Luke 12:1-31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Our Ever-Present Help - May 3, 2022

The father may have thought he was walking the road to Capernaum all alone. Quite the contrary. Christ had supernaturally gone into the nobleman’s residence and not only healed the son, but also won the hearts of the entire household. Was the father’s prayer answered? By all means. It was answered in a manner greater than he had requested.

Yours will be as well. Perhaps the answer will come this side of heaven. Perhaps it awaits you on the other side. Either way, this story urges you and me to keep walking and believing in our God who is our “ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1 NIV). Ever present. You’ll never be put on hold or told to check back later. Ever present. As near as your next breath. Ever present help. He is here to help. That’s the message of this miracle. That’s the message of the gospel. Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Luke 12:1-31

Can’t Hide Behind a Religious Mask

 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.

4-5 “I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

6-7 “What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.

8-9 “Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels. But if you pretend you don’t know me, do you think I’ll defend you before God’s angels?

10 “If you bad-mouth the Son of Man out of misunderstanding or ignorance, that can be overlooked. But if you’re knowingly attacking God himself, taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won’t be overlooked.

11-12 “When they drag you into their meeting places, or into police courts and before judges, don’t worry about defending yourselves—what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words when the time comes.”
The Story of the Greedy Farmer

13 Someone out of the crowd said, “Teacher, order my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance.”

14 He replied, “Mister, what makes you think it’s any of my business to be a judge or mediator for you?”

15 Speaking to the people, he went on, “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”

16-19 Then he told them this story: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’

20 “Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’

21 “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.”
Steep Yourself in God-Reality

22-24 He continued this subject with his disciples. “Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.

25-28 “Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?

29-32 “What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, May 03, 2022

Today's Scripture
Psalm 62:1–8

God, the one and only—

I’ll wait as long as he says.

Everything I need comes from him,

so why not?

He’s solid rock under my feet,

breathing room for my soul,

An impregnable castle:

I’m set for life.

3–4     How long will you gang up on me?

How long will you run with the bullies?

There’s nothing to you, any of you—

rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,

Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,

far gone in make-believe.

You talk a good line,

but every “blessing” breathes a curse.

5–6     God, the one and only—

I’ll wait as long as he says.

Everything I hope for comes from him,

so why not?

He’s solid rock under my feet,

breathing room for my soul,

An impregnable castle:

I’m set for life.

7–8     My help and glory are in God

—granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—

So trust him absolutely, people;

lay your lives on the line for him.

God is a safe place to be.

Insight

David uses four different words in Psalm 62 to describe God’s protective power: rock, salvation, fortress, and refuge. While these words all evoke the idea of defense and deliverance, their specific meanings create a much fuller picture. The main meaning of the Hebrew word tsur, translated “rock,” is that of a rocky wall or cliff, a place that’s difficult to access. The word for salvation is yeshuah. Jesus (Iesous in Greek, Yeshua in Hebrew) means “the Lord is salvation” (see Matthew 1:21). While yeshuah is most often translated “salvation,” it can also be translated “deliverance,” which makes God the one who brings us out of threats, which, for the psalmist, were both physical and spiritual. “Fortress” translates the word misgav and refers to a place of retreat; God offers us a safe place when trouble threatens. Finally, machseh is translated “refuge” and refers to a place of hope and trust.

Learn more about reading the Psalms. By: J.R. Hudberg

Longing for a Home

Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8

Anne, the lead character in the Anne of Green Gables stories, longed for a family. Orphaned, she had lost hope of ever finding a place to call home. But then she learned that an older man named Matthew and his sister Marilla would take her in. On the buggy ride to their home, Anne apologized for chattering on and on, but Matthew, a quiet man, said, “You can talk as much as you like. I don’t mind.” This was music to Anne’s ears. She felt no one had ever wanted her around, much less wanted to hear her chatter. After arriving, her hopes were dashed when she learned the siblings had thought they were getting a boy to help as a farmhand. She feared being returned, but Anne’s longing for a loving home was met when they made her a part of their family.

We’ve all had times when we felt unwanted or alone. But when we become a part of God’s family through salvation in Jesus, He becomes for us a secure home (Psalm 62:2). He delights in us and invites us to talk with Him about everything: our worries, temptations, sorrows, and hopes. The psalmist tells us we can “find rest in God” and “pour out [our] hearts to him” (vv. 5, 8).

Don’t hesitate. Talk to God as much as you like. He won’t mind. He delights in our hearts. In Him you’ll find a home. By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray

What circumstances have caused you to make God your home? What do you want to talk to Him about?

Help me, God, not to hold back in talking with You when I’ve got something on my heart. Thank You for Your listening ear.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 03, 2022
Vital Intercession

…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit… —Ephesians 6:18

As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.” And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.

Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 14-15; Luke 22:21-46

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 03, 2022

Two Words That Can Save a Relationship - #9212

Normally, Hainan Island is thought of as a tourist attraction. But the 24 American military personnel who were held there by the Chinese in early 2001? They probably didn't feel much like tourists. As the Americans reported it, their reconnaissance plane had been disabled by a Chinese jet that had flown too close and crashed into them. The jet pilot was lost and the American crew almost was, except for some extraordinary flying that managed to land their damaged plane on that Chinese island. There were days of tense negotiations, with the Chinese insisting on an apology and the Americans insisting on the release of their crew. The stalemate was finally broken by two words that the President of the United States included in a statement to the Chinese; words that expressed our sorrow over the loss of the Chinese pilot, not over the incident. The words? Yeah, you might have guessed, "I'm sorry." That's all it took. The next day our crew was on their way home.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Two Words That Can Save a Relationship."

The incident over our downed plane wasn't the first time that a stalemate has been broken by those two little words. And I can't help but wonder how many marriages, how many children, how many churches, how many relationships could have been saved if someone had been willing to say those two words, "I'm sorry." Or the longer version, "I was wrong." Maybe they're the words you need to be saying right now.

Our word for today from the Word of God gives us a challenge that can have amazing effects in a damaged or strained or even a broken relationship. It's James 5:16, "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed." So much healing can begin when we're willing to swallow our pride and admit what we've done wrong. And the longer we wait to apologize, the higher the wall gets.

We'd rather focus on their sins, the things they did wrong. But God says, "Each of us will give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12). We're to confess our sins, not their sins, which we are more than willing to confess their sins. But the Bible clearly encourages us to be quick to apologize - even to "leave our gift at the altar" and "first go and be reconciled" to our brother and sister (Matthew 5:23, 24). It's part of carrying out our Lord's orders in Romans 12:18, "As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."

Well, it certainly depends on me to say "I'm sorry" for anything I've done that has caused hurt or misunderstanding. Even if let's say I'm just 10% wrong and they're 90% wrong (which is almost surely the case, huh?). I'm responsible for my 10% then. And not for a lame, often hedged apology like, "Well, I'm sorry if I've done anything wrong." Our healing apology should be as specific as possible.

Maybe you grew up in an environment where people who never admitted they were wrong. You may be in a situation where the feelings are hard, the walls are high, and where you've really been wounded. But none of that changes your responsibility as a follower of Jesus Christ to say, "I was wrong" to say, "I'm sorry" when that's the case.

Ask God to use your two little words "I'm sorry" in a really powerful way. Sometimes, two little words are the beginning of a very big breakthrough.

Joshua 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Prayers Not Yet Answered - May 2, 2022

The gospel of John tells the story of a man from Capernaum who approached Jesus in Cana. “Come heal my son,” the man asked. And Jesus said the boy would be healed, and the man set out for Capernaum.

Do you find yourself somewhere between Cana and Capernaum? Like the official, you begged Jesus for help. And, like the official, you didn’t receive the answer in the way you wanted. This is the issue of not-yet-answered prayer. Or not-answered-in-the-way-I-asked prayer. How should we react? I’m sorry the job did not materialize or the cancer chose to metastasize. Life has its share of dark, dank moments.

Read the Bible from the table of contents in the front to the maps in the back, and you will not find any promise of a pain-free life on this side of heaven. But you will find this assurance: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV). You are never alone.   

Joshua 24

The Covenant at Shechem

Joshua called together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He called in the elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. Then Joshua addressed all the people:

2-6 “This is what God, the God of Israel, says: A long time ago your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived to the east of the River Euphrates. They worshiped other gods. I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of The River. I led him all over the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac. Then I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. I let Esau have the mountains of Seir as home, but Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron. I hit Egypt hard with plagues and then led you out of there. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. You came to the sea, the Egyptians in hot pursuit with chariots and cavalry, to the very edge of the Red Sea!

7-10 “Then they cried out for help to God. He put a cloud between you and the Egyptians and then let the sea loose on them. It drowned them.

“You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did to Egypt. And then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. I brought you to the country of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought you. But I fought for you and you took their land. I destroyed them for you. Then Balak son of Zippor made his appearance. He was the king of Moab. He got ready to fight Israel by sending for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you. But I wouldn’t listen to Balaam—he ended up blessing you over and over! I saved you from him.

11 “You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The Jericho leaders ganged up on you as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I turned them over to you.

12 “I sent the Hornet ahead of you. It drove out the two Amorite kings—did your work for you. You didn’t have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger.

13 “I handed you a land for which you did not work, towns you did not build. And here you are now living in them and eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.

14 “So now: Fear God. Worship him in total commitment. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped on the far side of The River (the Euphrates) and in Egypt. You, worship God.

15 “If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.”

16 The people answered, “We’d never forsake God! Never! We’d never leave God to worship other gods.

17-18 “God is our God! He brought up our ancestors from Egypt and from slave conditions. He did all those great signs while we watched. He has kept his eye on us all along the roads we’ve traveled and among the nations we’ve passed through. Just for us he drove out all the nations, Amorites and all, who lived in the land.

“Count us in: We too are going to worship God. He’s our God.”

19-20 Then Joshua told the people: “You can’t do it; you’re not able to worship God. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t put up with your fooling around and sinning. When you leave God and take up the worship of foreign gods, he’ll turn right around and come down on you hard. He’ll put an end to you—and after all the good he has done for you!”

21 But the people told Joshua: “No! No! We worship God!”

22 And so Joshua addressed the people: “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen God for yourselves—to worship him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses.”

23 Joshua said, “Now get rid of all the foreign gods you have with you. Say an unqualified Yes to God, the God of Israel.”

24 The people answered Joshua, “We will worship God. What he says, we’ll do.”

25-26 Joshua completed a Covenant for the people that day there at Shechem. He made it official, spelling it out in detail. Joshua wrote out all the directions and regulations into the Book of The Revelation of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak that was in the holy place of God.

27 Joshua spoke to all the people: “This stone is a witness against us. It has heard every word that God has said to us. It is a standing witness against you lest you cheat on your God.”

28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own place of inheritance.

* * *

29-30 After all this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of God, died. He was 110 years old. They buried him in the land of his inheritance at Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

31 Israel served God through the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had themselves experienced all that God had done for Israel.

32 Joseph’s bones, which the People of Israel had brought from Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor (who was the father of Shechem). He paid a hundred silver coins for it. It belongs to the inheritance of the family of Joseph.

33 Eleazar son of Aaron died. They buried him at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the mountains of Ephraim.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, May 02, 2022

Today's Scripture
John 8:39–47

hey were indignant. “Our father is Abraham!”

Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would have been doing the things Abraham did. And yet here you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth he got straight from God! Abraham never did that sort of thing. You persist in repeating the works of your father.”

They said, “We’re not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God.”

42–47     “If God were your father,” said Jesus, “you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn’t come on my own. He sent me. Why can’t you understand one word I say? Here’s why: You can’t handle it. You’re from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone on God’s side listens to God’s words. This is why you’re not listening—because you’re not on God’s side.”

Insight

In both the Old and New Testaments, the idea of being a son or daughter implied more than DNA and legal paternity. It also alluded to the ways children possess the characteristics and likeness of their parents. This implication comes into play in the conversation in John 8 where voices in a crowd first claimed to be children of Abraham and then later children of God (vv. 39, 41). Jesus, however, challenged their claims and suggested that by their lies they were actually reflecting the likeness of their father Satan. On the other hand, He suggested that the self-evident truths He spoke and the miracles He performed were evidence that He was not only the Son of Man, but also the Son of God (vv. 27–28, 36).
By: Mart DeHaan

Father of Lies

When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44

Victor slowly became addicted to pornography. Many of his friends looked at porn, and he fell into it too. But now he understands how wrong it was—he sinned against God—and it crushed his wife. He’s vowed to put safeguards in his life so he’ll never look at it again. Yet he fears it’s too late. Can his marriage be saved? Will he ever be free and fully forgiven?

Our enemy, the devil, presents temptation as if it’s no big deal. Everyone’s doing it. What’s the harm? But the moment we catch on to his scheme, he switches gears. It’s too late! You’ve gone too far! You’re hopeless now!

The enemy will say whatever it takes to destroy us as we engage in spiritual warfare. Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

If the devil is a liar, then we should never listen to him. Not when he says our sin is no big deal, and not when he says we’re beyond hope. May Jesus help us dismiss the evil one’s words and listen to Him instead. We rest our hearts on His promise: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (vv. 31–32).

Reflect & Pray

What sin has you feeling hopeless? Do you think this despair comes from Satan or from Jesus? What promise from the Bible might you claim today?

Jesus, You died and rose again to free me from the bondage of sin. Please help me to live in that liberty today!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 02, 2022

The Patience To Wait for the Vision

Though it tarries, wait for it… —Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “…he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.

“Though it tarries, wait for it….” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord…? I will take up the cup of salvation…” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on…” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 12-13; Luke 22:1-20

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 02, 2022

The Secrets Sin Hides - #9211

It takes a little longer to pick out a cereal at the supermarket than it used to. You've got to read all the ingredients these days; all the nutrients, and how much calcium, and how much of my daily requirement of vitamin C, and vitamin X there. You know all that. Well, it's on the package. In fact, on everything we buy in the supermarket, it's there because of laws that we call "truth in packaging." Good idea.

And it's good they have to tell you what's inside, because they probably would never tell you what is really inside, and the calories and all of that. Now, it's too bad there aren't truth in packaging laws to clarify some of our bigger choices.

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

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Genesis 19. I'll be in verses 4-9. It's sort of like an x-ray machine. Well, this is an x-ray passage to show what sin really does. Now, the devil obviously doesn't believe in truth in packaging. You'd never buy into some of the things he's trying to get you to do if he told you where it would take you and what was really inside. That sin that has been tugging on you right now, it seems to promise maybe pleasure, or relief, or excitement, or advancement. That's why God exposes what's in that package in Genesis 19.

In this story sin is exposed in all of its ugliness. Oh, it looked good to Lot before we get to Genesis 19. Remember, Lot had left Abraham and decided to move into Sodom - a city full of wickedness. And pretty soon Sodom had moved into him. And Sodom had looked good; bright lights, and music, and all the advertisements - they looked great. But then he discovered three poisons about sin that are not on the package. Here's what they are. I'll read these verses to you. What has happened is that the two angels have come now to warn Sodom and get Lot out of there, because they are about to be destroyed.

Here's what it says: "Before they'd gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house. They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them.' Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, 'No, my friends don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you and you can do what you like with them. (Can you believe this? This is a dad!) But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.' 'Get out of our way,' they said. 'This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge. We'll treat you worse than them.' And they moved forward to break down the door."

Three poisons that weren't on the package, Lot. Number one, sin calls the shots. Notice how demanding sin is. You think it's freedom you're going to get, only to find out you're a slave. It wants your time, wants your relationships, it wants your best, it wants your soul. Secondly, sin cheapens relationships. These people were Lot's friends he thought. You watch what happens if you stop doing the sin that connects you to some of your friends. They'll drop you fast! See, you're expendable if you get in the way of my desires if sin is our connection. And thirdly, sin makes people into objects. These men wanted these other men just to have sex with them. Lot was willing to give away his daughters! The fact is sin is so terribly depersonalizing. It cancels love.

It may be that you've gotten regrets over some of the ways you've bought the lies of sin in your past. How good it would be to be clean. So many of us have found that there's a spiritual shower that cleans us up forever in God's eyes the day we give our heart to Jesus Christ. I'd love to help you do that, and our website is for that. It will tell you about how He loved you enough to die for you.

Want to be clean today from all the dirt of the past? Listen, tell Jesus, "I'm yours." And go to our website and check that out. Get a new story. That's the name of it - ANewStory.com.

That sin that looks so good on the package; it will take over your personality, and your body, and your relationships, and your dignity, and your worth. No matter how inexpensive sin seems to be, it will end up costing you everything.

Joshua 23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Don’t Be Afraid

Why are you afraid?  Is it the fear of losing your job?  Being sued?  The new kid on the block?  The clock of your life…ticking?

Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness.  We begin to wonder if God’s eyes are shut as ours grow wide.  For all the noise fear makes and room it takes, fear does little good.

Fear never cured a disease.  Never saved a marriage.  Never saved a business.  Faith did that!

The one statement Jesus made more than any other in the Gospels was “Don’t be afraid.”  He says in Matthew 14:27, “Take courage, I am here.”  In John 14:1, he says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.”

Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t have to fill our hearts.  It will always knock on the door—just don’t invite it in for dinner!

Joshua 23

Joshua’s Charge

A long time later, after God had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was a venerable old man, Joshua called all Israel together—elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. Then he spoke to them:

2-3 “I’m an old man. I’ve lived a long time. You have seen everything that God has done to these nations because of you. He did it because he’s God, your God. He fought for you.

4-5 “Stay alert: I have assigned to you by lot these nations that remain as an inheritance to your tribes—these in addition to the nations I have already cut down—from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. God, your God, will drive them out of your path until there’s nothing left of them and you’ll take over their land just as God, your God, promised you.

6-8 “Now, stay strong and steady. Obediently do everything written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses—don’t miss a detail. Don’t get mixed up with the nations that are still around. Don’t so much as speak the names of their gods or swear by them. And by all means don’t worship or pray to them. Hold tight to God, your God, just as you’ve done up to now.

9-10 “God has driven out superpower nations before you. And up to now, no one has been able to stand up to you. Think of it—one of you, single-handedly, putting a thousand on the run! Because God is God, your God. Because he fights for you, just as he promised you.

11-13 “Now, vigilantly guard your souls: Love God, your God. Because if you wander off and start taking up with these remaining nations still among you (intermarry, say, and have other dealings with them), know for certain that God, your God, will not get rid of these nations for you. They’ll be nothing but trouble to you—horsewhips on your backs and sand in your eyes—until you’re the ones who will be driven out of this good land that God, your God, has given you.

14 “As you can see, I’m about to go the way we all end up going. Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing’s left undone—not so much as a word.

15-16 “But just as sure as everything good that God, your God, has promised has come true, so also God will bring to pass every bad thing until there’s nothing left of you in this good land that God has given you. If you leave the path of the Covenant of God, your God, that he commanded you, go off and serve and worship other gods, God’s anger will blaze out against you. In no time at all there’ll be nothing left of you, no sign that you’ve ever been in this good land he gave you.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, May 01, 2022

Today's Scripture
Genesis 1:1–5

 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3–5     God spoke: “Light!”

And light appeared.

God saw that light was good

and separated light from dark.

God named the light Day,

he named the dark Night.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day One.

Insight

Light was so important to Israel’s concept of God that the Jewish Scriptures begin with the account of the creation of light to penetrate the darkness (Genesis 1:3). This light-giving God was also seen in the psalmist’s recognition of Torah as “a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). Additionally, one of the primary pieces of sacred furniture in the ancient tabernacle was a golden lampstand (Exodus 25:31), providing light to the priests serving in the Holy Place. The temple was desecrated around 170 to 160 bc, and its restoration was celebrated by what is known today as Hanukkah—the festival of lights. All this and more bring focus to the high priority of light in Judaism.

By: Bill Crowder

Let There Be Light

God said, “Let there be light.”
Genesis 1:3

In my daughter’s earliest days, I often named for her the things she encountered. I’d identify objects or allow her to touch something unfamiliar and say the word for her, bringing understanding—and vocabulary—to the vast world she was exploring. Though my husband and I might naturally have expected (or hoped) her first word would be Mama or Daddy, she surprised us with an entirely different first word: her small mouth murmured dight one day—a sweet, mispronounced echo of the word light I’d just shared with her.

Light is one of God’s first words recorded for us in the Bible. As the Spirit of God hovered over a dark, formless, and empty Earth, God introduced light into His creation, saying, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). He said the light was good, which the rest of Scripture bears out: the psalmist explains that God’s words illuminate our understanding (Psalm 119:130), and Jesus refers to Himself as “the light of the world,” the giver of the light of life (John 8:12).

God’s first utterance in the work of creation was to give light. That wasn’t because He needed light to do His work; no, the light was for us. Light enables us to see Him and to identify His fingerprints on the creation around us, to discern what is good from what is not, and to follow Jesus one step at a time in this vast world.

By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

In what area of your life do you most need God’s light right now? How has His light helped you in the past?

Thank You, Jesus, for being the light of life, who illuminates the path for me every day.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 01, 2022

Faith— Not Emotion

We walk by faith, not by sight. —2 Corinthians 5:7

For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.

If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 10-11; Luke 21:20-38

Joshua 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  A Trashy World

We live in a trashy world. Unwanted garbage comes our way on a regular basis. Haven't you been handed a trash sack of mishaps and heartaches? Surely you have. What are you going to do with it?
You have several options. You could take the trash bag and cram it under your coat and pretend it isn't there. But you and I know you won't fool anyone. Besides, sooner or later it'll start to stink. Or you could disguise it. Paint it green, put it on the front lawn and tell everyone it's a tree. Again, no one will be fooled. So what will you do?
If you follow the example of Christ, you'll learn to see tough times differently. God loves you the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to have a hope-filled heart-just like Jesus!
From Just Like Jesus

Joshua 22

Then Joshua called together the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He said: “You have carried out everything Moses the servant of God commanded you, and you have obediently done everything I have commanded you. All this time and right down to this very day you have not abandoned your brothers; you’ve shouldered the task laid on you by God, your God. And now God, your God, has given rest to your brothers just as he promised them. You’re now free to go back to your homes, the country of your inheritance that Moses the servant of God gave you on the other side of the Jordan. Only this: Be vigilant in keeping the Commandment and The Revelation that Moses the servant of God laid on you: Love God, your God, walk in all his ways, do what he’s commanded, embrace him, serve him with everything you are and have.”

6-7 Then Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way. They went home. (To the half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned a share in Bashan. To the other half, Joshua assigned land with their brothers west of the Jordan.)

7-8 When Joshua sent them off to their homes, he blessed them. He said: “Go home. You’re going home rich—great herds of cattle, silver and gold, bronze and iron, huge piles of clothing. Share the wealth with your friends and families—all this plunder from your enemies!”

* * *

9 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the People of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to Gilead, the land of their possession, which they had taken under the command of Moses as ordered by God.

10 They arrived at Geliloth on the Jordan (touching on Canaanite land). There the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar on the banks of the Jordan—a huge altar!

11 The People of Israel heard of it: “What’s this? The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar facing the land of Canaan at Geliloth on the Jordan, across from the People of Israel!”

12-14 When the People of Israel heard this, the entire congregation mustered at Shiloh to go to war against them. They sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (that is, to the land of Gilead). Accompanying him were ten chiefs, one chief for each of the ten tribes, each the head of his ancestral family. They represented the military divisions of Israel.

15-18 They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and spoke to them: “The entire congregation of God wants to know: What is this violation against the God of Israel that you have committed, turning your back on God and building your own altar—a blatant act of rebellion against God? Wasn’t the crime of Peor enough for us? Why, to this day we aren’t rid of it, still living with the fallout of the plague on the congregation of God! Look at you—turning your back on God! If you rebel against God today, tomorrow he’ll vent his anger on all of us, the entire congregation of Israel.

19-20 “If you think the land of your possession isn’t holy enough but somehow contaminated, come back over to God’s possession, where God’s Dwelling is set up, and take your land there, but don’t rebel against God. And don’t rebel against us by building your own altar apart from the Altar of our God. When Achan son of Zerah violated the holy curse, didn’t anger fall on the whole congregation of Israel? He wasn’t the only one to die for his sin.”

21-22 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the tribes of Israel:

    The God of Gods is God,
        The God of Gods is God!

22-23 “He knows and he’ll let Israel know if this is a rebellious betrayal of God. And if it is, don’t bother saving us. If we built ourselves an altar in rebellion against God, if we did it to present on it Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings or to enact there sacrificial Peace-Offerings, let God decide.

24-25 “But that’s not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You’re not connected with God, the God of Israel! God made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God.’ And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God.

26 “So we said to ourselves, ‘Let’s do something. Let’s build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.’

27 “We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings.

“This way, your children won’t be able to say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in God.’

28 “We said to ourselves, ‘If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we’ll say: Look at this model of God’s Altar which our ancestors made. It’s not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It’s a witness connecting us with you.’

29 “Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now. We never dreamed of building an altar for Whole-Burnt-Offerings or Grain-Offerings to rival the Altar of our God in front of his Sacred Dwelling.”

30 Phinehas the priest, all the heads of the congregation, and the heads of the military divisions of Israel who were also with him heard what the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to say. They were satisfied.

31 Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Now we’re convinced that God is present with us since you haven’t been disloyal to God in this matter. You saved the People of Israel from God’s discipline.”

32-33 Then Priest Phinehas son of Eleazar left the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (from Gilead) and, with the chiefs, returned to the land of Canaan to the People of Israel and gave a full report. They were pleased with the report. The People of Israel blessed God—there was no more talk of attacking and destroying the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites were living.

34 Reuben and Gad named the altar:

    A Witness Between Us.
    God Alone Is God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, April 30, 2022

Today's Scripture
Psalm 134

A song for going up to worship.

1     Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,

all who stand in the house of the Lord night after night.

2     Lift your hands toward the holy place, and praise the Lord.

3     May the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

Insight

Psalms 120–134 is an anthology of fifteen songs, collectively known as the “Pilgrim Psalms” or “Songs of Ascent” in the Jewish hymnbook. Three times a year, all male Jews were to come to the temple in Jerusalem to observe the three annual national feasts of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:16). Since Jerusalem is located on a mountainous terrain (Psalms 48:1–2; 125:2), these pilgrims had to “ascend” to get there. Therefore, the superscription marks these songs as “A song of ascents.”

Psalm 134 is the final song in this anthology, serving as a fitting benediction and closing prayer for the pilgrims. Bible commentator Warren Wiersbe says that this song reminds us that our worship of God never ends (v. 2), and His blessings never stop (v. 3). By: K. T. Sim

Servants of the Night

May the Lord bless you from Zion.
Psalm 134:3

It’s 3 a.m. at an acute-care hospital. A worried patient presses the call button for the fourth time in an hour. The night-shift nurse answers without complaint. Soon another patient is screaming, crying for attention. The nurse isn’t surprised. She requested the night shift five years ago to avoid her hospital’s daytime frenzy. Then the reality hit. Night work often meant taking on extra tasks, such as lifting and turning patients by herself. It also meant closely monitoring patients’ conditions so physicians could be notified in emergencies.

Buoyed by close friendships with her nighttime co-workers, this nurse still struggles to get adequate sleep. Often, she asks her church for prayer, seeing her work as vital. “Praise God, their prayers make a difference.”

Her praise is good and right for a night worker—as well as for all of us. The psalmist wrote, “Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord” (Psalm 134:1–2).

This psalm, written for the Levites who served as temple watchmen, acknowledged their vital work—protecting the temple by day and night. In our nonstop world, it feels proper to share this psalm especially for nighttime workers, yet every one of us can praise God in the night. As the psalm adds, “May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth” (v. 3). By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray

When you consider nighttime workers—nurses, janitors, first responders, and others—what prayers on their behalf can you offer to God? Why would praising God lead to a blessing from Him for nighttime workers?

Dear God, in the early morning hours while I safely sleep, send Your blessings to nighttime workers doing vital work in my community. And help me to praise You in the night.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Spontaneous Love

Love suffers long and is kind… —1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is not premeditated– it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.

The fountains from which love flows are in God, not in us. It is absurd to think that the love of God is naturally in our hearts, as a result of our own nature. His love is there only because it “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:5).

If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

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

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 8-9; Luke 21:1-19
 

Luke 11:29-54 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  Adopted into God’s Family - April 29, 2022

When the doctor handed Max Lucado to Jack Lucado, my dad had no exit option. He couldn’t give me back to the doctor and ask for a better looking or smarter son. The hospital made him take me home.

If you were adopted, however, your parents chose you. Surprise pregnancies happen, but surprise adoptions? I’ve never heard of one. Your parents wanted you in their family. You object: “Oh, but if they could have seen the rest of my life, they might have changed their minds.” My point exactly! God saw our entire lives from beginning to end, birth to hearse, and in spite of what he saw, he was still convinced to adopt us into his own family, bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

You see, to accept God’s grace is to accept God’s offer to be adopted into his family. It really is this simple.

Luke 11:29-54

Keep Your Eyes Open

29-30 As the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: “The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody’s looking for proof, but you’re looking for the wrong kind. All you’re looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you’re going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all. What Jonah was to Nineveh, the Son of Man is to this age.

31-32 “On Judgment Day the Ninevites will stand up and give evidence that will condemn this generation, because when Jonah preached to them they changed their lives. A far greater preacher than Jonah is here, and you squabble about ‘proofs.’ On Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will come forward and bring evidence that condemns this generation, because she traveled from a far corner of the earth to listen to wise Solomon. Wisdom far greater than Solomon’s is right in front of you, and you quibble over ‘evidence.’

33-36 “No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It’s put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they’re going. Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a musty cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.”
Frauds!

37-41 When he finished that talk, a Pharisee asked him to dinner. He entered his house and sat right down at the table. The Pharisee was shocked and somewhat offended when he saw that Jesus didn’t wash up before the meal. But the Master said to him, “I know you Pharisees buff the surface of your cups and plates so they sparkle in the sun, but I also know your insides are maggoty with greed and secret evil. Stupid Pharisees! Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside? Turn both your pockets and your hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands.

42 “I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but manage to find loopholes for getting around basic matters of justice and God’s love. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required.

43-44 “You’re hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You love sitting at the head table at church dinners, love preening yourselves in the radiance of public flattery. Frauds! You’re just like unmarked graves: People walk over that nice, grassy surface, never suspecting the rot and corruption that is six feet under.”

45 One of the religion scholars spoke up: “Teacher, do you realize that in saying these things you’re insulting us?”

46 He said, “Yes, and I can be even more explicit. You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You load people down with rules and regulations, nearly breaking their backs, but never lift even a finger to help.

47-51 “You’re hopeless! You build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed. The tombs you build are monuments to your murdering ancestors more than to the murdered prophets. That accounts for God’s Wisdom saying, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, but they’ll kill them and run them off.’ What it means is that every drop of righteous blood ever spilled from the time earth began until now, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was struck down between altar and sanctuary, is on your heads. Yes, it’s on the bill of this generation and this generation will pay.

52 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You took the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking doors, you locked them. You won’t go in yourself, and won’t let anyone else in either.”

53-54 As soon as Jesus left the table, the religion scholars and Pharisees went into a rage. They went over and over everything he said, plotting how they could trap him in something from his own mouth.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, April 29, 2022

Today's Scripture
Jeremiah 44:16–18 , 20–23

“We’re having nothing to do with what you tell us is God’s Message. We’re going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our ancestors, our kings and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. We had a good life then—lots of food, rising standard of living, and no bad luck. But the moment we quit sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything fell apart. We’ve had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since.”

     Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said, “The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—don’t you think God noticed? He noticed, all right. And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn’t take your evil behavior and your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley, a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. This doom has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you sinned against God! You refused to listen to him, wouldn’t live the way he directed, ignored the covenant conditions.”

Insight

In Jeremiah 44:1–14, God sent a direct message through the prophet Jeremiah to the Jewish refugees who’d gone to Egypt against His express direction (see 42:7–22). While there, they were “burning incense to other gods in Egypt” (44:8), which brought God’s clear warning (vv. 8–14). But the people saw only what they wanted to see and defiantly rejected God in favor of the false “Queen of Heaven” (vv. 17–19, possibly Ishtar) and other pagan gods. On the face of it, Jeremiah’s mission was a failure. Opposition to his message was extensive. Yet the prophet remained faithful to God despite his unpopularity. By: Tim Gustafson

April 29
Spiritual Diagnosis

We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.
Jeremiah 44:16

Chemotherapy reduced the tumor in my father-in-law’s pancreas, until it didn’t. As the tumor began to grow again, he was left with a life-and-death decision. He asked his doctor, “Should I take more of this chemo or try something else, perhaps a different drug or radiation?”

The people of Judah had a similar life-and-death question. Weary from war and famine, God’s people wondered whether their problem was too much idolatry or not enough. They concluded they should offer more sacrifices to a false god and see if she would protect and prosper them (Jeremiah 44:17).

Jeremiah said they had wildly misdiagnosed their situation. Their problem wasn’t a lack of commitment to idols; their problem was that they had them. They told the prophet, “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord!” (v. 16). Jeremiah replied, “Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you” (v. 23).

Like Judah, we may be tempted to double down on sinful choices that have landed us in trouble. Relationship problems? We can be more aloof. Financial issues? We’ll spend our way to happiness. Pushed aside? We’ll be equally ruthless. But the idols that contributed to our problems can’t save us. Only Jesus can carry us through our troubles as we turn to Him. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

What personal problem has you stumped and how are you tempted to respond in a sinful way? What do you think Jesus might want you to do?

Jesus, I’d rather fail with You than succeed without You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 29, 2022  
Gracious Uncertainty

…it has not yet been revealed what we shall be… —1 John 3:2

Our natural inclination is to be so precise– trying always to forecast accurately what will happen next– that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We think that we must reach some predetermined goal, but that is not the nature of the spiritual life. The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Consequently, we do not put down roots. Our common sense says, “Well, what if I were in that circumstance?” We cannot presume to see ourselves in any circumstance in which we have never been.

Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life– gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises. When we become simply a promoter or a defender of a particular belief, something within us dies. That is not believing God– it is only believing our belief about Him. Jesus said, “…unless you…become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3). The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, “…believe also in Me” (John 14:1), not, “Believe certain things about Me”. Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in– but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 6-7; Luke 20:27-47

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 29, 2022

He's Never Lost a Rescue - #9210

Buck Helm - yep, that name was one light in the darkness on October 17, 1989, the day of the tragic San Francisco earthquake. It was the day the whole freeway collapsed, burying scores of people. And just when the rescuers thought there was no life left to find, an engineer spotted movement under one heavily damaged section. Under there they found, still alive miraculously, Buck Helm, a 57-year-old longshoreman. He'd survived four days in that rubble. And I think that's why we felt so sad when word came four weeks later that Buck Helm had died suddenly in the hospital. He was rescued, but he was lost. We can't always hang onto what we save.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "He's Never Lost a Rescue."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God, John 10. I'll begin at verse 27. "My sheep" - Jesus is talking here - "listen to My voice. I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

Well, we learned in San Francisco, and we've learned over and over again that I guess any physical rescue is temporary. Let's face it, anyone who's rescued now is certainly going to die someday. When Jesus talks about His sheep, though, He's talking about those He has rescued from eternal death. And it was expensive for Him to do that. Earlier in the chapter He says, "I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for His sheep." "I'll die for my sheep." Jesus said that, and Jesus did that. He did it for you.

Those who have come to Christ to have their sins forgiven because of what He did for them on the cross become His sheep at that point. And what He's saying here, "Those that He rescues, He will never lose." Once He's saved them, they will never die. It's eternal life! "No one can take them out of My hand" He says.

Now, I asked Jesus into my heart at an early age, and I found myself often saying, "Jesus, in case you're not there, would You come in? I'm going to accept You again, and then I'm going to accept You again." Actually, I didn't need to do that. There was only one rescue. Once you've asked Christ sincerely to come into your life, there to stay. At that point, saving faith takes my eternity out of my hands and places it totally into Jesus' hands.

Sometimes we're close to Him, and sometimes we drift far away. Sometimes we're obedient, and sometimes we're disobedient. But we're always His child. Is that an excuse for sinning? No, it's a motive for obeying. Besides, if you're really reborn, you may get away from Him for a little while. But you can't stay away. And if you do and you can, you're probably just proving you never really were reborn in the first place.

When a little child starts to run out into the street - as you know, they've been walking along with Dad's hand holding on, he'll start to run away, but he'll find out that he is saved. That truck is bearing down, the traffic's coming, but he's saved. But not because he's holding onto his father's hand. That's when he finds out that his father is holding onto his hand. That's why your relationship with Christ is safe and eternal, because He holds you.

Maybe you've never opened up to this unconditional unloseable love for yourself. Maybe you've never been to that cross, in your heart, and said where He died for you, "For me." Why not let today be the day you begin that relationship with Him? It will be your one anchor in an otherwise insecure world, and it will take you to heaven when you die. Listen, go to ANewStory.com, our website, and we'll show you how.

For you - for those you love - isn't it great to know that Christ rescues you from the death sentence of sin, and that He has never lost a rescue.

Joshua 21 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God’s Chosen Children - April 28, 2022

There is something in you that God loves. Not just appreciates or approves, but loves. You cause God’s eyes to widen, his heart to beat faster. He loves you and accepts you. Don’t we yearn to know this? God, do you know who I am? In the great scheme of things, we ask, do I count for anything?

So many messages tell us we don’t. We get laid off at work, turned away by the school. Everything from acne to Alzheimer’s leaves us feeling like the girl with no date to the prom. We react, we validate our existence with a flurry of activity. We do more, buy more, achieve more. Always wrestling with the question, “Do I matter?”

All of grace, I believe, is God’s definitive reply: “Be blessed, my child. I accept you. I have adopted you into my family.” Adopted children are chosen children. Trust God’s love for you.

Joshua 21

Cities for the Levites

The ancestral heads of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the heads of the other tribes of the People of Israel. This took place at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. They said, “God commanded through Moses that you give us cities to live in with access to pastures for our cattle.”

3 So the People of Israel, out of their own inheritance, gave the Levites, just as God commanded, the following cities and pastures:

4-5 The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites this way: Levites descended from Aaron the priest received by lot thirteen cities out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. The rest of the Kohathites received by lot ten cities from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

6 The Gershonites received by lot thirteen cities from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

7 The families of the Merarites received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

8 So the People of Israel gave these cities with their pastures to the Levites just as God had ordered through Moses, that is, by lot.
Cities for the Descendants of Aaron

9-10 They assigned from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin the following towns, here named individually (these were for the descendants of Aaron who were from the families of the Kohathite branch of Levi because the first lot fell to them):

11-12 Kiriath Arba (Arba was the ancestor of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the hills of Judah, with access to the pastures around it. The fields of the city and its open lands they had already given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

13-16 To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (the asylum-city for the unconvicted killers), Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh, all with their accompanying pastures—nine towns from these two tribes.

17-18 And from the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth, and Almon, together with their pastures—four towns.

19 The total for the cities and pastures for the priests descended from Aaron came to thirteen.

20-22 The rest of the Kohathite families from the tribe of Levi were assigned their cities by lot from the tribe of Ephraim: Shechem (the asylum-city for the unconvicted killer) in the hills of Ephraim, Gezer, Kibzaim, and Beth Horon, with their pastures—four towns.

23-24 From the tribe of Dan they received Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Aijalon, and Gath Rimmon, all with their pastures—four towns.

25 And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they received Taanach and Gath Rimmon with their pastures—two towns.

26 All told, ten cities with their pastures went to the remaining Kohathite families.

27 The Gershonite families of the tribe of Levi were given from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (an asylum-city for the unconvicted killer), and Be Eshtarah, with their pastures—two cities.

28-29 And from the tribe of Issachar: Kishion, Daberath, Jarmuth, and En Gannim, with their pastures—four towns.

30-31 From the tribe of Asher: Mishal, Abdon, Helkath, and Rehob, with their pastures—four towns.

32 From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee (an asylum-city for the unconvicted killer), Hammoth Dor, and Kartan, with their pastures—three towns.

33 For the Gershonites and their families: thirteen towns with their pastures.

34-35 The Merari families, the remaining Levites, were given from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah, Dimnah, and Nahalal, with their pastures—four cities.

36-37 From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer, Jahaz, Kedemoth, and Mephaath, with their pastures—four towns.

38-39 From the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead (an asylum-city for the unconvicted killer), Mahanaim, Heshbon, and Jazer, with their pastures—a total of four towns.

40 All these towns were assigned by lot to the Merarites, the remaining Levites—twelve towns.

41-42 The Levites held forty-eight towns with their accompanying pastures within the territory of the People of Israel. Each of these towns had pastures surrounding it—this was the case for all these towns.

* * *

43-44 And so God gave Israel the entire land that he had solemnly vowed to give to their ancestors. They took possession of it and made themselves at home in it. And God gave them rest on all sides, as he had also solemnly vowed to their ancestors. Not a single one of their enemies was able to stand up to them—God handed over all their enemies to them.

45 Not one word failed from all the good words God spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came out right.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, April 28, 2022

Today's Scripture
James 1:2–4

Faith Under Pressure

2–4     Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Insight

The letter of James emphasizes the calling of believers in Jesus to grow in wisdom, uniting Jesus’ teachings and other wisdom teachings in Scripture to paint a picture of living wisely and faithfully. The Greek word teleios, translated “mature” in verse 4, is a key word in the book of James (also vv. 17, 25; 3:2). It’s a word that in the original language emphasizes wholeness and integrity. To be “mature” is to live a life in which our daily actions flow harmoniously from our beliefs. Conversely, to live foolishly, in ways that are inconsistent with what we say we believe, is to live a fractured and divided life. Throughout his letter, James draws attention to any behavior that stands in stark contrast to what true faith in Christ demands, urging believers to reject any such inconsistencies for the wholeness found in Jesus. By: Monica La Rose

Growing in Faith

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James? ?1:4

At the beginning of my gardening journey, I’d wake up early and run to my vegetable garden to see if anything had sprouted. Nothing. After an internet search for “fast garden growth,” I learned that the seedling stage is the most important phase of a plant’s lifespan. Knowing now that this process couldn’t be rushed, I came to appreciate the strength of small sprouts fighting their way through the soil toward the sun and their resilience to temperamental weather. After waiting patiently for a few weeks, I was finally greeted by bursts of green sprouts creeping through the soil.

Sometimes it’s easy to praise the victories and triumphs in our lives without similarly acknowledging that growth in our character often comes through time and struggle. James instructs us to “consider it pure joy” when we “face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). But what could possibly be delightful about trials?

God will sometimes allow us to go through challenges and hardships so that we can be molded into who He’s called us to be. He waits in anticipation for us to come out of the trials of life “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (v. 4). By staying grounded in Jesus, we can persevere through any challenge, growing stronger and ultimately allowing the fruit of the Spirit to blossom in our lives (Galatians 5:22–23). His wisdom gives us the nourishment we need to truly flourish each and every day (John 15:5). By:  Kimya Loder

Reflect & Pray

What trials have you been working through recently? What lessons are these circumstances revealing to you?

Dear heavenly Father, sometimes the trials I face seem unbearable. Please give me the strength to persevere, and help me as I grow in faith and develop into the fruit-bearing believer that You’ve called me to be.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 28, 2022

What You Will Get

I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go. —Jeremiah 45:5

This is the firm and immovable secret of the Lord to those who trust Him– “I will give your life to you….” What more does a man want than his life? It is the essential thing. “…your life…as a prize…” means that wherever you may go, even if it is into hell, you will come out with your life and nothing can harm it. So many of us are caught up in exhibiting things for others to see, not showing off property and possessions, but our blessings. All these things that we so proudly show have to go. But there is something greater that can never go– the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Are you prepared to let God take you into total oneness with Himself, paying no more attention to what you call the great things of life? Are you prepared to surrender totally and let go? The true test of abandonment or surrender is in refusing to say, “Well, what about this?” Beware of your own ideas and speculations. The moment you allow yourself to think, “What about this?” you show that you have not surrendered and that you do not really trust God. But once you do surrender, you will no longer think about what God is going to do. Abandonment means to refuse yourself the luxury of asking any questions. If you totally abandon yourself to God, He immediately says to you, “I will give your life to you as a prize….” The reason people are tired of life is that God has not given them anything— they have not been given their life “as a prize.” The way to get out of that condition is to abandon yourself to God. And once you do get to the point of total surrender to Him, you will be the most surprised and delighted person on earth. God will have you absolutely, without any limitations, and He will have given you your life. If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience in your life or your refusal to be simple enough.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 3-5; Luke 20:1-26

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 28, 2022
When You Don't Have Enough to Finish - #9209

A lot of my writing, including for these visits we have together, takes place while I'm on the road. There was a time my wife did a chunk of driving to some ministry events, and she did that often. So me and my little friend laptop could do some work. Now, I had about 12 hours of writing work to do and my computer battery lasted for maybe two or three hours. No problemo! Power strip that I can plug into the cigarette lighter, and when I plug Laptop into that, he's running on the power in the car, not just the power in himself. Which means there's basically no limit to what we can do together!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Don't Have Enough to Finish."

My problem with my laptop computer is that, well in itself, it has limited power which means limited accomplishment. But when it's plugged into a regular power source, it has basically unlimited power, which means unlimited possibilities.

Now, if you've been living for Jesus Christ very long, that power equation probably sounds familiar to you. Or it should. Your resources run out. That doesn't mean you're done - not if you plug into His. His resources never run out.

I've been running a lot on this tremendous promise in Hebrews 13:20-21. It happens to be our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep" - now this is where you want to plug in your fading battery - "equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever."

Well, there it is. The God of peace will equip you with everything good for doing His will. There's nothing you need to carry out and complete what He wants you to do that He is not going to provide. When you're out of strength, He's not. When you can't take another step, His strength carries you, so then you can keep going when you don't have anything else to go with!

When you need wisdom to carry out what He's given you to do, He's promised to give it to you liberally upon request (James 1:5). So many times - actually, many times a day - I have no idea what to say, how to respond, how to proceed. That's time to abandon the finite battery of what I know and plug it into the infinite power of what God knows. When you're out of creativity, you're out of ideas, again, plug into His. People often ask me, "Where do you get all those ideas for 'A Word with You'?" Literally, I do get the ideas from God. I mean, you'll never know the times I sit down to work on a program and I say, "That's it! I'm out of ideas." And I am, but God isn't. He continually amazes me with what He comes up with. When you're out of love, when you're out of answers, when you're out of patience, He's not, so you don't have to be.

So, weary mom or dad, depleted servant of the Lord, beat-up warrior, know that you can go on, you can win this because of the infinite resources of the God you belong to. Depend on your finite power - finite accomplishment. But plug into the infinite resources - unlimited possibilities. He's committed to give you everything you need to do and to finish what He's given you to do.

Like the hymn writer says, "When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed e'er the day is half done; when we've reached the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving has only begun. His love has no limit, His grace has no measure; His power has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again."

Joshua 20 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  Unscrooge Your Heart - April 27, 2022

The grace-given give grace.

Is grace happening to you? Is there anyone in your life you refuse to forgive? If so, do you appreciate God’s forgiveness toward you? Do you resent God’s kindness to others? Do you grumble at God’s uneven compensation? How long has it been since your generosity stunned someone? Since someone objected, “No, really, this is too generous”? If it’s been awhile reconsider God’s extravagant grace: “Forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity” (Psalm 103:2-3). Why don’t you let grace unscrooge your heart.

You see, when grace happens, generosity happens. Unsquashable, eye-popping bigheartedness happens. You simply can’t contain it all. Let it bubble over, let it spill out, let it pour forth. You’ll find yourself brightening dark corners with splendor, with the promise of much more to come!

Joshua 20

Asylum-Cities

Then God spoke to Joshua: “Tell the People of Israel: Designate the asylum-cities, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally—that is, unintentionally—may flee there as a safe place of asylum from the avenger of blood.

4 “A person shall escape for refuge to one of these cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and lay out his case before the city’s leaders. The leaders must then take him into the city among them and give him a place to live with them.

5-6 “If the avenger of blood chases after him, they must not give him up—he didn’t intend to kill the person; there was no history of ill-feeling. He may stay in that city until he has stood trial before the congregation and until the death of the current high priest. Then he may go back to his own home in his hometown from which he fled.”

7 They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hills of Naphtali, Shechem in the hills of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hills of Judah.

8-9 On the other side of the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the desert plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the designated cities for the People of Israel and any resident foreigner living among them, so that anyone who killed someone unintentionally could flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood without a fair trial before the congregation.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Today's Scripture
Zephaniah 3:14–20

    So sing, Daughter Zion!

Raise the rafters, Israel!

Daughter Jerusalem,

be happy! celebrate!

God has reversed his judgments against you

and sent your enemies off chasing their tails.

From now on, God is Israel’s king,

in charge at the center.

There’s nothing to fear from evil

ever again!

God Is Present Among You

16–17     Jerusalem will be told:

“Don’t be afraid.

Dear Zion,

don’t despair.

Your God is present among you,

a strong Warrior there to save you.

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

and delight you with his songs.

18–20     “The accumulated sorrows of your exile

will dissipate.

I, your God, will get rid of them for you.

You’ve carried those burdens long enough.

At the same time, I’ll get rid of all those

who’ve made your life miserable.

I’ll heal the maimed;

I’ll bring home the homeless.

In the very countries where they were hated

they will be venerated.

On Judgment Day

I’ll bring you back home—a great family gathering!

You’ll be famous and honored

all over the world.

You’ll see it with your own eyes—

all those painful partings turned into reunions!”

God’s Promise.

Insight

Zephaniah, whose name means “Yahweh hides,” is one of the twelve minor prophets. He ministered to Judah during the reign of Josiah (640–609 bc; Zephaniah 1:1), Judah’s reformist king (2 Kings 22–23; 2 Chronicles 34–35). As the great-great grandson of the godly king Hezekiah, Zephaniah was part of the royal family and probably a distant relative of the incumbent King Josiah. Like many of God’s prophets, Zephaniah prophesied of the future “day of the Lord” (Zephaniah 1:7), “a day of [God’s] wrath” (v. 15) when God will bring to a close human history “[sweeping] away everything from the face of the earth” (v. 2). Zephaniah proclaimed God as the sovereign Judge of history and nations (1:2–3, 7; 2:4–15; 3:6–8) and warned that He would punish Judah for her unfaithfulness (1:4–2:3; 3:1–7) while promising restoration for the faithful and purified remnant after the judgment (3:9–20). By: K. T. Sim

Sing Again

Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel!
Zephaniah 3:14

Australia’s regent honeyeater bird is in trouble—it’s losing its song. Though once an abundant species, just three hundred birds now remain; and with so few others to learn from, the males are forgetting their unique song and failing to attract mates.

Thankfully, conservationists plan to rescue the honeyeaters by singing to them. Or, more precisely, play them recordings of other honeyeaters singing so they can relearn their heart song. As the males pick up the tune and attract females again, it’s hoped the species will flourish once more.

The prophet Zephaniah addressed a people in trouble. With so much corruption among them, he announced that God’s judgment was coming (Zephaniah 3:1–8). When this later came to pass through capture and exile, the people too lost their song (Psalm 137:4). But Zephaniah foresaw a time beyond judgment when God would come to this decimated people, forgive their sins, and sing to them: “He will take great delight in you, in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). As a result, the heart song of the people would be restored (v. 14).

Whether through our own disobedience or the trials of life, we too can lose our heart song of joy. But a Voice is singing over us songs of forgiveness and love. Let’s listen to His melody and sing along. By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

When do you find it hardest to retain your joy in God? What song, poem, or prayer can you give to God in response to His rejoicing over You?

Loving God, it’s amazing to imagine that You would sing songs of joy over me. I praise You and sing my own song of praise to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
What Do You Want?

Do you seek great things for yourself? —Jeremiah 45:5

Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great person? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His gifts— He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want is only incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us anything incidental. There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God, unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give you.

If you have only come as far as asking God for things, you have never come to the point of understanding the least bit of what surrender really means. You have become a Christian based on your own terms. You protest, saying, “I asked God for the Holy Spirit, but He didn’t give me the rest and the peace I expected.” And instantly God puts His finger on the reason– you are not seeking the Lord at all; you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7). Ask God for what you want and do not be concerned about asking for the wrong thing, because as you draw ever closer to Him, you will cease asking for things altogether. “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should you ask? So that you may get to know Him.

Are you seeking great things for yourself? Have you said, “Oh, Lord, completely fill me with your Holy Spirit”? If God does not, it is because you are not totally surrendered to Him; there is something you still refuse to do. Are you prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God always ignores your present level of completeness in favor of your ultimate future completeness. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy right now, but He’s continually working out His ultimate perfection for you— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 1-2; Luke 19:28-48

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Someone Else's Script - #9208

My friend, Ian, is unexplainable. He may very well have been at that time the best known Christian leader in all of New Zealand. A powerful, popular speaker and he had a great Christian TV program. If you heard him speak in any public setting, you'd have been very impressed. I was, and you'd want to meet him when he came off the stage. And he would extend his hand, and probably begin to stutter. You might kinda laugh and go, "Come on, you're kidding." And then you'd realize he's not; this is serious. See, Ian had a noticeable stutter when he spoke to other people anywhere but in a large meeting. But when he got up to speak about his Lord in front of a crowd, it's just amazing. Something happened, but not necessarily something unique to him.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Someone Else's Script."

Now our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6 and we're reading verses 19 and 20. And I believe that something took over in Ian in those times when he was ministering publicly and literally, that someone takes over what he says. Yeah, not just something. And that same person wants to do something like that for you. The Holy Spirit wants to do it for you when you're speaking to someone about Jesus Christ.

Here's the prayer: "Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should." Now, you can pray this prayer, you can trust God for words to say when you're representing Him, and that's something supernatural.

When you're woefully inadequate to talk with someone about eternity, I'm telling you, He will come in and as promised He will make up the difference. When you're scared to death and you don't know what to say, let Him supply the words. Sometimes I'll be listening to a person I want to share with, and I'll be thinking, "Oh, man, I have no idea what to say next. Keep talking; Buddy, because when you stop I don't know what I'm going to say." I don't know how I'm going to answer. So I fire up an S.O.S. to heaven. And when I need to respond, you know what? Over and over again there's been an insight I didn't even have a moment ago, I didn't even know. This is supernatural stuff!

If you tell God how inadequate you feel, you are at that point, on your way to being an effective representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that opens you up to a Holy Spirit take-over. From the inside out He will provide you with the courage you do not have, with the thoughts that maybe you've never expressed, words that may surprise even you. But you have to take the risk to experience His power.

Shakespearian actors say some pretty profound and impressive things. You say, "Man, they're smart. What a thinker! What a communicator! What a way to put things!" He didn't write the script. He's just delivering what someone else wrote. Well, that's how it's supposed to be when we're communicating Christ to someone. We're delivering someone else's script - God's words. And if we'll trust God for His active involvement in those conversations, well, it just takes away an awful lot of the pressure.

I've watched God turn a man who has difficulty getting through a sentence into an un-halting communicator. But only in the moment when he needs it. See, that's what God wants to do in you, but you have to show up with the willingness to be His voice in the life of someone else.

Don't hold back any more on speaking up for Jesus in that situation He's assigned you to. He put you there, He gave you the assignment, and He'll give you the script. Now, your head will make you think that the things that you are saying maybe are coming from you. But in reality, they're coming from the heart of God, through your voice into the heart of someone who really needs to hear from Him.

Joshua 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He Lavishes Us with Love - April 26, 2022

It was supposed to have been a day of dreams coming true. But across town, Jack Autry was in a hospital, struggling to stay alive. Chrysalis and the women in her family found the perfect bridal gown in Amy Wells’ shop. One Jack might never see. Because of his cancer, he couldn’t come to see his daughter try on her dress. And because of medical bills, the family couldn’t buy the dress yet for him to see.

Amy, the bridal store owner, said, “God clearly spoke to me.” And she turned to Chrysalis and said, “Take the gown and veil right now to the hospital and wear it for your daddy.” Jack couldn’t believe how beautiful Chrysalis looked. Three days later Jack died.

Amy’s generosity created a moment of cascading grace. Isn’t this how God works? He doesn’t just love us; he lavishes us with love (1 John 3:1). His grace is “exceedingly abundant” (1 Timothy 1:14), “indescribable” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

Joshua 19

Simeon

The second lot went to Simeon for its clans. Their inheritance was within the territory of Judah. In their inheritance they had:

Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah,

Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem,

Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah,

Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen—

thirteen towns and their villages.

Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—

four towns and their villages—plus all the villages around these towns as far as Baalath Beer, the Ramah of the Negev.

8-9 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon according to its clans. The inheritance of Simeon came out of the share of Judah, because Judah’s portion turned out to be more than they needed. That’s how the people of Simeon came to get their lot from within Judah’s portion.
Zebulun

10-15 The third lot went to Zebulun, clan by clan:

The border of their inheritance went all the way to Sarid. It ran west to Maralah, met Dabbesheth, and then went to the brook opposite Jokneam. In the other direction from Sarid, the border ran east; it followed the sunrise to the border of Kisloth Tabor, on to Daberath and up to Japhia. It continued east to Gath Hepher and Eth Kazin, came out at Rimmon, and turned toward Neah. There the border went around on the north to Hannathon and ran out into the Valley of Iphtah El. It included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve cities with their villages.

16 This is the inheritance of the people of Zebulun for their clans—these towns and their villages.
Issachar

17-21 The fourth lot went to Issachar, clan by clan. Their territory included:

Jezreel, Kesulloth, Shunem,

Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,

Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,

Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah, and Beth Pazzez.

22 The boundary touched Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth Shemesh and ended at the Jordan—sixteen towns and their villages.

23 These towns with their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar, clan by clan.
Asher

24 The fifth lot went to the tribe of Asher, clan by clan:

25-30 Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Acshaph, Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. The western border touched Carmel and Shihor Libnath, then turned east toward Beth Dagon, touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah El, and went north to Beth Emek and Neiel, skirting Cabul on the left. It went on to Abdon, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, all the way to Greater Sidon. The border circled back toward Ramah, extended to the fort city of Tyre, turned toward Hosah, and came out at the Sea in the region of Aczib, Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two towns and their villages.

31 These towns and villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Asher, clan by clan.
Naphtali

32 The sixth lot came to Naphtali and its clans.

33 Their border ran from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim, passing Adami Nekeb and Jabneel to Lakkum and ending at the Jordan.

34 The border returned on the west at Aznoth Tabor and came out at Hukkok, meeting Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and the Jordan on the east.

The fort cities were:

35-38 Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Kinnereth,

Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,

Iron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh—

nineteen towns and their villages.

39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali, the cities and their villages, clan by clan.
Dan

40-46 The seventh lot fell to Dan. The territory of their inheritance included:

Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh,

Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,

Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,

Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon,

Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the region facing Joppa.

47 But the people of Dan failed to get rid of the Westerners (Amorites), who pushed them back into the hills. The Westerners kept them out of the plain and they didn’t have enough room. So the people of Dan marched up and attacked Leshem. They took it, killed the inhabitants, and settled in. They renamed it Leshem Dan after the name of Dan their ancestor.

48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to its clans, these towns with their villages.

* * *

49-50 They completed the dividing of the land as inheritance and the setting of its boundaries. The People of Israel then gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun. In obedience to God’s word, they gave him the city which he had requested, Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the city and settled there.

51 These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the ancestral leaders assigned by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh in the presence of God at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. They completed the dividing of the land.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Today's Scripture
1 Timothy 4:6–13

    You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.

11–14     Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching.

Insight

Just as certain regimens are essential for our physical well-being, the same is true spiritually. Paul’s choice of words in 1 Timothy 4:6–13 stresses the value of spiritual discipline for believers in Jesus—regardless of age. The word nourished (v. 6) translates the Greek word entrepho, which means to “educate” or “to nourish through feeding [the mind].” The Greek word from which we get our word gymnasium (gymnazo, to exercise vigorously body or mind) is used in verse 7 (“train”) and a noun form in verse 8 (“physical training”). “Godless myths and old wives’ tales” (v. 7) and their contemporary counterparts don’t nourish those who desire to live God-honoring lives. Paul’s personal discipline comes into focus in verse 10 where another colorful Greek word is used. The word labor translates the word kopiao. What’s in view here is labor to the point of fatigue and exhaustion. By: Arthur Jackson

Age Is Just a Number

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12

Youthfulness shouldn’t stop anyone from achievement. It certainly didn’t stop eleven-year-old Mikaila. Instead of putting up a lemonade stand, Mikaila opened a lemonade business. Me & the Bees Lemonade started with her grandmother’s recipe and eventually earned a $60,000 investment from investors on the television show Shark Tank. She also signed a contract with a major grocer to sell her lemonade at fifty-five of the chain’s stores.

Mikaila’s drive and dreams point us back to Paul’s words to Timothy: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young” (1 Timothy 4:12).

Timothy, though not a child like Mikaila, was likely considerably younger than most in his congregation. After interning with the apostle Paul, some thought that Timothy wasn’t mature enough to lead them. Instead of telling him to prove himself by showing his credentials, Paul encouraged Timothy to demonstrate spiritual maturity by the way he used his words, lived his life, loved his parishioners, exercised his faith, and remained sexually pure (v. 12). No one could discredit him as a teacher and pastor if he backed it up with a godly example.

Regardless of our age, we can impact the world. We do it by setting a Christ-centered example for others as God provides what we need. May He shape our lives with the gospel, so whether we’re seventeen or seventy, we’ll be worthy to share it with others. By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

How has God been helping you grow in spiritual maturity and effectiveness for Him? Why is age not the most important factor?

Father, help me to model what it means to be devoted to Jesus in the way I speak, exercise my faith, and love others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

The Supreme Climb

Take now your son…and offer him…as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. —Genesis 22:2

A person’s character determines how he interprets God’s will (see Psalm 18:25-26). Abraham interpreted God’s command to mean that he had to kill his son, and he could only leave this traditional belief behind through the pain of a tremendous ordeal. God could purify his faith in no other way. If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditional beliefs that misrepresent Him. There are many such beliefs which must be removed– for example, that God removes a child because his mother loves him too much. That is the devil’s lie and a travesty on the true nature of God! If the devil can hinder us from taking the supreme climb and getting rid of our wrong traditional beliefs about God, he will do so. But if we will stay true to God, God will take us through an ordeal that will serve to bring us into a better knowledge of Himself.

The great lesson to be learned from Abraham’s faith in God is that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter what contrary belief of his might be violated by his obedience. Abraham was not devoted to his own convictions or else he would have slain Isaac and said that the voice of the angel was actually the voice of the devil. That is the attitude of a fanatic. If you will remain true to God, God will lead you directly through every barrier and right into the inner chamber of the knowledge of Himself. But you must always be willing to come to the point of giving up your own convictions and traditional beliefs. Don’t ask God to test you. Never declare as Peter did that you are willing to do anything, even “to go …both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). Abraham did not make any such statement— he simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern.  The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L

Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 23-24; Luke 19:1-27


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

The Harvest of Doing Good - #9207

Our friend Mark grew up on the farm; actually on an Ozark Mountain farm. And that means rocks in your fields! One local grandfather used to say, "Every time it rains I grow rocks in my field." Mark knows all about that. Over a period of time, his mother made him clear hundreds of rocks out of one of their fields when he was just a little guy. Well then, Mark bought some land from his mother as an adult. And as he started to work one of those fields, he was really pleasantly surprised by how amazingly rock-free it is. Then it dawned on him, this was the field he had made rock-free when he was a boy!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Harvest of Doing Good."

Mark was reaping the good work he did many years ago, enjoying the benefits of those efforts. That's a reminder of one of the wisest laws in the Bible, "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). We usually think about that in terms of the bad consequences of the bad seed we sow, but there's another side to that reaping equation.

In Galatians 6:8-9, our word for today from the Word of God, it says, "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life." So you don't just reap the bad you sow; you reap the good you sow. Paul goes on to make a very practical application, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Why do we sometimes give up on some of the good we're trying to do? Well, because of the nature of harvesting. If a farmer plants corn on a Tuesday, he doesn't go out and pick it on a Wednesday, or maybe for many, many Wednesdays after that. There's a time lag between sowing and reaping, and so it can look like nothing's going to come from it. So we quit sowing in the lives of our children, our church, our coworkers, our friends.

But we end up living today in the life we built yesterday - the relationships we built - good or bad, the reputation we built. We're living in it today. The ways we've treated people. Well, you did some sowing today and you'll ultimately get back the kinds of things you sowed. So spend the time that person needs from you. Consciously do random acts of kindness each day. Give a gift when there's no occasion for your appreciation; just giving it for the person themself. Send those thank you notes. Give that compliment; that word of encouragement. Use the money God's entrusted to you to lift people's burdens and people's spirits. Don't be afraid to be generous. After all, Jesus said, "You lose your life by trying to hang onto it, but you find your life by giving it away" (Luke 9:24).

Scripture is full of encouragement to keep sowing good seed. "Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again" (Ecclesiastes 11:1). "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more" (Mark 4:24). "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25). Don't be afraid of what you'll lose by giving. God has promised that you're going to gain so much more. You don't become richer by keeping what you've got. You become richer in your life in some way or another by giving it away.

So, keep scattering good seed wherever you go. Make it a daily thing, because when you do, somewhere down the road there's an awesome harvest coming.