2 Corinthians 11:16-33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Prayer Wimps Anonymous

I'm a card carrying member of the PWA: Prayer Wimps Anonymous. Can you relate? We pray-we pray to stay sober, centered, solvent. We pray when the lump is deemed malignant. When the money runs out before the month does. We all pray-some.

But wouldn't we like to pray more? Like the disciples when they asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray!" Teach us to find strength in prayer. To banish fear in prayer.

Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and you!  A prayer as simple as this one:

Father, You are good. I need help. Heal me and forgive me.

They need help. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Pray for 4 weeks, 4 minutes every day. Sign on at BeforeAmen.com and get ready to connect with God like never before!

Before Amen

 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Many a Long and Lonely Night

16–21  Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.

21–23  Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)

23–27  I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

28–29  And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.

30–33  If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Today's Scripture

1 Peter 2:4–10

The Stone

4–8  Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:

Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,

a cornerstone in the place of honor.

Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation

will never have cause to regret it.

To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,

The stone the workmen threw out

is now the chief foundation stone.

For the untrusting it’s

… a stone to trip over,

a boulder blocking the way.

They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.

9–10  But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

Insight

Traditionally, a cornerstone was the first stone placed at the bottom corner of a building. All other stones were laid in reference to it. Old Testament prophecy points to Christ as “a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:16). Yet, He’s the “stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall” (8:14). The psalmist wrote, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22). Jesus quotes from this psalm to reference how His own people would reject Him as Messiah (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17) and to point to Him as the most important part of the church. He’s “the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). In 1 Peter 2:4–10, the apostle quotes all three Old Testament verses to emphasize our choice: either reject Him or choose Him as Savior. By: Alyson Kieda

More Precious than Gold

Come to [Jesus], the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him. 1 Peter 2:4

Have you ever looked through low-priced items at a yard sale and dreamed that you might find something of incredible value? It happened in Connecticut when a floral Chinese antique bowl purchased for just $35 at a yard sale was sold at a 2021 auction for more than $700,000. The piece turned out to be a rare, historically significant artifact from the fifteenth century. It’s a stunning reminder that what some people consider of little worth can actually have great value.

Writing to believers scattered throughout the known world, Peter explained that their faith in Jesus was belief in the One who’d been rejected by the wider culture. Despised by most of the religious Jewish leaders and crucified by the Roman government, Christ was deemed worthless by many because He didn’t fulfill their expectations and desires. But though others had dismissed Jesus’ worth, He was “chosen by God and precious to him” (1 Peter 2:4). His value for us is infinitely more precious than silver or gold (1:18–19). And we have the assurance that whoever chooses to trust Jesus will never be ashamed of their choice (2:6).

When others reject Jesus as worthless, let’s take another look. God’s Spirit can help us see the priceless gift of Christ, who offers to all people the invaluable invitation to become part of the family of God (v. 10). By:  Lisa M. Samra

Reflect & Pray

Why do people miss the true value of Jesus? How might you share the blessings of trusting Him?

Dear Jesus, thank You for living a life of obedience so that I could become part of the family of God. 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Justification by Faith

If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10

I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.

The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.  Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 15-17; 2 Timothy 2

Isaiah 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ACCEPT YOUR ACCEPTANCE - October 27, 2023

“He pre-destined us to be adopted by Himself as sons through Jesus Christ—such being His gracious will and pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5). God moved you into his family. He changed your name, your address, he gave you a seat at the dining table.

A young woman once approached me after hearing a sermon on forgiveness. She had battled much rejection in her young life.  On this day she felt something different. She said, “I’ve made a discovery. I’m not an exception to acceptance.”

Neither are you. For heaven’s sake, accept your acceptance. No more self-recrimination. No more self-accusation. No more self-condemnation. Make grace your permanent address. God has made a covenant to love you with an everlasting love, and He will keep it. God never gives up on you.

Isaiah 2

Climb God’s Mountain

1–5  2 The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem:

There’s a day coming

when the mountain of God’s House

Will be The Mountain—

solid, towering over all mountains.

All nations will river toward it,

people from all over set out for it.

They’ll say, “Come,

let’s climb God’s Mountain,

go to the House of the God of Jacob.

He’ll show us the way he works

so we can live the way we’re made.”

Zion’s the source of the revelation.

God’s Message comes from Jerusalem.

He’ll settle things fairly between nations.

He’ll make things right between many peoples.

They’ll turn their swords into shovels,

their spears into hoes.

No more will nation fight nation;

they won’t play war anymore.

Come, family of Jacob,

let’s live in the light of God.

6–9  God, you’ve walked out on your family Jacob

because their world is full of hokey religion,

Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus,

a world rolling in wealth,

Stuffed with things,

no end to its machines and gadgets,

And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes.

These people make their own gods and worship what they make.

A degenerate race, facedown in the gutter.

Don’t bother with them! They’re not worth forgiving!

Pretentious Egos Brought Down to Earth

10  Head for the hills,

hide in the caves

From the terror of God,

from his dazzling presence.

11–17  People with a big head are headed for a fall,

pretentious egos brought down a peg.

It’s God alone at front-and-center

on the Day we’re talking about,

The Day that God-of-the-Angel-Armies

is matched against all big-talking rivals,

against all swaggering big names;

Against all giant sequoias

hugely towering,

and against the expansive chestnut;

Against Kilimanjaro and Annapurna,

against the ranges of Alps and Andes;

Against every soaring skyscraper,

against all proud obelisks and statues;

Against ocean-going luxury liners,

against elegant three-masted schooners.

The swelled big heads will be punctured bladders,

the pretentious egos brought down to earth,

Leaving God alone at front-and-center

on the Day we’re talking about.

18  And all those sticks and stones

dressed up to look like gods

will be gone for good.

19  Clamber into caves in the cliffs,

duck into any hole you can find.

Hide from the terror of God,

from his dazzling presence,

When he assumes his full stature on earth,

towering and terrifying.

20–21  On that Day men and women will take

the sticks and stones

They’ve decked out in gold and silver

to look like gods and then worshiped,

And they will dump them

in any ditch or gully,

Then run for rock caves

and cliff hideouts

To hide from the terror of God,

from his dazzling presence,

When he assumes his full stature on earth,

towering and terrifying.

22  Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans,

so full of themselves, so full of hot air!

Can’t you see there’s nothing to them?

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 27, 2023

Today's Scripture

2 Chronicles 21:4–7, 16–20

But when Jehoram had taken over his father’s kingdom and had secured his position, he killed all his brothers along with some of the government officials.

5–7  Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king and ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. He imitated Israel’s kings and married into the Ahab dynasty. God considered him an evil man. But despite that, because of his covenant with David, God was not yet ready to destroy the descendants of David; he had, after all, promised to keep a light burning for David and his sons.

16 Some Philistines and Arabs lived near where some Ethiopiansi had settle along the coast. The Lord incited them to go to war against Jehoram. 17They invaded Judah, looted the royal palace, and carried off as prisoners all the king’s wives and sons except Ahaziah, his youngest son.

18 Then after all this, the Lord brought on the king a painful disease of the intestines. 19For almost two years it grew steadily worse until finally the king died in agony. His subjects did not light a bonfire in mourning for him as had been done for his ancestors.

20 Jehoram had become king at the age of 32 and had ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. Nobody was sorry when he died. They buried him in David’s City, but not in the royal tombs.

Insight

First and Second Chronicles cover the history of the Jewish people and monarchy in the Southern Kingdom of Judah from the death of Saul until the Babylonian exile—the same period covered in 2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings. Written after the Babylonian exile, the author of 1–2 Chronicles (Jewish tradition identifies Ezra) seeks to assure postexilic Jews that though they were unfaithful, Yahweh remains faithful to His covenant. In 2 Chronicles 21:7, the chronicler affirmed that God kept His promise that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne (see 2 Samuel 7:12–17), a promise that has its final fulfillment in Jesus (Matthew 1:1). By: K. T. Sim

Three Kings

His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors. 2 Chronicles 21:19

In the hit musical Hamilton, England’s King George III is humorously portrayed as a cartoonish, deranged villain. However, a new biography on King George said he was not the tyrant described in Hamilton or America’s Declaration of Independence. If George had been the brutal despot that Americans said he was, he would have stopped their drive for independence with extreme, scorched-earth measures. But he was restrained by his “civilized, good-natured” temperament.

Who knows if King George died with regret? Would his reign have been more successful if he’d been harsher with his subjects?

Not necessarily. In the Bible we read of King Jehoram, who solidified his throne by putting “all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel” (2 Chronicles 21:4). Jehoram “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 6). His ruthless reign alienated his people, who neither wept for his gruesome death nor made a “funeral fire in his honor” (v. 19).

Historians may debate whether George was too soft; Jehoram was surely too harsh. A better way is that of King Jesus, who is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Christ’s expectations are firm (He demands truth), yet He embraces those who fail (He extends grace). Jesus calls us who believe in Him to follow His lead. Then, through the leading of His Holy Spirit, He empowers us to do so. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

Who are you responsible to lead? How might you show both grace and truth to them?  

Dear Jesus, I aim to lead others by following You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 27, 2023

The Method of Missions

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19

Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ.  The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 12-14; 2 Timothy 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 27, 2023

I Want to Drive! - #9600

I know the flight attendant was trying to be polite. The kid wasn't! No. We're on this plane and everyone's eager to take off, everybody's got their seatbelt on and we're ready to go, except for this mother and her four-year-old boy who were standing in the aisle of the plane. The son wouldn't sit down. He's crying, he's yelling at his mother, and the flight attendant was making the announcement, "We'll be able to leave as soon as everyone is seated."

The mother was trying. Oh yeah, but this boy went rigid. He started yelling his reason for standing up. "I want to drive!" The more she pressured him the louder he got, "I want to drive!" This is a very big plane. He's a very little boy. He really shouldn't drive.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "I Want to Drive!"

The boy wanted to "drive" that airplane. We wanted the pilot to "drive." The boy didn't seem to understand he wasn't capable of driving. Well, guess what? We've got the same problem.

Our word for today from the Word of God - Isaiah 53:6. Here we go, "We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity (or the wrong doing) of us all." Life, kind of like that airplane, is too big for us to drive. We've taken over the cockpit anyway. Again in the Bible's words, "Everyone has turned to his own way."

God gave us our life. He's supposed to run it. He's doing a very good job of running a hundred billion galaxies, but we shake our fist and we say, "Excuse me, God, I'll pilot my own life." He's the only One who can pilot your life properly. But see, "We want to drive!" Like the little boy, if we try to fly, we're going to crash.

Maybe you're facing right now some of the wreckage of trying to run a life that God was supposed to run. Or maybe you're cruising along right now but you're headed for a crash. See, no one ultimately gets away with hijacking God's property. And that's what we all do.

I once asked a Navajo shepherdess what happens to sheep when they get away from the shepherd. She answered with one word. She said, "Coyotes." See, it always ends up in disaster when we get away from the Shepherd, or from the Pilot. "We all like sheep have gone astray." That means we're away from God. And you know what? Maybe you can even feel that loneliness right now. Maybe you can sense the confusion, the lostness of being away from God. Unless you're rescued, I'll tell you, it always leads to death.

The Bible puts it this way, "The wages of sin is death." But the Bible says, "God placed the penalty for all our wrong doing on Jesus Christ, His Son. God's only Son has paid the price for the sin you and I have done. Isaiah 53:5 says, "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." You and I did the sinning; Jesus did the dying.

If you can get yourself to that cross in your heart, get to that cross where Jesus paid your death penalty for your sin and give yourself to Him, you can trade death for life. Jesus Christ sacrificed His life, shed His blood. He was dying in exchange for your life; taking your death penalty. Why would anyone reject Him? Is it pride? Is it stubbornness? Is it thinking somehow our religion will get us there, our goodness? Well, if it could, He would have never gone to that cross.

This is the day to let go of that wheel and start to become who you were meant to be in the relationship you were made for. If you want to get that started today? Go to our website. I can help you there, I believe, know that you actually belong to Him from this day on. That's ANewStory.com.

Can you just picture Jesus reaching out a nail-pierced hand to you? Are you going to keep saying, "I want to drive!" Or are you going to say today, "Jesus, I don't want to drive. I want to live."

Isaiah 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: WIDER AND DEEPER - October 26, 2023

Each day seems to bring a new way for us to wander off course. The Christian life is not difficult; it’s impossible. Need proof?  Consider the Everest-level standard set in the Sermon on the Mount.

“Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22). Or “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (verse 28). “Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other” (verse 39). “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you” (verse 44). Exactly how can we fulfill these commands? What hope do we have?

The same hope Jacob did: grace. “Though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still!” (Romans 5:20 PHILLIPS). God never gives up on you.

Isaiah 3

Jerusalem on Its Last Legs

1–7  3 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

is emptying Jerusalem and Judah

Of all the basic necessities,

plain bread and water to begin with.

He’s withdrawing police and protection,

judges and courts,

pastors and teachers,

captains and generals,

doctors and nurses,

and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.

He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city.

Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around.

People will be at each other’s throats,

stabbing one another in the back:

Neighbor against neighbor, young against old,

the no-account against the well-respected.

One brother will grab another and say,

‘You look like you’ve got a head on your shoulders.

Do something!

Get us out of this mess.’

And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue.

Don’t put me in charge of anything.’

8–9  “Jerusalem’s on its last legs.

Judah is soon down for the count.

Everything people say and do

is at cross-purposes with God,

a slap in my face.

Brazen in their depravity,

they flaunt their sins like degenerate Sodom.

Doom to their eternal souls! They’ve made their bed;

now they’ll sleep in it.

10–11  “Reassure the righteous

that their good living will pay off.

But doom to the wicked! Disaster!

Everything they did will be done to them.

12  “Skinny kids terrorize my people.

Silly girls bully them around.

My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley.

They’re sending you off on a wild-goose chase.”

A City Brought to Her Knees by Her Sorrows

13–15  God enters the courtroom.

He takes his place at the bench to judge his people.

God calls for order in the court,

hauls the leaders of his people into the dock:

“You’ve played havoc with this country.

Your houses are stuffed with what you’ve stolen from the poor.

What is this anyway? Stomping on my people,

grinding the faces of the poor into the dirt?”

That’s what the Master,

God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says.

16–17  God says, “Zion women are stuck-up,

prancing around in their high heels,

Making eyes at all the men in the street,

swinging their hips,

Tossing their hair,

gaudy and garish in cheap jewelry.”

The Master will fix it so those Zion women

will all turn bald—

Scabby, bald-headed women.

The Master will do it.

18–23  The time is coming when the Master will strip them of their fancy baubles—the dangling earrings, anklets and bracelets, combs and mirrors and silk scarves, diamond brooches and pearl necklaces, the rings on their fingers and the rings on their toes, the latest fashions in hats, exotic perfumes and aphrodisiacs, gowns and capes, all the world’s finest in fabrics and design.

24  Instead of wearing seductive scents,

these women are going to smell like rotting cabbages;

Instead of modeling flowing gowns,

they’ll be sporting rags;

Instead of their stylish hairdos,

scruffy heads;

Instead of beauty marks,

scabs and scars.

25–26  Your finest fighting men will be killed,

your soldiers left dead on the battlefield.

The entrance gate to Zion will be clotted

with people mourning their dead—

A city stooped under the weight of her loss,

brought to her knees by her sorrows.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Today's Scripture

Isaiah 61:1–4

Announce Freedom to All Captives

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

because God anointed me.

He sent me to preach good news to the poor,

heal the heartbroken,

Announce freedom to all captives,

pardon all prisoners.

God sent me to announce the year of his grace—

a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies—

and to comfort all who mourn,

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

give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,

Messages of joy instead of news of doom,

a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.

Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness”

planted by God to display his glory.

They’ll rebuild the old ruins,

raise a new city out of the wreckage.

They’ll start over on the ruined cities,

take the rubble left behind and make it new.

Insight

“The year of the Lord’s favor” (Isaiah 61:2) is a reference to the year of Jubilee, established by God in His instructions to Moses (Leviticus 25:8–28). After every six years of farming, the people were to let their fields lie fallow for a sabbath year (vv. 2–7). God intended Jubilee to take place after every seven sets of sabbath years—after every forty-nine years. During Jubilee, all slaves were to be freed, all debts forgiven, and land that had been sold was to be returned to its original owners. Scholars debate how often Jubilee was practiced as there is little mention of it in Scripture or other historical writings.

Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1–4 in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–19). At that time, He said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21). Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law the people disregarded. By: Tim Gustafson

Beauty for Ashes

The Lord has anointed me . . . to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes. Isaiah 61:1, 3

In the aftermath of the Marshall Fire, the most destructive fire in Colorado history, one ministry offered to help families search through the ashes for valuable items. Family members mentioned precious objects they hoped were still preserved. Very little was. One man spoke tenderly of his wedding ring. He’d placed it on his dresser in the upstairs bedroom. The house now gone, its contents had charred or melted into a single layer of debris at the basement level. Searchers looked for the ring in that same corner where the bedroom had been—without success.

The prophet Isaiah wrote mournfully of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, which would be leveled. Likewise, there are times we feel the life we’ve built has been reduced to ashes. We feel we have nothing left, emotionally and spiritually. But Isaiah offers hope: “He [God] has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted . . . to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1–2). God converts our tragedy into glory: “[He will] bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes” (v. 3). He promises to “rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated” (v. 4).

At that Marshall Fire site, one woman searched the ashes on the opposite side. There, still in its case, she unearthed the husband’s wedding ring. In your despair, God reaches into your ashes and pulls out the one truly precious thing. You. By:  Kenneth Petersen

Reflect & Pray

What experience in your life made you feel you had lost everything? How did God pull you out of the difficulty?

Dear God, please turn my ashes into beauty.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, October 26, 2023

What is a Missionary?

Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21

A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.

Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).

When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand.  Not Knowing Whither, 888 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 9-11; 1 Timothy 6

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Plowing the Road for Your Journey - #9599

I had been scheduled to speak at a winter retreat in Pennsylvania. I lived in New Jersey. It was the kind of thing where I could drive to Well, that day, winter decided it was time to do some serious wintering. We had heavy snow all day long and I knew it was going to be a very exciting drive along Interstate 80 out to Pennsylvania.

Actually, it turned out to be much easier than I expected. Much of the way I managed to get behind snow plows. Yeah, they were out, and they were doing a good job, and it was a whole lot easier because I was right behind them. So, where I was driving, the plows had already been. Now, if you have a snow plow ahead of you, you're a lot less likely to end up in a ditch.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Plowing the Road for Your Journey."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in John 10, and we're going to begin reading at verse 3. It's that great Good Shepherd passage. It says, "He calls His own sheep by name and He leads them out. And when He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them." I love that!

These verses took on a very personal meaning for my wife and me some years ago. We were getting ready to leave the city of Chicago, where we had lived for many years, and we were going to move to northern New Jersey to begin a ministry in the New York area. And I'll tell you what, we were stepping into a total unknown. We had no office, no supporters, we had nobody that we knew, no friends, no kids to work with, and no staff. Other than that, everything was ready for us. Well, in Chicago, I knew people, I knew how to get things done, I knew what number to call, I knew where the resources were, I knew where all the roads were. New Jersey, New York-a total unknown.

And then, as we asked the Lord for some reassurance, guess what? He gave us John 10:4. I just read it. I like that because you know, the troopers say that on a CB before they sign off - everything's under control. They go, "10-4 good buddy." Well, this is the "10-4 good buddy" verse. It says, "When He brings out all His sheep, He goes on ahead of them." We learned that the Shepherd always goes where he is about to take his sheep. He gets there before you do.

The Shepherd also makes sure that there's going to be food there, no wolves, no danger of walking off the edge. Kind of like that snow plow I was following, plowing the path in front of me, making it a lot safer.

And when we got there, boy did we find that out! The apartment we needed, the friends we needed, the office we needed, the open arms that we needed. Everywhere we went we found the footsteps of our Shepherd. And so will you. He promised.

Anywhere Jesus takes you; He will always get there ahead of you and get it ready. It may be that fear is holding you back right now from God's next step for you. Fear of the "might's" and the "could's" and the "what if's." Maybe you can't go any farther in Christ without taking some risks; trying some things you've never tried, or leaving some things you've never done without, going into situations that are unfamiliar to you, or reaching some people whose reactions you can't be sure of. Maybe you're in a transition time and you're about to move from one season or one stage to another.

There's a wonderful answer to the fear that spreads that shadow on your future, and it's in this verse, "the Shepherd goes ahead of you." How often I've claimed that verse, the big things and the little things. I've gone into offices and found the Lord had gotten there ahead of me, into meetings, taxi cabs, doctor's offices, ministry situations. You can count on it. He promised!

The Lord will never lead you anywhere that He has not first scouted and prepared for you. The snow plow clears the road ahead of you, and so does the Shepherd. And because He does, my friend, you will never end up stuck.

2 Corinthians 11:16-33 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: ALL GRACE - October 25, 2023

The ancient Japanese art of kintsugi is believed to have developed in the fifteenth century as a unique way to repair broken pottery. The artist uses a lacquer to mend the fractures, then covers the adhesive with a fine gold or silver powder. The result is something beautiful and unimagined.

By the time we reach the end of Jacob’s story, the old earthen vessel is held together by Elmer’s glue and duct tape. “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph. And he worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff” (Hebrews 11:21).

Jacob died worshipping. May the same be said about us. We don’t have to be strong to be saved. We simply need to trust the God of Jacob. He is the God of second chances and new beginnings. And he never gives up on you.

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Many a Long and Lonely Night

16–21  Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.

21–23  Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)

23–27  I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

28–29  And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.

30–33  If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Today's Scripture

Romans 10:8–13

So what exactly was Moses saying?

The word that saves is right here,

as near as the tongue in your mouth,

as close as the heart in your chest.

It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!”

11–13  Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”

Insight

After declaring that we’re all sinners (Romans 1–3), Paul explains how God justifies us through Christ’s death on the cross (chs. 4–8). In chapters 9–11, he explains that many Jews are still not saved because they’ve rejected God’s way of salvation and maintain that they must meticulously keep the law to have a right relationship with Him (10:3–4). Paul explains, “People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (3:25 nlt). The apostle calls these Jewish brothers and sisters—and everyone—to believe in Christ: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (10:9). God’s way of salvation is the same for all people—whether Jews or gentiles (v. 12): “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13). By: K. T. Sim

One Door for All

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

The protocols at the restaurant in my childhood neighborhood were consistent with social and racial dynamics in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The kitchen helpers—Mary, the cook, and dishwashers like me—were Black; however, the in-restaurant patrons were White. Black customers could order food, but they had to pick it up at the back door. Such policies reinforced the unequal treatment of Blacks in that era. Though we’ve come a long way since then, we still have room for growth in how we relate to each other as people made in the image of God.

Passages of Scripture like Romans 10:8–13 help us to see that all are welcome in the family of God; there’s no back door. All enter the same way—through belief in Jesus’ death for cleansing and forgiveness. The biblical word for this transformative experience is saved (vv. 9, 13). Your social situation or racial status or that of others doesn’t factor into the equation. “As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him” (vv. 11–12). Do you believe in your heart the Bible’s message about Jesus? Welcome to the family!

By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

What evidence is there in your life that you’ve believed the Bible’s message about forgiveness through Jesus? Who do you know that needs to hear the good news about Christ?

Father, my heart rejoices that You so loved the world that You sent Jesus.

Learn more about forgiveness through Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Submitting to God’s Purpose

I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. —1 Corinthians 9:22

A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “…Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.

Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside…to the right or the left…” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 6-8; 1 Timothy 5

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

No Conquest Without Risk - #9598

Now, excuse me, but I don't expect to be inspired when I eat at McDonald's. I mean, fed, but not inspired. There was a time when there was a little inspiration with my burger and fries. It was a striking poster on the wall. It showed two mountain climbers near the peak of this Alpine mountain, straining to reach the top. But it was the inscription that impressed me most. "Conquest without risk is a triumph without glory." Oh! That's pretty good.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft,and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Conquest Without Risk."

That doesn't just apply to reaching the top of a mountain. In fact, it pretty much describes everything worth doing in life. No risk, no meaningful conquest - a triumph without glory. Low risk - low return. High risk - high return. It's a principle that defines spiritual greatness or spiritual mediocrity.

In Numbers 13, the conquest was not a mountain; it was the taking of the Promised Land that God had promised. Of course, it was currently inhabited by fierce people who, of course, didn't plan to hand it over. And whether or not they would ever experience all God had for them depended on whether or not they would trust Him enough to take some really big risks. Now whether or not you experience all God has for you may depend on that same thing.

Twelve scouts had explored the land of Canaan, and they reported back on the fabulous beauty and bounty they found there. But ten of those scouts chose to focus on the risks, two on the Lord who had promised them this land. It boiled down to an exchange like this, recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 13, beginning with verse 30.

"Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land for we certainly can do it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people there are of great size...we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'"

You probably know the result. The people followed the lead of the ten scouts who said, "The risks are too great." And they never saw the Promised Land. They chose what was safe, and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They could have had wonderful. Instead, they lived and died in the wilderness. Many of God's children over the years have made that same tragic miscalculation at their crossroads. And they have lived that same sad result.

Right now your Lord may be asking you to follow Him into something risky. To obey Him is going to mean taking a financial risk, or a geographical risk, a social risk, doing something that's way beyond your comfort zone. In fact, serious obedience usually involves risk. But the great danger is not in obeying God's "risky" leading; it's in not obeying because you won't risk it. You'll miss the top of the mountain. You'll miss the best God has for you. You'll miss the promised land.

Almost always, God's will means going out of your comfort zone. If you're addicted to your comfort zone, you're almost sure to miss God's best.

Maybe you're all settled in at your little base camp at the bottom of the mountain. You're safe, but you'll never see the view from the top if you stay where you've always been. You can dare to risk if you know your security is never in your situation - it's in your Savior, and He's everywhere you go. Like the old hymn says, "Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go" - even if He's leading you where it just doesn't look very safe.

The conquest, the triumph, the glory of living for Christ is for those who are willing to risk.

Isaiah 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: GOD CAME TO JACOB - October 24, 2023

Jacob’s season at Shechem was a toxic wasteland. Jacob forgot who he was and what God had commanded. His disobedience resulted in a devastated family. Rape. Carnage. Sacrilege. Genesis 34 is the darkest chapter in the Jacob story. It’s not that God was not present, it’s that God was not sought. Jacob once again lived life by his own terms and paid a high price for doing so. What a sorry excuse for a patriarch. God will surely abandon him.

But that’s not what happens. “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God,…'” (Genesis 35:1 NIV). Instead of giving up on Jacob, God spoke to him. God took the initiative. God came to Jacob. And Jacob came to his senses. God never gave up on him, and he’ll never give up on you.

Isaiah 2

Climb God’s Mountain

1–5  2 The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem:

There’s a day coming

when the mountain of God’s House

Will be The Mountain—

solid, towering over all mountains.

All nations will river toward it,

people from all over set out for it.

They’ll say, “Come,

let’s climb God’s Mountain,

go to the House of the God of Jacob.

He’ll show us the way he works

so we can live the way we’re made.”

Zion’s the source of the revelation.

God’s Message comes from Jerusalem.

He’ll settle things fairly between nations.

He’ll make things right between many peoples.

They’ll turn their swords into shovels,

their spears into hoes.

No more will nation fight nation;

they won’t play war anymore.

Come, family of Jacob,

let’s live in the light of God.

6–9  God, you’ve walked out on your family Jacob

because their world is full of hokey religion,

Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus,

a world rolling in wealth,

Stuffed with things,

no end to its machines and gadgets,

And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes.

These people make their own gods and worship what they make.

A degenerate race, facedown in the gutter.

Don’t bother with them! They’re not worth forgiving!

Pretentious Egos Brought Down to Earth

10  Head for the hills,

hide in the caves

From the terror of God,

from his dazzling presence.

11–17  People with a big head are headed for a fall,

pretentious egos brought down a peg.

It’s God alone at front-and-center

on the Day we’re talking about,

The Day that God-of-the-Angel-Armies

is matched against all big-talking rivals,

against all swaggering big names;

Against all giant sequoias

hugely towering,

and against the expansive chestnut;

Against Kilimanjaro and Annapurna,

against the ranges of Alps and Andes;

Against every soaring skyscraper,

against all proud obelisks and statues;

Against ocean-going luxury liners,

against elegant three-masted schooners.

The swelled big heads will be punctured bladders,

the pretentious egos brought down to earth,

Leaving God alone at front-and-center

on the Day we’re talking about.

18  And all those sticks and stones

dressed up to look like gods

will be gone for good.

19  Clamber into caves in the cliffs,

duck into any hole you can find.

Hide from the terror of God,

from his dazzling presence,

When he assumes his full stature on earth,

towering and terrifying.

20–21  On that Day men and women will take

the sticks and stones

They’ve decked out in gold and silver

to look like gods and then worshiped,

And they will dump them

in any ditch or gully,

Then run for rock caves

and cliff hideouts

To hide from the terror of God,

from his dazzling presence,

When he assumes his full stature on earth,

towering and terrifying.

22  Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans,

so full of themselves, so full of hot air!

Can’t you see there’s nothing to them?

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Today's Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:16–18

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

Insight

Paul begins 2 Corinthians with heartfelt words of comfort (1:3–7) and returns to that theme in 4:16–18. In tandem with this comfort, however, he relates the difficulties he and his coworkers have endured: “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (1:8). In chapter 4, he says, “We are hard pressed on every side” (v. 8), “persecuted” and “struck down” (v. 9). We “carry around in our body the death of Jesus” (v. 10). But Paul is quick to note that we’re “not abandoned” (v. 9) and adds, “we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself” (v. 14). That’s why he can bracket this chapter with the theme of hopeful perseverance: “We do not lose heart” (4:1, 16). By: Tim Gustafson

Don’t Lose Heart

We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

I don’t remember a time when my mom Dorothy was in good health. For many years as a brittle diabetic, her blood sugar was wildly erratic. Complications developed and her damaged kidneys necessitated permanent dialysis. Neuropathy and broken bones resulted in the use of a wheelchair. Her eyesight began to regress toward blindness.

But as her body failed her, Mom’s prayer life grew more vigorous. She spent hours praying for others to know and experience the love of God. Precious words of Scripture grew sweeter to her. Before her eyesight faded, she wrote a letter to her sister Marjorie including words from 2 Corinthians 4: “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (v. 16).

The apostle Paul knew how easy it is to “lose heart.” He describes his life as one of danger, pain, and deprivation (2 Corinthians 11:23–29). Yet he viewed those “troubles” as temporary. And he encouraged us to think not only about what we see but also about what we can’t see—that which is eternal (4:17–18).

Despite what’s happening to us, our loving Father is continuing our inner renewal every day. His presence with us is sure. Through the gift of prayer, He’s only a breath away. And His promises to strengthen us and give us hope and joy remain true. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

What’s causing you to be discouraged or “lose heart”? Which Scriptures are especially encouraging to you?

Precious Father, thank You for Your faithful love for me and the assurance of Your presence.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The Proper Perspective

Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ… —2 Corinthians 2:14

The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.

The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37).

“We are to God the fragrance of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them.  Workmen of God, 1341 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 3-5; 1 Timothy 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Wearing His Colors, Win or Lose - #9597

One Sunday afternoon, my son and I were chasing a Giants football game wherever we went. When we were near the TV at home, of course, we were glued to that. And then we were in the car, and so we'd listen on the radio. And when we got to a place where one of us had to go in, only one of us went in so the other one could stay in the car and could get an update. A little fanatic! Yeah.And then the one who went in got back as soon as he could.

You can see why the word fan is short for fanatic, right? We were in bad shape! But, you know, it was a decisive game and the outcome was up for grabs. When the Giants took the lead, my son said, "Dad, I'm wearing my Giants sweater to school tomorrow." I said, "Good. What if they lose?" He paused for a moment and then he very proudly said, "Either way." I respect loyalty like that, and I'm not the only one.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Wearing His Colors, Win or Lose."

There's a man in the Bible who didn't always wear Jesus' colors. In John 19:38, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus has been crucified. Later it says, "Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away." Now, listen, it's interesting that Joseph of Arimathea probably, well, figuratively had a jersey that said, "I belong to Jesus Christ." But he took it off when he was in settings where it could be embarrassing or where it could cost him something like in the Sanhedrin.

Jesus has a lot of followers like that-maybe you. You're probably His when that's the winning idea; when that's the thing everybody's doing, is singing the songs and maybe give a testimony. You voice His values when you're in His meetings, and then you go to the office or your workplace where being identified with Jesus might give you a loser status. Or you go to school, or you're with that group of friends, and suddenly you submerge faster than a submarine. See, we're like "fit in" people; changing our allegiance as the environment changes.

Well, there's good news for people like that, because people like that can change. Joseph did. Notice he came out of hiding. He took his stand for good. He said, "Jesus can be buried in my tomb." He would be forever identified with Jesus from that day on. There was no turning back. Why? Because he saw what Jesus did on the cross for him.

Isn't it time for you to go public with your commitment to Christ - to let people know where you stand and who you stand with; to let them know you're not ashamed of the Man who was not ashamed of you as He hung on a cross?

The fans who can truly celebrate when their team finally wins are the ones who were loyal when no one else was. Jesus will win. Every knee will bow at His name. The real winners will be those who stood by Jesus when it cost them something.

So, step up to the freedom and the adventure of finally saying, "I belong to Jesus Christ no matter what it costs." And if someone should ask you, "But what if it means you lose?" You'll answer proudly, "Either way."

Isaiah 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: DON’T STOP IN SHECHEM - October 23, 2023

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV).

What voices seduce you? Distract you? Lure you away from your destiny? To be clear, if you have the gift of Christ in your heart, you are set for life. Sin cannot destroy you. But it can trip you, ensnare you, entangle you. It cannot take your salvation, but it can take your joy, peace of mind, and rest.

Jacob learned this lesson. He got out of Shechem. He realized that if they stayed, the Canaanites, who were much larger in number, would retaliate and kill his entire household. He pulled up stakes, loaded his camels, and turned toward Bethel. And to the degree that Shechem was sordid, Bethel was beautiful. But Jacob had to make a change. Do likewise. Don’t stop in Shechem when the blessing is in Bethel.

Isaiah 1

The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw regarding Judah and Jerusalem during the times of the kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

2–4  Heaven and earth, you’re the jury.

Listen to God’s case:

“I had children and raised them well,

and they turned on me.

The ox knows who’s boss,

the mule knows the hand that feeds him,

But not Israel.

My people don’t know up from down.

Shame! Misguided God-dropouts,

staggering under their guilt-baggage,

Gang of miscreants,

band of vandals—

My people have walked out on me, their God,

turned their backs on The Holy of Israel,

walked off and never looked back.

5–9  “Why bother even trying to do anything with you

when you just keep to your bullheaded ways?

You keep beating your heads against brick walls.

Everything within you protests against you.

From the bottom of your feet to the top of your head,

nothing’s working right.

Wounds and bruises and running sores—

untended, unwashed, unbandaged.

Your country is laid waste,

your cities burned down.

Your land is destroyed by outsiders while you watch,

reduced to rubble by barbarians.

Daughter Zion is deserted—

like a tumbledown shack on a dead-end street,

Like a tarpaper shanty on the wrong side of the tracks,

like a sinking ship abandoned by the rats.

If God-of-the-Angel-Armies hadn’t left us a few survivors,

we’d be as desolate as Sodom, doomed just like Gomorrah.

10  “Listen to my Message,

you Sodom-schooled leaders.

Receive God’s revelation,

you Gomorrah-schooled people.

11–12  “Why this frenzy of sacrifices?”

God’s asking.

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

rams and plump grain-fed calves?

Don’t you think I’ve had my fill

of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?

When you come before me,

whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,

Running here and there, doing this and that—

all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?

13–17  “Quit your worship charades.

I can’t stand your trivial religious games:

Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—

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

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

You’ve worn me out!

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

while you go right on sinning.

When you put on your next prayer-performance,

I’ll be looking the other way.

No matter how long or loud or often you pray,

I’ll not be listening.

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

people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.

Go home and wash up.

Clean up your act.

Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings

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

Say no to wrong.

Learn to do good.

Work for justice.

Help the down-and-out.

Stand up for the homeless.

Go to bat for the defenseless.

Let’s Argue This Out

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

This is God’s Message:

“If your sins are blood-red,

they’ll be snow-white.

If they’re red like crimson,

they’ll be like wool.

If you’ll willingly obey,

you’ll feast like kings.

But if you’re willful and stubborn,

you’ll die like dogs.”

That’s right. God says so.

Those Who Walk Out on God

21–23  Oh! Can you believe it? The chaste city

has become a whore!

She was once all justice,

everyone living as good neighbors,

And now they’re all

at one another’s throats.

Your coins are all counterfeits.

Your wine is watered down.

Your leaders are turncoats

who keep company with crooks.

They sell themselves to the highest bidder

and grab anything not nailed down.

They never stand up for the homeless,

never stick up for the defenseless.

24–31  This Decree, therefore, of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

the Strong One of Israel:

“This is it! I’ll get my oppressors off my back.

I’ll get back at my enemies.

I’ll give you the back of my hand,

purge the junk from your life, clean you up.

I’ll set honest judges and wise counselors among you

just like it was back in the beginning.

Then you’ll be renamed

City-That-Treats-People-Right, the True-Blue City.”

God’s right ways will put Zion right again.

God’s right actions will restore her penitents.

But it’s curtains for rebels and God-traitors,

a dead end for those who walk out on God.

“Your dalliances in those oak grove shrines

will leave you looking mighty foolish,

All that fooling around in god and goddess gardens

that you thought was the latest thing.

You’ll end up like an oak tree

with all its leaves falling off,

Like an unwatered garden,

withered and brown.

‘The Big Man’ will turn out to be dead bark and twigs,

and his ‘work,’ the spark that starts the fire

That exposes man and work both

as nothing but cinders and smoke.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, October 23, 2023

Today's Scripture

Psalm 37:1–6

 Don’t bother your head with braggarts

or wish you could succeed like the wicked.

In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings

and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

3–4  Get insurance with God and do a good deed,

settle down and stick to your last.

Keep company with God,

get in on the best.

5–6  Open up before God, keep nothing back;

he’ll do whatever needs to be done:

He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day

and stamp you with approval at high noon.

Insight

Psalm 37 is one of many “wisdom psalms,” so-called because they teach us to cultivate a long-term mindset, fixing our hearts and minds on what’s truly important rather than living for short-term gain. In Psalm 37, David deals with the same perplexity that Asaph struggles with in Psalm 73—the wicked prosper, while the godly suffer unjustly. Psalm 37 is a psalm of promise for those who seek God and a psalm of disaster for those who fail to do so. David tells those who suffer unjustly not to fret, be envious, or be angry, for God will punish the evildoers (vv. 1–2, 7–10, 35–38). Instead, the godly are to patiently trust and rest fully in Him and to continue to live lives set apart for God (vv. 3–8). The assurance is that “the Lord upholds the righteous” (v. 17) and “will not forsake his faithful ones” (v. 28). By: K. T. Sim

Surrendering to God

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this. Psalm 37:5

God doesn’t help those who help themselves; He helps those who trust in and rely on Him. Jonathan Roumie—the actor who plays Jesus in the successful TV series The Chosen, which is based on the Gospels—realized this in May 2018. Roumie had been living in Los Angeles for eight years, was nearly broke, had enough food just for the day, and had no work in sight. Not knowing how he would make it, the actor poured out his heart and surrendered his career to God. “I literally [prayed] the words, ‘I surrender. I surrender.’ ” Later that day, he found four checks in the mail and three months later, he was cast for the role of Jesus in The Chosen. Roumie found that God will help those who trust in Him.

Rather than being envious of and fretting over those “who are evil” (Psalm 37:1), the psalmist invites us to surrender everything to God. When we center our daily activities on Him, “trust in [Him] and do good,” “take delight in [Him]” (vv. 3–4), and surrender to Him all our desires, problems, anxieties, and the daily events of our lives, God will direct us and give us peace (vv. 5–6). As believers in Jesus, it’s vital for us to let Him determine what our lives should be.

Let’s surrender and trust God. As we do, He’ll take action and do what’s necessary and best. By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

What parts of your life are off limits to God these days? What will it mean for you to surrender your life to Him today?

Dear God, please help me to surrender to You freely today and experience Your life and peace.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, October 23, 2023

Nothing of the Old Life!

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind…is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 1-2; 1 Timothy 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, October 23, 2023

No One Left Behind - #9596

"Never leave a soldier behind." That's pretty powerful stuff. It's the time-tested promise of our military to its men and women. And the stated reason that our government swapped some dangerous detainees for one imprisoned - and controversial - sergeant in Afghanistan. It was some years ago, but they made that trade.

But in all the emotional debate about this particular soldier, I never heard anyone say that "never left behind" is anything but the right thing. It's just too bad life isn't like the military in that case - "no one left behind."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No One Left Behind."

We've got plenty of people around us who actually feel like we do leave people behind. That widow who feels like everybody withdrew once her husband died. The senior citizen, feeling like she might as well die because everyone treats her like she already has. Kids abandoned to a foster care system that often leaves them abused and angry.

How many times has the immigrant, or the newcomer in the neighborhood felt abandoned? I've been the guy, in another culture, surrounded by a language and customs I didn't understand. And I'll tell you, it was just plain lonely!

The crowd blows right by those that they consider "un-cool," leaving them feeling like a discarded paper plate. It's people who can't do anything for us, whose association might make us look bad. So many are feeling "left behind" by a world of people too self-absorbed to go after them; the painfully shy person, the troubled - or maybe troublesome - kid. In virtually every workplace, every school, every neighborhood, every roomful of people - there's someone who feels invisible, small, unseen, left out, left behind.

It's been bothering me. I want eyes to see those people no one sees. To stop for those people no one's got time for. To gravitate to the person on the edge, in the corner. To make the "little guy" feel big for once. To show love even when it's inconvenient. Because that's what my Hero did.

See, in His world - in Jesus' world - no one touched the repulsive lepers. But He did. No one treated children like they were more important than the big shots. But He did. No one treated women with dignity and respect. But Jesus did. No respectable person hung out with those reviled "sinners." But He did. See, that's my Jesus. He came after me when I was a deserter, a cosmic deserter, because I had turned my back on the very God who gave me my life. Walking away from the One who loved me like no one else; selling out to my dark side. In essence, waving at God with one hand and shaking a fist in His face with the other.

The Bible says that's a choice we've all made, that all of us have "wandered away like sheep" it says that in Isaiah 53. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So we've left Him behind, but He refused to leave us behind. I'm so glad.

Our word for today from the Word Of God, 1 Peter 3:18: "Christ died...the righteous (that's Him) for the unrighteous (that's me), that He might bring us safely home to God." That's how much He doesn't want to lose you and me.

That's why He's come after you where you are now. Perhaps through what you're hearing right now, He's reaching out and the voice you're hearing now in your heart, that's not mine. It is the heart of Jesus who said, "I'm not leaving her behind. I'm not leaving him behind." And He's not leaving you behind!

This is your day to reach out and grab the man who loved you enough to pay the death penalty for your sin. Nobody loves you like He does. And I'd love to help you be sure that you've made that connection and gotten this settled. That's why our website. That's why I ask you to go there - ANewStory.com. Check out ANewStory.com.

I want to be like Him, and leave no one behind.

2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: "Oh, Daddy!"

When my eldest daughter was 13, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents' hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. "Oh, Daddy." That was enough for me. At that moment I'd have given her the moon. All she said was, "Oh Daddy!"

Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt, "Oh Daddy!" Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.

Here's my prayer challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com for a simple prayer. Then every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes-it'll change your life forever!

Before Amen

 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Pseudo-Servants of God

1–3  11 Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I’m afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.

4–6  It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot “apostles,” why can’t you put up with simple me? I’m as good as they are. It’s true that I don’t have their voice, haven’t mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I’m talking about. We haven’t kept anything back. We let you in on everything.

7–12  I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God’s Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn’t be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it’s a point of honor with me, and I’m not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It’s not that I don’t love you; God knows I do. I’m just trying to keep things open and honest between us.

12–15  And I’m not changing my position on this. I’d die before taking your money. I’m giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing “preachers,” vaunting themselves as something special. They’re a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they’re not getting by with anything. They’ll pay for it in the end.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Today's Scripture

Proverbs 27:8–12

People who won’t settle down, wandering hither and yon,

are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.

9  Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight,

a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.

10  Don’t leave your friends or your parents’ friends

and run home to your family when things get rough;

Better a nearby friend

than a distant family.

11  Become wise, dear child, and make me happy;

then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.

12  A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;

a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

Insight

In Proverbs 1, Solomon gives the purpose for this book, which includes receiving “instruction in prudent behavior” and giving “prudence to those who are simple [or gullible]” (vv. 3–4). To be prudent is to act with or show care for the future; to be wise in practical affairs. In the Old Testament, the word prudent appears nineteen times (seventeen in the book of Proverbs). The prudent “hold their tongues” (10:19), “overlook an insult” (12:16), “keep their knowledge to themselves” (v. 23), and “act with knowledge” (13:16). By contrast, fools “show their annoyance at once” (12:16) and blurt out (v. 23) and “expose their folly” (13:16). Moreover, the prudent “give thought to their steps” (14:15) and “are crowned with knowledge” (v. 18), while the simple “believe anything” (v. 15) and “inherit folly” (v. 18). Clearly, the path of prudence is the way of wisdom. By: Alyson Kieda

Headlong into Danger

A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on [toward danger] and suffers the consequences. Proverbs 27:12 nlt

In 1892, a resident with cholera accidentally transmitted the disease via the Elbe River to Hamburg, Germany’s entire water supply. Within weeks, ten thousand citizens died. Eight years earlier, German microbiologist Robert Koch had made a discovery: cholera was waterborne. Koch’s revelation prodded officials in large European cities to invest in filtration systems to protect their water. Hamburg authorities, however, had done nothing. Citing costs and alleging dubious science, they’d ignored clear warnings while their city careened toward catastrophe.

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about those of us who see trouble yet refuse to act. “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions” (27:12 nlt). When God helps us see danger ahead, it’s common sense to take action to address the danger. We wisely change course. Or we ready ourselves with appropriate precautions that He provides. But we do something. To do nothing is sheer lunacy. We can all fail to miss the warning signs, however, and careen toward disaster. “The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences” (v. 12 nlt).

In Scripture and in the life of Jesus, God shows us the path to follow and warns us of trouble we’ll surely face. If we’re foolish, we’ll barrel ahead, headlong into danger. Instead, as He leads us by His grace, may we heed His wisdom and change course. By:  Winn Collier

Reflect & Pray

When have you refused God’s wisdom? How can you better learn to respond to His warnings?

Dear God, please help me listen to You and turn away from danger.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, October 22, 2023

The Witness of the Spirit

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit… —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ.  The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 65-66; 1 Timothy 2