Deuteronomy 33 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Crafted Narrative - March 30, 2022

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Random collection of disconnected stories? Far from it. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, working toward your supreme good. God isn’t making up a plan as he goes along, nor did he wind up the clock and walk away.

Daniel 5:21 says, “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.” And Jeremiah 30:24 says, “The LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.” These texts confirm the heavenly blueprints and plans, and those plans include you!

Deuteronomy 33

Moses, man of God, blessed the People of Israel with this blessing before his death. He said,

God came down from Sinai,
    he dawned from Seir upon them;
He radiated light from Mount Paran,
    coming with ten thousand holy angels
And tongues of fire
    streaming from his right hand.
Oh, how you love the people,
    all his holy ones are palmed in your left hand.
They sit at your feet,
    honoring your teaching,
The Revelation commanded by Moses,
    as the assembly of Jacob’s inheritance.
Thus God became king in Jeshurun
    as the leaders and tribes of Israel gathered.

6 Reuben:

“Let Reuben live and not die,
    but just barely, in diminishing numbers.”

7 Judah:

“Listen, God, to the Voice of Judah,
    bring him to his people;
Strengthen his grip,
    be his helper against his foes.”

8-11 Levi:

“Let your Thummim and Urim
    belong to your loyal saint;
The one you tested at Massah,
    whom you fought with at the Waters of Meribah,
Who said of his father and mother,
    ‘I no longer recognize them.’
He turned his back on his brothers
    and neglected his children,
Because he was guarding your sayings
    and watching over your Covenant.
Let him teach your rules to Jacob
    and your Revelation to Israel,
Let him keep the incense rising to your nostrils
    and the Whole-Burnt-Offerings on your Altar.
God bless his commitment,
    stamp your seal of approval on what he does;
Disable the loins of those who defy him,
    make sure we’ve heard the last from those who hate him.”

12 Benjamin:

“God’s beloved;
    God’s permanent residence.
Encircled by God all day long,
    within whom God is at home.”

13-17 Joseph:

“Blessed by God be his land:
    The best fresh dew from high heaven,
    and fountains springing from the depths;
The best radiance streaming from the sun
    and the best the moon has to offer;
Beauty pouring off the tops of the mountains
    and the best from the everlasting hills;
The best of Earth’s exuberant gifts,
    the smile of the Burning-Bush Dweller.
All this on the head of Joseph,
    on the brow of the set-apart one among his brothers.
In splendor he’s like a firstborn bull,
    his horns the horns of a wild ox;
He’ll gore the nations with those horns,
    push them all to the ends of the Earth.
Ephraim by the ten thousands will do this,
    Manasseh by the thousands will do this.”

18-19 Zebulun and Issachar:

“Celebrate, Zebulun, as you go out,
    and Issachar, as you stay home.
They’ll invite people to the Mountain
    and offer sacrifices of right worship,
For they will have hauled riches in from the sea
    and gleaned treasures from the beaches.”

20-21 Gad:

“Blessed is he who makes Gad large.
    Gad roams like a lion,
    tears off an arm, rips open a skull.
He took one look and grabbed the best place for himself,
    the portion just made for someone in charge.
He took his place at the head,
    carried out God’s right ways
    and his rules for life in Israel.”

22 Dan:

“Dan is a lion’s cub
    leaping out of Bashan.”

23 Naphtali:

“Naphtali brims with blessings,
    spills over with God’s blessings
As he takes possession
    of the sea and southland.”

24-25 Asher:

“Asher, best blessed of the sons!
    May he be the favorite of his brothers,
    his feet massaged in oil.
Safe behind iron-clad doors and gates,
    your strength like iron as long as you live.”

* * *

26-28
There is none like God, Jeshurun,
    riding to your rescue through the skies,
    his dignity haloed by clouds.
The ancient God is home
    on a foundation of everlasting arms.
He drove out the enemy before you
    and commanded, “Destroy!”
Israel lived securely,
    the fountain of Jacob undisturbed
In grain and wine country
    and, oh yes, his heavens drip dew.

29
Lucky Israel! Who has it as good as you?
    A people saved by God!
The Shield who defends you,
    the Sword who brings triumph.
Your enemies will come crawling on their bellies
    and you’ll march on their backs.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Today's Scripture
Isaiah 1:10–18
(NIV)

“Listen to my Message,

you Sodom-schooled leaders.

Receive God’s revelation,

you Gomorrah-schooled people.

11–12     “Why this frenzy of sacrifices?”

God’s asking.

“Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices,

rams and plump grain-fed calves?

Don’t you think I’ve had my fill

of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?

When you come before me,

whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,

Running here and there, doing this and that—

all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?

13–17     “Quit your worship charades.

I can’t stand your trivial religious games:

Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—

meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!

Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!

You’ve worn me out!

I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,

while you go right on sinning.

When you put on your next prayer-performance,

I’ll be looking the other way.

No matter how long or loud or often you pray,

I’ll not be listening.

And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing

people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.

Go home and wash up.

Clean up your act.

Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings

so I don’t have to look at them any longer.

Say no to wrong.

Learn to do good.

Work for justice.

Help the down-and-out.

Stand up for the homeless.

Go to bat for the defenseless.

Let’s Argue This Out

18–20     “Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.”

This is God’s Message:

“If your sins are blood-red,

they’ll be snow-white.

If they’re red like crimson,

they’ll be like wool.

Insight

The book of Isaiah is a vision the prophet received from God addressed to Israel, a people in rebellion (1:1–2). God was incensed at their wickedness and sin (v. 4). As commentator Barry Webb writes: Their “worship had been divorced from justice, and the fatherless and the widow had become the chief victims” (see v. 17). Their sacrifices were merely a means to an end. The prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, states what God requires: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Yet despite His righteous anger, God extended this loving invitation: “Turn to me and be saved” (Isaiah 45:22). By: Alyson Kieda

God Cleans the Stains

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18

What if our clothes were more functional, having the ability to clean themselves after we dropped ketchup or mustard or spilled a drink on them? Well, according to the BBC, engineers in China have developed a special “coating which causes cotton to clean itself of stains and odors when exposed to ultraviolet lights.” Can you imagine the implications of having self-cleaning clothes?

A self-cleaning coating might work for stained clothes, but only God can clean a stained soul. In ancient Judah, God was angry with His people because they had “turned their backs on” Him, given themselves to corruption and evil, and were worshiping false gods (Isaiah 1:2–4). But to make matters worse, they tried to clean themselves by offering sacrifices, burning incense, saying many prayers, and gathering together in solemn assemblies. Yet their hypocritical and sinful hearts remained (vv. 12–13). The remedy was for them to come to their senses and with a repentant heart bring the stains on their souls to a holy and loving God. His grace would cleanse them and make them spiritually “white as snow” (v. 18).

When we sin, there’s no self-cleaning solution. With a humble and repentant heart, we must acknowledge our sins and place them under the cleansing light of God’s holiness. We must turn from them and return to Him. And He, the only One who cleans the stains of the soul, will offer us complete forgiveness and renewed fellowship.By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

When the Holy Spirit reveals your sins to you, what’s your response? How does John describe the process of bringing your sin to God and repenting of it (see 1 John 1:9)?  

Father, forgive me for ignoring or trying to get rid of my own sin. I know only You can clean the stains of my soul. I acknowledge and repent of my self-sufficiency and turn to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Holiness or Hardness Toward God?

He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16

The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.

Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.

Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?

Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Bible in a Year: Judges 9-10; Luke 5:17-39

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 30, 2022

It was about noon when I heard the news. Fortunately, I was safe in my office. All the power was out at Newark Airport. Now, I had used that airport so many times I could very well have been one of those poor travelers who I saw on the evening news groping their way through a totally darkened terminal. There was no electricity to the terminal for an entire day. What a mess! No lights, no computers, no baggage equipment. It was a good day to be in my office. And the reason there were no lights? A pile driver that was being used on an airport construction project somehow punched right through the main power line. Nice shot! With the power and lights out, it was just a very dark day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knocking Out the Light."

Our word for today from the Word of God, Luke 22:31-32, Jesus talking to Simon Peter, "Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Okay, now here's Peter, perhaps the brightest light of the disciples. And basically Jesus is saying, "Satan wants to knock you out, man." And he wants to do that to anyone who is a light in a dark spot - like you maybe.

See, if it's dark where you work, and you're Jesus' light there if you belong to Him. The enemy wants the light out so it's totally dark there. Maybe it's dark in your school, or your area, or your family, but God's installed a light there - you. And Satan's trying to knock out the light. He wants to sift you as wheat, and God may be preparing you to spread the light to an even larger circle of people. Don't be surprised if you're suddenly taking a pounding from hell's pile driver. The enemy's only hope of keeping his prisoners in the dark is to knock out the light. So does this explain maybe some of what's been hitting you? You're making a difference. And the forces of darkness want to destroy or at least dim your light.

One wise old preacher gave a young evangelist this advice. He said, "The ferocity of Satan's attack upon you will increase in direct proportion to your potential usefulness for Jesus Christ." So those difficulties and feelings and temptations you've been dealing with? They may not mean there's anything wrong. In fact, there may be something wonderfully right. You're starting to make an impact for Jesus. You've attracted attention in hell. You're not wrestling with flesh and blood but against principalities and powers - spiritual forces. There's no reason to be afraid. There's no reason to be discouraged. According to Colossians 2:15, Jesus has "disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by His cross."

Remember the simple principles of winning against any attack from the dark side. Number one; depend on spiritual weapons to win spiritual battles. That means prayer. That means fasting. You need to recruit a team of prayer warriors to cover you now with daily prayer as you're becoming a make-a-difference person. You're a target now, and God's people praying for you will cover you with the blood of Jesus and a hedge of His protection.

Number two, regularly put on the spiritual armor of God. Read - memorize if you can - Ephesians 6:10-18. Thirdly, don't give the devil a foothold. Remove any sin, any compromise that your enemy can use to get into your life. And number four; keep your power lines strong. Don't miss a day of being with Jesus through His Word.

Yes, Satan may desire to have you. But Jesus says, "I prayed for you." Your enemy wants the people around you to spend this life and forever like those people at the airport that day. He wants them stumbling in the dark. He has only one way to make that happen - knock out the light.

If you wander away from Jesus, they'll go there with you. You're either going to be a reason for somebody to be attracted to Jesus or to say, "He doesn't really work." There's a lot riding on you keeping the light on. So stay close to the awesome power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself is the light of the world.

Deuteronomy 32 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: No Question Matters More - March 29, 2022

The story of Jesus reads a bit like a scrapbook. Headline clippings. Jesus’ favorite stories and lesson outlines. Luke’s snapshot of Jesus riding in Peter’s boat. Matthew took the group photo when the seventy followers met for a party after the first mission trip. John pasted a wedding napkin from Cana in the book as well as a funeral program from Bethany.

There are so many other things Jesus did. In fact, in his gospel John says, “If they were all written down, each of them…I can’t imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books” (John 21:25 MSG). Who was this man? Jesus Christ. No question matters more.

Consider reading the entire story, from the Bethlehem manger to the vacated tomb. And keep in mind that the final entries of the story are yet to come, including the snapshot of you and your Savior at heaven’s gateway.

Deuteronomy 32-

The Song

 Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you.
    Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words.
My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain,
    my words arrive like morning dew,
Like a sprinkling rain on new grass,
    like spring showers on the garden.
For it’s God’s Name I’m preaching—
    respond to the greatness of our God!
The Rock: His works are perfect,
    and the way he works is fair and just;
A God you can depend upon, no exceptions,
    a straight-arrow God.
His messed-up, mixed-up children, his non-children,
    throw mud at him but none of it sticks.

6-7
Don’t you realize it is God you are treating like this?
    This is crazy; don’t you have any sense of reverence?
Isn’t this your father who created you,
    who made you and gave you a place on Earth?
Read up on what happened before you were born;
    dig into the past, understand your roots.
Ask your parents what it was like before you were born;
    ask the old-ones, they’ll tell you a thing or two.

8-9
When the High God gave the nations their stake,
    gave them their place on Earth,
He put each of the peoples within boundaries
    under the care of divine guardians.
But God himself took charge of his people,
    took Jacob on as his personal concern.

10-14
He found him out in the wilderness,
    in an empty, windswept wasteland.
He threw his arms around him, lavished attention on him,
    guarding him as the apple of his eye.
He was like an eagle hovering over its nest,
    overshadowing its young,
Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,
    teaching them to fly.
God alone led him;
    there was not a foreign god in sight.
God lifted him onto the hilltops,
    so he could feast on the crops in the fields.
He fed him honey from the rock,
    oil from granite crags,
Curds of cattle and the milk of sheep,
    the choice cuts of lambs and goats,
Fine Bashan rams, high-quality wheat,
    and the blood of grapes: you drank good wine!

15-18
Jeshurun put on weight and bucked;
    you got fat, became obese, a tub of lard.
He abandoned the God who made him,
    he mocked the Rock of his salvation.
They made him jealous with their foreign trendy gods,
    and with obscenities they vexed him no end.
They sacrificed to no-god demons,
    gods they knew nothing about,
The latest in gods, fresh from the market,
    gods your ancestors would never call “gods.”
You walked out on the Rock who gave you your life,
    forgot the birth-God who brought you into the world.

19-25
God saw it and spun around,
    angered and hurt by his sons and daughters.
He said, “From now on I’m looking the other way.
    Wait and see what happens to them.
Oh, they’re a turned-around, upside-down generation!
    Who knows what they’ll do from one moment to the next?
They’ve goaded me with their no-gods,
    infuriated me with their hot-air gods;
I’m going to goad them with a no-people,
    with a hollow nation incense them.
My anger started a fire,
    a wildfire burning deep down in Sheol,
Then shooting up and devouring the Earth and its crops,
    setting all the mountains, from bottom to top, on fire.
I’ll pile catastrophes on them,
    I’ll shoot my arrows at them:
Starvation, blistering heat, killing disease;
    I’ll send snarling wild animals to attack from the forest
    and venomous creatures to strike from the dust.
Killing in the streets,
    terror in the houses,
Young men and virgins alike struck down,
    and yes, breast-feeding babies and gray-haired old men.”

26-27
I could have said, “I’ll hack them to pieces,
    wipe out all trace of them from the Earth,”
Except that I feared the enemy would grab the chance
    to take credit for all of it,
Crowing, “Look what we did!
    God had nothing to do with this.”

28-33
They are a nation of idiots,
    they don’t know enough to come in out of the rain.
If they had any sense at all, they’d know this;
    they would see what’s coming down the road.
How could one soldier chase a thousand enemies off,
    or two men run off two thousand,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
    unless God had given them away?
For their rock is nothing compared to our Rock;
    even our enemies say that.
They’re a vine that comes right out of Sodom,
    who they are is rooted in Gomorrah;
Their grapes are poison grapes,
    their grape-clusters bitter.
Their wine is rattlesnake venom,
    mixed with lethal cobra poison.

34-35
Don’t you realize that I have my shelves
    well stocked, locked behind iron doors?
I’m in charge of vengeance and payback,
    just waiting for them to slip up;
And the day of their doom is just around the corner,
    sudden and swift and sure.

36-38
Yes, God will judge his people,
    but oh how compassionately he’ll do it.
When he sees their weakened plight
    and there is no one left, slave or free,
He’ll say, “So where are their gods,
    the rock in which they sought refuge,
The gods who feasted on the fat of their sacrifices
    and drank the wine of their drink-offerings?
Let them show their stuff and help you,
    let them give you a hand!

39-42
“Do you see it now? Do you see that I’m the one?
    Do you see that there’s no other god beside me?
I bring death and I give life, I wound and I heal—
    there is no getting away from or around me!
I raise my hand in solemn oath;
    I say, ‘I’m always around. By that very life I promise:
When I sharpen my lightning sword
    and execute judgment,
I take vengeance on my enemies
    and pay back those who hate me.
I’ll make my arrows drunk with blood,
    my sword will gorge itself on flesh,
Feasting on slain and captive alike,
    the proud and vain enemy corpses.’”

43
Celebrate, nations, join the praise of his people.
    He avenges the deaths of his servants,
Pays back his enemies with vengeance,
    and cleanses his land for his people.

44-47 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua son of Nun. When Moses had finished saying all these words to all Israel, he said, “Take to heart all these words to which I give witness today and urgently command your children to put them into practice, every single word of this Revelation. Yes. This is no small matter for you; it’s your life. In keeping this word you’ll have a good and long life in this land that you’re crossing the Jordan to possess.”

48-50 That same day God spoke to Moses: “Climb the Abarim Mountains to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, overlooking Jericho, and view the land of Canaan that I’m giving the People of Israel to have and hold. Die on the mountain that you climb and join your people in the ground, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and joined his people.

51-52 “This is because you broke faith with me in the company of the People of Israel at the Waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin—you didn’t honor my Holy Presence in the company of the People of Israel. You’ll look at the land spread out before you but you won’t enter it, this land that I am giving to the People of Israel.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Today's Scripture
2 Corinthians 4:7–18
(NIV)

    If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!

13–15     We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

16–18     So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Insight

In fulfilling his call to preach the gospel, Paul endured great dangers, persecutions, and hardships (1 Corinthians 4:9–13; 2 Corinthians 1:8–9; 6:4–10; 11:23–29). He chose to see these as “light and momentary troubles” achieving “an eternal glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Paul persevered, energized by God’s mercy (v. 1), the greatness of the gospel (vv. 2–6), and the power of Christ’s resurrected life (vv. 7–14). His confident refrain is, “We do not lose heart” (vv. 1, 16). Such confidence isn’t rooted in himself, but in God’s “all-surpassing power” (v. 7) and all-sufficient grace (12:9).  By: K. T. Sim

Past the Boundaries of Knowing

We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

It was a hard day when my husband found out that, like so many others, he too would soon be furloughed from employment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believed that God would meet our basic needs, but the uncertainty of how that would happen was still terrifying.

As I processed my jumbled emotions, I found myself revisiting a favorite poem by sixteenth-century reformer John of the Cross. Entitled “I Went In, I Knew Not Where,” the poem depicts the wonder to be found in a journey of surrender, when, going “past the boundaries of knowing,” we learn to “discern the Divine in all its guises.” And so that’s what my husband and I tried to do during this season: to turn our focus from what we could control and understand to the unexpected, mysterious, and beautiful ways God can be found all around us.

The apostle Paul invited believers to a journey from the seen to the unseen, from outward to inward realities, and from temporary struggles to the “eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Paul didn’t urge this because he lacked compassion for their struggles. He knew it would be through letting go of what they could understand that they could experience the comfort, joy, and hope they so desperately needed (vv. 10, 15–16). They could know the wonder of Christ’s life making all things new.
By:  Monica La Rose


Reflect & Pray

When have you experienced God’s glory in ways you couldn’t understand? In what areas of your life might you experience God beyond the “boundaries of knowing”?

Loving God, there’s so much heartbreak and uncertainty in our world. Help me to learn to follow You past what I can understand to the wonder of Your life breathing new life all around me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Our Lord’s Surprise Visits

You also be ready… —Luke 12:40

A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle— we must be spiritually real.

If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence.  Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
Share with your friends:

Bible in a Year: Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
The Reason For Your Bumpy Landings - #9187

I was on this early morning flight to Pittsburgh. It's the kind where most of the passengers are real veteran flyers, you know, business people. And wouldn't you know, we got one of those two-for-the-price-of-one landings. Yeah, one of those bumpy, bouncy ones. I mean, even with the seasoned flyers aboard, that landing got everyone's heads out of their papers and their briefcases...including mine. I couldn't wait to hear what the flight attendant was going to say. And, fortunately, we got one of the few that had a sense of humor. He came on and he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements!" That's great! Believe me, after a landing like that, he had our attention!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason For Your Bumpy Landings."

You may have been experiencing a few bumpy landings yourself lately. You know? It might be medical, it might could be marital, economic, romantic, maybe it's parental issues or relationship issues. You're wondering why things have been so rocky. There could be a lot of reasons, but we know that ultimately God is in charge of things. So, why has He sent or allowed these bumpy landings? Could it be He's trying to get your attention? Maybe if you could hear God's voice audibly right now, you would hear Him saying, "Now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements."

One of King David's Psalms in the Old Testament is about how our bumpy landings can serve as spiritual wakeup calls. In our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 32:1, he says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered...When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."

David says the best position you can be in in your life is to have all your sins forgiven, your moral mistakes forgiven, cleaned up and to know you're OK with God and that you have a new beginning. But he goes on to say that he wasn't really dealing with the junk that was between him and God until he had some bumpy landings. Until he started hurting physically, emotionally, until he felt God's heavy hand on him...until he was shot. That's when God got his attention and showed him that he needed to face his sin problem which was the ultimate cause of all his other problems.

It could be God is trying to make the same kind of announcement to you right now. I hope that through your bumpy landings Jesus can finally get your attention. His announcements? Well, things you might otherwise not have listened to or considered. He's using the trouble to say things to you like, "You're not enough, you need something lasting, you've tried it long enough without Me, or I love you so much." And He stands ready to do for you what you have needed and maybe avoided for years - to remove what's between you and the God that you need so much.

Jesus can do that because He absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin when He paid for it dying on the cross. And your bumpy landings may be all to bring you to the place that you've missed all these years - that cross where Jesus loved you enough to die for you. All the journey of your life has been to bring you to this moment where you could finally commit yourself to the Savior you were made by, the Savior you were made for, the Savior who loves you so very much. Then you will be able to say as King David did, "Lord, You forgave the guilt of my sin."

If you've missed Jesus all these years, if you don't want to miss Him any longer, you want to begin a personal relationship with Him, tell Him that right now. And I invite you to check out our website sometime as soon as you can today - ANewStory.com I've tried to lay out simply there and non-religiously how you can be sure you belong to Jesus.

Your bumpy landings may have shaken up your life, but only so you would turn your attention to the Son of God so He can finally bring you safely home.

Luke 8:1-25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:Trust God’s Promise - March 28, 2022

John 3:16. Millions quote it, only a handful trust it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Wary of a catch perhaps? Cautioned by guarded friends? Desperation heightens our interest. When he asks for a divorce or she says, “It’s over.” When the coroner calls, the kids rebel, or the finances collapse. When desperation typhoons into your world, God’s offer of a free flight home demands a second look. John 3:16 morphs from a nice verse to a life vest.

Some of you are wearing it. For you, the passage comforts like your favorite blanket. Don’t walk away from it. Give God your answer. Ephesians 3:17 (MSG) promises, “Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in.”

Luke 8:1-25

 He continued according to plan, traveled to town after town, village after village, preaching God’s kingdom, spreading the Message. The Twelve were with him. There were also some women in their company who had been healed of various evil afflictions and illnesses: Mary, the one called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s manager; and Susanna—along with many others who used their considerable means to provide for the company.
The Story of the Seeds

4-8 As they went from town to town, a lot of people joined in and traveled along. He addressed them, using this story: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

9 His disciples asked, “Why did you tell this story?”

10 He said, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories some of them aren’t going to get it:

Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,
Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.

11-12 “This story is about some of those people. The seed is the Word of God. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word, but no sooner do they hear it than the Devil snatches it from them so they won’t believe and be saved.

13 “The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble it’s gone.

14 “And the seed that fell in the weeds—well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they go about their lives worrying about tomorrow, making money, and having fun.

15 “But the seed in the good earth—these are the good-hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.
Misers of What You Hear

16-18 “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washtub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way. We’re not keeping secrets; we’re telling them. We’re not hiding things; we’re bringing everything out into the open. So be careful that you don’t become misers of what you hear. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.”

19-20 His mother and brothers showed up but couldn’t get through to him because of the crowd. He was given the message, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside wanting to see you.”

21 He replied, “My mother and brothers are the ones who hear and do God’s Word. Obedience is thicker than blood.”

22-24 One day he and his disciples got in a boat. “Let’s cross the lake,” he said. And off they went. It was smooth sailing, and he fell asleep. A terrific storm came up suddenly on the lake. Water poured in, and they were about to capsize. They woke Jesus: “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

Getting to his feet, he told the wind, “Silence!” and the waves, “Quiet down!” They did it. The lake became smooth as glass.

25 Then he said to his disciples, “Why can’t you trust me?”

They were in absolute awe, staggered and stammering, “Who is this, anyway? He calls out to the winds and sea, and they do what he tells them!”

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

Today's Scripture
Isaiah 26:3–7
(NIV)

People with their minds set on you,

you keep completely whole,

Steady on their feet,

because they keep at it and don’t quit.

Depend on God and keep at it

because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.

Those who lived high and mighty

he knocked off their high horse.

He used the city built on the hill

as fill for the marshes.

All the exploited and outcast peoples

build their lives on the reclaimed land.

7–10     The path of right-living people is level.

The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.

Insight

In the chapters leading up to the hope-filled passage of Isaiah 26:3–7, we read the phrase “in that day” thirty-four times. The prophet Isaiah anticipates a day marked by swift divine judgment against those who ignore and defy God’s commands. A key target of God’s displeasure is the self-serving pride of human beings and their governments. The prophet writes, “He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust” (v. 5). This isn’t likely a reference to a particular city but rather a poetic declaration of God’s displeasure with the world systems that deny Him. Yet Isaiah also prophesies a time when justice, righteousness, and peace will be the order of the day. “In that day,” the victims of “the lofty” will tread in triumph over the ruins and rubble of their oppressors’ works (vv. 5–6). By: Tim Gustafson

His Peace

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3

For several months, I coped with intense workplace politics and intrigues. Worrying is second nature to me, so I was surprised to find myself at peace. Instead of feeling anxious, I was able to respond with a calm mind and heart. I knew that this peace could come only from God.

In contrast, there was another period in my life when everything was going well—and yet I felt a deep unrest in my heart. I knew it was because I was trusting in my own abilities instead of trusting God and His leading. Looking back, I’ve realized that true peace—God’s peace—isn’t defined by our circumstances, but by our trust in Him.

God’s peace comes to us when our minds are steadfast (Isaiah 26:3). In Hebrew, the word for steadfast means “to lean upon.” As we lean on Him, we’ll experience His calming presence.  We can trust in God, remembering that He’ll humble the proud and wicked and smooth the paths of those who love Him (vv. 5–7).

When I experienced peace in a season of difficulty rather than ease, I discovered that God’s peace isn’t an absence of conflict, but a profound sense of security even in distress. It’s a peace that surpasses human understanding and guards our hearts and minds in the midst of the most difficult of circumstances (Philippians 4:6-7).

Reflect & Pray

What do you do to experience peace? In what areas of your life do you need to trust God and lean on Him?

Father, help me to trust You and have a steadfast mind. Thank You for the perfect peace that comes to me when I choose to trust You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 28, 2022

Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?

"Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "…are You going there again?" —John 11:7-8

Just because I don’t understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God’s directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.

Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn’t. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).


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

The Dark Side - #9186

So, I had gone out that night and I saw this beautiful moon rising in the Eastern sky. I ran inside and said, "Honey, you need to come outside. The moon is shining so brightly tonight." Actually, to be more accurate, I should say, "Half the moon is shining brightly tonight." Because, see, there's one side of the moon that enjoys the sun's rays and reflects them back to earth, and there's another side that the sun doesn't touch. Of course, that's the dark side of the moon.

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

Where the light doesn't shine, now that's the dark side. The sad thing is that many of us have a dark side; parts of our life, our personality, our lifestyle where we don't let the light shine...the light of the S-o-n of God. And those parts, like the moon, are cold and barren; possibly hidden from everyone's view. Except God.

It's an issue we might call selective Lordship, which by the way, is an oxymoron. If I get to decide which parts of my life I'm going to let Jesus have His way in, how can I call Him Lord? The Greek word for Lord, kurios, is all about who is the controller. If I'm deciding there are certain parts of me Jesus can't have, then who's in control? I'm hijacking my life from my Sovereign Lord and I'm effectively making me, His creation, the "lord" of my life.

Jesus asked this haunting question about all this in Luke 6:46. It's our word for today from the Word of God. He said, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" So, if you go to your room and you find Jesus there tonight, He might very well ask you that question. If He did, what areas of your life do you think He'd have in mind when He said, "You're not doing what I say"?

Could it be you're not letting His light shine on the bitterness that you've been harboring? Or maybe that anger of yours is just stubbornly defiant to Christ's control. Maybe the "dark side" of your "moon" is a sinful habit that you will not let Jesus get you out of, or the lust that's continuing to poison your heart with those images and those fantasies that thumb their nose at God's holiness. Pride; that's the sin that cost Lucifer heaven, but it's one that the Christian world will largely let you get by with un-condemned. But God hates it, the Bible says. Pride of position, pride of accomplishment, pride of appearance, pride of ability; they're all deep darkness that desperately need the light of Jesus to shine on them.

Maybe your impatience; maybe that's a part of you that you just won't let Jesus challenge, or your spiritual coldness, or your neglect of people who are depending on you. It could be that you're manipulative, you're a controller. Or maybe there's a relationship you will not let him touch - the dark side - dark because you will not let His light shine there. You will not let Jesus shine His light on it and show you how ugly it is, how dirty it is so that you'll repent of it and release it to Him so He can perform that life-transforming miracle within you that only He can do.

The parts of you where you've really let Jesus shine, well think about it for a minute. Aren't they the brightest parts of you? Aren't they the most beautiful things about you - the things that now light up other people's galaxy? And the dark side has been dark, and cold, and barren long enough. Today let the light in!

Deuteronomy 31 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Father, Forgive Them

Of all the scenes around the cross, the one that angers me most is when those in the crowds said, "Let this Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross, that we may see and believe" (Matthew 27:42). There's nothing more painful than words meant to hurt.
1 Peter 2:23 tells us that "Jesus entrusted himself to him who judges justly." He simply left the judging to God. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," he said. They were a crazy mob, mad at something they couldn't see so they took it out on, of all people, God. Yet, Jesus died for them. How could he do it? I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if we don't see Jesus' love as much in the people he tolerated, as in the pain he endured. Such amazing grace!
From On Calvary's Hill

Deuteronomy 31

The Charge

 Moses went on and addressed these words to all Israel. He said, “I’m 120 years old today. I can’t get about as I used to. And God told me, ‘You’re not going to cross this Jordan River.’

3-5 “God, your God, will cross the river ahead of you and destroy the nations in your path so that you may oust them. (And Joshua will cross the river before you, as God said he would.) God will give the nations the same treatment he gave the kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, and their land; he’ll destroy them. God will hand the nations over to you, and you’ll treat them exactly as I have commanded you.

6 “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

7-8 Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, “Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land that God promised their ancestors that he’d give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it. God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”

* * *

9-13 Moses wrote out this Revelation and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the Chest of the Covenant of God, and to all the leaders of Israel. And he gave these orders: “At the end of every seven years, the Year-All-Debts-Are-Canceled, during the pilgrim Festival of Booths when everyone in Israel comes to appear in the Presence of God, your God, at the place he designates, read out this Revelation to all Israel, with everyone listening. Gather the people together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living among you—so they can listen well, so they may learn to live in holy awe before God, your God, and diligently keep everything in this Revelation. And do this so that their children, who don’t yet know all this, will also listen and learn to live in holy awe before God, your God, for as long as you live on the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”

14-15 God spoke to Moses: “You are about to die. So call Joshua. Meet me in the Tent of Meeting so that I can commission him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and stationed themselves in the Tent of Meeting. God appeared in the Tent in a Pillar of Cloud. The Cloud was near the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

16-18 God spoke to Moses: “You’re about to die and be buried with your ancestors. You’ll no sooner be in the grave than this people will be up and lusting after the foreign gods of this country that they are entering. They will abandon me and violate my Covenant that I’ve made with them. I’ll get angry, oh so angry! I’ll walk off and leave them on their own, won’t so much as look back at them. Then many calamities and disasters will devastate them because they are defenseless. They’ll say, ‘Isn’t it because our God wasn’t here that all this evil has come upon us?’ But I’ll stay out of their lives, keep looking the other way because of all their evil: they took up with other gods!

19-21 “But for right now, copy down this song and teach the People of Israel to sing it by heart. They’ll have it then as my witness against them. When I bring them into the land that I promised to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and become full and get fat and then begin fooling around with other gods and worshiping them, and then things start falling apart, many terrible things happening, this song will be there with them as a witness to who they are and what went wrong. Their children won’t forget this song; they’ll be singing it. Don’t think I don’t know what they are already scheming to do, and they’re not even in the land yet, this land I promised them.”

22 So Moses wrote down this song that very day and taught it to the People of Israel.

23 Then God commanded Joshua son of Nun saying, “Be strong. Take courage. You will lead the People of Israel into the land I promised to give them. And I’ll be right there with you.”

24-26 After Moses had finished writing down the words of this Revelation in a book, right down to the last word, he ordered the Levites who were responsible for carrying the Chest of the Covenant of God, saying, “Take this Book of Revelation and place it alongside the Chest of the Covenant of God, your God. Keep it there as a witness.

27-29 “I know what rebels you are, how stubborn and willful you can be. Even today, while I’m still alive and present with you, you’re rebellious against God. How much worse when I’ve died! So gather the leaders of the tribes and the officials here. I have something I need to say directly to them with Heaven and Earth as witnesses. I know that after I die you’re going to make a mess of things, abandoning the way I commanded, inviting all kinds of evil consequences in the days ahead. You’re determined to do evil in defiance of God—I know you are—deliberately provoking his anger by what you do.”

30 So with everyone in Israel gathered and listening, Moses taught them the words of this song, from start to finish.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Today's Scripture
1 Peter 5:6–11
(NIV)

     So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

He Gets the Last Word

8–11     Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

Insight

Writing to believers experiencing persecution, Peter focuses on the need for humility as they rely on God to deliver them. Most scholars believe 1 Peter 5:6–11 represents an early Christian tradition of encouraging humility because of the presence of Satan. This idea is underscored by the fact that verses 6–9 show a striking similarity to James 4:6–7, 10. When the end of 1 Peter 5:5 is read along with verse 6, the similarities are even more evident. This shows that the idea of being humble and submitting to God when we’re confronted by our enemy was common in early Christianity. Verses 8–9 go on to describe how to effectively combat the devil through resistance, firm faith, and encouragement from the community of believers. James simply says to “resist the devil” (James 4:7). Peter and James call for both passive faith (submitting to God) and active faith (resisting the devil) from their readers. By: J.R. Hudberg

The Essence of Prayer

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

When Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States, he was tasked with leading a fractured nation. Lincoln is viewed as a wise leader and a man of high moral character, but another element to his makeup, perhaps, was the foundation for everything else. He understood that he was inadequate for the task at hand. His response to that inadequacy? Lincoln said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”

When we come to grips with the massive nature of life’s challenges and the severe limitations of our own wisdom, knowledge, or strength, we find, like Lincoln, that we are utterly dependent on Jesus—the One who has no limitations. Peter reminded us of this dependency when he wrote, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

God’s love for His children, paired with His absolute power, make Him the perfect Person to approach with our frailties—and that’s the essence of prayer. We go to Jesus acknowledging to Him (and ourselves) that we’re inadequate and He’s eternally sufficient. Lincoln said he felt he “had nowhere else to go.” But when we begin to comprehend God’s great care for us, that’s wonderfully good news. We can go to Him! By:  Bill Crowder

Reflect & Pray

In what ways do your inadequacies reveal themselves? How do you normally respond in those moments?

All-sufficient God, I know that without You I can do nothing. Thank You for always being with me, for perfectly knowing me, and for being my true Helper in times of need.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 27, 2022

Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character

Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place… —Revelation 4:1

A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.

Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.

Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?

“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…?” (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. Biblical Ethics, 125 R

Bible in a Year: Judges 1-3; Luke 4:1-30

Deuteronomy 30 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Simon Carries Jesus' Cross

Four soldiers. One criminal. One cross. Simon, a farmer, stands among the crowd and can't see the man's face, only a head wreathed with thorny branches. Jesus stops in front of Simon and heaves for air, the beam rubbing against an already-raw back.
"His name is Jesus," someone speaks. "Move on!" commands the executioner. But Jesus can't. The beam begins to sway. Simon instinctively extends his strong hands and catches the cross. "You! Take the cross." Simon dares to object. "I don't care," the soldier says, "Take up the cross!" And Simon did literally what God calls us to do figuratively: take up the cross and follow Jesus. Luke 9:23 says, "If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me."
From On Calvary's Hill

Deuteronomy 30

 Here’s what will happen. While you’re out among the nations where God has dispersed you and the blessings and curses come in just the way I have set them before you, and you and your children take them seriously and come back to God, your God, and obey him with your whole heart and soul according to everything that I command you today, God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors.

6-7 God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you.

8-9 And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I’m commanding you today. God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you’ll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors.

10 But only if you listen obediently to God, your God, and keep the commandments and regulations written in this Book of Revelation. Nothing halfhearted here; you must return to God, your God, totally, heart and soul, holding nothing back.

11-14 This commandment that I’m commanding you today isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach. It’s not on a high mountain—you don’t have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it’s not across the ocean—you don’t have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

15
Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you
    Life and Good
    Death and Evil.

16 And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

17-18 But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19-20 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, March 26, 2022

Today's Scripture
Proverbs 11:1–3
(NIV)

 The Lord hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights.

2 People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest.

3 If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can’t be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty.

Insight

The word integrity in Proverbs 11:3 comes from the root word tamam, meaning “to be complete, be finished, be at an end.” It denotes moral wholeness and innocence. These qualities are reflected in Job’s life: “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason’ ” (Job 2:3). Another form of this Hebrew word appears in Psalm 15:2, where it’s translated “blameless.” Who is it that will enjoy fellowship with God? The person of integrity, “the one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.” By: Arthur Jackson

A Life of Integrity

The integrity of the upright guides them.
Proverbs 11:3

Abel Mutai, a Kenyan runner competing in a grueling international cross-country race, was mere yards from victory—his lead secure. Confused by the course’s signage and thinking he’d already crossed the finish line, however, Mutai stopped short. The Spanish runner in second place, Ivan Fernandez Anaya, saw Mutai’s mistake. Rather than take advantage and bolt past for the win, however, he caught up to Mutai, put out his arm and guided Mutai forward to a gold-medal win. When reporters asked Anaya why he purposefully lost the race, he insisted that Mutai deserved the win, not him. “What would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of that medal? What would my mom think of that?” As one report put it: “Anaya chose honesty over victory.”

Proverbs says that those who desire to live honestly, who want their lives to display faithfulness and authenticity, make choices based on what’s true rather than what’s expedient. “The integrity of the upright guides them” (11:3). This commitment to integrity isn’t only the right way to live, but it also offers a better life. The proverb continues: “But the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (v. 3). In the long run, dishonesty never pays.

If we abandon our integrity, short term “wins” actually yield defeat. But when fidelity and truthfulness shape us in God’s power, we slowly become people of deep character who lead genuinely good lives.

Reflect & Pray

Where’s your integrity being tested right now? What are the choices before you—and how do they increase (or decrease) your integrity?

God of integrity, You’re honest and faithful. Make me more like You. Teach me how to live uprightly.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 26, 2022
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. —Matthew 5:8

Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is “the pure in heart” who “see God.”

God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our “inner sanctuary” be kept right with God, but also the “outer courts” must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our “outer court” is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.

A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, “That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!”

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L

Bible in a Year: Joshua 22-24; Luke 3

Luke 7:31-50 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Because He’s Been There - March 25, 2022

Millions facing the chill of empty pockets or the fears of sudden change turn to Christ. Why? Because he’s been there. He’s been to Nazareth, where he made deadlines and paid bills; to Jerusalem, where he stared down critics and stood up against cynics.

We have our Nazareths as well. Jesus wasn’t the last to build a team; accusers didn’t disappear with Jerusalem’s temple. Why seek Jesus’ help with your challenges? Because he’s been there.

But most of all he’s been to the grave. Not as a visitor, but as a corpse. Body wrapped and grave sealed. Buried. You haven’t yet. But you will be. And since you will, don’t you need someone who knows the way out? God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! A way to have life that cannot be destroyed!

Luke 7:31-50

“How can I account for the people of this generation? They’re like spoiled children complaining to their parents, ‘We wanted to skip rope and you were always too tired; we wanted to talk but you were always too busy.’ John the Baptizer came fasting and you called him crazy. The Son of Man came feasting and you called him a boozer. Opinion polls don’t count for much, do they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
Anointing His Feet

36-39 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”

40 Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

41-42 “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?”

43-47 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”

“That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”

48 Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”

49 That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”

50 He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, March 25, 2022

Today's Scripture
Jeremiah 29:4–7 10–14
(NIV)

“The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those people whom he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia: 5‘Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them. 6Marry and have children. Then let your children get married, so that they also may have children. You must increase in numbers and not decrease. 7Work for the good of the cities where I have made you go as prisoners. Pray to me on their behalf, because if they are prosperous, you will be prosperous too.

*“The Lord says, ‘When Babylonia’s seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. 11I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.k 12Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. 13*You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. 14Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country and from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the Lord, have spoken.’

Insight

God used the Assyrians and Babylonians to discipline His people for their unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 1:15–16; 5:15–17). Israel was completely destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 bc, but God wouldn’t allow the Babylonians to destroy Judah completely (5:18–19; 2 Kings 17:18–20). Though Judah would be in Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11), God promised He would “watch over them for their good, and . . . bring them back to this land” (24:6). Jeremiah reiterated that God would bring them back after the seventy years were completed (29:10). In the meantime, they were to settle down in Babylon (vv. 4–9). By: K. T. Sim

Where’s God?

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

In Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo? books, a series of children’s puzzle books first created in 1987, the elusive character wears a red and white striped shirt and socks with a matching hat, blue jeans, brown boots, and glasses. Handford has cleverly hidden Waldo in plain sight within the busy illustrations filled with crowds of characters at various locations around the world. Waldo isn’t always easy to see, but the creator promises readers will always be able to find him. Though looking for God isn’t really like looking for Waldo in a puzzle book, our Creator promises we can find Him, too.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God instructed His people on how to live as foreigners in exile (Jeremiah 29:4–9). He promised to protect them until He restored them according to His perfect plan (vv. 10–11). God assured the Israelites that the fulfillment of His promise would deepen their commitment to call on Him in prayer (v. 12).

Today, even though God has revealed Himself in the story and Spirit of Jesus, it can be easy to get distracted by the busyness of this world. We may even be tempted to ask, “Where’s God?” However, the Creator and Sustainer of all things declares that those who belong to Him will always find Him if they seek Him with all their hearts (vv. 13–14). By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

What distractions prevent you from spending time seeking God through Bible reading and prayer? How has God helped you focus on Him when busyness tugs you away from Him?

Loving Creator and Sustainer of all, please help me seek You daily with all my heart and trust You will keep the promises You’ve made.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 25, 2022
Maintaining the Proper Relationship

…the friend of the bridegroom… —John 3:29

Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not.

To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the “friend of the bridegroom.” Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends “of the bridegroom,” we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.  The Place of Help, 1051 L

Bible in a Year: Joshua 19-21; Luke 2:25-52

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 25, 2022

Together On the Outside, Broken On the Inside - #9185

If you had seen that three-month-old baby, you'd say, "Man, he looks like the picture of health." He was a handsome baby, full of dark hair, doubled his weight since he was born, strong, taking in everything going on around him, and a smile that could melt your heart. But inside, it was a different story. He'd already had two major heart surgeries in his short life and the prospect of more in his future.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Together On the Outside, Broken On the Inside."

That little guy - a picture of so many of us. He looks so healthy on the outside, but he had major heart problems on the inside. Most of us have figured out how to look together and so in control. But inside, where no one but God can see, it's a different story isn't it.

Inside there's those secrets that no one knows; that darkness that we hope no one ever knows; those wounds that no one's been able to heal; the guilt that no one can remove; the answers no one can give us; the fear, the insecurity, the frustration of not really being sure why we're here or where we're going.

In some strange way, those disturbances in your heart are actually the whispers of the God who made you. They're the hollow echoes in a heart that He was supposed to inhabit - a life He was supposed to direct. The trouble that hides behind our image of strength is really telling us that someone is missing; that somehow we are away from the God who is the source of our life and all that's missing inside us.

Of course, God isn't fooled by our cool exterior. The Bible says that though "man looks at the outside appearance...God looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). And here's what the Bible says about all our secrets: "He knows the secrets of the heart" (Psalm 44:21). And then it says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). That should concern us, because in the Bible's words, "God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16).

Here's what He says about the results of His spiritual EKG of your heart and mine: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jeremiah 17:9). That's why God can't live in the heart that was made for Him - our sin. But then, in Ezekiel 36, beginning with verse 26, our word for today from the Word of God, He gives us a stunning promise: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you...I will put My Spirit in you...you will be My people and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness." Wow!

That saving, that spiritual rescue from certain death, did not come cheap. It cost God the life of His Son. It took the sacrifice of the only perfect life there ever was to absorb God's punishment for all your sin and mine. And it took His resurrection from the dead to open the way for you to live with God forever in heaven; forgiven, clean, and one of His kids forever.

That's the amazing offer that Jesus is making to you today. What you feel in your heart is His knocking on the door of your heart. He's giving you this opportunity to open up your life to Him to be your personal Savior from your personal sin. This could be the day He gives you a new heart spiritually; the day the God of the galaxies literally moves into you upon your invitation. How do you do that? You tell Him, "God, I know I've sinned. I know You sent Your Son to pay for my sin. And I believe that Jesus is my only hope. I'm turning from my sin that's kept me from You, and I'm turning to Jesus to make me clean and to make me Yours."

I'm committed to helping you find Him for yourself like somebody helped me. And that's why I've prepared a brief and I think a simple explanation of just how to begin your personal relationship with God and to know you have. Would you go to our website? It's there - ANewStory.com.

You're one heartfelt prayer away from God's miracle in your heart. You began this day away from Him. You can go to sleep tonight with Him in your heart.

Deuteronomy 29 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Reconnection Invitation - March 24, 2022

Something is awry—we feel disconnected. What we hope will bring life brings only limited amounts. We connect with a career and find meaning in family, yet long for something more. First job. Then promotion. Wedding day. Nursery. Kids. Grandkids. Around and around—is there anything else?

Jesus steps forth with a reconnection invitation. Though we be dead in our transgression and sins, and separated from the life of God, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Reborn! He breathes life into flat-lined lives. He offers life. Others offer life, but no one offers to do what Jesus does—to reconnect us to life! Peter says, “Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life…everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts right now” (1 Peter 1:3-4 MSG).

Deuteronomy 29

These are the terms of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.
Moses Blesses Israel on the Plains of Moab

2-4 Moses called all Israel together and said, You’ve seen with your own eyes everything that God did in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself—the massive trials to which you were eyewitnesses, the great signs and miracle-wonders. But God didn’t give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.

5-6 I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn’t wear out, the sandals on your feet didn’t wear out, and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in fact God, your God.

7-8 When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

9 Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.

10-13 You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God—the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel: your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water—ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant that God, your God, is making with you today, the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14-21 I’m not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone. I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today. You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods. Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody. God won’t let him off the hook. God’s anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records. God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation.

22-23 The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick. They’ll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage.

24 All the nations will ask, “Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?”

25-28 Your children will answer, “Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt; they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they’d never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with. So God’s anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it. God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see.”

29 God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, March 24, 2022

Today's Scripture
James 2:1–4
(NIV)

 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorioust Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.u 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judgesv with evil thoughts?

Favoritism Forbidden

Insight

When James accuses believers who show favoritism of being “judges with evil thoughts” (2:4), he’s likely alluding to the common tendency for courts to favor the rich. Judges were of higher social status and often didn’t hold persons of lower economic class in high esteem. Legal preference for the rich was even often written into the laws. Biblical law condemned such preferential treatment (Leviticus 19:15), however, and even Greek philosophers called out bias against the poor as immoral. But James pointed to the common tendency of people to instinctively show favoritism toward persons of elevated social status, perhaps out of a desire to benefit from their wealth. He suggested that trying to curry favor with the wealthy and powerful makes people no better than blatantly biased judges. Instead, he called believers to align with God’s high regard for society’s poor and marginalized (James 2:5). By: Monica La Rose

And Seven Others

Believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
James 2:1

Tragedy struck near Los Angeles in January 2020 when nine people died in a helicopter crash. Most news stories began something like this, “NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna (“Gigi”), and seven others lost their lives in the accident.”

It’s natural and understandable to focus on the well-known people involved in a horrible situation like this—and the deaths of Kobe and his precious teenager Gigi are heartbreaking beyond description. But we must keep in mind that in life’s big picture there’s no dividing line that makes the “seven others” (Payton, Sarah, Christina, Alyssa, John, Keri, and Ara) any less significant.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that each human is important in God’s eyes. Society shines bright lights on the rich and famous. Yet fame doesn’t make a person any more important than your next-door neighbor, the noisy kids who play in your street, the down-on-his-luck guy at the city mission, or you.

Every person on earth is created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), whether rich or poor (Proverbs 22:2). No one is favored more than another in His eyes (Romans 2:11), and each is in need of a Savior (3:23).

We glorify our great God when we refuse to show favoritism—whether in the church (James 2:1–4) or in society at large. By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray

What can you do to show love for all mankind—rich or poor, famous or obscure? How did Jesus reveal this kind of love?

Heavenly Father, help me to show love and kindness to all, regardless of their station in life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Decreasing for His Purpose

He must increase, but I must decrease. —John 3:30

If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, “This person should not have to experience this difficulty.” Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, “You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him.”

Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. “…the friend of the bridegroom…rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness— at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.

Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

Bible in a Year: Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 24, 2022

Your Most Important RelationshipA Healthy Appetite - #9184

A Healthy Appetite - #9184

I'm told that new babies actually lose a little weight between the time they're born and the checkup they have two weeks later. Oh, not when our little granddaughter was new! No! No! And we know why. She was extremely dedicated to eating often and eating a lot. Her mother's milk obviously agreed with her. She had been one happy little girl, until it was time to eat again. At which point she would crank it up and let us know in no uncertain terms "I'm hungry! I will not be delayed! I will not be denied!" I think that's what she said.

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

Watching my granddaughter's demand for mama's milk actually helped me understand even more how God uses that example in showing us how to grow in Him. I feel like He's talking about my little darlin' back then when He says in 1 Peter 2:2, our word for today from the Word of God, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."

I know how our granddaughter was about her milk - insistent on getting it on a regular basis. Is that how you are about the spiritual milk of God's Word, the Bible? Are you insistent on getting into His Scriptures on a regular basis? Or do you consult God's Word when you have time...when you're in a jam...when you feel like it?

We're not talking here about some mechanical, grudging fulfillment; check the box - my Christian duty to read my Bible. Our granddaughter didn't seem to be saying, "Well, I know I'm supposed to be getting some milk. I guess it's my duty. I'd better stop and eat." No, it's not a duty for her; it was an insatiable desire. And it wasn't occasional either; it was regular. Just like our time with the Lord in His Word needs to be. Almost every detour from God's way and God's will can ultimately be traced to one thing...neglecting our time with Him.

Time with Jesus in His Book has to be a commitment - something you insist on, no matter what. It's easy to quote the verse about "seek first the kingdom of God" but it's hard to believe you mean that if your time with the King isn't the highest priority of your personal schedule. So, is it? Better yet, is He? Because it's all about Jesus. It's all about being with Him, not being with a Book. But like the person you love connecting with you through the love letter that they write to you, our main connection to Jesus right now is His Love Letter called the Bible.

Frankly, we are so clueless about how to handle this day's challenges if we don't have time getting God's perspective and God's direction. God's Word is designed to be your anchor, the one thing that doesn't move when everything else is moving. God gave you His Word to be your flashlight to illuminate the ground you have to walk on today. It's your harbor where you can find God's peace in any storm. And in His words, God reveals your orders from heaven for this day.

So without the heaven-link of time in God's Word, you're living a day without your flashlight, your anchor, your harbor, your orders. It's time for you to make your time with God in His Word the non-cancelable, non-negotiable of your daily schedule.

It all comes down to appetite. If you've allowed an appetite for TV, Internet, social media, sports, music, news, friends, or anything else to marginalize your appetite for God's Word, things are messed up. Ask God to give you, like a baby, a desperate appetite for more of what He has to say. Because really, that's the only way to (as the Bible says) "grow up in your salvation."