—

and Aaron and Miriam to boot!

Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull,

and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.

Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal.

Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present.”

6–7     How can I stand up before God

and show proper respect to the high God?

Should I bring an armload of offerings

topped off with yearling calves?

Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,

with buckets and barrels of olive oil?

Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,

my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

8     But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what God is looking for in men and women.

It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourself too seriously—

take God seriously.

Insight

God used Micah to challenge those who were robust in their religious expressions but deficient in righteousness and justice in day-to-day life. Jesus also rebuked the proponents of hollow religion in His day. His rebuke of the religious leaders just days before He was crucified included the words found in Matthew 23:23. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Christ’s words echoed those of Micah 6:8 and Micah’s contemporary Isaiah found in Isaiah 1:12–17. Justice matters to Jesus. By: Arthur Jackson

Justice and Jesus

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

Caesar Augustus (63 bc–ad 14), the first emperor of Rome, wanted to be known as a law-and-order ruler. Even though he built his empire on the back of slave labor, military conquest, and financial bribery, he restored a measure of legal due process and gave his citizens Iustitia, a goddess our justice system today refers to as Lady Justice. He also called for a census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of a long-awaited ruler whose greatness would reach to the ends of the earth (Micah 5:2–4).   

What neither Augustus nor the rest of the world could have anticipated is how a far greater King would live and die to show what real justice looks like. Centuries earlier, in the prophet Micah’s day, the people of God had once again lapsed into a culture of lies, violence, and “ill-gotten treasures” (6:10–12). God’s dearly loved nation had lost sight of Him. He longed for them to show their world what it meant to do right by each other and walk humbly with Him (v. 8).

It took a Servant King to personify the kind of justice that hurting, forgotten, and helpless people long for. It took the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy in Jesus to see right relationships established between God and people, and person-to-person. This would come not in the outward enforcement of Caesar-like law-and-order, but in the freedom of the mercy, goodness, and spirit of our servant King Jesus. By:  Mart DeHaan

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean to you to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God? How do you see this lived out in the life of Jesus?

Father, in the name of Jesus, please help me do right by others and everyone You bring into my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 14, 2022
Yielding

…you are that one’s slaves whom you obey… —Romans 6:16

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.

If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “…He has anointed Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).

When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else. Approved Unto God, 11 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 23-25; Mark 14:1-26

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 14, 2022
How to Get the Rest of the Story - #9176

Paul Harvey was probably one of the most distinctive voices in American radio. His lively newscasts and his unique delivery gave him a special niche in the lives of millions of listeners. But he did more than news. He is also known for the true stories that he told, often from American history. But he didn't let you know what the surprising subject of the story was until the end. There's a trademark phrase that accompanied Paul Harvey's great stories. He concluded it this way: "And that's the rest of the story."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Get the Rest of the Story."

You didn't really have the whole picture until Paul Harvey gave you the real story; the rest of the story. There are so many times in our lives when we have decisions to make and we wish we had the rest of the story - like the whole picture. Every day we have to make choices based on what we can see, knowing that there's so much we don't know and so much we don't see.

But there's someone who knows the rest of the story, and who's willing and able to guide you in your decisions. He's promised it in James 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God. God says, "If any of you lacks wisdom (man, that's me many times a day!) he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him." What an awesome promise from God, that if I go to Him in faith, asking for His wisdom regarding this person or this situation, or this decision, I can download God's perspective and He knows the whole story!

Solomon really models for us the way to be much smarter than we are. In 1 Kings 3, he has just become the king of Israel, following in the gigantic footsteps of his father, King David. His subjects have no idea how scared he feels; how inadequate he feels... much like we often do as parents, or leaders, as a people helper, as a teacher.

So Solomon goes to God, who has all the answers, all the resources he doesn't have. Solomon says: "Now, O Lord my God, You have made your servant king... But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people You have chosen... So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong" (1 Kings 3:7-9). The Bible goes on to say that God made Solomon the wisest man of his time; a leader who was sought by other leaders who traveled many, many miles to see him.

Here's what Solomon shows us as the steps to getting God's wisdom. First, you humbly admit your ignorance and your powerlessness even if you're number one where you are. Secondly, you acknowledge, as Solomon did, that everything and everyone in this situation is God's. "I'm Your servant," He said, "these are "Your people." Thirdly, desperately seek His wisdom. When you do, God will give you breakthrough insight into that situation, into that person. He will add to what you know all He knows and guide your heart to wise, "no regrets" conclusions.

But you have to, as James says, "ask God." We're so often entangled, trying to figure things out; we're so overwhelmed by trying to decide, we neglect to go to God humbly for His wisdom. He's promised He'll give it if we ask in faith, believing He will give it to you.

What a gift from God - His wisdom, the God given ability to look at a person or a situation through His all-knowing eyes. Is it any wonder that Solomon said, "Though it cost you all you have, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7).

Deuteronomy 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  Jesus Chose the Nails

God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can't be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus. The Bible says He has forgiven you all your sins. He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.
He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus Himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you!
From He Chose the Nails

Deuteronomy 22

If you see your kinsman’s ox or sheep wandering off loose, don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it. Return it promptly. If your fellow Israelite is not close by or you don’t know whose it is, take the animal home with you and take care of it until your fellow asks about it. Then return it to him. Do the same if it’s his donkey or a piece of clothing or anything else your fellow Israelite loses. Don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it.

4 If you see your fellow’s donkey or ox injured along the road, don’t look the other way. Help him get it up and on its way.

5 A woman must not wear a man’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing. This kind of thing is an abomination to God, your God.

6-7 When you come across a bird’s nest alongside the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, don’t take the mother with the young. You may take the babies, but let the mother go so that you will live a good and long life.

8 When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof to make it safe so that someone doesn’t fall off and die and your family become responsible for the death.

9 Don’t plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you’ve sown, the total production of the vineyard.

10 Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

11 Don’t wear clothes of mixed fabrics, wool and linen together.

12 Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you use to cover yourself.

13-19 If a man marries a woman, sleeps with her, and then turns on her, calling her loose, giving her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I slept with her I discovered she wasn’t a virgin,” then the father and mother of the girl are to take her with the proof of her virginity to the town leaders at the gate. The father is to tell the leaders, “I gave my daughter to this man as wife and he turned on her, rejecting her. And now he has slanderously accused her, claiming that she wasn’t a virgin. But look at this, here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” And then he is to spread out her bloodstained wedding garment before the leaders for their examination. The town leaders then are to take the husband, whip him, fine him a hundred pieces of silver, and give it to the father of the girl. The man gave a virgin girl of Israel a bad name. He has to keep her as his wife and can never divorce her.

20-21 But if it turns out that the accusation is true and there is no evidence of the girl’s virginity, the men of the town are to take her to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death. She acted disgracefully in Israel. She lived like a whore while still in her parents’ home. Purge the evil from among you.

22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both must die. Purge that evil from Israel.

23-24 If a man comes upon a virgin in town, a girl who is engaged to another man, and sleeps with her, take both of them to the town gate and stone them until they die—the girl because she didn’t yell out for help in the town and the man because he raped her, violating the fiancée of his neighbor. You must purge the evil from among you.

25-27 But if it was out in the country that the man found the engaged girl and grabbed and raped her, only the man is to die, the man who raped her. Don’t do anything to the girl; she did nothing wrong. This is similar to the case of a man who comes across his neighbor out in the country and murders him; when the engaged girl yelled out for help, there was no one around to hear or help her.

28-29 When a man comes upon a virgin who has never been engaged and grabs and rapes her and they are found out, the man who raped her has to give her father fifty pieces of silver. He has to marry her because he took advantage of her. And he can never divorce her.

30 A man may not marry his father’s ex-wife—that would violate his father’s rights.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, March 13, 2022

Today's Scripture
Colossians 3:12–15
(NIV)

You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13*Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. 14And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. 15The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful.

Insight

Nearly every epistle in the Bible mentions that we who believe in Jesus were “chosen” or “called” by God. Some people believe that if God does the choosing, we have no role to play. Yet the apostles dedicated their lives to sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. They knew that our privileged position brings a tremendous obligation.

A crucial way we share this good news is by living a different kind of life. In Colossians 3:5–9, Paul wrote about the things we must get rid of: sexual impurity, rage, malice, slander, lying, and the like (Colossians 3:5–9). Now, as God’s “chosen people” (v. 12), we’re to “clothe” ourselves in a completely different lifestyle—one marked by Christlike qualities. When we react to life’s irritations and injustices with the grace and peace of the Spirit of Jesus, the world will see the difference. By: Tim Gustafson

Warts and All

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13

Oliver Cromwell, known as the “Protector of England,” was a military commander in the seventeenth century. It was common practice during those days for people of importance to have their portraits painted. And it wasn’t unusual for an artist to avoid depicting the less attractive aspects of a person’s face. Cromwell, however, wanted nothing to do with a likeness that would flatter him. He cautioned the artist, “You must paint me just as I am—warts and all—or I won’t pay you.”

Apparently, the artist complied. The finished portrait of Cromwell displays a couple of prominent facial warts that in the present day would surely be filtered or airbrushed before being posted on social media.

The expression “warts and all” has come to mean that people should be accepted just as they are—with all their annoying faults, attitudes, and issues. In some cases, we feel that’s too difficult a task. Yet, when we take a hard inward look, we might find some pretty unattractive aspects of our own character.

We’re grateful that God forgives our “warts.” And in Colossians 3, we’re taught to extend grace to others. The apostle Paul encourages us to be more patient, kind, and compassionate—even to those who aren’t easy to love. He urges us to have a forgiving spirit because of the way God forgives us (vv. 12–13). By His example, we’re taught to love others the way God loves us—warts and all. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

What faults do you find in others that are hard to accept or forgive? How can you follow God’s example in the way you interact with others?

Loving God, show me my shortcomings or flaws that detract from letting others know who You are. Help me to be more patient and to love and forgive as You do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 13, 2022

God’s Total Surrender to Us

For God so loved the world that He gave… —John 3:16

Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.

To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.

If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.
The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 20-22; Mark 13:21-37

Deuteronomy 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Voices in our Head

Voices of 'failure' in our world.  Voices of 'not good enough' in our head. Who is this morality patrolman who issues a citation at every stumble?  Does he ever shut up?   No. Because Satan never shuts up!
Revelation 12:9-10 says, "For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth, the one who accused our brothers and sisters before God day and night."
Satan is relentless, tireless.  The Accuser makes a career out of accusing. But he will not have the last word.  Jesus has acted on our behalf.  He stooped…low enough to be spat upon, nailed, and speared.  Low…low enough to be buried. And then he stood…he stood up!
Romans 8:34 promises that Christ is in the presence of God at this very moment standing up for us. We have a clean record. It's by his grace!
From GRACE

Deuteronomy 21

If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God, your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him, your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the body to the nearest cities. The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it. The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer. The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God’s name. Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream and say, “We didn’t kill this man and we didn’t see who did it. Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God. Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder.”

8-9 That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder. By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God’s sight.

* * *

10-14 When you go to war against your enemies and God, your God, gives you victory and you take prisoners, and then you notice among the prisoners of war a good-looking woman whom you find attractive and would like to marry, this is what you do: Take her home; have her trim her hair, cut her nails, and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. She is then to stay in your home for a full month, mourning her father and mother. Then you may go to bed with her as husband and wife. If it turns out you don’t like her, you must let her go and live wherever she wishes. But you can’t sell her or use her as a slave since you’ve humiliated her.

* * *

15-17 When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife, at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn. No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him.

* * *

18-20 When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won’t do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won’t obey, his father and mother shall forcibly bring him before the leaders at the city gate and say to the city fathers, “This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won’t listen to a thing we say. He’s a glutton and a drunk.”

21 Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he’s dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what’s happened and be in awe.

* * *

22-23 When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree, don’t leave his dead body hanging overnight from the tree. Give him a decent burial that same day so that you don’t desecrate your God-given land—a hanged man is an insult to God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, March 12, 2022

Today's Scripture
Zephaniah 3:9–17
(NIV)

God Is in Charge at the Center

9–13     “In the end I will turn things around for the people.

I’ll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted,

Words to address God in worship

and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.

They’ll come from beyond the Ethiopian rivers,

they’ll come praying—

All my scattered, exiled people

will come home with offerings for worship.

You’ll no longer have to be ashamed

of all those acts of rebellion.

I’ll have gotten rid of your arrogant leaders.

No more pious strutting on my holy hill!

I’ll leave a core of people among you

who are poor in spirit—

What’s left of Israel that’s really Israel.

They’ll make their home in God.

This core holy people

will not do wrong.

They won’t lie,

won’t use words to flatter or seduce.

Content with who they are and where they are,

unanxious, they’ll live at peace.”

14–15     So sing, Daughter Zion!

Raise the rafters, Israel!

Daughter Jerusalem,

be happy! celebrate!

God has reversed his judgments against you

and sent your enemies off chasing their tails.

From now on, God is Israel’s king,

in charge at the center.

There’s nothing to fear from evil

ever again!

God Is Present Among You

16–17     Jerusalem will be told:

“Don’t be afraid.

Dear Zion,

don’t despair.

Your God is present among you,

a strong Warrior there to save you.

Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love

and delight you with his songs.

Insight

Zephaniah 1:1 is unusual because it provides a more extended biographical background than we normally find in the Old Testament prophets. It says, “The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.” Two things are noteworthy here. First, Zephaniah was a direct descendant of one of Judah’s greatest kings—Hezekiah—giving him royal heritage. Second, Zephaniah ministered during the reign of Josiah, who, in his sweeping religious reforms, reinstituted the feast of Passover. By: Bill Crowder

Love Song

He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

It’s a quiet riverside park on a Saturday afternoon. Joggers pass by, fishing rods whirl, seagulls fight over fish and chip wrappers, and my wife and I sit watching the couple. They are maybe in their late forties and are speaking a language unknown to us. She sits gazing into his eyes while he, without a hint of self-consciousness, sings to her a love song in his own tongue, carried on the breeze for us all to hear.

This delightful act got me thinking about the book of Zephaniah. At first you might wonder why. In Zephaniah’s day, God’s people had become corrupt by bowing to false gods (1:4–5), and Israel’s prophets and priests were now arrogant and profane (3:4). For much of the book, Zephaniah declares God’s coming judgment on not just Israel but all the nations of the earth (v. 8).

Yet Zephaniah foresees something else. Out of that dark day will emerge a people who wholeheartedly love God (vv. 9–13). To these people God will be like a bridegroom who delights in His beloved: “In his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (v. 17).

Creator, Father, Warrior, Judge. Scripture uses many titles for God. But how many of us see God as a Singer with a love song for us on His lips?

By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

How do you normally picture God—as Creator, Father, Warrior, or something else? How might your life change if you were to think of God as Lover, and yourself as His beloved?

Great Singer, I delight in Your singing over me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 12, 2022

Total Surrender

Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." —Mark 10:28

Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ‘This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.

Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse— “Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ‘cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).

True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.  The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 17-19; Mark 13:1-20
 

Deuteronomy 20 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: You Can Trust Jesus - March 11, 2022

Denalyn and I have been married more than 35 years. We no longer converse; we communicate in code. She walks into the kitchen while I’m making a sandwich. “Denalyn?” I ask. “No, I don’t want one,” she says. I’ll open the refrigerator and stare for a few moments. “Denalyn?” She’ll answer, “Mayo on the top shelf. Pickles on the door.” She knows me better than anyone. She is the authority on Max.

How much more does Jesus know God! And when Jesus says, “You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31), you can trust him. He knows the value of every creature. When Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2), count on it. He knows. He has walked them. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish” (John 3:16). Trust Him.

Deuteronomy 20

When you go to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots and soldiers far outnumbering you, do not recoil in fear of them; God, your God, who brought you up out of Egypt is with you. When the battle is about to begin, let the priest come forward and speak to the troops. He’ll say, “Attention, Israel. In a few minutes you’re going to do battle with your enemies. Don’t waver in resolve. Don’t fear. Don’t hesitate. Don’t panic. God, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win.”

5-7 Then let the officers step up and speak to the troops: “Is there a man here who has built a new house but hasn’t yet dedicated it? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it. And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard but hasn’t yet enjoyed the grapes? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man enjoy the grapes. Is there a man here engaged to marry who hasn’t yet taken his wife? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man take her.”

8 The officers will then continue, “And is there a man here who is wavering in resolve and afraid? Let him go home right now so that he doesn’t infect his fellows with his timidity and cowardly spirit.”

9 When the officers have finished speaking to the troops, let them appoint commanders of the troops who shall muster them by units.

10-15 When you come up against a city to attack it, call out, “Peace?” If they answer, “Yes, peace!” and open the city to you, then everyone found there will be conscripted as forced laborers and work for you. But if they don’t settle for peace and insist on war, then go ahead and attack. God, your God, will give them to you. Kill all the men with your swords. But don’t kill the women and children and animals. Everything inside the town you can take as plunder for you to use and eat—God, your God, gives it to you. This is the way you deal with the distant towns, the towns that don’t belong to the nations at hand.

16-18 But with the towns of the people that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, it’s different: don’t leave anyone alive. Consign them to holy destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, obeying the command of God, your God. This is so there won’t be any of them left to teach you to practice the abominations that they engage in with their gods and you end up sinning against God, your God.

19-20 When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don’t start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don’t cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons? The exception can be those trees which don’t produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, March 11, 2022

Today's Scripture
Proverbs 3:5–8
(NIV)

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. 6Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way. 7*Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are; simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong. 8If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains.

Insight

The main purpose of the book of Proverbs is to impart wisdom for godly living. In these wise sayings, we see a variety of topics, including youth, discipline, family life, resisting temptation, and our speech. The key to wisdom in all areas is found in Proverbs 3:5: wholeheartedly trusting in God, the only true source of wisdom. As Proverbs 1:7 states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” We gain wisdom and by implication live wisely when we have a relationship with God. In 2:6 we read that “the Lord gives wisdom,” but we’re also to “search for it as for hidden treasure” (v. 4). In other words, God gives wisdom to those who earnestly seek it. Other helps on the road to wisdom include not being a “companion of fools” (13:20), seeking the counsel of godly advisers (15:22), and listening to advice and accepting discipline (19:20). By: Alyson Kieda

Tackling Indecision

In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:6

We live in a world that offers a wide range of choices—from paper towels to life insurance. In 2004, psychologist Barry Schwartz wrote a book titled The Paradox of Choice in which he argued that while freedom of choice is important to our well-being, too many choices can lead to overload and indecision. While the stakes are certainly lower when deciding on which paper towel to buy, indecision can become debilitating when making major decisions that impact the course of our lives. So how can we overcome indecision and move forward confidently in living for Jesus?

As believers in Christ, seeking God’s wisdom helps us as we face difficult decisions. When we’re deciding on anything in life, large or small, the Scriptures instruct us to “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart and lean not on [our] own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). When we rely on our own judgment, we can become confused and worry about missing an important detail or making the wrong choice. When we look to God for the answers, however, He’ll “make [our] paths straight” (v. 6). He’ll give us clarity and peace as we make decisions in our day-to-day lives.

God doesn’t want us to be paralyzed or overwhelmed by the weight of our decisions. We can find peace in the wisdom and direction He provides when we bring our concerns to Him in prayer. By:  Kimya Loder

Reflect & Pray

What major decisions have you been considering lately? How will you seek God’s wisdom in prayer, the Scriptures, and the godly counsel of other believers?

Heavenly Father, I know You hold the answers to all the choices I face. As I seek Your wisdom, please give me clarity and the strength to boldly move forward with You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 11, 2022

Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”

I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. —Acts 26:19

If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.

“Though it tarries, wait for it…” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.

Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).

It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.  Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 14-16; Mark 12:28-44

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 11, 2022

The Power of Broken - #9175

It's kind of hard to think of any good news when you just broke your hand, but there can be some. Yeah. My wife learned that when she was in an accident in our car with two of our children. They were rear-ended. Somebody slammed into the back of them, and the result for my wife was a broken hand and six weeks in a cast. Well, she was unable to use her working hand; her writing hand even for about a month and a half.

Now, when we learned that, we got the family together and had a little pep rally and it was led by cheerleader Dad. And I said, "Hey, you know what? We finally have an opportunity here to give back to Mom some of what she's been giving to us. We can really help her like we don't usually do." So, my wife had a very interesting experience. She found out that when something is broken, you could have resources to help that you don't normally have.

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

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is in Psalm 51:16-17. Speaking of broken, David says to the Lord, "You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it." Wait a minute! That's the highest religious thing you could do if you were a Jew. But He goes on to say, "You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." So God's most prized gift from us is not some religious activity or office we hold or a big gift we give. He says "the greatest gift you can give Me is your brokenness."

Ironically, guess what we don't want to be? We don't want to be broken; we want to be together. But God blesses brokenness. He uses brokenness. And what's happening in your life right now just might be part of God's plan to melt you, to mold you, to soften you, and yes to break you. Not to destroy you; that's not His purpose.

My wife found that because she had a break, she found reserves from her family to help her because of what was broken. Now, when you reach the end of you and you're broken, God's power can finally go to work on your behalf as He's wanted to all along. You're out of the way, and you've never quite experienced His power like you do in those broken moments. You finally release God's omnipotence - His all powerfulness - because there's no you left to do it.

Only when you're broken are you going to repent fully and deal with those sinful strongholds. "God, I'm so desperate! I'll even let this go." You'll worship lavishly when you're broken. Like that lady who broke open her perfume and poured it out for the Lord. It's only when you're broken that you can be used mightily. Don't be afraid of this softening process that God's bringing you through right now. It's not because He doesn't love you; it's because He does. It's not because He's finished with you. It's because He's starting something brand new. The beginning of the answers you seek may be that very moment when you prostrate yourself before God and say, "God, I'm empty. I'm desperate. I have no answers. I have no strength. I have no resources."

That flips a power switch in heaven that can now do something supernatural for your life and through your life. That is the power of broken. And maybe God's allowed you to be broken so you could finally be healed; to finally see that you really do need Him, to be forgiven by Him, to have a personal relationship with Him, to actually take personally for yourself what Jesus did on the cross to tear down the wall between you and God. It takes being broken so often before we see that He was broken on a cross by His choice for you and me. At the Lord's Supper - the Eucharist - the communion, He said, "This is My body which was broken for you."

Today, maybe at the end of your brokenness, you'll finally find the Savior who could put your life together like it's never been before. This could be the beginning of that relationship. Go to our website ANewStory.com. All you need to know about how to be sure you belong to Him.

"All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life." He'll do that for you beginning today.

Luke 5:17-39 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: An Unearthly Love - March 10, 2022

I have a feeling most people who defy and deny God do so more out of fear than conviction. For all our chest pumping and braggadocio, we’re anxious folk. We can’t see a step into the future, can’t hear the one who owns us. No wonder we try to bite the hand that feeds us.

But God reaches and touches. If he’s touching you, let him. Mark it down: God loves you with an unearthly love. You can’t win it by being winsome. You can’t lose it by being a loser. But you can be blind enough to resist it. Don’t. For heaven’s sake, don’t! For your sake, don’t. Others demote you. God claims you. Let the definitive voice of the universe say, “You are part of my plan!”

Luke 5:17-39

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him.

18-20 Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, “Friend, I forgive your sins.”

21 That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins.”

22-26 Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both.?.?.?.” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, stunned—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!”

27-28 After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.

29-30 Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with misfits and ‘sinners’?”

31-32 Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”

33 They asked him, “John’s disciples are well-known for keeping fasts and saying prayers. Also the Pharisees. But you seem to spend most of your time at parties. Why?”

34-35 Jesus said, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to exercise moderation, but this isn’t the time. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!

36-39 “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put wine in old, cracked bottles; you get strong, clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, March 10, 2022

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

Instructions

4 So then, my brothers and sisters, how dear you are to me and how I miss you! How happy you make me, and how proud I am of you! This then, dear brothers and sisters, is how you should stand firm in your life in the Lord.

2 Euodia and Syntyche, please, I beg you, try to agree as sisters in the Lord. 3And you too, my faithful partner, I want you to help these women; for they have worked hard with me to spread the gospel, together with Clement and all my other fellow-workers, whose names are in God’s book of the living.

4 May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!

5 Show a gentle attitude towards everyone. The Lord is coming soon. 6Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. 7And God’s peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.

Insight

As Paul begins to bring his letter to a close, he emphasizes two important thoughts that underlie all he’s written to the Philippians. First, he’s repeatedly lifted up their shared partnership and mission (1:1–7, 27–30). Second, over and over he’s also urged them to embrace the attitudes of humility, joy, and love that reflect the spirit of Jesus and make their shared calling credible and good for others (vv. 9–11; 2:1–11). These two basics—mission and attitude—show up in the first few sentences of his introduction. In referring to his readers as “holy,” he used a word that reminded them that they’ve been “set apart” to represent Christ to their world (1:1–5). In praying that their love would continue to grow “in knowledge and depth of insight” (vv. 9–11), he signaled how important it was for them to help and care for one another. By: Mart DeHaan

Revelation and Reassurance

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

Baby-gender reveals in 2019 were dramatic. In July, a video showed a car emitting blue smoke to indicate, “It’s a boy!” In September, a crop-duster plane in Texas dumped hundreds of gallons of pink water to announce, “It’s a girl!” There was another “reveal,” though, that uncovered significant things about the world these children will grow up in. At the conclusion of 2019, YouVersion revealed that the most shared, highlighted, and bookmarked verse of the year on its online and mobile Bible app was Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

That’s quite the revelation. People are anxious about many things these days—from the needs of our sons and daughters, to the myriad ways family and friends are divided, to natural catastrophes and wars. But in the middle of all these worries, the good news is that many people cling to a verse that says, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Furthermore, those same people encourage others as well as themselves to present every request to God “in every situation.” The mindset that doesn’t ignore but faces life’s anxieties is one of “thanksgiving.”

The verse that didn’t make “verse of the year” but follows it is—“And the peace of God . . . will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). That’s quite the reassurance!

Reflect & Pray

What are two or three situations you’re worried about? How might reflecting on the ways God’s peace has carried you in the past be helpful?   

Jesus, some days and weeks and years feel overwhelming. Thank You for Your peace, which guards me yesterday, today, and forever.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 10, 2022

Being an Example of His Message

Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2

We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.

There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).

Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come.  Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 11-13; Mark 12:1-27

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 10, 2022

Running Red Lights - #9174

Okay, we didn't have much of a car in the first place. It was less of a car by the end of the day. We hadn't been married very long, and our used car was pretty humble, but it was ours. We were in heavy traffic in downtown Chicago about five o'clock one afternoon, sitting in the middle of one of those Rush Hour blood clots they call a "traffic jam." I'd stopped for a red light not far from the Art Institute on Michigan Boulevard. I can still picture this. To our right, was a city bus that pretty much blocked my view of the traffic on the intersecting street. The light turned green. I drove out into the intersection. Bam! Suddenly we were hit very hard, stopped cold, and left with a crumpled hood with smoke coming from underneath. A delivery truck had run the red light and into us. Thankfully, we weren't hurt. Our little car was, though! It wouldn't move. So we just went to the curb and stood on the sidewalk, waiting for help to come, and we watched as one driver after another pulled up to this car of ours that was obviously wrecked, unoccupied, disabled, and they honked. Weird!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Running Red Lights."

Bad things can happen when you run a red light, especially if it's one of God's red lights. All too often, we are racing to get where we want to go and we blow right by a red light that God is flashing to stop us. The results are going to be damaging, and they're going to be costly.

I love it when God gives us a flesh-and-blood picture of a principle, and He gives us a good one about His red lights in our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 22, beginning with verse 21. The Moabites are not friends of God's people, the Jews, and they're mucho concerned when the Jews start to get close to their territory. So Balak, Moab's king, calls for a prophet named Balaam and he offers him big bucks to come and put a curse on this people that God blesses.

So Balaam sets out toward Moab on his donkey. The Bible says, "God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him...When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field." Did Balaam turn back? Oh no. No, it says, he "beat her to get her back on the road." The angel of the Lord stands in his way for a second time, seen only by the donkey who tries to stop again, and she gets whipped again. "The angel of the Lord," the Bible says, "moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn." This time the donkey just lies down and gets it again.

Finally, God actually speaks to Balaam through his donkey. (I guess because the donkey's obviously smarter than the prophet.) By the way, God still speaks through donkeys. I know. The Lord opens Balaam's eyes and he falls face down before the Lord saying, "I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me."

I wonder how many times your Lord has tried to stop you on the road you're on, and how many times have you just kept going the way you want to go, running God's red lights? I'm a donkey when I do that. And here again God is trying to stand in your way, right here today even through our little visit together, trying to turn you around from those choices you've been making; that direction you're going. Because He loves you too much to let you end up where He knows this road will take you.

It's just plain foolish not to stop when the God of the universe says to. If you run the red light, one of two hurtful things is going to happen. Either God will do something more drastic and more painful to stop you, or He'll get out of your way and He'll let you walk right into the very unhappy ending down the road. But today He's giving you one more chance to stop before that cliff up ahead. Don't choose the pain of running God's red light. Stop before you get hit.

Deuteronomy 19 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Object of God’s Love - March 9, 2022

Scripture employs an artillery of terms for love, each one calibrated to reach a different target. Consider the one Moses used with his followers in Deuteronomy 10:15: “The LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love.” What the Hebrews heard in their language was this: “The LORD binds himself to his people.” Binds is the word hasaq, and it speaks of a tethered love, a love attached to something or someone. Harnessed. The strap serves two functions, yanking and claiming. Like yanking your child out of trouble and, in doing so, to proclaim, “Yes, he is as wild as a banshee. But he’s mine.”

In this case, God chained himself to Israel. God loves Israel—and the rest of us—because he chooses to do so. God’s love is the love that won’t let go of the object of his love.

Deuteronomy 19

When God, your God, throws the nations out of the country that God, your God, is giving you and you settle down in their cities and houses, you are to set aside three easily accessible cities in the land that God, your God, is giving you as your very own. Divide your land into thirds, this land that God, your God, is giving you to possess, and build roads to the towns so that anyone who accidentally kills another can flee there.

4-7 This is the guideline for the murderer who flees there to take refuge: He has to have killed his neighbor without premeditation and with no history of bad blood between them. For instance, a man goes with his neighbor into the woods to cut a tree; he swings the ax, the head slips off the handle and hits his neighbor, killing him. He may then flee to one of these cities and save his life. If the city is too far away, the avenger of blood racing in hot-blooded pursuit might catch him since it’s such a long distance, and kill him even though he didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t his fault. There was no history of hatred between them. Therefore I command you: Set aside the three cities for yourselves.

8-10 When God, your God, enlarges your land, extending its borders as he solemnly promised your ancestors, by giving you the whole land he promised them because you are diligently living the way I’m commanding you today, namely, to love God, your God, and do what he tells you all your life; and when that happens, then add three more to these three cities so that there is no chance of innocent blood being spilled in your land. God, your God, is giving you this land as an inheritance—you don’t want to pollute it with innocent blood and bring guilt upon yourselves.

11-13 On the other hand, if a man with a history of hatred toward his neighbor waits in ambush, then jumps him, mauls and kills him, and then runs to one of these cities, that’s a different story. The elders of his own city are to send for him and have him brought back. They are to hand him over to the avenger of blood for execution. Don’t feel sorry for him. Clean out the pollution of wrongful murder from Israel so that you’ll be able to live well and breathe clean air.

* * *

14 Don’t move your neighbor’s boundary markers, the longstanding landmarks set up by your pioneer ancestors defining their property.

* * *

15 You cannot convict anyone of a crime or sin on the word of one witness. You need two or three witnesses to make a case.

16-21 If a hostile witness stands to accuse someone of a wrong, then both parties involved in the quarrel must stand in the Presence of God before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. The judges must conduct a careful investigation; if the witness turns out to be a false witness and has lied against his fellow Israelite, give him the same medicine he intended for the other party. Clean the polluting evil from your company. People will hear of what you’ve done and be impressed; that will put a stop to this kind of evil among you. Don’t feel sorry for the person: It’s life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, March 09, 2022

Today's Scripture
Psalm 36:5–10
(NIV)

     God’s love is meteoric,

his loyalty astronomic,

His purpose titanic,

his verdicts oceanic.

Yet in his largeness

nothing gets lost;

Not a man, not a mouse,

slips through the cracks.

7–9     How exquisite your love, O God!

How eager we are to run under your wings,

To eat our fill at the banquet you spread

as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.

You’re a fountain of cascading light,

and you open our eyes to light.

10–12     Keep on loving your friends;

do your work in welcoming hearts.

Insight

Psalm 36 is found in Book One of the Psalms (Psalms 1–41), which, along with Book Two (Psalms 42–72), features the majority of David’s biblical psalms. Many of his songs in this portion of the Psalter are laments, cries for God’s mercy and help in the dark and difficult seasons of life. In Psalm 36, however, the poem’s tone is very different. Here, David saw those who were living apart from God as individuals marked by an absence of the fear of God (vv. 1–4), and their example prompted David to pray for God’s continued lovingkindness to him and those who sought to live in right relationship with Him (vv. 5–10). The singer then concludes with a plea to God to protect him from the dangers of his own pride and the influence of those who’d turned from Him (vv. 11–12). By: Bill Crowder

All Creatures Great and Small

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
Psalm 36:6

Michelle Grant trained a baby beaver named Timber to return to the wild. When she took him for swims in a pond, he’d come back to her kayak to snuggle and rub noses. One morning Timber didn’t return. Michelle scoured the pond for six hours before giving up. Weeks later she found a beaver skull. Assuming it was Timber, she began to cry.

My soul ached for Michelle and Timber. I told myself, “Snap out of it. He’s just a large, aquatic rodent.” But the truth is, I cared—and so does God. His love reaches high to the heavens and down to the smallest creature, part of the creation He calls us to steward well (Genesis 1:28). He preserves “both people and animals” (Psalm 36:6), providing “food for the cattle and for the young ravens” (147:9).

One day Michelle was kayaking in a neighbor’s pond and—surprise—there was Timber! He’d found a beaver family and was helping them raise two kits. He surfaced beside Michelle’s kayak. She smiled, “You look well. You have a beautiful family.” He cooed, splashed his tail, and swam to his new mom.

I love happy endings, especially my own! Jesus promised that as His Father feeds the birds, so He will supply whatever we need (Matthew 6:25–26). Not one sparrow falls “to the ground outside your Father’s care. . . . So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (10:29–31). By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

What care do you need to give to your heavenly Father? What need of others might He want you to meet?

Father, I lift up my cares and worries to You

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 09, 2022

The Surrendered Life

I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20

To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.

Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?

We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.

If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself.  The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 5-7; Mark 11:1-18

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 09, 2022

No Such Thing As Retirement - #9173

It's probably one of the most memorable, most identifiable advertising campaigns in advertising history. And, you know what, it's hard to do that when what you're selling is something as boring as batteries. But Energizer did it. Right? Now, what are you thinking right now? You can probably imagine their rabbit in your mind right now: he's got sunglasses on, drumsticks in his hand, and a big bass drum in front of him. And he moves across the landscape, seemingly unstoppable, beating his drum all the way because he's powered by Energizer batteries, of course.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Such Thing As Retirement."

Yeah, the Energizer bunny. He keeps "going and (You can say it with me.) going and going and going." So do faithful followers of Jesus Christ, no matter how long they've been going. God says so in our word for today from the Word of God.

According to Psalm 92, beginning with verse 12, "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God." Now, listen to this part. "They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, 'The Lord is upright; He is my Rock." Oh I love this! People in the later years of their lives, not just playing shuffleboard or watching TV, but still making a difference. Still praising their faithful Lord every chance they get. Still talking about the 'Rock' who has sustained them through every battle of their life. In fact, speaking as only those who have walked with God a long time can speak of Him!

It's God's will that you should "bear fruit in your old age," that you stay fresh and productive, not stale, not on the sidelines. You can retire from a career. You can retire from a company or an occupation, but you can't retire from the service of Jesus Christ! There are those who say, "Well, I've served my time. I've done my part. I'll just sit here and rest until Jesus comes for me." Oh boy! Listen, when you love the Lord Jesus, when you've surrendered your life to His leadership, you don't look for an opportunity to quit. You say, "Man, if I live to be 100, I'm never going to have enough time to do for my Lord what I want to do!" God wants you to be one of His "Energizer bunnies" going and going and going until He decides your work is finished.

Yes, your body may slow down. Your health may not be what it used to be. But you still have so much to give. He's still got lives for you to touch. Wherever He's put you, don't go off duty! He's still got young people He wants you to encourage with your long view of the ways of God. He's still got battles for you to fight, other people's burdens for you to carry at least in prayer, situations that need your wisdom, people who need you for them to have a chance to even go to heaven. They need the Jesus you know. How can you retire? Yes, you may retire from a ministry position, but don't ever retire from ministry! People ask me, "Will I retire?" I say, "Yes. Re-tire; I'm going to put new tires on so I can go farther and faster than I've ever gone before."

So many people get more self-centered the older they get. That isn't God's plan for you and me. He doesn't want our world to keep shrinking. The closer we get to seeing Jesus, the less we should be thinking about ourselves and the more we should be thinking about serving Him and storing up treasures in heaven! Isn't it exciting to know that God wants to keep using your life for your whole life? Because the Holy Spirit, who lives in you, never gets old, never wears out, and never goes off duty. Because of that, you're going to keep "going and going and going" for Jesus until the day you see Him!