Hosea 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: AS GOD HAS LOVED YOU - February 12, 2024

Would you do what Jesus did? He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for a company of killers. I wouldn’t do that, but Jesus did.

If you knew that only a few would care that you came, would you still come? If you knew that those you loved would laugh in your face, would you still care? Christ did. He humbled himself. The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier. Why? Because that’s what love does. It puts the beloved before itself. He loves you that much, and because he loves you, you are of prime importance to him.

Want to love others as God has loved you? Come thirsty. Drink deeply of God’s love for you. Ask him to fill your heart with a love worth giving.

Hosea 8

Altars for Sinning

1–3  8 “Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!

Vultures are circling over God’s people

Who have broken my covenant

and defied my revelation.

Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’

But they don’t act like it.

Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,

and now the enemy is after them.

4–10  “They crown kings, but without asking me.

They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.

Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,

idols that will be their ruin.

Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!

I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!

How long before they shape up?

And they’re Israelites!

A sculptor made that thing—

it’s not God.

That Samaritan calf

will be broken to bits.

Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,

they’ll harvest tornadoes.

Wheat with no head

produces no flour.

And even if it did,

strangers would gulp it down.

Israel is swallowed up and spit out.

Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.

They trotted off to Assyria:

Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,

but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.

Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,

I’m going to gather them together and confront them.

They’re going to reap the consequences soon,

feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.

11–14  “Ephraim has built a lot of altars,

and then uses them for sinning.

Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!

I write out my revelation for them in detail

and they pretend they can’t read it.

They offer sacrifices to me

and then they feast on the meat.

God is not pleased!

I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.

I’ll punish their sins

and send them back to Egypt.

Israel has forgotten his Maker

and gotten busy making palaces.

Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.

I’m sending fire on their cities

to burn down their fortifications.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, February 12, 2024

Today's Scripture

Matthew 5:43–48

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

48  “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

Insight

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus radically redefined what the people understood as their responsibility to the law of Moses. Christ said He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Then He introduces six topics—murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retribution, and love for enemies—with a version of the phrase “you have heard that it was said” followed by “but I tell you.” What’s interesting about Jesus’ explanation of what “you have heard” is that only a portion of it is recorded in the Old Testament. The other elements are likely part of the Mishnah, the traditions and interpretations of the Pharisees that placed further restrictions on people and had been elevated to be equal with the law of Moses. At least part of what Christ was doing was dismantling the power of the Pharisees’ interpretations and returning to the core of the law as God intended.

Dive deeper into the Sermon on the Mount. By: JR Hudberg

Loving Our Enemies

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

With the American Civil War spawning many bitter feelings, Abraham Lincoln saw fit to speak a kind word about the South. A shocked bystander asked how he could do so. He replied, “Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” Reflecting on those words a century later, Martin Luther King Jr. commented, “This is the power of redemptive love.”

In calling disciples of Christ to love their enemies, King looked to the teachings of Jesus. He noted that although believers might struggle to love those who persecute them, this love grows out of “a consistent and total surrender to God.” “When we love in this way,” King continued, “we’ll know God and experience the beauty of His holiness.” 

King referenced Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which He said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44–45). Jesus counseled against the conventional wisdom of the day of loving only one’s neighbors and hating one’s enemies. Instead, God the Father gives His children the strength to love those who oppose them.

It may feel impossible to love our enemies, but as we look to God for help, He’ll answer our prayers. He gives the courage to embrace this radical practice, for as Jesus said, “with God all things are possible” (19:26). By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

Who is your enemy? If you feel conflicted about loving those who oppose you, how could you submit those feelings to God?

Loving God, You’ve made me—as well as those who hurt me—in Your image. Help me to see them as You do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, February 12, 2024

Are You Listening to God?

They said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." —Exodus 20:19

We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”

Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 13; Matthew 26:26-50

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, February 12, 2024

Four Secrets for Being Unsinkable - #9676

There's that old country song "Country Roads take me home to the place I..." Well, you know. Sometimes I thought that was my wife's national anthem. She grew up in the Ozarks and boy, she had the memories. Most of them were down some country road, unpaved, rutted, rocky and dusty. With a standard rear-wheel drive vehicle, you'd begin to wonder if you'd ever get back from some of those roads, especially if the weather had been bad.

On one of our drives down those country roads I noticed something. Everyone we met was driving a pickup truck with four-wheel drive. But anybody who lives where there are steep roads, rocky roads, muddy roads, or snowy roads, really should have a four-wheel drive vehicle. Because all four wheels are working to get you over something or out of something so that you can go wherever you couldn't in a rear-wheel drive vehicle. You can drive on all kinds of terrain in all kinds of weather if you've got that four-wheel drive.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Four Secrets for Being Unsinkable."

Our word for today from the Word of God actually comes from my life's verse, Romans 8:37. But before we get to that, here is the context. Paul talks about these things that have gone on in his life: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. Man, he just talked about the worst terrain life has to offer. So if you are on a rocky road or a slippery road right now, it's probably in that list somewhere. Or whatever you're going through is nothing worse than what's on that list.

The response of someone who is living on spiritual four-wheel drive on those bad roads, Romans 8:37 - "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Well, the Bible says here that we can live with four-wheel drive, conquering; more than conquering those things that sink most people.

Tell me, how can you be an all-terrain, all-weather Christian, unsinkable especially with the kind of difficulties you're facing right now? Well Romans 8 describes that all-weather faith and gives us four secrets to it. Verse 28 says, "We know that in all these things God works for the good of those who love Him." First of all, you know there's a perfect plan. No matter how the road or the future looks, you embrace the plan. You trust in God believing that this road is part of something bigger than you can see.

Secondly, you count on inexhaustible resources. Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things." The one who loved you enough to send His Son to die for you will not ever abandon you no matter how it may feel right now. Your fuel tank may run out, but His is inexhaustible.

The third secret to this four-wheel drive faith; you hang on to unloseable love. Romans 8:39, "Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Others may not be willing or able to go with you on this tough road, but you will not travel one mile alone if you've got Jesus. He will never abandon you. He is there!

Last of all, this secret: you belong to an invincible Savior. Invincible. Verse 31: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" We're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Whatever is bigger than you are, Jesus is bigger than it is. It's time you shift it into four-wheel drive for that bumpy road, that dangerous road ahead of you. There's a perfect plan, there are inexhaustible resources, there's unloseable love, and there's an invincible Savior.

Do you have a personal relationship with this Jesus? Or is He a religion? Is He rituals? Is He just a belief? Have you ever reached out to Jesus and said, "Jesus, you're my only hope of being forgiven from my sin because of your death on the cross for me. My only hope of going to heaven is You.

Today you can begin a relationship with Him by saying, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and check out, there, how you can get started with Him and know you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. Look, is there any road you can't handle, when with Jesus you can be more than a conqueror?

Hosea 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He Gave a Donkey

I don't know his name or what he looks like. I only know what he gave. He gave a donkey for Jesus to use on the Sunday he entered Jerusalem. An interesting bit of history is found in Matthew 21:3. It is the story of the man who gave the donkey to Jesus. The scripture says, "If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, say that the Master needs them, and he will send them at once."

Did the man have any idea his generosity would be used for such a noble purpose? Did it occur to him God was going to ride that donkey?

All of us have a donkey. Something that, if given to God, could move Jesus and His story further down the road. Maybe you sing or program a computer or speak Swahili or write a check. Whichever it may be…that's your donkey. Do you give it?

The guy who gave Jesus the donkey is just one in a long line of folks who gave little things to a big God.

From And the Angels Were Silent

Hosea 7

Despite All the Signs, Israel Ignores God

1–2  7 “Every time I gave Israel a fresh start,

wiped the slate clean and got them going again,

Ephraim soon filled the slate with new sins,

the treachery of Samaria written out in bold print.

Two-faced and double-tongued,

they steal you blind, pick you clean.

It never crosses their mind

that I keep account of their every crime.

They’re mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin.

I see who they are and what they’ve done.

3–7  “They entertain the king with their evil circus,

delight the princes with their acrobatic lies.

They’re a bunch of overheated adulterers,

like an oven that holds its heat

From the kneading of the dough

to the rising of the bread.

On the royal holiday the princes get drunk

on wine and the frenzy of the mocking mob.

They’re like wood stoves,

red-hot with lust.

Through the night their passion is banked;

in the morning it blazes up, flames hungrily licking.

Murderous and volcanic,

they incinerate their rulers.

Their kings fall one by one,

and no one pays any attention to me.

8–10  “Ephraim mingles with the pagans, dissipating himself.

Ephraim is half-baked.

Strangers suck him dry

but he doesn’t even notice.

His hair has turned gray—

he doesn’t notice.

Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,

Israel’s a public disgrace.

Israel lumbers along oblivious to God,

despite all the signs, ignoring God.

11–16  “Ephraim is bird-brained,

mindless, clueless,

First chirping after Egypt,

then fluttering after Assyria.

I’ll throw my net over them. I’ll clip their wings.

I’ll teach them to mind me!

Doom! They’ve run away from home.

Now they’re really in trouble! They’ve defied me.

And I’m supposed to help them

while they feed me a line of lies?

Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer,

they whoop it up in bed with their whores,

Gash themselves bloody in their sex-and-religion orgies,

but turn their backs on me.

I’m the one who gave them good minds and healthy bodies,

and how am I repaid? With evil scheming!

They turn, but not to me—

turn here, then there, like a weather vane.

Their rulers will be cut down, murdered—

just desserts for their mocking blasphemies.

And the final sentence?

Ridicule in the court of world opinion.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Today's Scripture

2 Samuel 22:1–4, 48–51

David prayed to God the words of this song after God saved him from all his enemies and from Saul.

2–3  God is bedrock under my feet,

the castle in which I live,

my rescuing knight.

My God—the high crag

where I run for dear life,

hiding behind the boulders,

safe in the granite hideout;

My mountaintop refuge,

he saves me from ruthless men.

4  I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,

and find myself safe and saved.

This God set things right for me

and shut up the people who talked back.

He rescued me from enemy anger.

You pulled me from the grip of upstarts,

You saved me from the bullies.

That’s why I’m thanking you, God,

all over the world.

That’s why I’m singing songs

that rhyme your name.

God’s king takes the trophy;

God’s chosen is beloved.

I mean David and all his children—

always.

Insight

It’s helpful to read 2 Samuel 22 along with Psalm 18. This long psalm (only three psalms are longer: 78, 89, 119) parallels David’s song in 2 Samuel when David praised God for His protection and deliverance from Saul so many years before, although with some slight modifications. Scholars speculate that those changes were made to adapt the song from personal to corporate use. Nevertheless, as he now moved toward the end of his life, David reflected on God’s rescue with clearer eyes than ever before, and he gave praise to God for that specific time when he experienced divine rescue. As such, David referred to Him as his rock, his fortress, and his deliverer. He also referred to Him as his horn (symbolic of power and authority) and shield (Psalm 18:2). Taken together, it’s little wonder that David reflected on the mighty God as his stronghold. By: Bill Crowder

I’ve Seen God’s Faithfulness

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. 2 Samuel 22:50

Throughout her historic seventy years as Britain’s ruler, Queen Elizabeth II only endorsed one biography about her life with a personal foreword, The Servant Queen and the King She Serves. Released in celebration of her ninetieth birthday, the book recounts how her faith guided her as she served her country. In the foreword, Queen Elizabeth expressed gratitude for everyone who’d prayed for her, and she thanked God for His steadfast love. She concluded, “I have indeed seen His faithfulness.”

Queen Elizabeth’s simple statement echoes the testimonies of men and women throughout history who’ve experienced the personal, faithful care of God in their lives. It’s this theme underlying a beautiful song King David wrote as he reflected on his life. Recorded in 2 Samuel 22, the song speaks of God’s faithfulness in protecting David, providing for him, and even rescuing him when his very life was in danger (vv. 3–4, 44). In response to his experience of God’s faithfulness, David wrote, “I will sing the praises of your name” (v. 50).

While there’s added beauty when God’s faithfulness is seen over a long lifetime, we don’t have to wait to recount His care in our lives. When we recognize that it’s not our own abilities that carry us through life but the faithful care of a loving Father, we’re moved to gratitude and praise. By:  Lisa M. Samra

Reflect & Pray

How have you seen God’s faithfulness? How might you express your gratitude to Him?

Heavenly Father, I’m so grateful that in every season of life—sorrow or joy—I’ve seen Your faithfulness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Is Your Mind Stayed on God?

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3

Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature— the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.

“We have sinned with our fathers…[and]…did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6-7). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 11-12; Matthew 26:1-25

Hosea 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Someday

There’s a time for extravagant gestures. A time to pour out your affections on the one you love. And when the time comes—seize it. Don’t dismiss it!

“Someday,” we say, “I’ll take her on the cruise.”

“Someday”, we say, “I’ll have time to call and chat.”

“Someday, the children will understand why I was so busy.”

But you know the truth, don’t you? You could say it better than I. Some days never come. And the price of practicality is sometimes higher than extravagance. So, go to the effort…today. Invest the time, today. Make the apology. Take the trip. Purchase the gift. Do it! The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret.

From And The Angels Were Silent

Hosea 6

Gangs of Priests Assaulting Worshipers

1–3  6 “Come on, let’s go back to God.

He hurt us, but he’ll heal us.

He hit us hard,

but he’ll put us right again.

In a couple of days we’ll feel better.

By the third day he’ll have made us brand-new,

Alive and on our feet,

fit to face him.

We’re ready to study God,

eager for God-knowledge.

As sure as dawn breaks,

so sure is his daily arrival.

He comes as rain comes,

as spring rain refreshing the ground.”

4–7  “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?

What do I make of you, Judah?

Your declarations of love last no longer

than morning mist and predawn dew.

That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,

why my words cut you to the quick:

To wake you up to my judgment

blazing like light.

I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.

I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.

You broke the covenant—just like Adam!

You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!

8–9  “Gilead has become Crime City—

blood on the sidewalks, blood on the streets.

It used to be robbers who mugged pedestrians.

Now it’s gangs of priests

Assaulting worshipers on their way to Shechem.

Nothing is sacred to them.

10  “I saw a shocking thing in the country of Israel:

Ephraim worshiping in a religious whorehouse,

and Israel in the mud right there with him.

11  “You’re as bad as the worst of them, Judah.

You’ve been sowing wild oats. Now it’s harvest time.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Today's Scripture

2 Timothy 3:10–17

Keep the Message Alive

10–13  You’ve been a good apprentice to me, a part of my teaching, my manner of life, direction, faith, steadiness, love, patience, troubles, sufferings—suffering along with me in all the grief I had to put up with in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. And you also well know that God rescued me! Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there’s no getting around it. Unscrupulous con men will continue to exploit the faith. They’re as deceived as the people they lead astray. As long as they are out there, things can only get worse.

14–17  But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

Insight

When Paul says that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), he’s picking up on the connection to the first two chapters of Genesis. In the first verses of the Bible, God’s Spirit moves over the formless face of the waters (Genesis 1:2) just prior to God speaking the world into existence. The Hebrew word for “spirit” and “breath” are the same (ruakh) and here emphasize that God created the world by His spoken word and through the Spirit.

It’s that life-giving breath that shows up again in God’s creation of humanity (2:7) and that Paul connects to all of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). Scripture gives life and is useful for all things because it’s the very words of God. Paul’s words to Timothy should encourage us to trust both that Scripture is God’s word to us and that it’s just as life-giving now as it was when He spun the earth into existence. 

By: Jed Ostoich

God’s Transforming Word

You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15

When Kristin wanted to buy a special book for Xio-Hu, her Chinese husband, the only one she could find in Chinese was a Bible. Although neither of them was a believer in Christ, she hoped he would appreciate the gift anyway. At first sight of the Bible, he was angry, but eventually he picked it up. As he read, he became persuaded by the truth in its pages. Upset at this unforeseen development, Kristin started to read the Scriptures in order to refute Xio-Hu. To her surprise, she also came to faith in Jesus through being convinced by what she read.

The apostle Paul knew the transforming nature of Scripture. Writing from prison in Rome, he urged Timothy, whom he mentored, to “continue in what you have learned” because “from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures” (2 Timothy 3:14–15). In the original language, the Greek for “continue” has the sense of “abide” in what the Bible reveals. Knowing that Timothy would face opposition and persecution, Paul wanted him to be equipped for the challenges; he believed his protégé would find strength and wisdom in the Bible as he spent time pondering its truth.

God through His Spirit brings Scripture alive to us. As we dwell in it, He changes us to be more like Him. Even as He did with Xio-Hu and Kristin. By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

How have you been changed through spending time reading and pondering the Bible? When have the Scriptures come alive to you?

Author of all that lives, thank You for inspiring the Bible to be such a life-giving book. May I submit to You as I read the Scriptures.

Learn how to effectively study the Bible.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Is Your Ability to See God Blinded?

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things… —Isaiah 40:26

The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking on the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their power to think and to visualize correctly. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades, if we will only begin to use our blinded thinking to visualize it.

The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your mind and thoughts under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work? Is it your idea of what a servant should be, or maybe your experience of salvation and sanctification? If so, then your ability to see God is blinded. You will be powerless when faced with difficulties and will be forced to endure in darkness. If your power to see has been blinded, don’t look back on your own experiences, but look to God. It is God you need. Go beyond yourself and away from the faces of your idols and away from everything else that has been blinding your thinking. Wake up and accept the ridicule that Isaiah gave to his people, and deliberately turn your thoughts and your eyes to God.

One of the reasons for our sense of futility in prayer is that we have lost our power to visualize. We can no longer even imagine putting ourselves deliberately before God. It is actually more important to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the area of intercession than in our personal contact with others. The power of visualization is what God gives a saint so that he can go beyond himself and be firmly placed into relationships he never before experienced.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 8-10; Matthew 25:31-46

Hosea 5 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NO ROOM FOR PECKING ORDERS - February 9, 2024

Pecking orders are a part of life. Ranking systems can clarify our roles. The problem with pecking orders isn’t the order. The problem is with the pecking!

A friend who grew up on a farm told me he saw their chickens attacking a sick newborn. His mother explained, “That’s what chickens do. When one is really sick, the rest peck it to death.” Such a barnyard mentality may fly on the farm, but not in God’s kingdom. In Matthew 23:6 (NIV) Jesus is critical of the Pharisees who “love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues.” Through this passage Jesus blasts the top birds of the church, those who spread their plumes of robes and titles and choice seats. Jesus won’t stand for it. Jesus has no room for pecking orders in his kingdom.

Hosea 5

They Wouldn’t Recognize God If They Saw Him

1–2  5 “Listen to this, priests!

Attention, people of Israel!

Royal family—all ears!

You’re in charge of justice around here.

But what have you done? Exploited people at Mizpah,

ripped them off on Tabor,

Victimized them at Shittim.

I’m going to punish the lot of you.

3–4  “I know you, Ephraim, inside and out.

Yes, Israel, I see right through you!

Ephraim, you’ve played your sex-and-religion games long enough.

All Israel is thoroughly polluted.

They couldn’t turn to God if they wanted to.

Their evil life is a bad habit.

Every breath they take is a whore’s breath.

They wouldn’t recognize God if they saw me.

5–7  “Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,

they’re a public disgrace,

The lot of them—Israel, Ephraim, Judah—

lurching and weaving down their guilty streets.

When they decide to get their lives together

and go off looking for God once again,

They’ll find it’s too late.

I, God, will be long gone.

They’ve played fast and loose with me for too long,

filling the country with their bastard offspring.

A plague of locusts will

devastate their violated land.

8–9  “Blow the ram’s horn shofar in Gibeah,

the bugle in Ramah!

Signal the invasion of Sin City!

Scare the daylights out of Ben-jamin!

Ephraim will be left wasted,

a lifeless moonscape.

I’m telling it straight, the unvarnished truth,

to the tribes of Israel.

10  “Israel’s rulers are crooks and thieves,

cheating the people of their land,

And I’m angry, good and angry.

Every inch of their bodies is going to feel my anger.

11–12  “Brutal Ephraim is himself brutalized—

a taste of his own medicine!

He was so determined

to do it his own worthless way.

Therefore I’m pus to Ephraim,

dry rot in the house of Judah.

13  “When Ephraim saw he was sick

and Judah saw his pus-filled sores,

Ephraim went running to Assyria,

went for help to the big king.

But he can’t heal you.

He can’t cure your oozing sores.

14–15  “I’m a grizzly charging Ephraim,

a grizzly with cubs charging Judah.

I’ll rip them to pieces—yes, I will!

No one can stop me now.

I’ll drag them off.

No one can help them.

Then I’ll go back to where I came from

until they come to their senses.

When they finally hit rock bottom,

maybe they’ll come looking for me.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, February 09, 2024

Today's Scripture

Romans 13:8–10

Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.

Insight

The Bible has much to say about loving others. Jesus says that “to love your neighbor as yourself” is the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39) and that the greatest love a person can show is to “lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 refers to the love the body of Christ should have for one another. But in his letter to the Roman believers in Jesus, Paul puts his admonition to love (13:8-10) in a peculiar place. It’s sandwiched between an exhortation to be submissive to governing authorities by fulfilling civic responsibilities (vv. 1-7)—authorities that weren’t friendly to early believers in Christ—and a reminder that the day of Lord is “nearer now than when we first believed” (v. 11). Perhaps the apostle is suggesting that love is a responsibility (akin to civic responsibility) that’s motivated by anticipating our future with Jesus. By: JR Hudberg

God’s Great Love Cycle

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another. Romans 13:8

As a new believer in Jesus at the age of thirty, I had lots of questions after committing my life to Him. When I started reading the Scriptures, I had even more questions. I reached out to a friend. “How can I possibly obey all God’s commands? I just snapped at my husband this morning!”

“Just keep reading your Bible,” she said, “and ask the Holy Spirit to help you love like Jesus loves you.”

After more than twenty years of living as a child of God, that simple but profound truth still helps me embrace the three steps in His great love cycle: First, the apostle Paul affirmed that love is central in the life of a believer in Jesus. Second, by continuing to pay the “debt to love one another,” followers of Christ will walk in obedience, “for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). Finally, we fulfill the law because “love does no harm to a neighbor” (v. 10).

When we experience the depth of God’s love for us, demonstrated best through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we can respond with gratitude. Our grateful devotion to Jesus leads to loving others with our words, actions, and attitudes. Genuine love flows from the one true God who is love (1 John 4:16, 19).

Loving God, help us get caught up in Your great love cycle! By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

When have you struggled to feel loved by Jesus or to love like He loves? How does knowing Christ loves you completely and unconditionally change the way you love others?

Dear Jesus, please help me believe You love me so I can love others through the overflow of Your love for me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, February 09, 2024

Are You Exhausted Spiritually?

The everlasting God…neither faints nor is weary. —Isaiah 40:28

Exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep,” but He gave him nothing with which to feed them (John 21:17). The process of being made broken bread and poured-out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other people’s souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you completely— to the very last drop. But be careful to replenish your supply, or you will quickly be utterly exhausted. Until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they will have to draw on His life through you. You must literally be their source of supply, until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and sheep, as well as for Him.

Have you delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving God? If so, then renew and rekindle your desires and affections. Examine your reasons for service. Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies. You have no right to complain, “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that He is your supply. “All my springs are in you” (Psalm 87:7).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest. Disciples Indeed, 395 L

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 6-7; Matthew 25:1-30

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, February 09, 2024

Why the Coach is Working You So Hard - #9675

Back when my son and his friends were going into their sophomore year in high school playing football, they moved up to the junior varsity and the varsity team. And they got word that they were going to have triple sessions in August and September practices. That's exciting... triple sessions meant that you get to go, not for the regular two-hour practice of calisthenics, and running, and working hard, and running into things, and running into each other. No, you get to go for four hours. Hey, you guessed it: not even four... you get to go for six wonderful hours of that!

Twelve different times before the season starts - triple sessions. And you should have heard them when they talked about it, or actually, you should have seen them. Their eyes kind of rolled back in their head, and their mouths drooped, and their shoulders sagged, and they'd go, "Triple sessions!" Well, the coach knew he had an inexperienced crop coming up, and he was the coach who got used to winning. So, he put them through some very demanding training. Of course, that's the price you pay to be a winner. They were state champs!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why the Coach is Working You So Hard."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 5 - it's about God's training program; He, of course, being the head coach. And verses 3 and 4 tell us this, starting out with a kind of curious phrase, "We also rejoice in our sufferings." Have you been doing that recently? Rejoicing? Well, that's really great that we're going through this hard time, isn't it? Well, Paul says, "We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope."

Well, there's that phrase, "rejoicing in our suffering." How can a football player rejoice in triple session workouts? How can he rejoice in them? Well, he knows if he thinks about it that this extra practice is making him stronger, he's getting more endurance, he's getting experience that will give him the edge when he gets in the game. He'll be a fourth-quarter player. He's ending up having "hope" as Paul says here. His hope is that he's going to win.

We're going to have a winning season. We might walk off with the championship. I might have something special on the back of my jacket all year and for the rest of my high school career. See, his hope comes from the fact that he knows he's getting strong enough to win, and he won't get strong enough to win without double and triple sessions. He may hate the process; he's going to love the outcome.

Now, notice in these verses how God gives us hope in the middle of our hard times. It might be hope that you need right now because there's a lot of pain and stress that you're experiencing. Maybe you've almost lost hope. Notice it says that suffering produces perseverance. Or some translations say "patience." In other words, by making it through hard times, you develop the ability to hang in there even when it hurts like that football player hurting all over. To wait for God's timing to say, "You know, I don't have to have an answer or relief right now." And that patience converts into character Paul says. Or another translation says "experience." You can look back and say, "You know, I've made it through something like this, and now I know I can do it."

There's a confidence that comes from making it through something very, very hard. You can say, "I know I can do this with God's help. I know I can, because I've been here before." And the big things, the daunting things, the scary things don't look as big and daunting and scary any more. But see, people who have never handled anything tough, well, they're the ones who leave practice when it starts to hurt. They run from their problems instead of confronting them. Sometimes that's even why people think about ending their own life, because they've not handled the tough stuff, and they just want the pain to stop.

Listen, stay in the ring. You're building experience and that's what gives hope in suffering. There's no way to develop this kind of strength, this kind of toughness, this kind of durability without suffering first. If the coach has scheduled a triple session for you right now, don't despair. Don't give up. Don't quit. Let suffering develop patience, let patience develop experience, let experience develop hope.

Triple sessions build winners.

Romans 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE WORK IS GOD’S - February 8, 2024

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love does not envy.”

A number of years ago I learned of a new church across town. A friend came to me with this report: “The church is great. It’s bursting at the seams—the largest one in town.” A more spiritual Max would have rejoiced. A more mature Max would have thanked God. But the Max who heard the report didn’t act mature or spiritual. He acted jealous.

Rather than celebrate God’s work, I was obsessed with my own. I wanted our church to be the biggest. Sickening. In a profound moment of conviction, he let me know that the church is his church, not mine. The work is his work, not mine. And my life is his life, not mine. My job wasn’t to question him, but to trust him. The cure for jealousy? Trust!

Romans 14

Cultivating Good Relationships

1  14 Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.

2–4  For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

5  Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

6–9  What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

10–12  So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:

“As I live and breathe,” God says,

“every knee will bow before me;

Every tongue will tell the honest truth

that I and only I am God.”

So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

13–14  Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.

15–16  If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!

17–18  God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

19–21  So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.

22–23  Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, February 08, 2024

Today's Scripture

Proverbs 29:18–27

If people can’t see what God is doing,

they stumble all over themselves;

But when they attend to what he reveals,

they are most blessed.

19  It takes more than talk to keep workers in line;

mere words go in one ear and out the other.

20  Observe the people who always talk before they think—

even simpletons are better off than they are.

21  If you let people treat you like a doormat,

you’ll be quite forgotten in the end.

22  Angry people stir up a lot of discord;

the intemperate stir up trouble.

23  Pride lands you flat on your face;

humility prepares you for honors.

24  Befriend an outlaw

and become an enemy to yourself.

When the victims cry out,

you’ll be included in their curses

if you’re a coward to their cause in court.

25  The fear of human opinion disables;

trusting in God protects you from that.

26  Everyone tries to get help from the leader,

but only God will give us justice.

27  Good people can’t stand the sight of deliberate evil;

the wicked can’t stand the sight of well-chosen goodness.

Insight

Proverbs 29:18-27 comes from a five-chapter section that begins with 25:1. That introductory verse says, “These are more proverbs of Solomon, compiled by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah.” Who were “the men of Hezekiah”? They were likely his scribes, and these proverbs were collected by them more than two hundred years after the death of King Solomon. Hezekiah had a reputation as a good and God-fearing king, and he was keenly interested in seeing the wisdom of his ancestor preserved and promulgated.

Proverbs 29:18 may be the most well-known proverb from today’s reading. The word revelation is rendered as “vision,” “prophecy,” or “prophetic vision” in other translations. The Hebrew word is khazon, which means “a revelation, a message from God.” By: Tim Gustafson

Brought Low

Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor. Proverbs 29:23

Pride precedes and often leads to humiliation—something a man in Norway found out. Not even dressed in running clothes, the individual arrogantly challenged Karsten Warholm—the world record holder in the 400-meter hurdles—to a race. Warholm, training in an indoor public facility, obliged the challenger and left him in his dust. At the finish line, the two-time world champion smiled when the man insisted that he’d had a bad start and wanted to race again!

In Proverbs 29:23 we read, “Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.” God’s dealings with the proud is one of Solomon’s favorite themes in the book (11:2; 16:18; 18:12). The word pride or haughty in these verses means “swelling” or “puffed up”—taking credit for what rightfully belongs to God. When we’re filled with pride, we think more highly of ourselves than we should. Jesus once said, “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). Both He and Solomon direct us to pursue humility and lowliness. This isn’t false modesty, but rightsizing oneself and acknowledging that all that we have comes from God. It’s being wise and not saying things arrogantly “in haste” (Proverbs 29:20).   

Let’s ask God to give us the heart and wisdom to humble ourselves to honor Him and avoid humiliation. By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

When have you experienced humility that brought honor? How can you humble yourself before God?

Dear God, remind me that humility is the pathway to honor in Your sight.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, February 08, 2024

The Cost of Sanctification

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself…” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.

Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 4-5; Matthew 24:29-51

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, February 08, 2024

Throwing Yourself Away - #9674

I had just finished up a great conference in Canada, and Michael, our Field Director, was there with me. We were walking back to our hotel to pack up and leave. I was really tired and pre-occupied when he handed me this envelope. I noticed a phone message written on it, and I distinctly remember Michael saying something when he handed it to me, but I was concentrating on that message that had been written on the envelope. I looked at who it was and I said to myself, "Oh, I already made that call." And since I was finished with the message, after I got in my room I threw the envelope away.

When we got back to our office, somebody said, "Where is the check from the folks in Canada?" They were referring to the check for our ministry from the weekend. I said, "Michael has it." When they asked Michael, he said, "No, I gave it to Ron." "You did?" You guessed it. It was in the envelope I threw away. I don't think I have ever thrown away a check in my life. Well, they stopped payment and they re-issued it. But I was treated for acute embarrassment. See, I didn't know what the envelope was worth, so I just threw it away.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Throwing Yourself Away."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Leviticus 26:12-13. It's an important passage for a lot of us who don't realize how valuable we are. See, the people here, the ancient Jews, had been mistreated in Egypt, they'd been used, they'd been hurt, and they'd been belittled and enslaved. And they started to believe that's what they were worth. Does that sound familiar at all?

Well, here's what God said to them, and maybe to you. "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt so you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bonds of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high." And here's what God says about whose they are and who you are: "My people, no longer slaves, walking with your head held high."

See, they were out of Egypt, but Egypt wasn't out of them. They were out of bondage, but the bondage wasn't out of them. God was telling them what royalty they really were, that it was about time they started living like the treasure they were. Maybe that's what God is trying to tell you. You've been making the same mistake about your worth that I did with that valuable envelope; you think it's trash.

Maybe you've felt like a loser, a reject, a victim. So you've been throwing yourself away, and there are a lot of ways to do that. You can throw yourself away academically by not trying, not working very hard at work, by getting sexually involved, maybe throwing yourself away chemically or alcoholically. You could be trashing yourself by what you do for pleasure, by settling for bad relationships. Maybe you've even thought about suicide. It could be you just don't try because you don't think you're worth it.

You're wrong. You are God's handmade creation. His people, no longer a slave; head held high. You're making a mistake that breaks the heart of your Creator. You believe you are trash because some people treated you like trash. No, you are who your Creator says you are. They don't get to tell you who you are. You were created by God. You are loved by God. You're purchased by God through the death of His Son. You belong to God if you've given yourself to Him. You are not trash! You are treasure!

I looked at a valuable envelope. I thought it was trash; I threw it away. I was wrong. It was worth a lot. Maybe some people have looked at you and thought you weren't worth much, and they treated you like trash. Well, they didn't know who you are. But you need to know, whether they know or not. Don't break God's heart any more by throwing away what He thinks is worth so much He would die for you. He would die for the very wrong things you have done, for every rebellion against Him. You were worth the life of Christ, His Son.

This day, why don't you step into His love by opening your heart to Him? I'd love to help you do that. And I can if you'll visit our website ANewStory.com.

I think if you can say to Jesus, "I'm Yours, today." You could start to live like the treasure that He says you are.

Hosea 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE REAL DEAL - February 7, 2024

Susie’s most treasured possession was a string of fake pearls given to her by her father. As he put her to bed one evening, he asked this question: “Do you love me?” “Yes, Daddy. I love you more than anything.” He paused. “More than the pearls? Would you give me your pearls?” “Oh Daddy,” she replied. “I couldn’t do that. I love my pearls.”

But the next day she went to see him. “Daddy, I love you more than these. Here you take them.” He said, “I brought you a gift from my trip.” She opened the small flat box and gasped. Pearls! Genuine pearls.

You suppose your Father wants to give you some as well? He offers authentic love. His devotion is the real deal. He will give you the genuine when you surrender the imitation.

Hosea 4

No One Is Faithful

1–3  4 Attention all Israelites! God’s Message!

God indicts the whole population:

“No one is faithful. No one loves.

No one knows the first thing about God.

All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex,

sheer anarchy, one murder after another!

And because of all this, the very land itself weeps

and everything in it is grief-stricken—

animals in the fields and birds on the wing,

even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless.

4–10  “But don’t look for someone to blame.

No finger pointing!

You, priest, are the one in the dock.

You stumble around in broad daylight,

And then the prophets take over and stumble all night.

Your mother is as bad as you.

My people are ruined

because they don’t know what’s right or true.

Because you’ve turned your back on knowledge,

I’ve turned my back on you priests.

Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God,

I’m no longer recognizing your children.

The more priests, the more sin.

They traded in their glory for shame.

They pig out on my people’s sins.

They can’t wait for the latest in evil.

The result: You can’t tell the people from the priests,

the priests from the people.

I’m on my way to make them both pay

and take the consequences of the bad lives they’ve lived.

They’ll eat and be as hungry as ever,

have sex and get no satisfaction.

They walked out on me, their God,

for a life of rutting with whores.

They Make a Picnic Out of Religion

11–14  “Wine and whiskey

leave my people in a stupor.

They ask questions of a dead tree,

expect answers from a sturdy walking stick.

Drunk on sex, they can’t find their way home.

They’ve replaced their God with their genitals.

They worship on the tops of mountains,

make a picnic out of religion.

Under the oaks and elms on the hills

they stretch out and take it easy.

Before you know it, your daughters are whores

and the wives of your sons are sleeping around.

But I’m not going after your whoring daughters

or the adulterous wives of your sons.

It’s the men who pick up the whores that I’m after,

the men who worship at the holy whorehouses—

a stupid people, ruined by whores!

15–19  “You’ve ruined your own life, Israel—

but don’t drag Judah down with you!

Don’t go to the sex shrine at Gilgal,

don’t go to that sin city Bethel,

Don’t go around saying ‘God bless you’ and not mean it,

taking God’s name in vain.

Israel is stubborn as a mule.

How can God lead him like a lamb to open pasture?

Ephraim is addicted to idols.

Let him go.

When the beer runs out,

it’s sex, sex, and more sex.

Bold and sordid debauchery—

how they love it!

The whirlwind has them in its clutches.

Their sex-worship leaves them finally impotent.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Today's Scripture

Nehemiah 4:6–9

We kept at it, repairing and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work.

7–9  When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs of the walls of Jerusalem were going so well—that the breaks in the wall were being fixed—they were absolutely furious. They put their heads together and decided to fight against Jerusalem and create as much trouble as they could. We countered with prayer to our God and set a round-the-clock guard against them.

Insight

Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah, served the important post of cupbearer for King Artaxerxes. When Nehemiah heard the discouraging news from his brother Hanani that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, he wept. Moreover, his people, the Jewish exiles who’d returned to Judah from Babylon, were in trouble (Nehemiah 1). The king noticed Nehemiah’s sadness, inquired about it (2:1-2), and granted his servant Nehemiah leave of absence to help rebuild Jerusalem. Nehemiah united the returning exiles to rebuild the walls despite heavy opposition from opponents in nearby Samaria, Amnon, and Arabia. While some of the men worked to rebuild the walls, others stood guard (4:1-9, 15). The wall was completed in fifty-two days (6:15). Later, Nehemiah helped Ezra the priest and teacher to restore the morals of the people by obeying the law of the Lord (8:9-10). Nehemiah served as governor of Judah for twelve years. By: Alyson Kieda

Angels on the Walls

We prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. Nehemiah 4:9

When Wallace and Mary Brown moved to an impoverished part of Birmingham, England, to pastor a dying church, they didn’t know that a gang had made the grounds of their church and home its headquarters. The Browns had bricks thrown through their windows, their fences set on fire, and their children threatened. The abuse continued for months; the police were unable to stop it.

The book of Nehemiah recounts how the Israelites rebuilt Jerusalem’s broken walls. When locals set out to “stir up trouble,” threatening them with violence (Nehemiah 4:8), the Israelites “prayed to . . . God and posted a guard” (v. 9). Feeling God used this passage to direct them, the Browns, their children, and a few others walked around their church’s walls, praying that He would install angels as guards to protect them. The gang jeered, but the next day, only half of them showed up. The day after that, only five were there, and the day after, no one came. The Browns later heard the gang had given up terrorizing people.

This miraculous answer to prayer isn’t a formula for our own protection, but it’s a reminder that opposition to God’s work will come and must be fought with the weapon of prayer. “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome,” Nehemiah told the Israelites (v. 14). He can even set violent hearts free. By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

What would you have done in the Browns’ situation? Who needs your prayers for deliverance today?

Awesome God, protect Your people by Your powerful angels, and set the hearts of Your enemies free.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Spiritual Dejection

We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. —Luke 24:21

Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.

We look for visions from heaven and for earth-shaking events to see God’s power. Even the fact that we are dejected is proof that we do this. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man.  Disciples Indeed, 388 L

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 1-3; Matthew 24:1-28

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

The Word Hell Doesn't Want You to Say - #9673

If you've flown commercially, you know you have to go through a security checkpoint before you can get to your gate. And for those security personnel who man those metal detectors and X-ray machines, there is a four-letter word they won't tolerate. You know what it is, it's the word "bomb." I mean, you can see signs warning you not to even joke about explosives or bombs or anything. And I'm glad! The slightest hint of the possibility of a bomb has been known to literally shut down an airport for hours - I've been there when that happened. That's fine with me if they want to check that out. Nobody in an airport wants to hear the word "bomb" because of what that word represents. That's something that could destroy everything.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Word Hell Doesn't Want You to Say."

You know, there's a word like that in hell. It's a word that the devil and his forces hate because it can destroy everything they have planned. Like the signs at the airport warning people not to bring up the word bomb, the devil is doing everything he can to stop you and me from bringing up this word, because it's like a bomb in hell. He's been trying to edit that word out for a very long time - including in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 4:17-18.

Peter and John have been proclaiming Christ in Jerusalem, and the Sanhedrin - the same people who engineered the crucifixion of Christ - want to silence his followers. The Bible says they reached this conclusion: "'To stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.' Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." There it is: the word the devil doesn't want to hear - Jesus - because of the power of that name to destroy all his plans.

So the devil tries to make that name the issue, 2,000 years ago or today. In first-century Jerusalem, the authorities didn't care if the believers talked about God or the Scriptures as long as they didn't mention the name of Jesus. Not much has changed has it? It's OK to talk about God, the Bible, family values, spirituality, your church, but don't mention the name. Satan hates that name and he does everything he can to edit out the name of Jesus.

All too often we fall right into his trap. We don't want to be offensive or we don't want to turn anyone off, and a voice says, "Hey, just talk about God. That won't bother anybody." So we talk about God in our lives but we avoid the name. Christian musicians write songs that vaguely talk about "Him" but too often they avoid the name of Jesus so their music can cross over to the unbelieving world. Even Christian leaders try to avoid conflict, sometimes, by watering down the name.

But I love the way the first Christians responded to the pressure to edit out Jesus, "There is no other name," they said, "under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Wow! The power is in the name of Jesus. Philippians 2:10 says, "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow!" Satan knows it and Satan hates it, so he's trying to get you and me to choke on the name.

For 20 centuries our enemy has been trying to censor the name of Jesus. Don't be a part of his godless crusade. Don't be ashamed of the One who died publicly on a cross for you! The people who don't care about Him, the people who hate Him aren't afraid to say His name. Why would the people who love Him be afraid to speak His name? The devil is afraid you will mention the name; you will talk about Jesus, because that name is a spiritual bomb that can destroy everything he's planning to do.

You might very well hear the name of Jesus several times today spoken irreverently from the lips of people who have no love for Him, no respect for Him. How can you, for whom He died, who loved you so much; how can you be silent about His name?

Hosea 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE CURE FOR JEALOUSY - February 6, 2024

Suppose you spotted a flame in your house. How would you react? Would you shrug your shoulders and walk away, saying, “ Eh, a little fire never hurt any house.” Of course not. You’d put it out. Why? Because you know, left untended, fire consumes all that’s consumable. For the sake of your house, you don’t play with fire.

For the sake of your heart, the same is true. The name of the fire? Solomon tagged it in Song of Solomon 8:6 (RSV): “Jealousy is cruel as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire.”

Do you know what the cause of jealousy is? Distrust. Do you know what the cure for jealousy is? Trust. Is the flame of jealousy beginning to consume your heart? Are you jealous of someone’s success or possessions? Then ask God for deeper trust. He will help put out the fire.

Hosea 3

In Time They’ll Come Back

1  3 Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again,

your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife.

Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people,

even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”

2–3  I did it. I paid good money to get her back.

It cost me the price of a slave.

Then I told her, “From now on you’re living with me.

No more whoring, no more sleeping around.

You’re living with me and I’m living with you.”

4–5  The people of Israel are going to live a long time

stripped of security and protection,

without religion and comfort,

godless and prayerless.

But in time they’ll come back, these Israelites,

come back looking for their God and their David-King.

They’ll come back chastened to reverence

before God and his good gifts, ready for the End of the story of his love.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Today's Scripture

Genesis 22:1–3, 6–12

After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, “Abraham!”

“Yes?” answered Abraham. “I’m listening.”

2  He said, “Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”

3–5  Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him.

 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together.

7  Isaac said to Abraham his father, “Father?”

“Yes, my son.”

“We have flint and wood, but where’s the sheep for the burnt offering?”

8  Abraham said, “Son, God will see to it that there’s a sheep for the burnt offering.” And they kept on walking together.

9–10  They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.

11  Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

12  “Don’t lay a hand on that boy! Don’t touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn’t hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me.”

Insight

The “gospel echoes” in Genesis 22 are noteworthy. Abraham took his beloved and only son to sacrifice him on a mountain (v. 2). While Isaac was spared (vv. 8, 13-14), God’s own Son was the Lamb slain for the sins of the world (John 1:29; 3:16). Paul wrote in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” God the Father gave; Jesus the Son gave; believers in Jesus follow their example of surrender. By: Arthur Jackson

Surrendering to God

So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. Genesis 22:14

Born on a farm, Judson Van DeVenter learned to paint, studied art, and became an art teacher. God, however, had a different plan for him. Friends valued his work in church and urged him to go into evangelism. Judson felt God calling him too, but it was hard for him to give up his love for teaching art. He wrestled with God, but “at last,” he wrote, “the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all.”

We can’t imagine Abraham’s heartbreak when God called him to surrender his son Isaac. In the wake of God’s command to “sacrifice him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2), we ask ourselves what precious thing God is calling us to sacrifice. We know that He ultimately spared Isaac (v. 12), and yet the point is made: Abraham was willing to surrender what was most precious to him. He trusted God to provide in the midst of a most difficult calling.

We say we love God, but are we willing to sacrifice what’s dearest to us? Judson Van DeVenter followed God’s call into evangelism and later penned the beloved hymn “I Surrender All.” In time, God called Judson back into teaching. One of his students was a young man named Billy Graham.

God’s plan for our lives has purposes we can’t imagine. He longs for us to be willing to surrender what is dearest. It seems that’s the least we can do. After all, He sacrificed for us His only begotten Son. By:  Kenneth Petersen

Reflect & Pray

What’s God’s calling for you? What might you need to sacrifice for Him?

Dear God, I struggle to fully surrender parts of my life to You. Please help me to trust You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)

I am already being poured out as a drink offering… —2 Timothy 4:6

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents— burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose— the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice…to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?

Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes.  The Highest Good, 544 R

Bible in a Year: Exodus 39-40; Matthew 23:23-39

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Ending Up Where You Never Wanted to Go - #9672

You might just remember turning your television on and there would be Gilligan's Island. Maybe, you can even hear the theme song playing in your brain. It was a big hit when it first came out.

Now, here's Gilligan, who's the terminally stupid first mate of the S.S. Minnow. There's the millionaire, his wife (you're probably thinking of the song now if you can go back that far), the professor, the movie star... OK, you know, the characters are pretty well-known. The plot was very simply summed up in the theme song. These people went out on the S.S. Minnow for a three-hour tour. The storm blew them into some unknown island where they were stranded until the series finally ended years later. Some three-hour tour, huh?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Ending Up Where You Never Wanted to Go."

By the way, what is the Gilligan Syndrome? Well, it's going farther than you wanted to; staying longer than you planned to. It might be happening to you right now. Jesus told us about a young man it happened to many years ago; our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 15, beginning in verse 13. It's after this man has asked his dad for the family inheritance that's coming to him. While his dad's still alive.

"Not long after that," the Bible says, "the younger son got together all he had, went off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father."

He was just going for a fling on the wild side, just a three-hour tour. He almost never made it back. What was supposed to bring him pleasure and happiness did for just a little while. Ultimately it left him stranded on this spiritual island all by himself. "He squandered his wealth," Jesus said. In other words, he wasted what he'd been given. Have you done that?

He spent everything he had, it says. He was alone except for the pigs. The Bible says, "The way of a transgressor is hard." It always is - sooner or later.

Except it's sin that carries us to a place that's hard to get back from. Here's the ugly truth about sin: it will always take you farther than you wanted to go, it will keep you longer than you planned to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever thought you'd pay. And, maybe you've seen that already. And the bill has come. If it hasn't, it will.

Maybe, you're listening and you say, "That's all happened to me." Or maybe you're just starting down a sin road that looks exciting, and profitable, and desirable, and you think it will be just a three-hour tour. Sin never is. Listen to God's statement in James 1:15, "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." It will take you where you never meant to go.

If you feel like you're just too far away to ever get back, you can get back the same way the Prodigal Son did, but only that way. It says he "got up and went to his father." It's time for you to run to God instead of running from Him any longer. You say, "He'll never take me." Look, that's why Jesus told this story, to let you know that God is waiting for you to come into His waiting arms. It says "His father saw him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." God proved He wants you home with Him by sending His Son to die for your very rebellion against Him. For all that you've wasted with your sin, He says come home to Me. He's saying it to your heart right now as you listen to this.

Do you want to get home? Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I believe some of the sin you died for was mine. I am yours as of today." I'd love to share more information with you at our website ANewStory.com.

God will come running to you because of what Jesus did on the cross for you. Haven't you been gone from God long enough? It's time to come home.