Isaiah 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: DELIVER CHRIST INTO YOUR WORLD - December 13, 2023

The virgin birth is more, much more than a Christmas story. It’s a story of how close Christ will come to you.

The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep inside Mary for an answer. Better still, look deep within yourself. “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Scripture says (Colossians 1:27).

Christ grew in Mary until he had to come out. Christ will grow in you until the same occurs. He will come out in your speech, in your actions, in your decisions. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem. Every day you live will be a Christmas. Deliver Christ into the world—your world.

Isaiah 32

Safe Houses, Quiet Gardens

1–8  32 But look! A king will rule in the right way,

and his leaders will carry out justice.

Each one will stand as a shelter from high winds,

provide safe cover in stormy weather.

Each will be cool running water in parched land,

a huge granite outcrop giving shade in the desert.

Anyone who looks will see,

anyone who listens will hear.

The impulsive will make sound decisions,

the tongue-tied will speak with eloquence.

No more will fools become celebrities,

nor crooks be rewarded with fame.

For fools are fools and that’s that,

thinking up new ways to do mischief.

They leave a wake of wrecked lives

and lies about God,

Turning their backs on the homeless hungry,

ignoring those dying of thirst in the streets.

And the crooks? Underhanded sneaks they are,

inventive in sin and scandal,

Exploiting the poor with scams and lies,

unmoved by the victimized poor.

But those who are noble make noble plans,

and stand for what is noble.

9–14  Take your stand, indolent women!

Listen to me!

Indulgent, indolent women,

listen closely to what I have to say.

In just a little over a year from now,

you’ll be shaken out of your lazy lives.

The grape harvest will fail,

and there’ll be no fruit on the trees.

Oh tremble, you indolent women.

Get serious, you pampered dolls!

Strip down and discard your silk fineries.

Put on funeral clothes.

Shed honest tears for the lost harvest,

the failed vintage.

Weep for my people’s gardens and farms

that grow nothing but thistles and thornbushes.

Cry tears, real tears, for the happy homes no longer happy,

the merry city no longer merry.

The royal palace is deserted,

the bustling city quiet as a morgue,

The emptied parks and playgrounds

taken over by wild animals,

delighted with their new home.

15–20  Yes, weep and grieve until the Spirit is poured

down on us from above

And the badlands desert grows crops

and the fertile fields become forests.

Justice will move into the badlands desert.

Right will build a home in the fertile field.

And where there’s Right, there’ll be Peace

and the progeny of Right: quiet lives and endless trust.

My people will live in a peaceful neighborhood—

in safe houses, in quiet gardens.

The forest of your pride will be clear-cut,

the city showing off your power leveled.

But you will enjoy a blessed life,

planting well-watered fields and gardens,

with your farm animals grazing freely.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Today's Scripture

Genesis 50:15–21

After the funeral, Joseph’s brothers talked among themselves: “What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back for all the wrong we did him?”

16–17  So they sent Joseph a message, “Before his death, your father gave this command: Tell Joseph, ‘Forgive your brothers’ sin—all that wrongdoing. They did treat you very badly.’ Will you do it? Will you forgive the sins of the servants of your father’s God?”

When Joseph received their message, he wept.

18  Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, “We’ll be your slaves.”

19–21  Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.

Insight

In Genesis 50, we see the mysterious interplay and tension between human responsibility and God’s sovereignty. When the survival of Jacob’s offspring was threatened, God’s preservation plan was already in play. Joseph, who’d triumphed through trials, was at the right place, at the right time, occupying the right position. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (v. 20). This verse weds humanity’s evil and God’s sovereignty and previews what we see in the crucifixion of Jesus. Peter’s preaching on Pentecost included these words: “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead” (Acts 2:23-24; see 4:24-30). By: Arthur Jackson

Overcoming Trials

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good . . . the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20

Anne grew up in poverty and pain. Two of her siblings died in infancy. At five, an eye disease left her partially blind and unable to read or write. When Anne was eight, her mother died from tuberculosis. Shortly after, her abusive father abandoned his three surviving children. The youngest was sent to live with relatives, but Anne and her brother, Jimmie, went to Tewksbury Almshouse, a dilapidated, overcrowded poorhouse. A few months later, Jimmie died.

At age fourteen, Anne’s circumstances brightened. She was sent to a school for the blind, where she underwent surgery to improve her vision and learned to read and write. Though she struggled to fit in, she excelled academically and graduated valedictorian. Today we know her best as Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller’s teacher and companion. Through effort, patience, and love, Anne taught blind and deaf Helen to speak, to read Braille, and to graduate from college.

Joseph too had to overcome extreme trials: at seventeen, he was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and was later wrongly imprisoned (Genesis 37; 39–41). Yet God used him to save Egypt and his family from famine (50:20).

We all face trials and troubles. But just as God helped Joseph and Anne to overcome and to deeply impact the lives of others, He can help and use us. Seek Him for help and guidance. He sees and hears. 

By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

How has God helped you through a trial? How have you been able to help another in their struggle?

Dear God, thank You! You helped me come through a trial. Please help me to be a helper to others.

Learn more about suffering in the Christian life.

https://odbu.org/courses/ca211/lessons/ca211-01-suffering-comes-with-the-freedom-to-choose/topic/ca211-01-lecture/

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Intercessory Prayer

…men always ought to pray and not lose heart. —Luke 18:1

You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up…[with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.

As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.

Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.

What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me.  The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L

Bible in a Year: Hosea 12-14; Revelation 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

A Leader's #1 Job - #9633

I was in a board meeting in a hotel conference room. It was in the 90s outside, but I was ready to put gloves on so I could write without shaking. The air conditioner in our conference room was set one notch past high. It was on arctic! We wandered over to the control box on the wall, and all we did was discover that the controls were locked up. Great! So, we called the desk and they had a hard time understanding us because our teeth were chattering. (I'm not exaggerating at all, no.) They finally got the message, and the maintenance man came and he turned down that ice machine. At that moment, he had the power in his hands. Summer or winter, he is the man who decides what the temperature will be. You know, that's a pretty significant position.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Leader's #1 Job."

Our word for today from the Word of God turns the spotlight on one of the Bible's greatest role models for leadership - my hero, Nehemiah. He led God's people in the effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days. As we join the story, Nehemiah is now governor for a poor group of people who are trying to establish life in their rebuilt city. In that difficult time, the climate was very important, and God had a man who knew how to establish just the right temperature.

Our word for today from the Word of God, Nehemiah 5 beginning in verse 14. "When I was appointed to be their governor...neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors - those preceding me - placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God, I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled for the work; we did not acquire any land. Furthermore," Nehemiah says, "a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations...I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people."

In the intensity of this survival situation, the people desperately needed a climate of unselfishness, of sharing, of cooperation. But someone had to be the thermostat, and Nehemiah was that man. He led the way, setting a temperature of sharing, and you know what? The people followed.

The greatest responsibility of any leader is probably not even in his or her job description. It's establishing a climate. Parents do it at home; Dad establishes a climate when he walks in the door at night. Teachers set a temperature in a classroom. A chairman sets a temperature in a meeting. Leaders do it in a church. Supervisors set a climate in an office or factory. In a sense, we're all leaders to the extent that we set a climate where we are.

If you're in a position of influencing others, have you considered how the temperature feels where you are, what kind of climate you're establishing? Not so much with what you say, but more with the way you are. Is it tense around you or peaceful? Are people around you seeing a model of caring? Of unselfishness? Of pitching in on what needs to be done, as Governor Nehemiah did with the work on the wall? Are you setting a climate of respect for other people? If people are around you, do they become people of prayer?

You're a leader. You're setting a climate, whether you realize it or not. And the interesting thing is that you end up reaping the climate you sow. So make the place where you are feel like it would if Jesus were there. He is.

Romans 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DOWN ON YOUR KNEES - December 12, 2023

A small cathedral outside Bethlehem marks the supposed birthplace of Jesus. Behind a high altar in the church is a cave, a little cavern lit by silver lamps. You can enter the main edifice and admire the ancient church. You can also enter the quiet cave, where a star embedded in the floor recognizes the birth of the King. There is one stipulation, however – you have to stoop. The door is so low you can’t enter standing up.

The same is true of the Christ. You know, you can see the world standing tall, but to witness the Savior you have to get on your knees. So at the birth of Jesus, while the theologians were sleeping and the elite were dreaming and the successful were snoring, the meek were kneeling. They were kneeling before the One only the meek will see. They were kneeling in front of Jesus.

Romans 2

God Is Kind, but Not Soft

1–2  2 Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.

3–4  You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

5–8  You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!

9–11  If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

12–13  If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely. Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.

14–16  When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences.

Religion Can’t Save You

17–24  If you’re brought up Jewish, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Jews that the outsiders are down on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.

25–29  Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised—in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Today's Scripture

Proverbs 18:10–15

God’s name is a place of protection—

good people can run there and be safe.

11  The rich think their wealth protects them;

they imagine themselves safe behind it.

12  Pride first, then the crash,

but humility is precursor to honor.

13  Answering before listening

is both stupid and rude.

14  A healthy spirit conquers adversity,

but what can you do when the spirit is crushed?

15  Wise men and women are always learning,

always listening for fresh insights.

Insight

As the writer of Proverbs so beautifully stated, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). In Judges 9, the people of Shechem ran to a stronghold (v. 46) for refuge when Abimelek—one of Gideon’s sons—threatened the city. Abimelek had previously executed all seventy of his brothers, except Jotham who escaped (v. 5). Unfortunately, the people weren’t safe in this tower because Abimelek set it on fire and all perished (v. 49). But unlike the temporary security of a manmade tower or stronghold, nothing can stand against God. The psalmist David proclaimed God “a strong tower against the foe” (Psalm 61:3) and “a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble” (9:9; see 18:2). We can always find refuge in Him. By: Alyson Kieda

Lean on God

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10 nkjv

While at a water park with some friends, we attempted to navigate a floating obstacle course made of inflatable platforms. The bouncy, slippery platforms made walking straight almost impossible. As we wobbled our way across ramps, cliffs, and bridges, we found ourselves yelping as we fell unceremoniously into the water. After completing one course, my friend, completely exhausted, leaned on one of the “towers” to catch her breath. Almost immediately, it buckled under her weight, sending her hurtling into the water.

Unlike the flimsy towers at the water park, in Bible times, a tower was a stronghold for defense and protection. Judges 9:50–51 describes how the people of Thebez fled to “a strong tower” to hide from Abimelek’s attack on their city. In Proverbs 18:10, the writer used the image of a strong tower to describe who God is—the One who saves those who trust Him.

Sometimes, however, rather than lean on the strong tower of God when we're tired or beaten down, we seek other things for safety and support—a career, relationships, or physical comforts. We’re no different from the rich man who looked for strength in his wealth (v. 11). But just as the inflatable tower couldn’t support my friend, these things can’t give us what we really need. God—who’s all-powerful and in control of all situations—provides true comfort and security. By:  Jasmine Goh

Reflect & Pray

What “towers” do you lean on? How can you remind yourself to run to God, the strong tower?

Dear God, help me to run to You instead of turning to other things for comfort and security.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Personality

…that they may be one just as We are one… —John 17:22

Personality is the unique, limitless part of our life that makes us distinct from everyone else. It is too vast for us even to comprehend. An island in the sea may be just the top of a large mountain, and our personality is like that island. We don’t know the great depths of our being, therefore we cannot measure ourselves. We start out thinking we can, but soon realize that there is really only one Being who fully understands us, and that is our Creator.

Personality is the characteristic mark of the inner, spiritual man, just as individuality is the characteristic of the outer, natural man. Our Lord can never be described in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of His total Person— “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Personality merges, and you only reach your true identity once you are merged with another person. When love or the Spirit of God come upon a person, he is transformed. He will then no longer insist on maintaining his individuality. Our Lord never referred to a person’s individuality or his isolated position, but spoke in terms of the total person— “…that they may be one just as We are one….” Once your rights to yourself are surrendered to God, your true personal nature begins responding to God immediately. Jesus Christ brings freedom to your total person, and even your individuality is transformed. The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

Bible in a Year: Hosea 9-11; Revelation 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 (12/13/2021)

Destiny In the Drudgery - #9111

If you want to have some fun at a gathering where there are married couples, just ask a simple question. "How did you two meet?" You'll get some run-of-the-mill, maybe average type stories like, "We knew each other since we were six days old." But you may also get a few of them who start laughing out loud before they tell you why. They start rolling their eyes, they look at each other, and one or the other of them will say, "Do you really want to know?"

Occasionally, you'll get an answer that's about some random way of meeting - like in a laundromat, or an elevator, or some unexpected public place. Of course, you know, computer online. It's amazing how you can go out not looking, just doing something mundane, and in the middle of some everyday activity, "Poof!" There's what turns out to be your life partner. You know, sometimes that everyday stuff, whoa, turns out not to be so every day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Destiny In the Drudgery."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes right out of the Christmas Story; those wonderful, familiar words about destiny in the drudgery. Luke 2:4 says, "So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son." Well, and the rest, I think we would say, is really history.

Now, Joseph needed to be in Bethlehem. Mary needed to be in Bethlehem, because all the prophecies of the Old Testament have said that the Son of God will come and be born in Bethlehem. Problem: Joseph and Mary are 90 miles away; they're up in Nazareth. Now, how are we going to get them to be in the destiny place for their lives? Ah-ha! Taxes! That's right! It was taxes that got Joseph to the town where Jesus was destined to be born. He had to go there and register. What a drudge!

Here he is, tromping over the hills, going there with his wife - mundane chores. And in the middle of the mundane is the birth of the Son of God. Now, that's very appropriate that it would happen that way, because God often buries a great gift in everyday stuff. Often the good things of your life that you're looking for come when you're not looking for them. God makes destiny out of drudgery...like a woman going to a well to draw water and she meets her Messiah in the middle of her daily chores. Or a fisherman cleaning his nets; he's cleaning up for the day, getting ready to go home and he leaves that day as a disciple of Jesus Christ - it's Simon Peter. Or how about a farmer's son, looking for his Dad's lost donkeys - Saul - and it's in that maneuver that he runs into Samuel and becomes the first King of Israel.

You know, I remember back some years ago, I had been looking - I think for about five years - for an experienced leader to take a vital leadership role in our organization, and God brought me together with someone perfectly gifted, perfectly prepared. You know how? He picked me up in an airport one day. That's how we met. Big deal! But his destiny and mine were in the drudgery of a trip to and from an airport. You say, "Well, so what?" Well, there's no such thing as waking up and saying, "Ho-hum, another day." Uh-uh. God is making something with this day. This is the day the Lord is making! Has made! "I will rejoice and be glad in it." He's weaving a tapestry. Oh, you just see the threads, but God's looking at the tapestry.

So, it's wise to commit yourself to a daily God hunt. Look for Him - God sightings, as He reveals himself somewhere in today's everyday stuff. So go with your eyes wide open into each new day - there's destiny in that drudgery. When Christ is your Lord, everyday stuff isn't everyday stuff.

Isaiah 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN THE FATHER’S HOUSE - December 11, 2023

Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room for you.” Jesus knew the sounds of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” And when he hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.”

Today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2). We make room for him in our hearts, and Jesus makes room for us in his house.

Isaiah 31

Impressed by Military Mathematics

1–3  31 Doom to those who go off to Egypt

thinking that horses can help them,

Impressed by military mathematics,

awed by sheer numbers of chariots and riders—

And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance,

not so much as a prayer to God.

Still, he must be reckoned with,

a most wise God who knows what he’s doing.

He can call down catastrophe.

He’s a God who does what he says.

He intervenes in the work of those who do wrong,

stands up against interfering evildoers.

Egyptians are mortal, not God,

and their horses are flesh, not Spirit.

When God gives the signal, helpers and helped alike

will fall in a heap and share the same dirt grave.

4–5  This is what God told me:

“Like a lion, king of the beasts,

that gnaws and chews and worries its prey,

Not fazed in the least by a bunch of shepherds

who arrive to chase it off,

So God-of-the-Angel-Armies comes down

to fight on Mount Zion, to make war from its heights.

And like a huge eagle hovering in the sky,

God-of-the-Angel-Armies protects Jerusalem.

I’ll protect and rescue it.

Yes, I’ll hover and deliver.”

6–7  Repent, return, dear Israel, to the One you so cruelly abandoned. On the day you return, you’ll throw away—every last one of you—the no-gods your sinful hands made from metal and wood.

8–9  “Assyrians will fall dead,

killed by a sword-thrust but not by a soldier,

laid low by a sword not swung by a mortal.

Assyrians will run from that sword, run for their lives,

and their prize young men made slaves.

Terrorized, that rock-solid people will fall to pieces,

their leaders scatter hysterically.”

God’s Decree on Assyria.

His fire blazes in Zion,

his furnace burns hot in Jerusalem.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, December 11, 2023

Today's Scripture

Ruth 4:9–17

Boaz then addressed the elders and all the people in the town square that day: “You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon, including responsibility for Ruth the foreigner, the widow of Mahlon—I’ll take her as my wife and keep the name of the deceased alive along with his inheritance. The memory and reputation of the deceased is not going to disappear out of this family or from his hometown. To all this you are witnesses this very day.”

11–12  All the people in the town square that day, backing up the elders, said, “Yes, we are witnesses. May God make this woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and Leah, the two women who built the family of Israel. May God make you a pillar in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem! With the children God gives you from this young woman, may your family rival the family of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah.”

13  Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. Boaz slept with her. By God’s gracious gift she conceived and had a son.

14–15  The town women said to Naomi, “Blessed be God! He didn’t leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel! He’ll make you young again! He’ll take care of you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she’s worth more to you than seven sons!”

16  Naomi took the baby and held him in her arms, cuddling him, cooing over him, waiting on him hand and foot.

17  The neighborhood women started calling him “Naomi’s baby boy!” But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Insight

The story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz takes place during the period of the judges (Ruth 1:1). Though we don’t know which judge presided during the days of Ruth, the contrast between the events of the book of Judges and the story of Naomi and Ruth’s redemption is striking. During a time when “everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 21:25) and “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (a phrase used seven times in Judges; see 2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1), Boaz looked out for the good of another—a foreigner. In a setting of selfishness lies a story of compassion and grace. 

By: JR Hudberg

God Is More than Enough

The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. Ruth 4:17

Ellen was on a tight budget, so she was glad to receive a Christmas bonus. That would have been enough, but when she deposited the money, she received another surprise. The teller said that as a Christmas present the bank had deposited her January mortgage payment into her checking account. Now she and Trey could pay other bills and bless someone else with a Christmas surprise!

God has a way of blessing us beyond what we expect. Naomi was bitter and broken by the death of her husband and sons (Ruth 1:20–21). Her desperate situation was rescued by Boaz, a relative who married her daughter-in-law Ruth and provided a home for her and Naomi (4:10).

That might have been all Naomi could hope for. But then God blessed Ruth and Boaz with a son. Now Naomi had a grandson to “renew [her] life and sustain [her] in [her] old age” (v. 15). That would have been enough. As the women of Bethlehem put it, “Naomi has a son!” (v. 17). Then little Obed grew—and became “the father of Jesse, the father of David” (v. 17). Naomi’s family belonged to Israel’s royal line, the most important dynasty in history! That would have been enough. David, however, became the ancestor of . . . Jesus.

If we believe in Christ, we’re in a similar position to Naomi. We had nothing until He redeemed us. Now we’re fully accepted by our Father, who blesses us to bless others. That’s so much more than enough. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

When has God blessed you beyond what you imagined? How has He shown you that He’s more than enough?

Jesus, You’re more than enough for me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, December 11, 2023

Individuality

Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…" —Matthew 16:24

Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.

The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24). It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “…let him deny himself…”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, December 11, 2023

The Loneliest Christmas - #9631

When our son was in college I think his favorite Christmas song was "I'll be Home for Christmas." That might be every college student's favorite song. He started counting the days, the hours, and the minutes until it was time to go home. But none of our kids have ever experienced anything like what my wife called her loneliest Christmas.

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

My wife was a college student in Chicago, and things were really hard for her family back home that year. Dad was a farmer, and the drought was really wiping him out financially. There was no money for her to go home that Christmas. You can imagine how she felt as her friends one by one said goodbye and headed out for their family Christmas at home. Eventually my wife was one of only about a dozen students left on the whole campus. Those were two very long weeks for a young woman who was used to mom and dad and grandma and grandpa, and sister and friends; all celebrating Christmas together. Actually, she would tear up when she thought about it. It really hurts when it's Christmas and you're not home!

In a sense, many people have never really been home for Christmas. I mean, spiritually home. Oh we all have a homing instinct; this deep-down sense that there's something missing in our soul and we won't be home until we find it. The search for that missing piece of us takes us from relationship to relationship, from experience to experience, and that search inevitably leaves us still wondering where home is - for our heart.

Our word for today from the Word of God is from Colossians 1:16, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, six words that say it all. Speaking of Jesus Christ: "All things were" - and here are the six words - "created by Him and for Him." You and I were created by Jesus. We were created for Jesus. And we're going to have a hole in our heart until we have Jesus.

There was an article in a news magazine that said our lifestyle had "yielded only deeper hungers and lonelier nights." Wow! Well, God's Book reveals to us a startling fact that no person on earth can ever satisfy our loneliness. It's cosmic loneliness. We're away from God, and He's the only One who has the lasting love that we were made for. We're like my wife that lonely Christmas at college. Our heart is aching for home! Can you feel it? And God didn't leave us; we left Him.

In the words of the Bible, "All of us have wandered away like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way." That's maybe why the middle letter of sin is "I." We've basically said to God, "Hey, You run the universe. I'll run me, thank you." And that rebellion has cost us the one relationship that we can't live without and we dare not die without.

Then comes Christmas. There's nothing we can do to erase the sin that keeps us from God, to be able to one day be with Him forever in heaven. So God sent His own Son into the world to pay the death penalty that sin requires. And God explains His motive this way, "God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." You see, to believe in Him is to tell God you're pinning all your hopes on Jesus to forgive your sin and to give you eternal life. Because only the One who died for your sin can forgive it. And only the One who walked out of His grave can give you eternal life.

A little boy was lost on a street corner in New York, and this policeman said, "Can you tell me your address or your phone number?" And the boy couldn't remember. Finally the little boy said, "But, sir, there's a big church next to my house, and there's a big cross on the top. And if you can get me to the cross, I can find my way home." So can you.

If you can get yourself this Christmas to the cross where Jesus died for you, you can finally be home in that relationship with the One you were made by and made for. I would love to help you make that discovery and secure your relationship with Jesus and your place in heaven. Would you go to our website? That's what it's there for. It's there for a moment like this - ANewStory.com. Your new story could begin this Christmas season.

Give yourself to Jesus, and you'll be home where your heart has wanted to be for so long - home for Christmas; home forever.

Isaiah 30, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: God Dances Amidst the Common ·

There’s one word that describes the night Jesus came—ordinary. It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. But God dances amidst the common. And that night, He did a waltz! The night was ordinary no more.

The announcement went first to the shepherds. They didn’t ask God if He was sure He knew what He was doing. Theologians would have consulted their commentaries.  The elite would have looked to see if anyone was watching. The successful would have first looked to their calendars. The angels went to the shepherds. Men who didn’t know enough to tell God that messiahs aren’t found sleeping in a feed trough. God comes to the common—because His most powerful tools are the simplest!

From In the Manger

Isaiah 30

All Show, No Substance

1–5  30 “Doom, rebel children!”

God’s Decree.

“You make plans, but not mine.

You make deals, but not in my Spirit.

You pile sin on sin,

one sin on top of another,

Going off to Egypt

without so much as asking me,

Running off to Pharaoh for protection,

expecting to hide out in Egypt.

Well, some protection Pharaoh will be!

Some hideout, Egypt!

They look big and important, true,

with officials strategically established in

Zoan in the north and Hanes in the south,

but there’s nothing to them.

Anyone stupid enough to trust them

will end up looking stupid—

All show, no substance,

an embarrassing farce.”

6–7  And this note on the animals of the Negev

encountered on the road to Egypt:

A most dangerous, treacherous route,

menaced by lions and deadly snakes.

And you’re going to lug all your stuff down there,

your donkeys and camels loaded down with bribes,

Thinking you can buy protection

from that hollow farce of a nation?

Egypt is all show, no substance.

My name for her is Toothless Dragon.

This Is a Rebel Generation

8–11  So, go now and write all this down.

Put it in a book

So that the record will be there

to instruct the coming generations,

Because this is a rebel generation,

a people who lie,

A people unwilling to listen

to anything God tells them.

They tell their spiritual leaders,

“Don’t bother us with irrelevancies.”

They tell their preachers,

“Don’t waste our time on impracticalities.

Tell us what makes us feel better.

Don’t bore us with obsolete religion.

That stuff means nothing to us.

Quit hounding us with The Holy of Israel.”

12–14  Therefore, The Holy of Israel says this:

“Because you scorn this Message,

Preferring to live by injustice

and shape your lives on lies,

This perverse way of life

will be like a towering, badly built wall

That slowly, slowly tilts and shifts,

and then one day, without warning, collapses—

Smashed to bits like a piece of pottery,

smashed beyond recognition or repair,

Useless, a pile of debris

to be swept up and thrown in the trash.”

God Takes the Time to Do Everything Right

15–17  God, the Master, The Holy of Israel,

has this solemn counsel:

“Your salvation requires you to turn back to me

and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.

Your strength will come from settling down

in complete dependence on me—

The very thing

you’ve been unwilling to do.

You’ve said, ‘Nothing doing! We’ll rush off on horseback!’

You’ll rush off, all right! Just not far enough!

You’ve said, ‘We’ll ride off on fast horses!’

Do you think your pursuers ride old nags?

Think again: A thousand of you will scatter before one attacker.

Before a mere five you’ll all run off.

There’ll be nothing left of you—

a flagpole on a hill with no flag,

a signpost on a roadside with the sign torn off.”

18  But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.

He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you.

God takes the time to do everything right—everything.

Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

19–22  Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you’ll find it’s grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he’ll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he’ll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: “This is the right road. Walk down this road.” You’ll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You’ll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, “Good riddance!”

23–26  God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide. Oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed well near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills. Better yet, on the Day God heals his people of the wounds and bruises from the time of punishment, moonlight will flare into sunlight, and sunlight, like a whole week of sunshine at once, will flood the land.

27–28  Look, God’s on his way,

and from a long way off!

Smoking with anger,

immense as he comes into view,

Words steaming from his mouth,

searing, indicting words!

A torrent of words, a flash flood of words

sweeping everyone into the vortex of his words.

He’ll shake down the nations in a sieve of destruction,

herd them into a dead end.

29–33  But you will sing,

sing through an all-night holy feast!

Your hearts will burst with song,

make music like the sound of flutes on parade,

En route to the mountain of God,

on the way to the Rock of Israel.

God will sound out in grandiose thunder,

display his hammering arm,

Furiously angry, showering sparks—

cloudburst, storm, hail!

Oh yes, at God’s thunder

Assyria will cower under the clubbing.

Every blow God lands on them with his club

is in time to the music of drums and pipes,

God in all-out, two-fisted battle,

fighting against them.

Topheth’s fierce fires are well prepared,

ready for the Assyrian king.

The Topheth furnace is deep and wide,

well stoked with hot-burning wood.

God’s breath, like a river of burning pitch, 

starts the fire.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Today's Scripture

Isaiah 49:13–18

 Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead!

Mountains, send up cheers!

God has comforted his people.

He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.

14  But Zion said, “I don’t get it. God has left me.

My Master has forgotten I even exist.”

15–18  “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,

walk away from the baby she bore?

But even if mothers forget,

I’d never forget you—never.

Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.

The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.

Your builders are faster than your wreckers.

The demolition crews are gone for good.

Look up, look around, look well!

See them all gathering, coming to you?

As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—

“you’re going to put them on like so much jewelry,

you’re going to use them to dress up like a bride.

Insight

The scope of Isaiah’s ministry is introduced in Isaiah 1:1: “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” While Isaiah’s ministry was largely localized to Jerusalem and Judah, it spanned decades and the rule of four different kings. J. A. Martin, writing in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, says: “Isaiah ministered for at least 58 years (from at least 739, when Uzziah died [6:1], to 681, when Sennacherib died).” Isaiah’s name means “Yahweh is salvation,” which is appropriate since his writing gives numerous prophecies of Jesus the Savior, including Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; and 53. The work of Jesus is clearly in view in Isaiah 53:5: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” By: Bill Crowder

God Won’t Forget You

I will not forget you! Isaiah 49:15

As a child, I collected postage stamps. When my angkong (Fukienese for “grandfather”) heard of my hobby, he started saving stamps from his office mail every day. Whenever I visited my grandparents, Angkong would give me an envelope filled with a variety of beautiful stamps. “Even though I’m always busy,” he told me once, “I won’t forget you.”

Angkong wasn’t given to overt displays of affection, but I felt his love deeply. In an infinitely deeper way, God demonstrated His love toward Israel when He declared, “I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15). Suffering in Babylon for idolatry and disobedience in days past, His people lamented, “The Lord has forgotten me” (v. 14). But God’s love for His people hadn’t changed. He promised them forgiveness and restoration (vv. 8–13).

“I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,” God told Israel, as He also tells us today (v. 16). As I ponder His words of reassurance, it reminds me so deeply of Jesus’ nail-scarred hands—stretched out in love for us and for our salvation (John 20:24–27). Like my grandfather’s stamps and his tender words, God holds out His forgiving hand as an eternal token of His love. Let’s thank Him for His love—an unchanging love. He will never forget us. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

When were you clearly reminded that God never forgets you? How can His unchanging love give you hope and security in your present situation?

Father, thank You for Your constant love and presence. 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, December 10, 2023

The Offering of the Natural

It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. —Galatians 4:22

Paul was not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed.

Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac (see Genesis 21:8-14). Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost.

If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce continual turmoil. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally. We excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I wasn’t taught to be disciplined when I was a child.” Then discipline yourself now! If you don’t, you will ruin your entire personal life for God.

God is not actively involved with our natural life as long as we continue to pamper and gratify it. But once we are willing to put it out in the desert and are determined to keep it under control, God will be with it. He will then provide wells and oases and fulfill all His promises for the natural (see Genesis 21:15-19).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Hosea 1-4; Revelation 1

Romans 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Searching the Night for a Light

On the night when Jesus was born, I wonder if Joseph prayed, "Father, this all seems so bizarre. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another?" You've stood where Joseph stood. Each of us knows what it's like to search the night for a light. Not outside a stable, but perhaps outside an emergency room or on the manicured grass of a cemetery. We've asked our questions. We have wondered why God does what he does.

If you're asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did. Obey. He didn't let his confusion disrupt his obedience. What about you? You have a choice: to obey or disobey. Because Joseph obeyed, God used him to change the world. Can He do the same with you? Will you be that kind of person? Will you serve. . .even when you don't understand?

From In the Manger

Romans 1

I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God’s words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God’s friends.

2–7  The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.

8–12  I thank God through Jesus for every one of you. That’s first. People everywhere keep telling me about your lives of faith, and every time I hear them, I thank him. And God, whom I so love to worship and serve by spreading the good news of his Son—the Message!—knows that every time I think of you in my prayers, which is practically all the time, I ask him to clear the way for me to come and see you. The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.

13–15  Please don’t misinterpret my failure to visit you, friends. You have no idea how many times I’ve made plans for Rome. I’ve been determined to get some personal enjoyment out of God’s work among you, as I have in so many other non-Jewish towns and communities. But something has always come up and prevented it. Everyone I meet—it matters little whether they’re mannered or rude, smart or simple—deepens my sense of interdependence and obligation. And that’s why I can’t wait to get to you in Rome, preaching this wonderful good news of God.

16–17  It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

Ignoring God Leads to a Downward Spiral

18–23  But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

24–25  So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

26–27  Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

28–32  Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, December 09, 2023

Today's Scripture

Hebrews 10:19–25

Don’t Throw It All Away

19–21  So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.

22–25  So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Insight

The letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish believers in Jesus who, due to persecution and hardship, were in danger of drifting from the faith. Therefore, it makes sense that the author would remind them of the confidence they could have in Christ, for it provides an antidote for their doubts. The New Bible Commentary says, “The word translated confidence is found in four important contexts in Hebrews (3:6; 4:16; 10:19; 10:35). Fundamentally, it’s a confidence of free and open access to God . . . based on the unique sacrifice of Jesus (by the blood of Jesus).” As a result, the believers were encouraged to embrace the confidence that they were truly part of God’s “house” (3:6), to enter His presence confidently in prayer (4:15-16), to enter God’s presence in worship (10:19), and to maintain that confidence in living out their lives (10:35). By: Bill Crowder

Be the Church

Let us consider how we may spur one another on . . . not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. Hebrews 10:24–25

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dave and Carla spent months looking for a church home. Following health guidelines, which limited various in-person experiences, made it even more difficult. They longed for connection to a body of believers in Jesus. “It’s a hard time to find a church,” Carla emailed me. Within me rose a realization from my own longing to be reunited with my church family. “It’s a hard time to be the church,” I responded. In that season, our church had “pivoted,” offering food in surrounding neighborhoods, creating online services, and phoning every member with support and prayer. My husband and I participated and yet wondered what else we could do to “be the church” in our changed world.

In Hebrews 10:25, the writer exhorts readers not to neglect “meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but [encourage] one another.” Perhaps due to persecution (vv. 32–34) or maybe as a result of simply growing weary (12:3), the struggling early believers needed a nudge to keep being the church.

And today, I need a nudge too. Do you? When circumstances change how we experience church, will we continue to be the church? Let’s creatively encourage one another and build each other up as God guides us. Share our resources. Send a text of support. Gather as we’re able. Pray for one another. Let’s be the church. By:  Elisa Morgan

Reflect & Pray

How can you be a help to those today who can’t gather in a church building? How does the church fill your need to be a part of a much larger purpose?

Dear God, please show me how to be the church.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, December 09, 2023

The Opposition of the Natural

Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. —Galatians 5:24

The natural life itself is not sinful. But we must abandon sin, having nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever. Sin belongs to hell and to the devil. I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and to God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought. The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God’s best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.

The natural life is not spiritual, and it can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If we do not purposely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural to us. There is no high or easy road. Each of us has the means to accomplish it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of sacrificing, and thereby performing His will.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Daniel 11-12; Jude

Isaiah 29, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DON’T MISS IT - December 8, 2023

One’s imagination is kindled thinking about the conversation of the innkeeper and his family. Did anyone mention the arrival of the young couple the night before? Did anyone ask about the pregnancy of the girl on the donkey? The innkeeper and his family were so busy. The day was upon them. The day’s bread had to be made, the morning’s chores had to be done. There was too much to do to imagine that the impossible had occurred. God had entered the world as a baby.

Meanwhile the city hummed. Merchants were unaware that God had visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival missed it not because of evil acts or malice. No, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking. Not much has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?

Blind Yourselves So That You See Nothing

Isaiah 29
1–4  29 Doom, Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David set camp!

Let the years add up,

let the festivals run their cycles,

But I’m not letting up on Jerusalem.

The moaning and groaning will continue.

Jerusalem to me is an Ariel.

Like David, I’ll set up camp against you.

I’ll set siege, build towers,

bring in siege engines, build siege ramps.

Driven into the ground, you’ll speak,

you’ll mumble words from the dirt—

Your voice from the ground, like the muttering of a ghost.

Your speech will whisper from the dust.

5–8  But it will be your enemies who are beaten to dust,

the mob of tyrants who will be blown away like chaff.

Because, surprise, as if out of nowhere,

a visit from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

With thunderclaps, earthquakes, and earsplitting noise,

backed up by hurricanes, tornadoes, and lightning strikes,

And the mob of enemies at war with Ariel,

all who trouble and hassle and torment her,

will turn out to be a bad dream, a nightmare.

Like a hungry man dreaming he’s eating steak

and wakes up hungry as ever,

Like a thirsty woman dreaming she’s drinking iced tea

and wakes up thirsty as ever,

So that mob of nations at war against Mount Zion

will wake up and find they haven’t shot an arrow,

haven’t killed a single soul.

9–10  Drug yourselves so you feel nothing.

Blind yourselves so you see nothing.

Get drunk, but not on wine.

Black out, but not from whiskey.

For God has rocked you into a deep, deep sleep,

put the discerning prophets to sleep,

put the farsighted seers to sleep.

You Have Everything Backward

11–12  What you’ve been shown here is somewhat like a letter in a sealed envelope. If you give it to someone who can read and tell her, “Read this,” she’ll say, “I can’t. The envelope is sealed.” And if you give it to someone who can’t read and tell him, “Read this,” he’ll say, “I can’t read.”

13–14  The Master said:

“These people make a big show of saying the right thing,

but their hearts aren’t in it.

Because they act like they’re worshiping me

but don’t mean it,

I’m going to step in and shock them awake,

astonish them, stand them on their ears.

The wise ones who had it all figured out

will be exposed as fools.

The smart people who thought they knew everything

will turn out to know nothing.”

15–16  Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track.

You shut God out and work behind the scenes,

Plotting the future as if you knew everything,

acting mysterious, never showing your hand.

You have everything backward!

You treat the potter as a lump of clay.

Does a book say to its author,

“He didn’t write a word of me”?

Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it,

“She had nothing to do with this”?

17–21  And then before you know it,

and without you having anything to do with it,

Wasted Lebanon will be transformed into lush gardens,

and Mount Carmel reforested.

At that time the deaf will hear

word-for-word what’s been written.

After a lifetime in the dark,

the blind will see.

The castoffs of society will be laughing and dancing in God,

the down-and-outs shouting praise to The Holy of Israel.

For there’ll be no more gangs on the street.

Cynical scoffers will be an extinct species.

Those who never missed a chance to hurt or demean

will never be heard of again:

Gone the people who corrupted the courts,

gone the people who cheated the poor,

gone the people who victimized the innocent.

22–24  And finally this, God’s Message for the family of Jacob,

the same God who redeemed Abraham:

“No longer will Jacob hang his head in shame,

no longer grow gaunt and pale with waiting.

For he’s going to see his children,

my personal gift to him—lots of children.

And these children will honor me

by living holy lives.

In holy worship they’ll honor the Holy One of Jacob

and stand in holy awe of the God of Israel.

Those who got off-track will get back on-track,

and complainers and whiners learn gratitude.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, December 08, 2023

Today's Scripture

John 1:43–51

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)

45–46  Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”

But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”

47  When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”

48  Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”

Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”

49  Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”

50–51  Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”

Insight

In John 1:51, Jesus told His first disciples, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” At first glance, this might seem to be an odd word picture, but it points back to Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:12: “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” In this application, Jesus Himself is the ladder from which we can make our way from earth to heaven. This was Christ’s first hint, opaque though it may be, of His ultimate mission. No wonder Jesus would also say, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). By: Bill Crowder

Prejudice and God’s Love

Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? John 1:46

“You’re not what I expected. I thought I’d hate you, but I don’t.” The young man’s words seemed harsh, but they were actually an effort to be kind. I was studying abroad in his country, a land that decades earlier had been at war with my own. We were participating in a group discussion in class together, and I noticed he seemed distant. When I asked if I’d offended him somehow, he responded, “Not at all . . . . And that’s the thing. My grandfather was killed in that war, and I hated your people and your country for it. But now I see how much we have in common, and that surprises me. I don’t see why we can’t be friends.”

Prejudice is as old as the human race. Two millennia ago, when Nathanael first heard about Jesus living in Nazareth, his bias was evident: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” he asked (John 1:46). Nathanael lived in the region of Galilee, like Jesus. He probably thought God’s Messiah would come from another place; even other Galileans looked down on Nazareth because it seemed to be an unremarkable little village.

This much is clear. Nathanael’s response didn’t stop Jesus from loving him, and he was transformed as he became Jesus’ disciple. “You are the Son of God!” Nathanael later declared (v. 49). There is no bias that can stand against God’s transforming love. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

What biases have you faced or wrestled with? How does Jesus’ love help you deal with them?

Help me, loving God, to overcome any biases I may have and to love others with the love You alone can give.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, December 08, 2023

The Impartial Power of God

By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. —Hebrews 10:14

We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. “…Christ Jesus…became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.

No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “… there is no other name…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood…” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.

God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham.  The Highest Good, 548 L

Bible in a Year: Daniel 8-10; 3 John

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, December 08, 2023

Where You Were Born To Be - #9630

Our oldest son had just graduated from a wonderful Christian college. Most of his good friends were headed for careers in business or the professions - which can be great places to serve God. But his calling was to go as a missionary to an Indian reservation among a people listed by some world prayer people as one of the most unreached people groups in North America. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. In fact, his first place to sleep at night was just a little storeroom, where he slept on a table so he wouldn't be a snack for the critters on the floor. Now, he was there pretty much on his own, and he was just starting to try to break down some walls and meet some of the tribal young people there. He'd been there a couple of weeks when he called us, I guess it was some morning at sunrise his time. He had driven about eight miles to find a phone to call. It was before cell phones! It was the kind of call that a parent doesn't forget. He said, "Mom, Dad, I've got to tell you I've probably never been so lonely in my whole life. In college, I had friends whenever I wanted them, I could go out on a date whenever I wanted to, I could get some money together when I needed to. But here, I have none of those things." To be honest, our parents' hearts were aching at this point. And then we were blown away by his unexpected conclusion. He said, "But I've got to tell you this, "I've never had such peace in my life. I'm where I was born to be, doing what I was born to do!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where You Were Born To Be."

It could be that your life has been very full, but not very fulfilling. What you're doing may be successful, but maybe not necessarily significant. It may be cheered by men, but not very important to God. Let's face it. You're restless inside. You know there's got to be something more. Maybe God is stirring your soul. Maybe He's trying to move you where you were born to be, to do what you were born to do. And it's different from what you're doing now. Don't be afraid of it. Be expectant. And be obedient - no matter how risky that obedience looks. Actually there's no such thing as a risky obedience - only a risky disobedience.

In Jeremiah 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God, the Lord says this to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart." When Jeremiah expresses his sense of being inadequate to carry out his calling, God says, "You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you."

On the one hand, these words applied particularly to the calling of Jeremiah to be God's prophet. But the sense of what He said is true of every child of God...including you. He formed you in the womb for special purposes as Paul says, "for good works He prepared in advance" for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). And He's calling you to be where He made you to be, doing what He made you to do. And it may be something different from what you're doing now. You won't be able to see the whole road ahead, but He's expecting you to start walking that direction right now, following the light of His Word, and His leading through your prayers, and His defining circumstances.

His call is for you to "offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God." Out of that surrender, you will, according to Romans 12, "be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." To follow Him to your designer destiny, you may have to defy the drumbeat of the culture around you. You may be called foolish by those who can't understand heaven's plans. You will almost surely have to proceed by faith; trusting in the Lord who loves you, not in a plan that you can control or even figure out.

But, by all means, follow Him where He's taking you. The alternative is a future filled with the bitter regrets of someone who knows they've missed what they were put here for. Don't settle for anything less than being where you were born to be, and doing what you were born to do.

Isaiah 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily LINGER NEAR THE MANGER - December 7, 2023

Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption. Just ask the Bethlehem shepherds. They had no expectations of excitement. These are sheep they’re watching. We count sheep to go to sleep! Shepherds, however, treasured the predictable. This was the night shift. Any excitement was bad excitement—wolves, lions, poachers. Just because they wanted a calm night, didn’t mean they would get it.

Luke says, “Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shining around them, and they became very frightened.” We always assume the worst before we look for the best. Good thing the shepherds lingered. Otherwise they might have missed the second verse: “Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ the Lord.”

I hope you’ll do what the shepherds did—linger near the manger!

Isaiah 28

God Will Speak in Baby Talk

1–4  28 Doom to the pretentious drunks of Ephraim,

shabby and washed out and seedy—

Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies

of a proud and handsome past.

Watch closely: God has someone picked out,

someone tough and strong to flatten them.

Like a hailstorm, like a hurricane, like a flash flood,

one-handed he’ll throw them to the ground.

Samaria, the party hat on Israel’s head,

will be knocked off with one blow.

It will disappear quicker than

a piece of meat tossed to a dog.

5–6  At that time, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will be

the beautiful crown on the head of what’s left of his people:

Energy and insights of justice to those who guide and decide,

strength and prowess to those who guard and protect.

7–8  These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink,

weaving, falling-down drunks,

Besotted with wine and whiskey,

can’t see straight, can’t talk sense.

Every table is covered with vomit.

They live in vomit.

9–10  “Is that so? And who do you think you are to teach us?

Who are you to lord it over us?

We’re not babies in diapers

to be talked down to by such as you—

‘Da, da, da, da,

blah, blah, blah, blah.

That’s a good little girl,

that’s a good little boy.’ ”

11–12  But that’s exactly how you will be addressed.

God will speak to this people

In baby talk, one syllable at a time—

and he’ll do it through foreign oppressors.

He said before, “This is the time and place to rest,

to give rest to the weary.

This is the place to lay down your burden.”

But they won’t listen.

13  So God will start over with the simple basics

and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time—

“Da, da, da, da,

blah, blah, blah, blah.

That’s a good little girl,

that’s a good little boy.”

And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down,

get bruised and confused and lost.

14–15  Now listen to God’s Message, you scoffers,

you who rule this people in Jerusalem.

You say, “We’ve taken out good life insurance.

We’ve hedged all our bets, covered all our bases.

No disaster can touch us. We’ve thought of everything.

We’re advised by the experts. We’re set.”

The Meaning of the Stone

16–17  But the Master, God, has something to say to this:

“Watch closely. I’m laying a foundation in Zion,

a solid granite foundation, squared and true.

And this is the meaning of the stone:

a trusting life won’t topple.

I’ll make justice the measuring stick

and righteousness the plumb line for the building.

A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies,

and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.

18–22  “Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy

wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.

Your careful precautions against death

were a pack of illusions and lies.

When the disaster happens,

you’ll be crushed by it.

Every time disaster comes, you’ll be in on it—

disaster in the morning, disaster at night.”

Every report of disaster

will send you cowering in terror.

There will be no place where you can rest,

nothing to hide under.

God will rise to full stature,

raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim

And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines.

But this time it’s against you.

Hard to believe, but true.

Not what you’d expect, but it’s coming.

Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff.

Scoffing will just make it worse.

I’ve heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from

God-of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.

23–26  Listen to me now.

Give me your closest attention.

Do farmers plow and plow and do nothing but plow?

Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow?

After they’ve prepared the ground, don’t they plant?

Don’t they scatter dill and spread cumin,

Plant wheat and barley in the fields

and raspberries along the borders?

They know exactly what to do and when to do it.

Their God is their teacher.

27–29  And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices,

the dill and cumin, are treated delicately.

On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly.

The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.

He’s learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

who knows everything about when and how and where.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Today's Scripture

Romans 12:1–3

Place Your Life Before God

1–2  12 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3  I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Insight

In Romans 11, Paul writes to the church at Rome about how the salvation available through Christ is offered to everyone: the faithful remnant of Israel (vv. 1-10) and the ingrafted branches of gentiles (vv. 11-24). And the hardened hearts of Israel will be softened so that all will embrace Jesus as Messiah (vv. 25-32). In the concluding verses (vv. 33-36), the apostle can’t help but burst into celebratory song over the wisdom, grace, and power of God.

Chapter 12 is a continuation of his reasoning. It begins with the word therefore, which is a classic literary signal that what’s coming is the result of what was said previously. Because God offers salvation to so many and because His wisdom is beyond scrutiny, those who’ve chosen Jesus should offer themselves as living sacrifices (v. 1), renew their minds so they’re not conformed to this world (v. 2), and be humble (v. 3).  By: JR Hudberg

Giving like Christ

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Romans 12:1

When American author O. Henry wrote his beloved 1905 Christmas story “The Gift of the Magi,” he was struggling to rebound from personal troubles. Still, he penned an inspiring story that highlights a beautiful, Christlike character trait—sacrifice. In the story, an impoverished wife sells her beautiful long hair on Christmas Eve to buy a gold pocket watch chain for her husband. As she learns later, however, her husband had sold his pocket watch to buy a set of combs for her beautiful hair.

Their greatest gift to each other? Sacrifice. From each, the gesture showed great love.

In that way, the story represents the loving gifts the magi (wise men) gave to the Christ child after His holy birth (see Matthew 2:1, 11). More than those gifts, however, the Child Jesus would grow up and one day give His life for the whole world.

In our daily lives, believers in Christ can highlight His great gift by offering to others the sacrifice of our time, treasures, and a temperament that all speak of love. As the apostle Paul wrote, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). There’s no better gift than sacrificing for others through Jesus’ love.

By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray

What sacrificial gift have you received from someone that showed Christ’s love? What sacrificial gift can you give to others in return?

In my daily life, dear God, may I show others Jesus by sacrificing my needs for theirs.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Repentance

Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation… —2 Corinthians 7:10

Conviction of sin is best described in the words:

My sins, my sins, my Savior,

How sad on Thee they fall.

Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex action caused by self-disgust.

The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (see Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ.  My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

Bible in a Year: Daniel 5-7; 2 John

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Bringing Back a Loved One - #9628

The funeral plans for Matt were in the works. The Park Service had announced that Matt was one of five people who had been killed in a plane crash on a mountainside in Montana. The funeral never happened. Suddenly, Matt's bereaved parents heard the stunning news: although he had been badly injured, their son, along with one other Forest Service worker, had just been rescued alive, miles from the crash site. Rescue workers at the scene of the crash had concluded that the charred wreckage and the scattered human remains indicated that the crash had been "un-survivable." But amazingly, Matt and his fellow worker hiked for 29 hours, often in subfreezing temperatures, until they reached a highway where a motorist picked them up. One news magazine called it, "A Miracle in the Snows of Montana" (Newsweek, October 4, 2004).

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bringing Back a Loved One."

Many a parent with a child away from God has despaired of them ever coming out of the spiritual death that they've chosen. There may be wreckage, there may be damage, injuries, but it's way too soon to think it's over.

If someone you love is away from the Lord and hope is sometimes hard to hang onto, God has a promise for you today in Psalm 126:5-6. It's our word for today from the Word of God and it's a good one. He says: "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." All those months and years of praying and weeping and sowing the seed of God's Word in their life will not return un-harvested.

How God does it, when God does it, whether or not you may even be here to see it is totally in God's hands. But you can be sure the Shepherd is persistently, skillfully pursuing that lost sheep you love and that He loves so much more. Remember, He's more concerned about the one who's lost than the 99 who are doing okay.

I can't begin to list the wanderers and rebels that my heart has ached for over the years; so many who had tasted the goodness of God but who wandered away - some of whom are still wandering. Some of whom have gloriously come home to Jesus, now living for Him with the fervor of one who loves much because they've been forgiven much. Through all these battles for people away from Jesus, I've learned a couple of simple principles that are grounded in Scripture. They've been anchors when it looked like there was no hope.

First, remember the difference between a chapter and a book. These dark times in the life of that one you love are not the whole book - they're a chapter, or even a series of chapters. But many a book with sad chapters has had a happy ending. Don't judge the ending by the dark chapters in the middle of a book. Don't decide the game is lost because your team is losing at halftime.

If you think it's over, you may actually contribute to their continued wandering by resorting to nagging. And that's only going to drive them further away. Or by compromise and accepting what can never be acceptable before God. By slowly giving up on your prayer of faith for them, or maybe just withdrawing from them when your unconditional love may actually be their best hope. See, when someone you love is the least lovable, that's when they need your love the most.

Remember, as long as there's breath, there's hope. It just isn't over so long as they have breath to cry out to God for rescue. So keep on fighting for them in the Throne Room of Almighty God with defiant faith - faith that defies the devil's lie that "it's over. What's the use?" Keep on loving them. Keep on gently sowing seed, as the Holy Spirit opens up natural opportunities. Keep on asking God to make their sin unsatisfying to them, and cry out to the Lord, "Do whatever it takes, Lord, within Your will, to bring them to You!"

Jesus is still bringing back, alive, loved ones that had been spiritually given up for dead.