Luke 23:1-25 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: What a Difference a Leaf Makes - July 25, 2022

Encourage those who are struggling. Don’t know what to say? Then open your Bible. The olive leaf for the Christian is a verse of Scripture.

To the grief stricken: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).

To the guilt ridden: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NIV).

To the jobless: “In all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28 NIV).

To those who feel beyond God’s grace: “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).

After receiving his olive leaf, Noah was a changed man. He went up the ladder of the ark with questions, but he came down the ladder with confidence. What a difference one leaf makes!

Luke 23:1-25

Pilate

Then they all took Jesus to Pilate and began to bring up charges against him. They said, “We found this man undermining our law and order, forbidding taxes to be paid to Caesar, setting himself up as Messiah-King.”

3 Pilate asked him, “Is this true that you’re ‘King of the Jews’?”

“Those are your words, not mine,” Jesus replied.

4 Pilate told the high priests and the accompanying crowd, “I find nothing wrong here. He seems harmless enough to me.”

5 But they were vehement. “He’s stirring up unrest among the people with his teaching, disturbing the peace everywhere, starting in Galilee and now all through Judea. He’s a dangerous man, endangering the peace.”

6-7 When Pilate heard that, he asked, “So, he’s a Galilean?” Realizing that he properly came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he passed the buck to Herod, who just happened to be in Jerusalem for a few days.

8-10 Herod was delighted when Jesus showed up. He had wanted for a long time to see him, he’d heard so much about him. He hoped to see him do something spectacular. He peppered him with questions. Jesus didn’t answer—not one word. But the high priests and religion scholars were right there, saying their piece, strident and shrill in their accusations.

11-12 Mightily offended, Herod turned on Jesus. His soldiers joined in, taunting and jeering. Then they dressed him up in an elaborate king costume and sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became thick as thieves. Always before they had kept their distance.

13-16 Then Pilate called in the high priests, rulers, and the others and said, “You brought this man to me as a disturber of the peace. I examined him in front of all of you and found there was nothing to your charge. And neither did Herod, for he has sent him back here with a clean bill of health. It’s clear that he’s done nothing wrong, let alone anything deserving death. I’m going to warn him to watch his step and let him go.”

18-20 At that, the crowd went wild: “Kill him! Give us Barabbas!” (Barabbas had been thrown in prison for starting a riot in the city and for murder.) Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go, and so spoke out again.

21 But they kept shouting back, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

22 He tried a third time. “But for what crime? I’ve found nothing in him deserving death. I’m going to warn him to watch his step and let him go.”

23-25 But they kept at it, a shouting mob, demanding that he be crucified. And finally they shouted him down. Pilate caved in and gave them what they wanted. He released the man thrown in prison for rioting and murder, and gave them Jesus to do whatever they wanted.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, July 25, 2022

Today's Scripture
Hebrews 12:1–3

Discipline in a Long-Distance Race

1–3     12 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Insight

The author of Hebrews never identified himself. Scholars have suggested Paul or even Barnabas, Luke, Clement, or Apollos. Whoever it was, the author clearly understood that his readers would need perseverance to face the trials and persecution they’d encounter. Throughout the book, readers are encouraged to endure and hold fast to Christ (2:1–4; 3:7–4:13; 5:11–6:2). And in 10:39, we’re reminded that believers in Jesus “do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” Then in Hebrews 11, known as the “Hall of Faith,” the author commended the many men and women of the Bible who lived by faith and sometimes died because of it. Therefore, because of their witness and example, believers in Jesus are prompted to “run with perseverance the race marked out for [them]” (12:1). At the end of the book, we’re given this promise: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (13:5). By: Alyson Kieda

Traveling Light

et us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1

A man named James took an adventurous, 1,250-mile journey down the West Coast of the US—biking from Seattle, Washington, to San Diego, California. A friend of mine met the ambitious biker near the cliffs of Big Sur, 930 miles from his starting point. After learning that someone had recently stolen James’ camping gear, my friend offered his blanket and sweater, but James refused. He said that as he traveled south into the warmer climate, he needed to begin shedding items. And the closer he got to his destination, the more tired he became, so he needed to reduce the weight he was carrying.

James’ realization was smart. It’s a reflection of what the writer of Hebrews is saying too. As we continue our journey in life, we need to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (12:1). We need to travel light to press on.

As believers in Jesus, running this race requires “perseverance” (v. 1). And one of the ways to ensure we can keep going is to be free of the weight of unforgiveness, pettiness, and other sins that will hinder us.

Without Jesus’ help, we can’t travel light and run this race well. May we look to the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” so that we won’t “grow weary and lose heart” (vv. 2–3). By:  Katara Patton

Reflect & Pray

What do you sense is weighing you down on your life journey? How might you persevere and be free of the weight that entangles?

Heavenly Father, I thank You for the race You’ve set before me. Please give me wisdom and discernment to steer clear of the sin that tries to entangle me and prevent me from running well.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 25, 2022

His Nature and Our Motives

…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 35-36; Acts 25

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 25, 2022

Never More Than You Can Carry - #9271

A new staff couple had just arrived with their U-Haul truck, moving to our area from the Southwest. And a bunch of us were there to meet them and help them move into their apartment. Our then-four-year-old grandson insisted on joining the moving crew. I was inside the truck, handing out items as helpers came to get some more, and no one made more trips than the youngest mover there. Now, I didn't give him the couch to carry, or the dresser or the TV set. You know, I gave him small boxes, small appliances, light objects to carry. There's only so much a four-year-old can handle. Or even someone who's a lot more than four years old - like me, for example.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never More Than You Can Carry."

We all have some loads to carry; that's the nature of life. And sometimes it's so heavy that it takes everything we've got to keep from dropping it or caving in beneath the weight. Maybe this is one of those seasons of heavy burdens for you. I've got some good news for you-news that's contained in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Here is your Heavenly Father's promise: "God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted (or the word can also be translated "tested") beyond what you can bear. For when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it."

Did you get that, "Never more than you can bear"? Just like that day I handed loads to my grandson for him to carry. I knew what he could handle. I wouldn't give him more than he could carry. Well, neither will your Father in heaven who loves you infinitely and knows you completely. Everything comes into your life as a child of God, it has to be Father-filtered first. Whether your Father sends it or allows it, no burden, no temptation can come into your life unless He has first signed off on it. Will He allow burdens that take you to the limit? Yes, He will. Ask any athlete who's ever used the weight room. The only way you can get stronger is if you have to lift something heavier than you've lifted before. But God knows your limit, and while He may allow you to go to the edge so you can experience His power, He will never allow you to go over the edge.

Maybe you feel like Mother Teresa who is reported to have said, "I know God trusts me and He will never let me have more than I can handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." Well, in a very real way, God's trust is what your burdens are all about. Look at Job. He had no idea that his motives for serving God were being challenged by Satan himself in heaven. And the devil knew he couldn't do anything bad to Job unless God allowed him to. And God looks at his servant Job and says, "I can trust this man with a very heavy load. He will not betray me. He will not stop trusting me." And with one tragedy after another flooding into his life, Job proves he is a man God can trust. And, in the process, he humiliates the devil who was sure he could embarrass God with Job's betrayal.

If you're having to carry something really heavy right now, realize you are indeed being trusted by God with this burden. He believes you can handle it, with His unlimited power as your strength. He believes you won't let Him down. And He knows you will emerge from this struggle stronger and more valuable than you've ever been. For Job, it meant receiving twice what he had lost during his time of testing.

Your Father loves you. Your Father knows what you can handle. He knows what He can trust you with. There's something much bigger, something much more eternal going on here than you could possibly imagine, maybe even a contest over you between the devil and God Himself.

Carry your burden faithfully, with undiminished allegiance to your Lord and daily downloading of the mighty grace of God. And as your Father hands you today's load to carry, be sure that He knows how much you can handle, and He will never give you more than you can carry.

1 Samuel 27 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Look Inside Yourself

When my daughter Jenna was six years old, I discovered her standing in front of a full-length mirror looking down her throat. I asked her what she was doing and she answered, “I’m looking to see if God is in my heart.”  I chuckled and turned then overheard her ask Him, “Are you in there?”

She was asking the right question. “Are you in there?” It wasn’t enough for you to appear in a bush or dwell in the temple? It wasn’t enough for you to become human flesh and walk on the earth? You had to go further? You had to take up residence in us?

Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (I Corinthians 6:19). Perhaps you didn’t. If not, thanks for letting me remind you. The world says look inside yourself and find self. God says look inside yourself and find God.

From When God Whispers Your Name

1 Samuel 27

David thought to himself, “Sooner or later, Saul’s going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to Philistine country. Saul will count me a lost cause and quit hunting me down in every nook and cranny of Israel. I’ll be out of his reach for good.”

2-4 So David left; he and his six hundred men went to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath. They moved in and settled down in Gath, with Achish. Each man brought his household; David brought his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, widow of Nabal of Carmel. When Saul was told that David had escaped to Gath, he called off the hunt.

5 Then David said to Achish, “If it’s agreeable to you, assign me a place in one of the rural villages. It doesn’t seem right that I, your mere servant, should be taking up space in the royal city.”

6-7 So Achish assigned him Ziklag. (This is how Ziklag got to be what it is now, a city of the kings of Judah.) David lived in Philistine country a year and four months.

8-9 From time to time David and his men raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—these people were longtime inhabitants of the land stretching toward Shur and on to Egypt. When David raided an area he left no one alive, neither man nor woman, but took everything else: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, clothing—the works. Then he’d return to Achish.

10-11 Achish would ask, “And whom did you raid today?”

David would tell him, “Oh, the Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.” He never left a single person alive lest one show up in Gath and report what David had really been doing. This is the way David operated all the time he lived in Philistine country.

12 Achish came to trust David completely. He thought, “He’s made himself so repugnant to his people that he’ll be in my camp forever.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, July 24, 2022

Today's Scripture
Joshua 22:21–27

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

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.’

Insight

The ten tribes of Israel on the west side of the Jordan chose Phinehas the priest as their spokesperson (Joshua 22:13). It was Phinehas himself who put an end to God’s judgment against Israel at Peor when he slew a man engaged in idolatry (Numbers 25:7–9). As grandson to Aaron the high priest and arbiter of God’s justice, he approached the other tribes mentioned in Joshua as a kind of warning: become idolaters like those at Peor and I'll see justice done. The ten tribes feared that their brothers had fallen into idolatry and were committed to seeing righteousness restored. The new generation of Israel had learned its lesson and took very seriously God’s claim to be the only true God. By: Jed Ostoich

God Knows

The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows!
Joshua 22:22

A couple who stopped to admire a large abstract painting noticed open paint cans and brushes underneath it. Assuming it was a “work in progress” that anyone could help create, they stroked in some color and left. The artist, though, had purposefully left the supplies there as part of the finished work’s display. After reviewing video footage of the incident, the gallery acknowledged the misunderstanding and didn’t press charges.

The Israelites who lived east of the Jordan created a misunderstanding when they built a massive altar next to the river. The western tribes viewed this as rebellion against God—everyone knew the tabernacle was the only God-approved place for worship (Joshua 22:16).

Tensions mounted until the eastern tribes explained that they only meant to make a replica of God’s altar. They wanted their descendants to see it and recognize their spiritual and ancestral connection with the rest of Israel (vv. 28–29). They exclaimed: “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows!” (v. 22). Thankfully, the others listened. They saw what was going on, praised God, and returned home.

Because God “searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9), everyone’s motives are clear to Him. If we ask Him to help us sort out confusing situations, He may give us the chance to explain ourselves or the grace we need to forgive offenses. We can turn to Him when we’re striving for unity with others.

Reflect & Pray

What kind of value do you place on unity with others? Why is it vital for us to lovingly disagree with fellow believers at times?

Dear God, help me to be an attentive listener and humble speaker.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 24, 2022

His Nature and Our Motives

…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 35-36; Acts 25

1 Samuel 26 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:Help From the Inside Out

When your hope comes from within you, your life is good as long as you are good.  Your faith is strong as long as you are strong. But therein lies the problem. The Bible says, no one is good. Nor is anyone always strong; nor always secure. We need help from the inside out.

Jesus promised this kind of help in John 14:16-17 when he said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. . .you know Him because He lives with you and will be in you.”

Not near us. Not above us. Not around us. But in us. In the part of us we don’t even know. In the heart no one else has seen. In the hidden recesses of our being dwells, not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but Spirit of God. Imagine that!

From When God Whispers Your Name

1 Samuel 26

Obsessed with a Single Flea

 Some Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Did you know that David is hiding out on the Hakilah Hill just opposite Jeshimon?” Saul was on his feet in a minute and on his way to the wilderness of Ziph, taking three thousand of his best men, the pick of the crop, to hunt for David in that wild desert. He camped just off the road at the Hakilah Hill, opposite Jeshimon.

3-5 David, still out in the backcountry, knew Saul had come after him. He sent scouts to determine his precise location. Then David set out and came to the place where Saul had set up camp and saw for himself where Saul and Abner, son of Ner, his general, were staying. Saul was safely inside the camp, encircled by the army.

6 Taking charge, David spoke to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother: “Who will go down with me and enter Saul’s camp?”

Abishai whispered, “I’ll go with you.”

7 So David and Abishai entered the encampment by night, and there he was—Saul, stretched out asleep at the center of the camp, his spear stuck in the ground near his head, with Abner and the troops sound asleep on all sides.

8 Abishai said, “This is the moment! God has put your enemy in your grasp. Let me nail him to the ground with his spear. One hit will do it, believe me; I won’t need a second!”

9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t you dare hurt him! Who could lay a hand on God’s anointed and even think of getting away with it?”

10-11 He went on, “As God lives, either God will strike him, or his time will come and he’ll die in bed, or he’ll fall in battle, but God forbid that I should lay a finger on God’s anointed. Now, grab the spear at his head and the water jug and let’s get out of here.”

12 David took the spear and water jug that were right beside Saul’s head, and they slipped away. Not a soul saw. Not a soul knew. No one woke up! They all slept through the whole thing. A blanket of deep sleep from God had fallen on them.

13-14 Then David went across to the opposite hill and stood far away on the top of the mountain. With this safe distance between them, he shouted across to the army and Abner son of Ner, “Hey, Abner! How long do I have to wait for you to wake up and answer me?”

Abner said, “Who’s calling?”

15-16 “Aren’t you in charge there?” said David. “Why aren’t you minding the store? Why weren’t you standing guard over your master the king, when a soldier came to kill the king your master? Bad form! As God lives, your life should be forfeit, you and the entire bodyguard. Look what I have—the king’s spear and water jug that were right beside his head!”

17-20 By now, Saul had recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that you, my son David?”

David said, “Yes, it’s me, O King, my master. Why are you after me, hunting me down? What have I done? What crime have I committed? Oh, my master, my king, listen to this from your servant: If God has stirred you up against me, then I gladly offer my life as a sacrifice. But if it’s men who have done it, let them be banished from God’s presence! They’ve expelled me from my rightful place in God’s heritage, sneering, ‘Out of here! Go get a job with some other god!’ But you’re not getting rid of me that easily; you’ll not separate me from God in life or death. The absurdity! The king of Israel obsessed with a single flea! Hunting me down—a mere partridge—out in the hills!”

21 Saul confessed, “I’ve sinned! Oh, come back, my dear son David! I won’t hurt you anymore. You’ve honored me this day, treating my life as most precious. And I’ve acted the fool—a moral dunce, a real clown.”

22-24 David answered, “See what I have here? The king’s spear. Let one of your servants come and get it. It’s God’s business to decide what to do with each of us in regard to what’s right and who’s loyal. God put your life in my hands today, but I wasn’t willing to lift a finger against God’s anointed. Just as I honored your life today, may God honor my life and rescue me from all trouble.”

25 Saul said to David, “Bless you, dear son David! Yes, do what you have to do! And, yes, succeed in all you attempt!”

Then David went on his way, and Saul went home.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, July 23, 2022

Today's Scripture
2 Peter 1:3–9

Don’t Put It Off

3–4     Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

5–9     So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

Insight

The book of 2 Peter begins and ends on a similar note, highlighting the words grace and knowledge: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (1:2); “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18).

The word grace (“God’s favor freely given”) appears in the book only in these two verses; however, the word knowledge (or knowing) appears seven times in the book using two different Greek words. The word knowledge in 2 Peter 3:18 (also twice in 1:5–6) is gnosis (knowledge, information, facts). Such information about God is crucial for our growth and development in our life in Christ. The word used in 1:2 (also in 1:3, 8; 2:20) is epignosis. It’s a strengthened form of the previous word, suggesting a “fuller,” “deeper,” “experiential” understanding of the object known. By: Arthur Jackson

Called to Grow

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive.
2 Peter 1:8

The sea squirt is a strange creature. Found attached to rocks and shells, it looks like a soft plastic tube waving with the current. Drawing its nutrients from the passing water, it lives a passive life far removed from its once–active youth.

The sea squirt starts life as a tadpole with a primitive spinal cord and brain that helps it find food and avoid harm. As a juvenile, it spends its days exploring the ocean, but something happens when it reaches adulthood. Settling on its rock, it stops exploring and growing. In a macabre twist, it digests its own brain.

Spineless, thoughtless, flowing passively with the current. The apostle Peter encourages us not to follow the sea squirt’s fate. Since maturity for us means taking on God’s nature (2 Peter 1:4), you and I are called to grow—grow mentally in our knowledge of Christ (3:18); spiritually in traits like goodness, perseverance, and self-control (1:5–7); and practically by exploring new ways to love, offer hospitality, and serve others through our gifts (1 Peter 4:7–11). Such growth, Peter says, will stop us from living “ineffective and unproductive” lives (2 Peter 1:8).

This calling to grow is as vital for the seventy-year-old as it is for the teenager. God’s nature is as vast as the ocean. We’ve barely swum a few feet. Explore His unending character, take new spiritual adventures. Study, serve, take risks. Grow. By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

What character trait do you feel God calling you to grow in? What service opportunity is He leading you to try?

Father God, please help me to grow more like You each day.

Learn how to improve your walk with God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 23, 2022

Sanctification (2)

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us…sanctification… —1 Corinthians 1:30

The Life Side. The mystery of sanctification is that the perfect qualities of Jesus Christ are imparted as a gift to me, not gradually, but instantly once I enter by faith into the realization that He “became for [me]…sanctification….” Sanctification means nothing less than the holiness of Jesus becoming mine and being exhibited in my life.

The most wonderful secret of living a holy life does not lie in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfect qualities of Jesus exhibit themselves in my human flesh. Sanctification is “Christ in you…” (Colossians 1:27). It is His wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification— imparted by faith as a sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in His Word?

Sanctification means the impartation of the holy qualities of Jesus Christ to me. It is the gift of His patience, love, holiness, faith, purity, and godliness that is exhibited in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy— it is drawing from Jesus the very holiness that was exhibited in Him, and that He now exhibits in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. Imitation is something altogether different. The perfection of everything is in Jesus Christ, and the mystery of sanctification is that all the perfect qualities of Jesus are at my disposal. Consequently, I slowly but surely begin to live a life of inexpressible order, soundness, and holiness— “…kept by the power of God…” (1 Peter 1:5).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples.  Approved Unto God, 11 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 33-34; Acts 24

1 Samuel 25 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Hope Is an Olive Leaf - July 22, 2022

Noah pulled a dove out of the bowels of the ark and ascended the ladder. With a prayer he let it go. All day he looked for the dove’s return. You’ve known your share of floods. Flooded by sorrow at the cemetery, stress at the office, anger at the disability in your body or the inability of your spouse. You’ve likely seen the sun set on your hopes as well. You’ve been on Noah’s boat.

And you’ve needed what Noah needed; you’ve needed some hope. “That evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth” (Genesis 8:11 NCV). The bird brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood. Proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk.

1 Samuel 25

To Fight God’s Battles

Samuel died. The whole country came to his funeral. Everyone grieved over his death, and he was buried in his hometown of Ramah. Meanwhile, David moved again, this time to the wilderness of Maon.

2-3 There was a certain man in Maon who carried on his business in the region of Carmel. He was very prosperous—three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and it was sheep-shearing time in Carmel. The man’s name was Nabal (Fool), a Calebite, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and good-looking, the man brutish and mean.

4-8 David, out in the backcountry, heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep and sent ten of his young men off with these instructions: “Go to Carmel and approach Nabal. Greet him in my name, ‘Peace! Life and peace to you. Peace to your household, peace to everyone here! I heard that it’s sheep-shearing time. Here’s the point: When your shepherds were camped near us we didn’t take advantage of them. They didn’t lose a thing all the time they were with us in Carmel. Ask your young men—they’ll tell you. What I’m asking is that you be generous with my men—share the feast! Give whatever your heart tells you to your servants and to me, David your son.’”

9-11 David’s young men went and delivered his message word for word to Nabal. Nabal tore into them, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? The country is full of runaway servants these days. Do you think I’m going to take good bread and wine and meat freshly butchered for my sheepshearers and give it to men I’ve never laid eyes on? Who knows where they’ve come from?”

12-13 David’s men got out of there and went back and told David what he had said. David said, “Strap on your swords!” They all strapped on their swords, David and his men, and set out, four hundred of them. Two hundred stayed behind to guard the camp.

14-17 Meanwhile, one of the young shepherds told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, what had happened: “David sent messengers from the backcountry to salute our master, but he tore into them with insults. Yet these men treated us very well. They took nothing from us and didn’t take advantage of us all the time we were in the fields. They formed a wall around us, protecting us day and night all the time we were out tending the sheep. Do something quickly because big trouble is ahead for our master and all of us. Nobody can talk to him. He’s impossible—a real brute!”

18-19 Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep dressed out and ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she had it all loaded on some donkeys. Then she said to her young servants, “Go ahead and pave the way for me. I’m right behind you.” But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.

20-22 As she was riding her donkey, descending into a ravine, David and his men were descending from the other end, so they met there on the road. David had just said, “That sure was a waste, guarding everything this man had out in the wild so that nothing he had was lost—and now he rewards me with insults. A real slap in the face! May God do his worst to me if Nabal and every cur in his misbegotten brood aren’t dead meat by morning!”

23-25 As soon as Abigail saw David, she got off her donkey and fell on her knees at his feet, her face to the ground in homage, saying, “My master, let me take the blame! Let me speak to you. Listen to what I have to say. Don’t dwell on what that brute Nabal did. He acts out the meaning of his name: Nabal, Fool. Foolishness oozes from him.

25-27 “I wasn’t there when the young men my master sent arrived. I didn’t see them. And now, my master, as God lives and as you live, God has kept you from this avenging murder—and may your enemies, all who seek my master’s harm, end up like Nabal! Now take this gift that I, your servant girl, have brought to my master, and give it to the young men who follow in the steps of my master.

28-29 “Forgive my presumption! But God is at work in my master, developing a rule solid and dependable. My master fights God’s battles! As long as you live no evil will stick to you.

If anyone stands in your way,
    if anyone tries to get you out of the way,
Know this: Your God-honored life is tightly bound
    in the bundle of God-protected life;
But the lives of your enemies will be hurled aside
    as a stone is thrown from a sling.

30-31 “When God completes all the goodness he has promised my master and sets you up as prince over Israel, my master will not have this dead weight in his heart, the guilt of an avenging murder. And when God has worked things for good for my master, remember me.”

32-34 And David said, “Blessed be God, the God of Israel. He sent you to meet me! And blessed be your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and taking charge of looking out for me. A close call! As God lives, the God of Israel who kept me from hurting you, if you had not come as quickly as you did, stopping me in my tracks, by morning there would have been nothing left of Nabal but dead meat.”

35 Then David accepted the gift she brought him and said, “Return home in peace. I’ve heard what you’ve said and I’ll do what you’ve asked.”

36-38 When Abigail got home she found Nabal presiding over a huge banquet. He was in high spirits—and very, very drunk. So she didn’t tell him anything of what she’d done until morning. But in the morning, after Nabal had sobered up, she told him the whole story. Right then and there he had a heart attack and fell into a coma. About ten days later God finished him off and he died.

39-40 When David heard that Nabal was dead he said, “Blessed be God who has stood up for me against Nabal’s insults, kept me from an evil act, and let Nabal’s evil boomerang back on him.”

Then David sent for Abigail to tell her that he wanted her for his wife. David’s servants went to Abigail at Carmel with the message, “David sent us to bring you to marry him.”

41 She got up, and then bowed down, face to the ground, saying, “I’m your servant, ready to do anything you want. I’ll even wash the feet of my master’s servants!”

42 Abigail didn’t linger. She got on her donkey and, with her five maids in attendance, went with the messengers to David and became his wife.

43-44 David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Both women were his wives. Saul had married off David’s wife Michal to Palti (Paltiel) son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, July 22, 2022

Today's Scripture
Acts 3:1–10

One day at three o’clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the Temple for prayer meeting. At the same time there was a man crippled from birth being carried up. Every day he was set down at the Temple gate, the one named Beautiful, to beg from those going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple, he asked for a handout. Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye and said, “Look here.” He looked up, expecting to get something from them.

6–8     Peter said, “I don’t have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. In an instant his feet and ankles became firm. He jumped to his feet and walked.

8–10     The man went into the Temple with them, walking back and forth, dancing and praising God. Everybody there saw him walking around and praising God. They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the Temple’s Gate Beautiful and rubbed their eyes, astonished, scarcely believing what they were seeing.

Insight

Early in their training, Jesus sent His disciples “out two by two” (Mark 6:7). It seems that Peter and John thrived in this pattern since they’re often seen working together (Luke 22:8; John 20:3–4; Acts 3:1; 4:1; 8:14). In Acts 3:1–10, we see them together at the temple. The Jews had three daily times of prayer: 9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m. (see Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10; Acts 10:30). The temple would’ve been crowded with Jews who’d come to offer their prayers. As devout Jews, Peter and John may have come to the temple to offer their evening prayers too. Additionally, and more likely, they might have come to tell the crowd gathered there about Jesus (Acts 3:11–4:2; 5:20–21, 42). Beggars were apt to gather at the temple because devotees who came to seek God’s blessings were more willing to give alms in the hope of impressing Him with their generosity. By: K. T. Sim

Live Like You’re Healed

Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
Acts 3:8

Two sisters from India were born blind. Their father was a hard-working provider, but he could never afford the surgery that would give them sight. Then a team of doctors came to their region on a short-term medical mission. The morning after their surgery, the girls smiled wide as the nurse unwrapped their bandages. One exclaimed, “Mother, I can see! I can see!”

A man who had been lame since birth sat in his usual spot at a temple gate, begging for money. Peter told the man he didn’t have coins, but he had something better. “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6), he said. The man “jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went . . . jumping, and praising God” (v. 8).

The sisters and the man appreciated their eyes and legs more than those who were never blind or lame. The girls couldn’t stop blinking in amazement and celebration, and the man “jumped to his feet.”

Consider your own natural abilities. How might you enjoy these abilities more, and how might you use them differently, if you had been miraculously healed? Now consider this. If you believe in Jesus, He's healed you spiritually. He’s rescued you from your sins.

Let’s thank the One who made and saved us and dedicate all that He gave us to Him.

By:  Mike Wittmer


Reflect & Pray

How might you use your natural abilities for Jesus? How might you enjoy serving with whatever abilities you have? Thank Him for the pleasure they bring.

Father, thank You for ears to hear You, mouths to praise You, and hands and feet to serve You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 22, 2022
Sanctification (1)

This is the will of God, your sanctification… —1 Thessalonians 4:3

The Death Side. In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Sanctification requires our coming to the place of death, but many of us spend so much time there that we become morbid. There is always a tremendous battle before sanctification is realized— something within us pushing with resentment against the demands of Christ. When the Holy Spirit begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle starts immediately. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…his own life…he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

In the process of sanctification, the Spirit of God will strip me down until there is nothing left but myself, and that is the place of death. Am I willing to be myself and nothing more? Am I willing to have no friends, no father, no brother, and no self-interest— simply to be ready for death? That is the condition required for sanctification. No wonder Jesus said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us falter. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ on this point. We say, “But this is so strict. Surely He does not require that of me.” Our Lord is strict, and He does require that of us.

Am I willing to reduce myself down to simply “me”? Am I determined enough to strip myself of all that my friends think of me, and all that I think of myself? Am I willing and determined to hand over my simple naked self to God? Once I am, He will immediately sanctify me completely, and my life will be free from being determined and persistent toward anything except God (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

When I pray, “Lord, show me what sanctification means for me,” He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus puts in me— it is Himself in me (see 1 Corinthians 1:30).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 31-32; Acts 23:16-35

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 22, 2022

Looking for a Leader We Can Trust - #9270

I can't remember the names of all of Snow White's dwarfs, but I don't feel bad about that. I mean, I do remember one - Grumpy. Actually I've heard the Grumpy shirt is one of Disney's big sellers. Yeah, I might know why. Grumpy is a kind of mood a whole lot of people are in these days.

I mean, you know, when you take just the state of politics in America, we've got one group who wants us to stop spending money, and some who want people to stop making money. And there are some people who don't like what the President's doing, and some who don't like what Congress is doing. "Hello, Grumpy!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking for a Leader We Can Trust."

See, if there was a "none of the above" choice on the ballot, he might just win. I mean, it doesn't matter whether you're in America or many other countries of the world, we're just hurting for a leader who won't let us down; who can actually do something about the baffling tangle of problems we have. And it's not just politicians who've let us down. Sometimes parents fail us...a church, a pastor fails us...a leader we've looked to disappoints us...betrays us.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, because our leaders are a lot like us. And I know I sure haven't been everything people needed me to be. I'm sure I've disappointed folks along the way.

As much as human leaders may have let us down, it doesn't change the fact that our hearts are hungry for someone to look to; someone who can take us where we haven't been able to go ourselves. Who totally lives what he says...who not only promises hope but delivers it...who can fix the unfixable...who we can follow with the confidence that they care about us more than they care about themselves.

That's Jesus, only Jesus. As our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 10:11 says, "Anyone who believes in Him will never be disappointed." I sure haven't been. This man who had the power to walk out of His grave has had more than enough power to change what I couldn't; people I couldn't change, problems I couldn't fix, dark parts of me that I couldn't change. He's led me on roads that didn't always make sense on the first mile, but always ended up putting me in a better place.

And there's no doubt about Him caring more about me than about himself. He offered himself to be nailed on a cross and separated from God so my sins could be erased, so I could be with Him in heaven forever. And anybody who loves me enough to die for me will never do me wrong.

There really is a hole in our hearts that is starved for a loving leader for our life. A "shepherd" as Jesus said. He said, "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me." And where does following Him end up? He said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish" (John 10:27-28). That's a promise that only Jesus can make, and only Jesus can keep. And it may be that in a heart that's listening today that feels lost inside, needing someone to look to, looking for that person who can fix what you can't fix, make sense out of the scattered pieces of the puzzle, then you're ready for Jesus and He's ready for you.

Why don't you reach out to Him today and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You died for me; I can trust You. I'm Yours." You know, our website is a place where there's information that will help you be sure you belong to him; that you've begun your relationship with him. I urge you to go visit there. It's ANewStory.com.

A few years ago there was a plane that crashed in the Hudson River, remember? And I thought it was just going to be like massive carnage. Instead we saw "the miracle on the Hudson." This jetliner's engines had been totally disabled. It looked like there was going to be a tragic crash, but their captain, "Sully" Sullenberger, was a veteran fighter pilot, an airline pilot and crash investigator; probably one of the few pilots who could have brought them in safely. And he was the one at the controls.

I've been on some flights where I wish I could have picked the captain in the cockpit. I've never been able to pick the pilot for my flight, but I got to pick the pilot for my life, and it's Captain Jesus.

He's the one pilot who can bring you in safely...no matter what happens.

1 Samuel 24 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Nicodemus - July 21, 2022

“God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NCV). Nicodemus has never heard such words. Could God be so generous?

Note how God liberates the legalist. Like a master farmer, he shoveled away the crusty soil until a moist, fertile spot was found. And there he planted a seed, a seed of grace. Did it bear fruit? John 19:39 and 42 says, “Nicodemus, who earlier had come to Jesus at night, went with Joseph. The men laid Jesus in that tomb.”

The one who’d crept through the shadows to meet Jesus now comes to the cross to serve Jesus. And the one who’d received the seed of grace now plants the greatest seed of all—the seed of eternal life.

1 Samuel 24

“I’m No Rebel”

When Saul came back after dealing with the Philistines, he was told, “David is now in the wilderness of En Gedi.” Saul took three companies—the best he could find in all Israel—and set out in search of David and his men in the region of Wild Goat Rocks. He came to some sheep pens along the road. There was a cave there and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were huddled far back in the same cave. David’s men whispered to him, “Can you believe it? This is the day God was talking about when he said, ‘I’ll put your enemy in your hands. You can do whatever you want with him.’” Quiet as a cat, David crept up and cut off a piece of Saul’s royal robe.

5-7 Immediately, he felt guilty. He said to his men, “God forbid that I should have done this to my master, God’s anointed, that I should so much as raise a finger against him. He’s God’s anointed!” David held his men in check with these words and wouldn’t let them pounce on Saul. Saul got up, left the cave, and went on down the road.

8-13 Then David stood at the mouth of the cave and called to Saul, “My master! My king!” Saul looked back. David fell to his knees and bowed in reverence. He called out, “Why do you listen to those who say ‘David is out to get you’? This very day with your very own eyes you have seen that just now in the cave God put you in my hands. My men wanted me to kill you, but I wouldn’t do it. I told them that I won’t lift a finger against my master—he’s God’s anointed. Oh, my father, look at this, look at this piece that I cut from your robe. I could have cut you—killed you!—but I didn’t. Look at the evidence! I’m not against you. I’m no rebel. I haven’t sinned against you, and yet you’re hunting me down to kill me. Let’s decide which of us is in the right. God may avenge me, but it is in his hands, not mine. An old proverb says, ‘Evil deeds come from evil people.’ So be assured that my hand won’t touch you.

14-15 “What does the king of Israel think he’s doing? Who do you think you’re chasing? A dead dog? A flea? God is our judge. He’ll decide who is right. Oh, that he would look down right now, decide right now—and set me free of you!”

16-21 When David had finished saying all this, Saul said, “Can this be the voice of my son David?” and he wept in loud sobs. “You’re the one in the right, not me,” he continued. “You’ve heaped good on me; I’ve dumped evil on you. And now you’ve done it again—treated me generously. God put me in your hands and you didn’t kill me. Why? When a man meets his enemy, does he send him down the road with a blessing? May God give you a bonus of blessings for what you’ve done for me today! I know now beyond doubt that you will rule as king. The kingdom of Israel is already in your grasp! Now promise me under God that you will not kill off my family or wipe my name off the books.”

22 David promised Saul. Then Saul went home and David and his men went up to their wilderness refuge.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, July 21, 2022

Today's Scripture
Genesis 16:7–16

An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur. He said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?”

She said, “I’m running away from Sarai my mistress.”

9–12     The angel of God said, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse.” He continued, “I’m going to give you a big family, children past counting.

From this pregnancy, you’ll get a son: Name him Ishmael;

for God heard you, God answered you.

He’ll be a bucking bronco of a man,

a real fighter, fighting and being fought,

Always stirring up trouble,

always at odds with his family.”

13     She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!

“Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”

14     That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

15–16     Hagar gave Abram a son. Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael.

Insight

How encouraging it is to know that those who are marginalized by what others do to them or by what they do to themselves don’t escape the attention of God. Genesis 16 emphasizes this with two names—the name of a place, Beer Lahai Roi (“the well of the Living One who sees me,” v. 14) and the name of a son, Ishmael (“God will hear,” v. 11). The words “the Lord has heard of your misery” (v. 11) show the keen nature of divine hearing. The root word of “has heard” is the oft-used Hebrew word shama‘, which means “to hear, listen, or obey.” Indeed, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry” (Psalm 34:15). By: Arthur Jackson

God Sees You

You are the God who sees me.
Genesis 16:13

Early mornings can be painful for my friend Alma, a single mom of two. She says, “When everything is quiet, worries surface. As I do household chores, I think about our financial concerns and the kids’ health and studies.”

When her husband abandoned her, Alma bore the responsibility of raising her children on her own. “It’s difficult,” she says, “but I know God sees me and my family. He gives me the strength to work two jobs, provides for our needs, and lets my kids experience His guidance each day.”

Hagar, an Egyptian maidservant, understood what it meant to be seen by God. After she got pregnant by Abram, she began to despise Sarai (Genesis 16:4), who in turn mistreated her, causing Hagar to flee to the desert. Hagar found herself alone, facing a future that seemed bleak and hopeless for her and her unborn child.

But it was in the desert that “the angel of the Lord” (v. 7) met her and said, “The Lord has heard of your misery” (v. 11). The angel of God gave Hagar guidance on what to do, and He assured her of what the future would hold. From her we learn one of the names of God—El Roi, “the God who sees me” (v. 13).

Like Hagar, you may be on a difficult journey—feeling lost and alone. But remember that even in the wasteland, God sees you. Reach out to Him and trust Him to guide you through. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

How could knowing God as El Roi—the God who sees—change your view of your current circumstances? How can you respond to Him?

Dear God, thank You that I’ll never have to journey through life alone. I know that You see me and will always be with me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 21, 2022
  
The Doorway to the Kingdom

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

Beware of thinking of our Lord as only a teacher. If Jesus Christ is only a teacher, then all He can do is frustrate me by setting a standard before me I cannot attain. What is the point of presenting me with such a lofty ideal if I cannot possibly come close to reaching it? I would be happier if I never knew it. What good is there in telling me to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8), to do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But when I am born again by the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The redemption means that Jesus Christ can place within anyone the same nature that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives us are based on that nature.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11). This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes us so long to believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 29-30; Acts 23:1-15

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 21, 2022

Falling Down, but Not Staying Down - #9269

Our then-18-month-old grandson rapidly became a bulldozer on two legs. He didn't actually walk anywhere; he ran everywhere. And no comments about being like his grandfather here, OK? Of course, he didn't always get around like that. First, he only went where one of us carried him. Then the crawling started. He didn't do that for long. He graduated to walking real fast. And, like every baby who ever learned to walk, he began by taking a step or two and then he fell down. I guess he could have said to himself after a couple of falls, "Oh well, I guess I wasn't cut out to walk. It's just too hard. I keep falling down. I think I'll just lie here from now on." Oh, great! Now he's 18 years old, his mother has to vacuum around him. His friends come over and he says, "Hey, you want to roll into my room with me?" No, it didn't work that way. After he went "step-boom," he got back up and went "step-step-boom." And then "step-step-step-step-boom." Now you can't stop him!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Falling Down, but Not Staying Down."

God's children have something to learn from their own children. When you fall down, you don't stay down. You get up and you start walking again. Sadly, when many of us take a spiritual fall, we quit trying to walk. We just stay down. Maybe that's where you are right now.

I love the defiant recovery cry in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Micah 7:8. "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light." That's powerful. He acknowledges that he's fallen, but he declares that he doesn't have to stay down. And he's declaring that, he said, to his "enemy."

We know, of course, that our enemy is Satan himself, and he's very angry that he couldn't keep you from giving yourself to Jesus. He wanted you in hell with him forever. He lost that big battle. Now he's determined to keep you from living for Jesus, from experiencing victory over the things that have beaten you over and over. He wants to keep you from enjoying the peace and the security of a consistent walk with Jesus. So you know what he does? He keeps pushing buttons to get you to do things or think things or feel things that will bring you down. And maybe it's worked.

So you're down. Are you just going to stay down? "Well, it's too hard I guess. I'll never change. I tried. I failed. What's the use?" No! No! You're not going to let the devil succeed in one of his most cynical strategies-trying to turn one defeat into many defeats. OK, you fell. But that doesn't mean you have to stay there. that you have to fall more. You don't have to be there for the rest of your life. Satan starts pouring on the shame. He says, "Look at what you did. You might as well give it up, man, and just keep going down." But Jesus says this, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Proverbs 24:16 says, "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again." Notice, it doesn't say the righteous man never falls. It says when he falls, he keeps getting right back up and doing what's right. The only person who never falls down, by the way, is the person who isn't trying to walk!

So when you fall down, be as defiant about getting up and walking again as a baby is. When you belong to Jesus, there is no such thing as a knockout. When you belong to Jesus, failure is never final. Listen to God's words, "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise!"

Luke 22:47-71 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Is Not Finished with You - July 20, 2022

“I am not a great man! How can I go to the king and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11 NCV).

Moses asked that question at age eighty, and I am so glad he did. Why eighty-year-old Moses? The Moses we saw in Egypt was brash and confident, but the Moses we find four decades later is reluctant and weather beaten. Benched at forty, suited up at eighty. What does he know now that he didn’t know then?

Well the ways of the desert, for one. Family dynamics for another. But more than the ways of the desert and the people, Moses needed to learn something about himself. Apparently, he las learned it. God says Moses is ready. And guess what? The voice from the bush is the voice that whispers to you. And it reminds you that God is not finished with you yet.

Luke 22:47-71

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a crowd showed up, Judas, the one from the Twelve, in the lead. He came right up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said, “Judas, you would betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

49-50 When those with him saw what was happening, they said, “Master, shall we fight?” One of them took a swing at the Chief Priest’s servant and cut off his right ear.

51 Jesus said, “Let them be. Even in this.” Then, touching the servant’s ear, he healed him.

52-53 Jesus spoke to those who had come—high priests, Temple police, religion leaders: “What is this, jumping me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been with you in the Temple and you’ve not so much as lifted a hand against me. But do it your way—it’s a dark night, a dark hour.”
A Rooster Crowed

54-56 Arresting Jesus, they marched him off and took him into the house of the Chief Priest. Peter followed, but at a safe distance. In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, “This man was with him!”

57 He denied it, “Woman, I don’t even know him.”

58 A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, “You’re one of them.”

But Peter denied it: “Man, I am not.”

59 About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: “He’s got to have been with him! He’s got ‘Galilean’ written all over him.”

60-62 Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went out and cried and cried and cried.
Slapping Him Around

63-65 The men in charge of Jesus began poking fun at him, slapping him around. They put a blindfold on him and taunted, “Who hit you that time?” They were having a grand time with him.

66-67 When it was morning, the religious leaders of the people and the high priests and scholars all got together and brought him before their High Council. They said, “Are you the Messiah?”

67-69 He answered, “If I said yes, you wouldn’t believe me. If I asked what you meant by your question, you wouldn’t answer me. So here’s what I have to say: From here on the Son of Man takes his place at God’s right hand, the place of power.”

70 They all said, “So you admit your claim to be the Son of God?”

“You’re the ones who keep saying it,” he said.

71 But they had made up their minds, “Why do we need any more evidence? We’ve all heard him as good as say it himself.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Today's Scripture
2 Kings 22:8–12

The high priest Hilkiah reported to Shaphan the royal secretary, “I’ve just found the Book of God’s Revelation, instructing us in God’s ways. I found it in The Temple!” He gave it to Shaphan and Shaphan read it.

9     Then Shaphan the royal secretary came back to the king and gave him an account of what had gone on: “Your servants have bagged up the money that has been collected for The Temple; they have given it to the foremen to pay The Temple workers.”

10     Then Shaphan the royal secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.” Shaphan proceeded to read it to the king.

11–13     When the king heard what was written in the book, God’s Revelation, he ripped his robes in dismay. And then he called for Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the royal secretary, and Asaiah the king’s personal aide. He ordered them all:

Insight

The reforms of Josiah, Judah’s sixteenth and last good king, are described in 2 Kings 22–23 and 2 Chronicles 34–35. He became king at eight years of age and ruled for thirty-one years (641–609 bc). Josiah’s grandfather Manasseh and father, Amon, were grossly idolatrous and evil in the fifty-seven years they reigned (2 Kings 21). At age sixteen, Josiah began to seek after God. At twenty, he began destroying all the places of idolatry. At twenty-six, he ordered the repair of the temple (2 Chronicles 34:3–8). The last time the temple was repaired was ninety-four years earlier during the reign of Hezekiah (29:3). In the process, the Book of the Law was found. Josiah’s devotion to God was exceptional: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength” (2 Kings 23:25). By: K. T. Sim

What a Find!

I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.
2 Kings 22:8

While scuba diving in 2021, Jennifer’s eyes fixed on a small, green bottle at the bottom of a river. She scooped up what she describes as “a once-in-a-lifetime find.” The bottle contained a message written by a young man on his eighteenth birthday in 1926! The words requested that whoever discovered the message return it to him. Jennifer used Facebook to locate a delighted family member of the man. Although he’d died in 1995, his once-hidden note brought joy to Jennifer and the man’s family.

In 2 Kings 22:8, we read that Hilkiah made an extraordinary find when he “found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” The high priest found what was likely the book of Deuteronomy. “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law,” he was both deeply moved and greatly distressed (v. 11). Like the temple in Judah itself, God and the reading of and obedience to the Scriptures He’d inspired had been neglected by the people. In repentance, the king had the temple swept clean of idols and anything that would displease God as he instituted reforms for his nation (23:1–24).

Today, our Bibles contain sixty-six books that reveal God’s wisdom and instruction—including Deuteronomy. As we read and listen to them, may the Holy Spirit transform our minds and reform our ways. Dive into the life-changing story of Scripture today and find wisdom to explore for a lifetime!

Reflect & Pray

What has God recently revealed to you as you’ve studied the Scriptures? Why is it vital for you to regularly spend time in them?

Father, please help me see the things I need to change in my life.

Learn effective Bible study methods.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Dependent on God’s Presence

Those who wait on the Lord…shall walk and not faint. —Isaiah 40:31

There is no thrill for us in walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To “walk and not faint” is the highest stretch possible as a measure of strength. The word walk is used in the Bible to express the character of a person— “…John…looking at Jesus as He walked…said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:35-36). There is nothing abstract or obscure in the Bible; everything is vivid and real. God does not say, “Be spiritual,” but He says, “Walk before Me…” (Genesis 17:1).

When we are in an unhealthy condition either physically or emotionally, we always look for thrills in life. In our physical life this leads to our efforts to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit; in our emotional life it leads to obsessions and to the destruction of our morality; and in our spiritual life, if we insist on pursuing only thrills, on mounting up “with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), it will result in the destruction of our spirituality.

Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually. Our problems arise when we refuse to place our trust in the reality of His presence. The experience the psalmist speaks of— “We will not fear, even though…” (Psalm 46:2)— will be ours once we are grounded on the truth of the reality of God’s presence, not just a simple awareness of it, but an understanding of the reality of it. Then we will exclaim, “He has been here all the time!” At critical moments in our lives it is necessary to ask God for guidance, but it should be unnecessary to be constantly saying, “Oh, Lord, direct me in this, and in that.” Of course He will, and in fact, He is doing it already! If our everyday decisions are not according to His will, He will press through them, bringing restraint to our spirit. Then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.

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: Psalms 26-28; Acts 22

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Getting Off Your Roller Coaster - #9268

So, when we're discussing roller coasters, and some of us were talking about which ones are the best-which means, the wildest ride, of course. Others of us were talking about avoiding roller coasters. One friend said that she just pleads what she calls "an inner ear condition." Now for me, most roller coasters are a non-issue because I stand next to that sign, you know, that shows how tall you have to be to ride it. So far I've never been tall enough. (No, that's not true. I wish I had that excuse.) Actually, some that I have ridden had these moments when I was pretty sure I had made a very big mistake getting on it in the first place. There are some really high ups and some really scary downs.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting Off Your Roller Coaster."

No matter how scary a roller coaster may be, no matter how radical its dips and twists and turns, there's good news-it's always attached to the track! Of course, you don't even have to enter an amusement park to know what it's like to ride a roller coaster. You know why? Most of us can testify that life is a roller coaster, right? Ups and downs and twists and turns surprise us, they rattle us, they frighten us, and even make us want to bail out.

Right now, you might be feeling the discouraging or the confusing effects of the roller coaster ride you've been on. It's a good time to remember that no matter how rough the ride, you're still attached to the track if you belong to Jesus Christ. I can give you that guarantee because God gives us that guarantee in our word for today from the Word of God. Philippians 1:6 makes this rock-solid promise: "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

What God started in you the day you began your personal relationship with Jesus, God's going to finish. No matter how wildly you're being tossed about right now. No matter how far you seem to be falling. No matter how fast everything is racing by. God began a good work in you, and His construction plan for you is right on schedule, no matter what your feelings or your circumstances; whatever they're saying to you. See, He put you on a track to His great plans for you, and you're still attached to that track because it's up to Him to keep you on track.

But when you're experiencing a lot of ups and downs, there are lies that it's easy to start believing. Like "What's the use? After what I just did, after what just happened, what's the use of even trying spiritually?" Well, the "use" is that God's going to finish what He started in you. He promised! Then there's this "It's over" lie - "I blew it and that's it." Wrong. God's going to finish what He started. Sometimes, when the ride is rough, we start to believe the "God doesn't love me anymore" lie; a lie that is demolished with one look at Jesus dying for you on the cross. If He did not turn His back on you then, He isn't about to do it now.

And, of course, the ups and downs can make us believe the lie "I'll never be able to do this." Since when has this been about you being able? You came to Jesus realizing there was nothing you could do to have a relationship with Him. This is about what He can do through you, in you. Or as God says in Philippians 2:13, "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose."

So it's been a rough ride. Are you going to believe your feelings, which will probably change in 20 minutes, or are you going to base everything on the facts of God's Word, which have not changed for twenty centuries? The Savior who began His work in you is going to carry it on to completion until Jesus comes. Yes, the roller coaster is going to toss you around, but so what? You are still attached to the track!

Psalm 63 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Mephibosheth - July 19, 2022

The name Mephibosheth means “he who scatters shame.” And that is exactly what David intended to do for the young prince, who was Jonathan’s son. In swift succession David returned to Mephibosheth all his land, crops, and servants. “Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table. And he was crippled  in both feet” (2 Samuel 9:13).

And I ask you, do you see our story in his? Children of royalty, crippled by the fall, permanently marred by sin. Driven not by our beauty but by his promise, the King calls us to himself and invites us to take a permanent place at his table. Though we often limp more than we walk, we take our place next to the other sinners-made-saints and we share in God’s glory.

Like Mephibosheth, we are children of the King.

Psalm 63

God—you’re my God!
    I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
    traveling across dry and weary deserts.

2-4
So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
    drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
    My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
    My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

5-8
I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
    I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
    I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
    I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
    and you hold me steady as a post.

9-11
Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
    marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
    jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
    his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
    are gagged for good.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Today's Scripture
1 Peter 5:1–6

He’ll Promote You at the Right Time

1–3     5 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.

4–5     When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,

But takes delight in just plain people.

6–7     So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time.

Insight

As Peter prepared to close his letter to a persecuted first-century church, he turned his attention to instructions for the leaders. Calling them his fellow elders, he urged them to be “shepherds” who serve their flock not out of obligation but out of love (1 Peter 5:2). Peter had already shared in their persecution through imprisonment and beatings and would eventually lose his life in his service for Jesus. He’d also seen firsthand the servant leadership of Christ, who on the night before His crucifixion stooped to wash the feet of His disciples. Jesus is the role model Peter followed, and the apostle wanted his fellow elders and shepherds to do the same (v. 1). Whatever ministry God has given to us, however large or small, we can avoid the pitfalls of pride, materialism, and authoritarianism if we’re motivated by a singular love for God and His people. By: Tim Gustafson

A Humble Snack

Clothe yourselves with humility.
1 Peter 5:5

The bag of snack chips was small, but it taught an American missionary a big lesson. Working one evening in the Dominican Republic, she arrived at a church meeting and opened her chips when a woman she hardly knew reached and grabbed a few from the bag. Others helped themselves, too.

How rude, the missionary thought. Then she realized a humbling lesson. She didn’t yet understand the culture where she’d agreed to serve. Rather than emphasizing individualism, as in the United States, she learned that life in the Dominican Republic is lived in community. Sharing one’s food and goods is how people relate to each other. Her way wasn’t better, just different. She confessed, “It was very humbling to discover these things about me.” As she began to recognize her own biases, she also learned that humbly sharing with others helped her serve them better.

Peter taught this lesson to church leaders: treat others with humility. He counseled the elders to resist “lording it over those entrusted to you” (1 Peter 5:3). And those younger? “Submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility” (v. 5). As he declared: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Therefore, “humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (v. 6). May He help us humbly live before Him and others today. By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray

What cultural biases do you harbor? How could you let God transform those attitudes so you humbly serve all?

Father, exchange my arrogance regarding others with Your humble love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 19, 2022

The Submission of the Believer

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. —John 13:13

Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. He never says, “You will submit to me.” No, He leaves us perfectly free to choose— so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. But once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that “You are worthy, O Lord…” (Revelation 4:11). It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one who is worthy. When I meet someone who is more holy than myself, and I don’t recognize his worthiness, nor obey his instructions for me, it is a sign of my own unworthiness being revealed. God teaches us by using these people who are a little better than we are; not better intellectually, but more holy. And He continues to do so until we willingly submit. Then the whole attitude of our life is one of obedience to Him.

If our Lord insisted on our obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him. Then He is easily Lord of our life, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The level of my growth in grace is revealed by the way I look at obedience. We should have a much higher view of the word obedience, rescuing it from the mire of the world. Obedience is only possible between people who are equals in their relationship to each other; like the relationship between father and son, not that between master and servant. Jesus showed this relationship by saying, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The Son was obedient as our Redeemer, because He was the Son, not in order to become God’s Son.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.  The Place of Help, 1032 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 23-25; Acts 21:18-40

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Your Hungry Soul - #9267

Some people can skip a meal and barely notice. I am not some people. For example, it's been four or five hours since breakfast, my body very convincingly says to me, "Feed me now!" When I don't eat regularly, I feel it. I take action. The doctor says there's nothing wrong with me, but my metabolism just seems to demand some regular maintenance. It's not like I'm alone in this. I mean, most of us know when it's time to eat again, right? And we usually stop what we're involved in to do something about it. Hunger isn't exactly passive. You know, it goes after something to satisfy it!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Hungry Soul."

Physical hunger tells you that your body needs more fuel. Spiritual hunger tells you your soul needs more. Jesus talked about this vital sign of spiritual health in his Sermon on the Mount. That's where we find our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 5:6. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled."

Jesus is encouraging a holy hunger for a life that's more and more sin-free, more and more doing things God's way. There tends to be a problem with that kind of appetite for people who are already more righteous than a lot of people around them. You tend to become content where you are. I mean, you're nicer than most folks, right? If you're not guilty of the many overt sins that are usually considered the really dirty ones, and especially if you spend much of your time doing work for God. It's all too easy for nice folks, like you and me, right, to lose the driving passion to become more holy. And that is a spiritual appetite disorder.

If you've become relatively passive about your pursuit of a higher level of personal holiness, then you're not one of those Jesus described as "hungering and thirsting after righteousness," because hunger makes you stop what you're doing and go after something that will satisfy your appetite. Hunger is active, not passive. When we're hungry, we find something to eat. When you're hungry for righteousness, you pursue God to give you more.

It starts with a consistent prayer. "Lord, give me a passion for greater holiness, to be more like you. I need to be hungry for the next level of being all you want me to be." That means asking God to show you the sins that might be hiding inside your really decent exterior-the self-serving motives, the impatience, the critical spirit, the jealous spirit, the prejudice, the pride, that stubbornness, that insistence on having your own way, those ways that you manipulate people, the bitterness, anger, lustful thoughts.

God may have taken out the obvious bags of stinking garbage in your life. But now He wants to start to renew the decay in the structure of your heart-house-the more subtle sins that others may not be able to see, but that keep you from experiencing the fullness of God's blessing and joy and peace. In other words, you are nowhere near "full" yet. You have to hunger and thirst to be more sin-free, more like Jesus in order to be what Jesus called "filled."

Maybe you've stopped with the appetizers or just a few offerings on God's righteousness buffet. And since you're farther along the line than most of the people with you, you've stopped where you are. But there is so much more. God's made you for more than this. He wants to serve you more than you've ever sampled before. Don't be satisfied with where you are now. You go after food when you're physically hungry. Ask God to stir up that holy hunger in your soul that goes after the rest of His righteousness.

Psalm 54 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Part of God’s Family - July 18, 2022
“Is anyone still left in Saul’s family? I want to show kindness to that person for Jonathan’s sake!” (2 Samuel 9:1 NCV). Those who are prone to extend grace tend to ask such questions: can’t I be kind to someone because others have been kind to me? A servant named Ziba knows of a descendant. “Jonathan has a son who is still living who is crippled in both feet” (2 Samuel 9:3). David’s only response is, “Where is this son?” (v. 4).

When God speaks of you my friend, he doesn’t mention your plight, pain, or problem. He calls you his son, his daughter, his child. Mephibosheth was taken before the king, and David’s first words to him were, “Don’t be afraid.” By the way, your king has been known to say the same. Are you aware that the most repeated command from the lips of Jesus was Fear not? He still calls you a part of his family.

Psalm 54

 God, for your sake, help me!
    Use your influence to clear me.
Listen, God—I’m desperate.
    Don’t be too busy to hear me.

3
Outlaws are out to get me,
    hit men are trying to kill me.
Nothing will stop them;
    God means nothing to them.

4-5
Oh, look! God’s right here helping!
    God’s on my side,
Evil is looping back on my enemies.
    Don’t let up! Finish them off!

6-7
I’m ready now to worship, so ready.
    I thank you, God—you’re so good.
You got me out of every scrape,
    and I saw my enemies get it.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, July 18, 2022

Today's Scripture
Psalm 19:1–4
,
7–14

God’s glory is on tour in the skies,

God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.

Madame Day holds classes every morning,

Professor Night lectures each evening.

3–4     Their words aren’t heard,

their voices aren’t recorded,

But their silence fills the earth:

unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

4–5     God makes a huge dome

for the sun—a superdome!

The revelation of God is whole

and pulls our lives together.

The signposts of God are clear

and point out the right road.

The life-maps of God are right,

showing the way to joy.

The directions of God are plain

and easy on the eyes.

God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,

with a lifetime guarantee.

The decisions of God are accurate

down to the nth degree.

10     God’s Word is better than a diamond,

better than a diamond set between emeralds.

You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,

better than red, ripe strawberries.

11–14     There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger

and directs us to hidden treasure.

Otherwise how will we find our way?

Or know when we play the fool?

Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!

Keep me from stupid sins,

from thinking I can take over your work;

Then I can start this day sun-washed,

scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.

These are the words in my mouth;

these are what I chew on and pray.

Accept them when I place them

on the morning altar,

O God, my Altar-Rock,

God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Insight

It isn’t difficult to imagine David as a youthful shepherd, gazing into the night sky and pondering his Creator. The first four verses of Psalm 19 focus on the heavenly expanse. David noted that these “silent” heavens announce the reality of God: “their voice goes out into all the earth” (19:4). The message is clear: all creation points to the Creator. The apostle Paul picked up this theme: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). By: Tim Gustafson

Unwanted Guests

Who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins.
Psalm 19:12–13

Kyle and Allison had a wonderful honeymoon in an exotic location. When they returned home, however, they discovered that Kyle’s feet had developed a strange, itchy rash. The couple was referred to an infectious disease specialist. He informed them that small parasites had burrowed their way into Kyle’s feet through blisters caused by his new flip flops. What started out as a dream vacation ended in a challenging battle with unwanted “guests.”

David knew that if he didn’t ask God for help to fight sin, his dream of living a pleasing life before Him would turn into a battle with the unwanted guests of sin and rebellion. After declaring how God is revealed in the natural world (Psalm 19:1–6) and His wisdom found in His instruction (vv. 7–10), David asked God to protect him from inadvertent, arrogant, and deliberate disobedience. “Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins,” he wrote (vv. 12–13). He recognized that he didn’t have the human resources to keep the infectious disease of sin from affecting him. So, he wisely asked God for help.

How can we make sure our dream of living in a way that honors God doesn’t become hijacked by sin? Let’s keep our eyes on Him, confess and repent of our sin, and seek divine help in keeping unwanted spiritual parasites from burrowing into our lives.

Reflect & Pray

What roles do the spiritual habits of confession and repentance play in your life? How important is living a God-honoring life to you?

Loving God, I don’t know myself as well as I should, and I fall short of what I know is right and good. Please help me trust in Your power in my battle with sin

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 18, 2022

The Mystery of Believing

He said, "Who are You, Lord?" —Acts 9:5

Through the miracle of redemption, Saul of Tarsus was instantly changed from a strong-willed and forceful Pharisee into a humble and devoted bondservant of the Lord Jesus.

There is nothing miraculous or mysterious about the things we can explain. We control what we are able to explain, consequently it is only natural to seek an explanation for everything. It is not natural to obey, yet it is not necessarily sinful to disobey. There can be no real disobedience, nor any moral virtue in obedience, unless a person recognizes the higher authority of the one giving the orders. If this recognition does not exist, even the one giving the orders may view the other person’s disobedience as freedom. If one rules another by saying, “You must do this,” and, “You will do that,” he breaks the human spirit, making it unfit for God. A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy God.

Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart— Jesus Christ, not religion. But “Woe is me” if after seeing Him I still will not obey (Isaiah 6:5 , also see Isaiah 6:1). Jesus will never insist that I obey, but if I don’t,I have already begun to sign the death certificate of the Son of God in my soul. When I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and say, “I will not obey,” He will never insist. But when I do this, I am backing away from the recreating power of His redemption. It makes no difference to God’s grace what an abomination I am, if I will only come to the light. But “Woe is me” if I refuse the light (see John 3:19-21).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6). The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 20-22; Acts 21:1-17

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 18, 2022

Sin - The Thrill and the Bill - #9266

On a family vacation, we had some time to do some extra biking. There was a lake nearby. It was fun to go around the lake...well, sort of fun. See, there were these long, downhill stretches, "Oh man, just flying down that hill! It was fantastic! Then guess what came right after that. Yeah, the uphill climb, and that was grueling, sometimes painful. And guess which lasted longer...the downhill thrill or the pain of going uphill?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sin - The Thrill and the Bill."

It was my son who reminded me as we collapsed at the top of a particularly grueling hill and we had just biked it. He said, "Dad, you know, this is a lot like sin." Okay. You know, he's right. He said, "We had a great time sailing down the hill, but the great feeling didn't last long. It felt like it took most of the afternoon to get up those hills."

Well, King David is going to be called right now as a witness in the case of the Downhill Thrill and the Uphill Bill. Oh, he spent his adulterous night with Bathsheba, and it was probably pleasurable. The Bible talks about the pleasures of sin, except it tacks on three words. It says, "for a season." That's the downhill thrill. Then comes the uphill bill that you pay for that short-lived thrill.

In our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 51:3, David steps forth after that sin and he says, "I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." Now, the pleasure wasn't always before him. But his sin, the guilt, the consequences, the shame, oh they never went away: memories, consequences, hurting relationships. You might say, "Was it worth it, David-that downhill thrill?" And he'd say, "No way. There's way too much pain for that short-lived pleasure. You pay a lot longer than you play."

It could be right now that you're experiencing the downhill thrill of sin. Oh, it feels good; seems like nothing's wrong. Maybe it's a sexual sin, maybe it's a short-lived satisfaction of getting even with someone, or maybe you've got a good situation you've come through with a little dishonesty. Maybe you're violating God's boundaries with your body, or you're partying with some friends.

Let me warn you, the uphill grind is coming. In fact the Bible guarantees that "whatever you sow, you will reap." And the harvest? Oh, that will last a whole lot longer than the sowing ever did. It's a law of the universe: if you sow to your evil nature, the Bible says, you will reap destruction. It is inevitable; it happens every time.

Oh, you have a good feeling right now that sin gives, but maybe you don't have the consequences yet, and it's easy to just go with what you can see now. But the thrill is not worth the price tag. This moment won't last. The loss, oh it will last. The pain, the consequences? Just ask King David. They last a lifetime.

There's some good news, though. Because for all of us who have violated God's laws, who've lived outside of His boundaries in one way or another, we have found there's a Savior who will forgive and erase every one of those from God's Book and begin to heal the hurt and the damage sin has done. Only Jesus can do that, because only He paid the price to do it. I mean a price of blood shed on a cross for all us sinners...for you, for me. Maybe today, knowing very well what dirty feels like inside, you could feel clean for the first time in your life. All the consequences, all the pain of our sin? It's just a reminder that there is an awful punishment for sin coming, and God doesn't want you to pay that price; His Son already did.

Today, would you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You're my rescuer!" I'd invite you to go to our website, because there's a lot more information about this there. It's ANewStory.com.

You can take it from an old tired biker, that uphill grind will cancel any downhill thrill.