Isaiah 44 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN GOD GIVES AN ASSIGNMENT - January 2, 2024

Corinthians 12:7 MSG).

When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Look at your life. What do you consistently do well? What do you love to do?  And what do others love for you to do? So much for the excuse, “I don’t have anything to offer. I can’t do anything.” And enough of its arrogant opposite, “I have to do everything.”

Imitate the apostle Paul who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Corinthians 10:13 NLT). So extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6 NASB). And do so to make a big deal out of God.

Isaiah 44

Proud to Be Called Israel

1–5  44 “But for now, dear servant Jacob, listen—

yes, you, Israel, my personal choice.

God who made you has something to say to you;

the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you.

Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, the one I chose.

For I will pour water on the thirsty ground

and send streams coursing through the parched earth.

I will pour my Spirit into your descendants

and my blessing on your children.

They shall sprout like grass on the prairie,

like willows alongside creeks.

This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’

and another will go by the name Jacob;

That one will write on his hand ‘God’s property’—

and be proud to be called Israel.”

6–8  God, King of Israel,

your Redeemer, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says:

“I’m first, I’m last, and everything in between.

I’m the only God there is.

Who compares with me?

Speak up. See if you measure up.

From the beginning, who else has always announced what’s coming?

So what is coming next? Anybody want to venture a try?

Don’t be afraid, and don’t worry:

Haven’t I always kept you informed, told you what was going on?

You’re my eyewitnesses:

Have you ever come across a God, a real God, other than me?

There’s no Rock like me that I know of.”

Lover of Emptiness

9–11  All those who make no-god idols don’t amount to a thing, and what they work so hard at making is nothing. Their little puppet-gods see nothing and know nothing—they’re total embarrassments! Who would bother making gods that can’t do anything, that can’t “god”? Watch all the no-god worshipers hide their faces in shame. Watch the no-god makers slink off humiliated when their idols fail them. Get them out here in the open. Make them face God-reality.

12  The blacksmith makes his no-god, works it over in his forge, hammering it on his anvil—such hard work! He works away, fatigued with hunger and thirst.

13–17  The woodworker draws up plans for his no-god, traces it on a block of wood. He shapes it with chisels and planes into human shape—a beautiful woman, a handsome man, ready to be placed in a chapel. He first cuts down a cedar, or maybe picks out a pine or oak, and lets it grow strong in the forest, nourished by the rain. Then it can serve a double purpose: Part he uses as firewood for keeping warm and baking bread; from the other part he makes a god that he worships—carves it into a god shape and prays before it. With half he makes a fire to warm himself and barbecue his supper. He eats his fill and sits back satisfied with his stomach full and his feet warmed by the fire: “Ah, this is the life.” And he still has half left for a god, made to his personal design—a handy, convenient no-god to worship whenever so inclined. Whenever the need strikes him he prays to it, “Save me. You’re my god.”

18–19  Pretty stupid, wouldn’t you say? Don’t they have eyes in their heads? Are their brains working at all? Doesn’t it occur to them to say, “Half of this tree I used for firewood: I baked bread, roasted meat, and enjoyed a good meal. And now I’ve used the rest to make an abominable no-god. Here I am praying to a stick of wood!”

20  This lover of emptiness, of nothing, is so out of touch with reality, so far gone, that he can’t even look at what he’s doing, can’t even look at the no-god stick of wood in his hand and say, “This is crazy.”

21–22  “Remember these things, O Jacob.

Take it seriously, Israel, that you’re my servant.

I made you, shaped you: You’re my servant.

O Israel, I’ll never forget you.

I’ve wiped the slate of all your wrongdoings.

There’s nothing left of your sins.

Come back to me, come back.

I’ve redeemed you.”

23  High heavens, sing!

God has done it.

Deep earth, shout!

And you mountains, sing!

A forest choir of oaks and pines and cedars!

God has redeemed Jacob.

God’s glory is on display in Israel.

24  God, your Redeemer,

who shaped your life in your mother’s womb, says:

“I am God. I made all that is.

With no help from you I spread out the skies

and laid out the earth.”

25–28  He makes the magicians look ridiculous

and turns fortunetellers into jokes.

He makes the experts look trivial

and their latest knowledge look silly.

But he backs the word of his servant

and confirms the counsel of his messengers.

He says to Jerusalem, “Be inhabited,”

and to the cities of Judah, “Be rebuilt,”

and to the ruins, “I raise you up.”

He says to Ocean, “Dry up.

I’m drying up your rivers.”

He says to Cyrus, “My shepherd—

everything I want, you’ll do it.”

He says to Jerusalem, “Be built,”

and to the Temple, “Be established.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Today's Scripture

Ecclesiastes 1:1–11

The Quester

1  1 These are the words of the Quester, David’s son and king in Jerusalem

2–11  Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.]

There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke.

What’s there to show for a lifetime of work,

a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?

One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,

but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old

planet earth.

The sun comes up and the sun goes down,

then does it again, and again—the same old round.

The wind blows south, the wind blows north.

Around and around and around it blows,

blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.

All the rivers flow into the sea,

but the sea never fills up.

The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,

and then start all over and do it again.

Everything’s boring, utterly boring—

no one can find any meaning in it.

Boring to the eye,

boring to the ear.

What was will be again,

what happened will happen again.

There’s nothing new on this earth.

Year after year it’s the same old thing.

Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”?

Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story.

Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.

And the things that will happen tomorrow?

Nobody’ll remember them either.

Don’t count on being remembered.

Insight

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes is unknown, but many Bible scholars believe it’s Solomon. The writer refers to himself as Qoheleth, a Hebrew word commonly translated as “the Teacher,” or “the Preacher” (1:1). As a “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (v. 1), he certainly qualifies. And as a king with the reputation as the wisest and wealthiest, he would’ve lived the themes of the book; hence, he becomes the plausible choice. Regardless of authorship, along with Job, Proverbs, and the poetry books of Psalms and Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes makes an invaluable contribution to the Bible’s Wisdom Literature.  By: Tim Gustafson

The Son Also Rises

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down.Ecclesiastes 1:5 nkjv

Ernest Hemingway’s first full-length novel features hard-drinking friends who’ve recently endured World War I. They bear the literal and figurative scars of the war’s devastation and try to cope with it via parties, grand adventures, and sleeping around. Always, there is alcohol to numb the pain. No one is happy.

Hemingway’s title for his book The Sun Also Rises comes straight from the pages of Ecclesiastes (1:5). In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon refers to himself as “the Teacher” (v. 1). He observes, “Everything is meaningless” (v. 2) and asks, “What do people gain from all their labors?” (v. 3). Solomon saw how the sun rises and sets, the wind blows to and fro, the rivers flow endlessly into a never satisfied sea (vv. 5–7). Ultimately, all is forgotten (v. 11).

Both Hemingway and Ecclesiastes confront us with the stark futility of living for this life only. Solomon, however, weaves bright hints of the divine into his book. There is permanence—and real hope. Ecclesiastes shows us as we truly are, but it also shows God as He is. “Everything God does will endure forever,” said Solomon (3:14), and therein lies our great hope. For God has given us the gift of us His Son, Jesus.

Apart from God, we’re adrift in an endless, never satisfied sea. Through His risen Son, Jesus, we’re reconciled to Him, and we discover our meaning, value, and purpose.

By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

What occupies your time and what meaning does it hold? How might you change your priorities to follow Jesus?

Loving Father, help me find my fulfillment in You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Will You Go Out Without Knowing?

He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8

Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?

Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.

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: Genesis 4–6; Matthew 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, January 02, 2024

It Ain't Over - God Isn't Finished - #9647

You can become fairly addicted to a predictable television adventure series. A lot of them have a formula. You know how it's going to go. There's a victim you like; there's a villain you don't like, and there's a predicament. And you want to see the predicament resolved, but what if the predicament isn't resolved? You see this wrong sense of values as it goes down to three minutes, two minutes, one minute. You know it's going to end very quickly and it's getting worse. The villain you don't like is winning. The victim you really do like, well, how are they going to fix it? And finally, one of the heroes appears on the scene and, suddenly, it's resolved.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It Ain't Over - God Isn't Finished."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 8, and I'll begin reading at verse 39. It's the familiar story of Jesus being asked to heal Jairus' daughter. She was very sick with a fever, and then as Jairus comes to Him, Jesus has stopped, and He's healed someone else. We pick up the story there, "While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus and said, 'Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the teacher any more.' Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, 'Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.'" Now, this is kind of like on those TV shows where they just put "Continued" and you're hanging on to see what will happen in the next episode.

Well, finally He arrives at the house of Jairus. It says, "He did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. 'Stop wailing,' Jesus said, 'She is not dead but asleep.'" Then Jesus spoke to her and she returned to life. The servant had said, "Don't bother Jesus any more. Wrap it up. Go home. It's too late. The end!" Like a television adventure, it was time to give up; all was lost!

But when God writes a series, it continues. That's always how it is when your life is in God's hands. It ain't over till it's over! And it ain't over because God isn't finished yet. You might be. You might have tried every human solution you can think of, but God isn't finished yet. And He doesn't need much time to change the ending.

No matter how dark a chapter you're living in, no matter how final it seems to be, in Christ there is always another chapter. This might be just like the middle of the book. Don't act like it's the end of the book. Don't give up.

If it weren't for the dark episodes, you would never have the opportunity to see how powerful your Savior is. He does His best work when we are powerless. See, if you look at the book of your life, there is a word that God writes over every hopeless situation - the word "continued." Jairus thought it was over, but it wasn't. "She's dead. It's over." It wasn't over. "I'm not finished yet," Jesus said, "no matter how it looks."

You know, one of the strange things is that when we reach a point in our life where it is hopeless for us, we are at the edge of the greatest hope a human being can discover. When you get to the point where there is something you can't fix, and you can't change, and you can't control, that's the time you begin to look around for someone bigger and more powerful than you. And those are the times when people finally discover the Jesus who has all the power to conquer death, who walked out of His grave under His own power. But only after He died on the cross to pay for every wrong thing we've ever done, demonstrating beyond any shadow of a doubt how loved you are by Jesus.

This very day He may have brought you to what seems like the end of the story to begin a whole new story. And, actually, I want to invite you to a website called ANewStory.com, because I'd like you to go there and let me explain to you how this day you can begin your personal relationship with this all-powerful, all-loving Savior named Jesus. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours." He's changed the lives of so many people.

If you know Jesus, don't let anybody treat you like you're over. Because when you've got Jesus, you can always say about your life, "Stay tuned for the next exciting episode."

Isaiah 43 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ONE VERSION OF YOU - January 1, 2024

Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one 5th Symphony. And God made one version of you!

God custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment, “to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15). “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Corinthians 12:7 CEV). Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us…” or “a few of us…”? No! “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.”

You don’t have to do everything. You’re not God’s solution to society, you are a solution in society. Don’t worry about the skills you don’t have. Don’t covet strength others do have. Just extract your uniqueness to God’s glory.

Isaiah 43

When You’re Between a Rock and a Hard Place

1–4  43 But now, God’s Message,

the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,

the One who got you started, Israel:

“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.

I’ve called your name. You’re mine.

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.

When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.

When you’re between a rock and a hard place,

it won’t be a dead end—

Because I am God, your personal God,

The Holy of Israel, your Savior.

I paid a huge price for you:

all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

That’s how much you mean to me!

That’s how much I love you!

I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,

trade the creation just for you.

5–7  “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you.

I’ll round up all your scattered children,

pull them in from east and west.

I’ll send orders north and south:

‘Send them back.

Return my sons from distant lands,

my daughters from faraway places.

I want them back, every last one who bears my name,

every man, woman, and child

Whom I created for my glory,

yes, personally formed and made each one.’ ”

8–13  Get the blind and deaf out here and ready—

the blind (though there’s nothing wrong with their eyes)

and the deaf (though there’s nothing wrong with their ears).

Then get the other nations out here and ready.

Let’s see what they have to say about this,

how they account for what’s happened.

Let them present their expert witnesses

and make their case;

let them try to convince us what they say is true.

“But you are my witnesses.” God’s Decree.

“You’re my hand-picked servant

So that you’ll come to know and trust me,

understand both that I am and who I am.

Previous to me there was no such thing as a god,

nor will there be after me.

I, yes I, am God.

I’m the only Savior there is.

I spoke, I saved, I told you what existed

long before these upstart gods appeared on the scene.

And you know it, you’re my witnesses,

you’re the evidence.” God’s Decree.

“Yes, I am God.

I’ve always been God

and I always will be God.

No one can take anything from me.

I make; who can unmake it?”

You Didn’t Even Do the Minimum

14–15  God, your Redeemer,

The Holy of Israel, says:

“Just for you, I will march on Babylon.

I’ll turn the tables on the Babylonians.

Instead of whooping it up,

they’ll be wailing.

I am God, your Holy One,

Creator of Israel, your King.”

16–21  This is what God says,

the God who builds a road right through the ocean,

who carves a path through pounding waves,

The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—

they lie down and then can’t get up;

they’re snuffed out like so many candles:

“Forget about what’s happened;

don’t keep going over old history.

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.

It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?

There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,

rivers in the badlands.

Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’

—the coyotes and the buzzards—

Because I provided water in the desert,

rivers through the sun-baked earth,

Drinking water for the people I chose,

the people I made especially for myself,

a people custom-made to praise me.

22–24  “But you didn’t pay a bit of attention to me, Jacob.

You so quickly tired of me, Israel.

You wouldn’t even bring sheep for offerings in worship.

You couldn’t be bothered with sacrifices.

It wasn’t that I asked that much from you.

I didn’t expect expensive presents.

But you didn’t even do the minimum—

so stingy with me, so closefisted.

Yet you haven’t been stingy with your sins.

You’ve been plenty generous with them—and I’m fed up.

25  “But I, yes I, am the one

who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do.

I don’t keep a list of your sins.

26–28  “So, make your case against me. Let’s have this out.

Make your arguments. Prove you’re in the right.

Your original ancestor started the sinning,

and everyone since has joined in.

That’s why I had to disqualify the Temple leaders,

repudiate Jacob and discredit Israel.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, January 01, 2024

Today's Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:14–21

Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.

A New Life

14–15  Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

16–20  Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

21  How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

Insight

Second Corinthians 5:21 describes the very heart of the gospel message: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In this great divine exchange, known as substitutionary or vicarious atonement, God took our sins and placed them on the sinless Christ and attributed His righteousness to us. Jesus took the full punishment that we deserved. The apostle Peter describes this exchange as “the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring [us] to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

When we believe that Jesus died for our sins, we take on His righteousness (Romans 3:22) and receive a right standing before God (see 4:3-4). Paul says of this gift: “Even greater is God’s . . . gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ” (5:17 nlt). By: K. T. Sim

New Identity in Jesus

See what great love the Father has lavished on us. 1 John 3:1

“I’m not who I once was. I’m a new person.” Those simple words from my son, spoken to students at a school assembly, describe the change God made in his life. Once addicted to heroin, Geoffrey previously saw himself through his sins and mistakes. But now he sees himself as a child of God.

The Bible encourages us with this promise: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). No matter who we’ve been or what we’ve done in our past, when we trust Jesus for our salvation and receive the forgiveness offered through His cross, we become someone new. Since the garden of Eden, the guilt of our sins has separated us from God, but He has now “reconciled us to himself through Christ,” “not counting” our sins against us (vv. 18–19). We are His dearly loved children (1 John 3:1–2), washed clean and made new in the likeness of His Son.

Jesus liberates us from sin and its dominating power and restores us into a new relationship with God—where we’re free to no longer live for ourselves but “for him who died for [us] and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). On this New Year’s Day, let’s remember that His transforming love compels us to live with new identity and purpose. It helps us point others to our Savior, the One who can make them new people too! By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean to you that a new beginning is possible with God? How can you live as His “new creation”?

Abba, Father, thank You for sending Your Son to save me. Please send me to someone who needs You too. 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, January 01, 2024

Let Us Keep to the Point

"…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." —Philippians 1:20

My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.

The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Genesis 1–3; Matthew 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, January 01, 2024

Allowing People to Change - #9646

Class reunions are always enlightening, and one thing is obvious after 20 years - people change. Yeah! I was a pretty big boy back in high school. I mean, there were a lot of pounds on this boy, but not quite as many when I went to that reunion. And, you know what? I'm glad they saw the new me. Less of me!

And then there are those changes that aren't always positive that you see in people. You know that athletic hunk you knew in high school who's kind of gone to seed a little bit, or that beautiful bombshell who's... changed, shall we say. Or that great head of hair that's now just a great head. But sometimes it's a pleasant surprise to see how people have changed in positive ways. People do change, and if we're not careful we'll still be thinking of them as they were - not as they are.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Allowing People to Change."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Acts 9:26-28. A man that they almost froze in time. Saul of Tarsus has been, as you may remember, a violent persecutor of Christians. And then dramatically, in a blaze of light, he meets Christ on the road to Damascus. Well you can imagine how the early Christians must have greeted him when he showed up, because they figured he was the "hit man" coming for them.

Verse 26: "When he came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him." Well, I can understand that. "...not believing," it says, "that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the disciples. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord." Now, it looks like at the early part of this account that the Christians had Saul in a category. Saul is the enemy; Saul hates Christians. But much to their surprise, not anymore! God has changed him.

You know, this incident underscores a tendency that we all have - we tend to freeze people in time. You know, we remember how they were and assume they're still that way today. We sized up this man or woman some time ago; we know what they were like. And we won't allow them the privilege of having changed. "Oh yeah, he's lazy." "Oh yeah, she's always irresponsible. She never keeps her promises." "Oh yeah, you can't trust him. He's always deceitful." "She uses people." "He's got a real problem." See, the human mind puts a person into a category and then closes the door on that category. But see, he's changing and we can't close the door.

Sometimes we won't see the changes, even in our families. We tend to see the weakness in our mate, or our child, or our parent. But we can't see the changes that they're trying to make. They're growing! Sometimes we even discourage them by expecting and noticing the worst in them all the time. The things they used to do, let's say, nine out of ten things wrong in a given area. Now they're only doing five out of ten wrong. But we only see the bad five, because we froze them in time. We underestimate the life-changing power of the grace of Almighty God. He is changing His children. We have to allow for it, give them a chance to change, encourage the change, notice the change.

The early Christians gave Saul a chance and I'm so glad they did. Let's expect the best of each other. Not because we trust each other. That's not it so much, but because we trust the transforming power of our Father's grace. Stay up-to-date on what God is doing in the life of that person near you, and don't leave them frozen in time.

Romans 7 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Hope-Filled Heart

You and I live in a trashy world. Unwanted garbage comes our way on a regular basis. Haven’t you been handed a trash sack of mishaps and heartaches? Sure you have. May I ask, what are you going to do with it? You could hide it. Pretend it isn’t there. But sooner or later it will start to stink. So what will you do?

If you follow the example of Christ, you’ll learn to see tough times differently. God wants you to have a hope-filled heart. . .just like Jesus. Wouldn’t you want that? Jesus saw his Father’s presence in the problem. Sure, Max, but Jesus was God. I can’t see the way he saw. Not yet, maybe. But don’t underestimate God’s power. He can change the way you look at life.

From The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Romans 7

Torn Between One Way and Another

1–3  7 You shouldn’t have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law—how it works and how its power touches only the living. For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she’s free. If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she’s obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one’s disapproval.

4–6  So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to “marry” a resurrection life and bear “offspring” of faith for God. For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we’re no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we’re free to live a new life in the freedom of God.

7  But I can hear you say, “If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.” That’s certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.

8–12  Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.

13  I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

14–16  I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

17–20  But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21–23  It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24  I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

25  The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Today's Scripture

Hebrews 13:14–21

This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.

16  Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

17  Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?

18–21  Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon.

May God, who puts all things together,

makes all things whole,

Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,

the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,

Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,

up and alive from the dead,

Now put you together, provide you

with everything you need to please him,

Make us into what gives him most pleasure,

by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.

All glory to Jesus forever and always!

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Insight

The anonymous author of the book of Hebrews wrote to Jewish believers in Jesus who were suffering because of persecution, encouraging them to persevere in their faith and to endure suffering for the sake of Christ—to “[bear] the disgrace he bore” (Hebrews 13:13). Believers in Jesus can persevere because, as the author reminds us, “This world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come” (v. 14 nlt). The author cites examples of believers who in faith (ch. 11) chose to suffer for Christ because they were looking for an eternal home in heaven. Abraham looked “forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (v. 10). Moses “regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. . . . He persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (vv. 26-27). By: K. T. Sim

The Righteous City

May he produce in you . . . every good thing that is pleasing to him. Hebrews 13:21 NLT

On New Year’s Eve 2000, officials in Detroit carefully opened a hundred-year-old time capsule. Nestled inside the copper box were hopeful predictions from some city leaders who expressed visions of prosperity. The mayor’s message, however, offered a different approach. He wrote, “May we be permitted to express one hope superior to all others . . . [that] you may realize as a nation, people, and city, you have grown in righteousness, for it is this that exalts a nation.”

More than success, happiness, or peace, the mayor wished that future citizens would grow in what it means to be truly just and upright. Perhaps he took his cue from Jesus, who blessed those who long for His righteousness (Matthew 5:6). But it’s easy to get discouraged when we consider God’s perfect standard.

Praise God that we don’t have to rely on our own effort to grow. The author of Hebrews said it this way: “May the God of peace . . . equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:20–21). We who are in Christ are made holy by His blood the moment we believe in Him (v. 12), but He actively grows the fruit of righteousness in our hearts throughout a lifetime. We’ll often stumble on the journey, yet still we look forward to “the city that is to come” where God’s righteousness will reign (v. 14).  By:  Karen Pimpo

Reflect & Pray

For what Christlike attributes would you like to be known? How can you encourage others to seek God’s righteousness?

Dear God, please work in me what’s pleasing to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Yesterday

You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. —Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.

Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.

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: Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22

Isaiah 42 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Imagine a Perfect World

Try this. Imagine a perfect world. Whatever that means to you. Imagine it. Does that mean peace? Then envision absolute tranquility. Does a perfect world imply joy? Then create your highest happiness. Will a perfect world have love? Ponder a place where love has no bounds. Whatever heaven means to you, imagine it. Get it firmly fixed in your mind. Delight in it. Dream about it. Long for it.

And then smile as the Father reminds you from the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” No one… no one has come close. Think of all the songs about heaven; all the artists’ portrayals; all the lessons preached; poems written; and chapters drafted. When it comes to describing heaven, we are all happy failures!

From The Lucado Inspirational Reader

Isaiah 42

 “Take a good look at my servant.

I’m backing him to the hilt.

He’s the one I chose,

and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.

I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.

He’ll set everything right among the nations.

He won’t call attention to what he does

with loud speeches or gaudy parades.

He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt

and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,

but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.

He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped

until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.

Far-flung ocean islands

wait expectantly for his teaching.”

The God Who Makes Us Alive with His Own Life

5–9  God’s Message,

the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,

laid out the earth and all that grows from it,

Who breathes life into earth’s people,

makes them alive with his own life:

“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.

I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.

I have set you among my people to bind them to me,

and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,

To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:

opening blind eyes,

releasing prisoners from dungeons,

emptying the dark prisons.

I am God. That’s my name.

I don’t franchise my glory,

don’t endorse the no-god idols.

Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.

I’m announcing the new salvation work.

Before it bursts on the scene,

I’m telling you all about it.”

10–16  Sing to God a brand-new song,

sing his praises all over the world!

Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause,

with all the far-flung islands joining in.

Let the desert and its camps raise a tune,

calling the Kedar nomads to join in.

Let the villagers in Sela round up a choir

and perform from the tops of the mountains.

Make God’s glory resound;

echo his praises from coast to coast.

God steps out like he means business.

You can see he’s primed for action.

He shouts, announcing his arrival;

he takes charge and his enemies fall into line:

“I’ve been quiet long enough.

I’ve held back, biting my tongue.

But now I’m letting loose, letting go,

like a woman who’s having a baby—

Stripping the hills bare,

withering the wildflowers,

Drying up the rivers,

turning lakes into mudflats.

But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way,

who can’t see where they’re going.

I’ll be a personal guide to them,

directing them through unknown country.

I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take,

make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.

These are the things I’ll be doing for them—

sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”

17  But those who invested in the no-gods

are bankrupt—dead broke.

You’ve Seen a Lot, but Looked at Nothing

18–25  Pay attention! Are you deaf?

Open your eyes! Are you blind?

You’re my servant, and you’re not looking!

You’re my messenger, and you’re not listening!

The very people I depended upon, servants of God,

blind as a bat—willfully blind!

You’ve seen a lot, but looked at nothing.

You’ve heard everything, but listened to nothing.

God intended, out of the goodness of his heart,

to be lavish in his revelation.

But this is a people battered and cowed,

shut up in attics and closets,

Victims licking their wounds,

feeling ignored, abandoned.

But is anyone out there listening?

Is anyone paying attention to what’s coming?

Who do you think turned Jacob over to the thugs,

let loose the robbers on Israel?

Wasn’t it God himself, this God against whom we’ve sinned—

not doing what he commanded,

not listening to what he said?

Isn’t it God’s anger that’s behind all this,

God’s punishing power?

Their whole world collapsed but they still didn’t get it;

their life is in ruins but they don’t take it to heart.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Today's Scripture

John 12:27–32

 “Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? ‘Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place. I’ll say, ‘Father, put your glory on display.’ ”

A voice came out of the sky: “I have glorified it, and I’ll glorify it again.”

29  The listening crowd said, “Thunder!”

Others said, “An angel spoke to him!”

30–33  Jesus said, “The voice didn’t come for me but for you. At this moment the world is in crisis. Now Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out. And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me.”

Insight

Jesus would enter the garden of Gethsemane on the evening of Passover Thursday, probably three days after the events described in John 12:27-32. Unlike the other three gospels, John doesn’t describe Christ’s anguish in Gethsemane. But he lets us know that Jesus is already tasting the sorrow coming His way. “Now my soul is troubled,” Christ said (v. 27). In Gethsemane, Jesus would pray, “Not as I will, but as you [the Father] will” (Matthew 26:39). In John, he prays, “Father, glorify your name!” (12:28). Author Warren Wiersbe says that when we experience trials, there are two prayers we can pray: “Father, save me!” or “Father, glorify Your name!” As His hour of trial approached, Jesus chose the latter, praying, “What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (v. 27). By: Tim Gustafson

Troubled Souls, Honest Prayers

Father, glorify your name! John 12:28

Three days before a bomb blast rocked his home in January 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had an encounter that marked him for the rest of his life. After receiving a threatening phone call, King found himself pondering an exit strategy from the civil rights movement. Then prayers emerged from his soul. “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can't face it alone.” After his prayer, there came quiet assurance. King noted, “Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.”

In John 12, Jesus acknowledged, “My soul is troubled” (v. 27). He was transparently honest about His internal disposition; still He was God-centered in His prayer. “Father, glorify your name!” (v. 28). Jesus’ prayer was one of surrender to God’s will.

How human it is for us to feel the pangs of fear and discomfort when we find ourselves with the option of honoring God or not; when wisdom requires making hard decisions about relationships, habits, or other patterns (good or bad). No matter what we’re faced with, as we pray boldly to God, He’ll give us the strength to overcome our fear and discomfort and do what brings glory to Him—for our good and the good of others. By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

What experiences have prompted prayers for God to be honored? What advice would you give to others facing such situations?

Father, please help me to face challenging things honestly and prayerfully that are for my good and will bring You glory.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, December 30, 2023

“And Every Virtue We Possess”

…All my springs are in you. —Psalm 87:7

Our Lord never “patches up” our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics. He completely remakes a person on the inside— “…put on the new man…” (Ephesians 4:24). In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with the new life. The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of Jesus Christ. Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away. He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through this drying-up experience!

The sign that God is at work in us is that He is destroying our confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but only a wasted reminder of what God created man to be. We want to cling to our natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ— a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them. They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity. God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.

And every virtue we possess

Is His alone.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Zechariah 13-14; Revelation 21

Isaiah 41, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: LORD OF HEAVEN - December 29, 2023

When tragedy strikes, whether personal, national, or global, people wonder how God could allow such things to happen. Is God really in control? Can we trust him to run the universe if he would allow this?

It is important to recognize that God dwells in a different realm. God said to Isaiah, “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9 NCV).

How vital, then, that we pray, armed with the knowledge that God is in heaven. And he has chosen to bend near toward earth to see our sorrow and hear our prayers. Though we may not be able to see his purpose or his plan, the Lord of heaven is on his throne and in firm control of the universe and our lives.

Isaiah 41

Do You Feel Like a Lowly Worm?

1  41 “Quiet down, far-flung ocean islands. Listen!

Sit down and rest, everyone. Recover your strength.

Gather around me. Say what’s on your heart.

Together let’s decide what’s right.

2–3  “Who got things rolling here,

got this champion from the east on the move?

Who recruited him for this job,

then rounded up and corralled the nations

so he could run roughshod over kings?

He’s off and running,

pulverizing nations into dust,

leaving only stubble and chaff in his wake.

He chases them and comes through unscathed,

his feet scarcely touching the path.

4  “Who did this? Who made it happen?

Who always gets things started?

I did. God. I’m first on the scene.

I’m also the last to leave.

5–7  “Far-flung ocean islands see it and panic.

The ends of the earth are shaken.

Fearfully they huddle together.

They try to help each other out,

making up stories in the dark.

The god-makers in the workshops

go into overtime production, crafting new models of no-gods,

Urging one another on—‘Good job!’ ‘Great design!’—

pounding in nails at the base

so that the things won’t tip over.

8–10  “But you, Israel, are my servant.

You’re Jacob, my first choice,

descendants of my good friend Abraham.

I pulled you in from all over the world,

called you in from every dark corner of the earth,

Telling you, ‘You’re my servant, serving on my side.

I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you.’

Don’t panic. I’m with you.

There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.

I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.

I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.

11–13  “Count on it: Everyone who had it in for you

will end up out in the cold—

real losers.

Those who worked against you

will end up empty-handed—

nothing to show for their lives.

When you go out looking for your old adversaries

you won’t find them—

Not a trace of your old enemies,

not even a memory.

That’s right. Because I, your God,

have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go.

I’m telling you, ‘Don’t panic.

I’m right here to help you.’

14–16  “Do you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob?

Don’t be afraid.

Feel like a fragile insect, Israel?

I’ll help you.

I, God, want to reassure you.

The God who buys you back, The Holy of Israel.

I’m transforming you from worm to harrow,

from insect to iron.

As a sharp-toothed harrow you’ll smooth out the mountains,

turn those tough old hills into loamy soil.

You’ll open the rough ground to the weather,

to the blasts of sun and wind and rain.

But you’ll be confident and exuberant,

expansive in The Holy of Israel!

17–20  “The poor and homeless are desperate for water,

their tongues parched and no water to be found.

But I’m there to be found, I’m there for them,

and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty.

I’ll open up rivers for them on the barren hills,

spout fountains in the valleys.

I’ll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond,

the waterless waste into splashing creeks.

I’ll plant the red cedar in that treeless wasteland,

also acacia, myrtle, and olive.

I’ll place the cypress in the desert,

with plenty of oaks and pines.

Everyone will see this. No one can miss it—

unavoidable, indisputable evidence

That I, God, personally did this.

It’s created and signed by The Holy of Israel.

21–24  “Set out your case for your gods,” says God.

“Bring your evidence,” says the King of Jacob.

“Take the stand on behalf of your idols, offer arguments,

assemble reasons.

Spread out the facts before us

so that we can assess them ourselves.

Ask them, ‘If you are gods, explain what the past means—

or, failing that, tell us what will happen in the future.

Can’t do that?

How about doing something—anything!

Good or bad—whatever.

Can you hurt us or help us? Do we need to be afraid?’

They say nothing, because they are nothing—

sham gods, no-gods, fool-making gods.

25–29  “I, God, started someone out from the north and he’s come.

He was called out of the east by name.

He’ll stomp the rulers into the mud

the way a potter works the clay.

Let me ask you, Did anyone guess that this might happen?

Did anyone tell us earlier so we might confirm it

with ‘Yes, he’s right!’?

No one mentioned it, no one announced it,

no one heard a peep out of you.

But I told Zion all about this beforehand.

I gave Jerusalem a preacher of good news.

But around here there’s no one—

no one who knows what’s going on.

I ask, but no one can tell me the score.

Nothing here. It’s all smoke and hot air—

sham gods, hollow gods, no-gods.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, December 29, 2023

Today's Scripture

James 1:1–12

 I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the

twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello!

Faith Under Pressure

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

5–8  If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

9–11  When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the “prosperous life.” At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.

12  Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

Insight

James encourages believers in Jesus experiencing “trials” (1:2, 12) by describing their unseen value—growth in perseverance, maturity, and wisdom (vv. 3-5). How believers respond to difficulty witnesses to their faith in Christ, who promises them a “crown of life” (v. 12).

Many believe these trials included persecution for their faith. New Testament scholar Scot McKnight argues that James’ emphasis on the dangers of wealth and the value of humility and poverty (vv. 9-11; 2:1-7) suggests that this persecution took the form of economic oppression. In James 2:6-7, the author describes the wealthy exploiting and oppressing believers. By: Monica La Rose

The Crown of Life

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. James 1:12 nlt

Twelve-year-old LeeAdianez Rodriguez-Espada was worried that she’d be late for a 5K run (just over 3 miles). Her anxiousness led her to take off with a group of runners fifteen minutes earlier than her start time with participants of the half-marathon (more than 13 miles)! LeeAdianez fell in pace with other runners and put one foot in front of the other. At mile four, with the finish line nowhere in sight, she realized that she was in a longer and more difficult race. Instead of dropping out, she simply kept running. The accidental half-marathoner completed her 13.1-mile race and placed 1,885th out of 2,111 finishers. Now that’s perseverance!

While undergoing persecution, many first-century believers in Jesus wanted to drop out of the race for Christ, but James encouraged them to keep running. If they patiently endured testing, God promised a double reward (James 1:4, 12). First, “perseverance [would] finish its work” so they could be “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (v. 4). Second, God would give them the “crown of life”—life in Jesus on earth and the promise of being in His presence in the life to come (v. 12).

Some days the Christian race feels like it’s not the one we signed up for—it’s something longer and more difficult than we expected. But as God provides what we need, we can persevere and keep on running. By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

What difficulty are you enduring right now? What can you do to remain faithful to God as you undergo testing?

Dear God, my legs are tired, and I feel like giving up. Please strengthen me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, December 29, 2023

Deserter or Disciple?

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. —John 6:66

When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t “walk in the light” of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— “…for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.

Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold.  Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L

Bible in a Year: Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, December 29, 2023

Sick of Winter, Ready for Spring - #9645

Oh, for goodness sake, it was the polar vortex again! There I was, digging out the sweaters again, and turning up the thermostat to help the Propane Dealers Retirement Fund. And hoping the weatherman was wrong about snow and ice.

But, you know, I had no right to gripe. I mean, some cities ran out of salt for their streets this past winter. My poor friends in places like Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, New York - they were "whomped" with storm after storm this past winter. And then we've got friends in places like western New York where they just get mountains and mountains of snow during the winter.

If you had just moved to one of those snow-swamped places, it would have been easy to say, "It's always going to be winter. This much snow is never going to melt. It's just going to keep coming."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sick of Winter, Ready for Spring."

Nope. It won't always be winter. There's hope. And hope has a name - spring. No matter how high the snowdrifts were, how endless the parade of winter storms, spring always comes. And that helps me grasp just what that precious word "hope" is all about.

Hope-less means things can never change. But hope means things you've never been able to change can change because hope has a name. His name is Jesus. He's the One of whom the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 6:19, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

As a follower of Jesus, I can be - for the hope-starved people around me - living proof that He could change what I could never change. Because of Jesus, a parent can change. A husband or wife can change. A family can change. Because of Jesus, a temper can change, a life of depression, or a fear of death. Jesus changes control freaks, chronic worriers, fearful people, and people who have always been defined by their pain.

There's a magnet in us that attracts people to our Jesus. It's not our beliefs, the meetings we go to, the bad things we don't do. It's our hope. The Bible says folks will want to know "the reason for the hope you have" (1 Peter 3:15).

When you meet Jesus, you experience the ultimate makeover miracle: "If anyone is in Christ," the Bible says, "he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). So we have hope to give! Hope of Jesus changing our dark side, our fears, our relationships, our eternity.

So the most powerful tool I have to open a heart to Jesus is my story - My Hope Story. Because what people want to know about Jesus is, "What difference does He make?" Your Hope Story tells about how your stressful times are different because of Jesus, your lonely times, your sad times, your wounded times. The difference Jesus makes when there's bad news from the doctor, when your family's in chaos, when the one you were counting on walks out the door, or when you stand by the casket of the one you love.

People can argue with your beliefs. They can't argue with your Hope Story. Once you were "blind." Now you "can see." The only explanation is Jesus.

I always want to be looking for natural opportunities to share some part of how my life is different because of Jesus. As you listen to a person's story, the door opens for you to tell your story. And how His story - His dying for you - has changed your story and could change theirs forever. I am, and all my spiritual brothers and sisters are, living proof that it doesn't always have to be winter.

Spring comes when Jesus comes. And maybe you've never experienced that hope for yourself. Today Jesus stands ready to give you the new beginning that your heart is hungry for. I'd love to introduce you to Him and help you know how to get started with Him. Just go to our website as soon as you can today ANewStory.com. It's time for spring.

Isaiah 41 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NO LIMIT TO HIS LOVE - December 28, 2023

Maybe your life resembles a Bethlehem stable. Crude in some spots, smelly in others. Not much glamour. You do your best to make the best of it. But try as you might, the roof still leaks, and the winter wind still sneaks through the holes you just can’t seem to fix. You’ve shivered through your share of cold nights, and you wonder if God has a place for a person like you.

Find your answers in the Bethlehem stable. The story of Christmas is the story of God’s relentless love for us. The moment Mary touched God’s face is the moment God made his case: there is no place he will not go. No place is too common, no person is too hardened, no distance is too far. There is no person he cannot reach. There is no limit to his love.

Isaiah 41

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The Message

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Do You Feel Like a Lowly Worm?

41 

“Quiet down, far-flung ocean islands. Listen!
    Sit down and rest, everyone. Recover your strength.
Gather around me. Say what’s on your heart.
    Together let’s decide what’s right.

2-3 

“Who got things rolling here,
    got this champion from the east on the move?
Who recruited him for this job,
    then rounded up and corralled the nations
    so he could run roughshod over kings?
He’s off and running,
    pulverizing nations into dust,
    leaving only stubble and chaff in his wake.
He chases them and comes through unscathed,
    his feet scarcely touching the path.

4 

“Who did this? Who made it happen?
    Who always gets things started?
I did. God. I’m first on the scene.
    I’m also the last to leave.

5-7 

“Far-flung ocean islands see it and panic.
    The ends of the earth are shaken.
    Fearfully they huddle together.
They try to help each other out,
    making up stories in the dark.
The godmakers in the workshops
    go into overtime production, crafting new models of no-gods,
Urging one another on—‘Good job!’ ‘Great design!’—
    pounding in nails at the base
    so that the things won’t tip over.

8-10 

“But you, Israel, are my servant.
    You’re Jacob, my first choice,
    descendants of my good friend Abraham.
I pulled you in from all over the world,
    called you in from every dark corner of the earth,
Telling you, ‘You’re my servant, serving on my side.
    I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you.’
Don’t panic. I’m with you.
    There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
    I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.

11-13 

“Count on it: Everyone who had it in for you
    will end up out in the cold—
    real losers.
Those who worked against you
    will end up empty-handed—
    nothing to show for their lives.
When you go out looking for your old adversaries
    you won’t find them—
Not a trace of your old enemies,
    not even a memory.
That’s right. Because I, your God,
    have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go.
I’m telling you, ‘Don’t panic.
    I’m right here to help you.’

14-16 

“Do you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob?
    Don’t be afraid.
Feel like a fragile insect, Israel?
    I’ll help you.
I, God, want to reassure you.
    The God who buys you back, The Holy of Israel.
I’m transforming you from worm to harrow,
    from insect to iron.
As a sharp-toothed harrow you’ll smooth out the mountains,
    turn those tough old hills into loamy soil.
You’ll open the rough ground to the weather,
    to the blasts of sun and wind and rain.
But you’ll be confident and exuberant,
    expansive in The Holy of Israel!

17-20 

“The poor and homeless are desperate for water,
    their tongues parched and no water to be found.
But I’m there to be found, I’m there for them,
    and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty.
I’ll open up rivers for them on the barren hills,
    spout fountains in the valleys.
I’ll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond,
    the waterless waste into splashing creeks.
I’ll plant the red cedar in that treeless wasteland,
    also acacia, myrtle, and olive.
I’ll place the cypress in the desert,
    with plenty of oaks and pines.
Everyone will see this. No one can miss it—
    unavoidable, indisputable evidence
That I, God, personally did this.
    It’s created and signed by The Holy of Israel.

21-24 

“Set out your case for your gods,” says God.
    “Bring your evidence,” says the King of Jacob.
“Take the stand on behalf of your idols, offer arguments,
    assemble reasons.
Spread out the facts before us
    so that we can assess them ourselves.
Ask them, ‘If you are gods, explain what the past means—
    or, failing that, tell us what will happen in the future.
Can’t do that?
    How about doing something—anything!
Good or bad—whatever.
    Can you hurt us or help us? Do we need to be afraid?’
They say nothing, because they are nothing—
    sham gods, no-gods, fool-making gods.

25-29 

“I, God, started someone out from the north and he’s come.
    He was called out of the east by name.
He’ll stomp the rulers into the mud
    the way a potter works the clay.
Let me ask you, Did anyone guess that this might happen?
    Did anyone tell us earlier so we might confirm it
    with ‘Yes, he’s right!’?
No one mentioned it, no one announced it,
    no one heard a peep out of you.
But I told Zion all about this beforehand.
    I gave Jerusalem a preacher of good news.
But around here there’s no one—
    no one who knows what’s going on.
    I ask, but no one can tell me the score.
Nothing here. It’s all smoke and hot air—
    sham gods, hollow gods, no-gods.”

Our Daily Bread Devotional

Today's Scripture: Exodus 22:22-27

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The Message

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22-24 “Don’t mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I’ll take them most seriously; I’ll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.

25 “If you lend money to my people, to any of the down-and-out among you, don’t come down hard on them and gouge them with interest.

26-27 “If you take your neighbor’s coat as security, give it back before nightfall; it may be your neighbor’s only covering—what else does the person have to sleep in? And if I hear the neighbor crying out from the cold, I’ll step in—I’m compassionate.

Insight

God gave the Ten Commandments to instruct His people how to bring honor to God through their lives. Commandments 1-4 (Exodus 20:1-11) instruct us to love God and commandments 5-10 (vv. 12-17) deal with loving our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18 ). Moses then laid down various stipulations to teach God’s people how to love their neighbors (Exodus 21:1-23:9). In Exodus 22:21-27), Moses teaches us how to love the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan—the epitome of the poorest of the poor in ancient Jewish society. Love for neighbors means justice and compassion for the needy. Moses reminded the Israelites that God “shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherl

ess and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing” (

Deuteronomy 10:17-18). And Moses warned, “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow” (27:19).

By KT Smith 

Meeting the Needs of Others 

If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset. Exodus 22:26 

Phillip’s father suffered from severe mental illness and had left home to live on the streets. After Cyndi and her young son Phillip spent a day searching for him, Phillip was rightly concerned for his dad’s well-being. He asked his mother whether his father and other people without homes were warm. In response, they launched an effort to collect and distribute blankets and cold-weather gear to homeless people in the area. For more than a decade, Cyndi has considered it her life’s work, crediting her son and her deep faith in God for awakening her to the hardship of being without a warm place to sleep.

The Bible has long taught us to respond to the needs of others. In the book of Exodus, Moses records a set of principles to guide our interaction with those who lack plentiful resources. When we’re moved to supply the needs of another, we’re to “not treat it like a business deal” and should make no gain or profit from it (Exodus 22:25). If a person’s cloak was taken as collateral, it was to be returned by sunset “because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in?” (v. 27).

Let’s ask God to open our eyes and hearts to see how we can ease the pain of those who are suffering. Whether we seek to meet the needs of many—as Cyndi and Phillip have—or those of a single person, we honor Him by treating them 

with dignity and care.

By: Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

How has God supplied your needs through others? Whose needs might you be able to supply?

Heavenly Father, please open my eyes to the needs of others.

My Utmost for His Highest 

December 28, 2023

By Oswald Chambers 

…unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3

These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must “put on the new man…” (Ephesians 4:24 ). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.

To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, “I won’t submit.” We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We never enter into th

e Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption 

Bible in a Year: 

Zechariah 5-8; Revelation 19

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft, December 28, 2023

HOW TO SAVE YOUR CHILD - #9644 It was so dramatic that the cable news networks just kept replaying the video. A mother and her baby were trapped in a burning building. Some people saw the mother leaning out of the second story window with her baby in her arms, desperately trying to save him from both the smoke and the fire. The news video showed three people standing directly beneath that window, ready to catch the infant. It was an agonizing choice for that mother. If she held onto her baby, if she let him go; either way she risked his life. Finally, painfully, she released her baby and dropped him toward the people waiting underneath. It was breathtaking to see one man catch that little guy in his hands. It just so happens that he plays softball and he's a, guess what, a catcher. That baby was fine today, because a mother made a hard but life-saving choice.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Save Your Child."

In a later interview, a tearful mother explained the decision she had made about her son. She said, "I had to let go of my baby to save him." That's a choice many parents have had to make over the years, and maybe a choice you're facing right now. The only way to save your child may be to let him go...to let her go. And that's not easy for many of us, because we're far more prone to try to control our son or daughter than to release them. It may be because we love them, but it may not be the most loving thing we can do. It's often in what we do to hang onto a child that we actually damage or destroy that child.

The Bible gives us a beautiful example of releasing the child you love in our word for today from the Word of God. Hannah has shed tears for years because she cannot bear a child. Then God responds to her cries and sends her a son named Samuel; who will one day be God's man to lead His people. We can only imagine how much Hannah must have wanted to hang onto this precious son that she'd waited for so long. But listen to her prayer in 1 Samuel 1:27-28 ; a prayer that might change things in the life of your son or daughter. "'I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.' And she worshiped the Lord there."

A mother who deeply loves her child loves him enough to release him into the hands of God. When we choose instead to try to control our son or daughter, we start using approaches that are more likely to ruin their life than to run it. We know the child we wanted, and we're gonna do whatever we can to shape him or her into that child instead of celebrating the child God gave us and nurturing who that child is; not trying to re-create him into something they're not.

I was speaking at a conference where a lady came to me and afterward reminded me of when I had spoken there ten years before. She told me that I'd given an opportunity for people to come forward and surrender some part of their life they'd refused to give to Jesus. She said, "Ron, that night I surrendered my nine-year-old daughter to the Lord. She wasn't turning out the way I wanted, especially spiritually. I had tried everything to control her. That night, I just released her to the Lord. The next day she came to me and said something she'd never said, 'Mom, can we read the Bible together?'" Then that mom melted down as she said, "And today she's finishing her first year at a Christian college, training for a life in God's work." God can do with our surrender what we He could never do with our control.

When we hold onto our child, we tend to create a rebel or a robot. When we release our child to the God who gave that child to us, we cooperate with the great plan for which our child was created. Almost every religion in the world has some kind of ceremony where a newborn child is given back to the Creator. We did that in a dedication service with each of our three children. But that needs to happen every day of their life; giving them back to the One who gave him or her to us.

If your child is struggling, you 

may need to make that difficult but life-giving choice, "I have to let go of my baby to save my baby."