Hebrews 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: PERFECT LOVE - June 5, 2024

Dry mouth. Moist palms. Pulse pounding. Eyes darting over your shoulder. Heart in your throat. You know the feeling. You know the moment. You know exactly what it’s like. Policeman have stirred more prayers than a thousand pulpits! Upward prayers become backward thoughts. What did I do? How fast was I going? The policeman is standing at your door. No one likes the thought of judgment.

1 John 4:18 (NLT) says, “Perfect love expels all fear.” You need never fear God’s judgment. Not today. Not on Judgment Day. With perfect knowledge of the past and perfect vision of the future, God loves you—perfectly—in spite of both. Jesus is speaking on your behalf. “That’s my friend,” he says. And when he does, the door of heaven open. Trust God’s love. His perfect love. It can handle your fear of judgment. And slower driving can handle your fear of policemen.

 Hebrews 12

Discipline in a Long-Distance Race

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

4–11  In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,

but don’t be crushed by it either.

It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;

the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

12–13  So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

14–17  Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity. Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

An Unshakable Kingdom

18–21  Unlike your ancestors, you didn’t come to Mount Sinai—all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble—to hear God speak. The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to stop. When they heard the words—“If an animal touches the Mountain, it’s as good as dead”—they were afraid to move. Even Moses was terrified.

22–24  No, that’s not your experience at all. You’ve come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just. You’ve come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant. The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel’s—a homicide that cried out for vengeance—became a proclamation of grace.

25–27  So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

28–29  Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, June 05, 2024

Today's Scripture

Jeremiah 1:1-10

Demolish, and Then Start Over

1–4  1 The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Ben-jamin. God’s Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amos reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:

5  “Before I shaped you in the womb,

I knew all about you.

Before you saw the light of day,

I had holy plans for you:

A prophet to the nations—

that’s what I had in mind for you.”

6  But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me.

I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”

7–8  God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’

I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.

I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it.

Don’t be afraid of a soul.

I’ll be right there, looking after you.”

God’s Decree.

9–10  God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,

“Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!

See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do

among nations and governments—a red-letter day!

Your job is to pull up and tear down,

take apart and demolish,

And then start over,

building and planting.”

Insight

In Jeremiah 1:4-5, we see God’s call on Jeremiah. His reply, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young” (v. 6) is reminiscent of Moses’ response to God’s call in Exodus 4:10: “I have never been eloquent . . . . I am slow of speech and tongue.” Gideon’s response to the angel is similar: “Pardon me, my lord, . . . but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15). God’s answer to all is the loving reassurance that He’s with us and will give us the words to speak. We need not fear (Jeremiah 1:8-9). By: Alyson Kieda

Liked and Loved by God

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. Jeremiah 1:5

It feels like “likes”—you know, that little thumbs-up on Facebook—have always been with us. But it turns out that this virtual symbol of affirmation has only been around since 2009.    

The “like” designer, Justin Rosenstein, said he wanted to help create “a world in which people uplift each other rather than tear each other down.” But Rosenstein came to lament how his invention might have enabled users’ unhealthy addiction to social media.  

I think Rosenstein’s creation speaks to our hardwired need for affirmation and connection. We want to know that others know us, notice us—and, yes, like us. The “like” is fairly new. But our hunger to know and be known is as old as God's creation of man.

Still, the like button doesn’t quite get the job done, does it? Thankfully, we serve a God whose love goes so much deeper than a digital nod. In Jeremiah 1:5, we witness His profoundly purposeful connection with a prophet whom He called to Himself. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”

God knew the prophet even before conception and designed him for a life of meaning and mission (vv. 8-10). And He invites us too into a purposeful life as we come to know this Father who so intimately knows, loves, and likes us. By:  Adam Holz

Reflect & Pray

How does knowing God intimately affect how you relate to others? How can living with purpose bring peace?

Father, help me to rest in Your love and calling on my life, to know that You care for me intimately as You shape me for each of the days You’ve planned for me.

Discover how to live out your purpose.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, June 05, 2024

God’s Promise

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” — Hebrews 13:5-6

“Never will I leave you.” God’s promise allows me to go through life without being haunted by fear. This doesn’t mean I won’t be tempted to fear; rather, in the midst of temptation, I will remember what God has said and so be full of courage—just like a child who picks himself up and dusts himself off in order to please his father.

So many of us stumble in our faith when fear sets in. We forget the power of God’s promise; we forget to take a deep breath spiritually. We become filled with dread, convinced that nothing and no one can help us.

What are you dreading? You are not a coward; whatever it is, you’re going to face it. Yet you still have a feeling of dread. Build on God’s promise. Say with confidence, “In this moment, in my present mind- set, the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”

“God has said. … So we say…” Are you learning to speak only after you’ve listened to what God has said? Or are you trying to make his words fit into what you already believe? The only way to move past dread is to grasp the full meaning of God’s promise. “Never will I forsake you”—no matter what kind of evil or challenge is in your way.

Another thing that gets in the way of God’s promise is our own weakness. When we realize how frail we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God becomes a nonentity (Numbers 13:33). Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s melody? Are we finding the courage to say, “The Lord is my helper”? Or are we succumbing to the weak side of our nature?

2 Chronicles 23-24; John 15

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, June 05, 2024

That's God Calling Your Name - #9758

Remember the good old days when we used to have that phone that rang a lot of times in the house and somebody had to get to it first? Telephone etiquette has changed a lot with cell phones but I wonder sometimes if people ever learned telephone etiquette. You know you kind of cringe when a child answers the phone. You never know if they're going to hang up, or if they're going to yell into the phone, "Hey, Mom!" or if they're just going to put down the phone and forget to tell anyone that you're waiting. Ah, but the daughter of a friend of ours...oh, a pleasant exception. The family visited our office and when they got home, I called and the little girl answered. Very polite, very coherent, very competent. I said, "Hey, girl, how would you like to be my secretary?" She must have seen how crazy that job was when they were in the office, because she answered immediately...oh, not with a yes - not with a no. She just said, "Uh, how about my brother?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "That's God Calling Your Name."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in Isaiah 6:8. And it's God's question 27 centuries ago. It's His question still today. He says, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And Isaiah said, "Here am I. Send me!" God has a lot of people who need to be loved out there - need to be listened to, who need to be told about the love that His Son showed by dying their death penalty right on the cross. There's too many people looking for love in all the wrong places, right? Too many people giving up, living self-destructively, hurting themselves, hurting other people. Worst of all, there are too many people going into eternity without any hope because they don't have a Savior.

Isaiah's answer ought to be ours: "Here am I. Send me!" Instead we say, "Here am I. Send him. I support him. Uh, how about my brother?" See, Moses was told that God was coming down to rescue his suffering nation, and I imagine Moses was going "Great!" And then God says, "I am sending you." And Moses said, "Oh, please send someone else!" You are not going to have any peace until you say what Isaiah said - you'll have no fulfillment. You can't delegate spiritual responsibility for the people in your world. God is asking you to step in. Your family needs a spiritual leader, Dad. You say, "Well, how about my wife?" No, the buck stops with you, man.

That ministry needs leadership. God's saying, "I want you to do it." Someone's son or daughter needs to spend their life reaching the lost, and maybe you're saying, "Lord, how about somebody else's son or daughter?" Someone needs to tell the people in your neighborhood about Jesus, the people where you work or where you go to school. You could argue with the Lord, "Well, I'm inadequate, I'm not trained, I'm not ready, there's someone better." But the Lord of the Universe has put you in the position to make the difference for them. He's calling your name. He said to Moses, "Who made mouths?" This isn't something you will do for Jesus. This is something Jesus will do through you. When God is asking you to step up to spiritual responsibility, guess who He means? He means you!"

Thousands of years ago He called Moses' name in a burning bush. You may not have a burning bush. I doubt that you will. But in the life of almost every believer, there is a day when you hear your name called. Don't let God's call go into voicemail.

My young friend who answered the phone didn't want the responsibility I offered her, but she didn't say no. She just tried to pass the buck. Maybe that's what God's been hearing from you. Not a no to his work, but not a yes either. It's sort of a "Well, I think somebody else Lord." He doesn't want someone else. It's your heart He's knocking on. It's your opportunity to serve the King of all Kings. It's your assignment to carry out, and this is your day to say, "Dear Lord, here am I. Send me!"

Lamentations 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HYDRATE YOUR SOUL - June 4, 2024

Don’t deny your anger. Don’t dismiss your loneliness. Your restless spirit. Your sense of dread. Don’t let your heart shrink into a raisin. Hydrate your soul. Heed that thirst!

Not everything you put to your lips will help your thirst. The arms of forbidden love may satisfy for a time, but only for a time. Eighty-hour workweeks grant a sense of fulfillment, but they never remove the thirst. Religion pacifies, but never satisfies. Church activities may hide a thirst, but only Christ quenches it. Drink him. And drink him often!

Don’t you need regular sips from God’s reservoir? I do. I step to the underground spring of God and receive anew his work for my sin and death, the energy of his Spirit, his Lordship, and his love. His unending, unfailing love. Drink deeply, and drink often.

Lamentations 2

God Walked Away from His Holy Temple

1  2 Oh, oh, oh …

How the Master has cut down Daughter Zion

from the skies, dashed Israel’s glorious city to earth,

in his anger treated his favorite as throwaway junk.

2  The Master, without a second thought, took Israel in one gulp.

Raging, he smashed Judah’s defenses,

made hash of her king and princes.

3  His anger blazing, he knocked Israel flat,

broke Israel’s arm and turned his back just as the enemy approached,

came on Jacob like a wildfire from every direction.

4  Like an enemy, he aimed his bow, bared his sword,

and killed our young men, our pride and joy.

His anger, like fire, burned down the homes in Zion.

5  The Master became the enemy. He had Israel for supper.

He chewed up and spit out all the defenses.

He left Daughter Judah moaning and groaning.

6  He plowed up his old trysting place, trashed his favorite rendezvous.

God wiped out Zion’s memories of feast days and Sabbaths,

angrily sacked king and priest alike.

7  God abandoned his altar, walked away from his holy Temple

and turned the fortifications over to the enemy.

As they cheered in God’s Temple, you’d have thought it was a feast day!

8  God drew up plans to tear down the walls of Daughter Zion.

He assembled his crew, set to work and went at it.

Total demolition! The stones wept!

9  Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble:

her kings and princes off to exile—no one left to instruct or lead;

her prophets useless—they neither saw nor heard anything from God.

10  The elders of Daughter Zion sit silent on the ground.

They throw dust on their heads, dress in rough penitential burlap—

the young virgins of Jerusalem, their faces creased with the dirt.

11  My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot.

My insides have turned to jelly over my people’s fate.

Babies and children are fainting all over the place,

12  Calling to their mothers, “I’m hungry! I’m thirsty!”

then fainting like dying soldiers in the streets,

breathing their last in their mothers’ laps.

13  How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem?

What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion?

Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding.

14  Your prophets courted you with sweet talk.

They didn’t face you with your sin so that you could repent.

Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions.

15  Astonished, passersby can’t believe what they see.

They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem.

Is this the city voted “Most Beautiful” and “Best Place to Live”?

16  But now your enemies gape, slack-jawed.

Then they rub their hands in glee: “We’ve got them!

We’ve been waiting for this! Here it is!”

17  God did carry out, item by item, exactly what he said he’d do.

He always said he’d do this. Now he’s done it—torn the place down.

He’s let your enemies walk all over you, declared them world champions!

18  Give out heart-cries to the Master, dear repentant Zion.

Let the tears roll like a river, day and night,

and keep at it—no time-outs. Keep those tears flowing!

19  As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer.

Pour your heart out face-to-face with the Master.

Lift high your hands. Beg for the lives of your children

who are starving to death out on the streets.

20  “Look at us, God. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this?

Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised?

Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master’s own Sanctuary?

21  “Boys and old men lie in the gutters of the streets,

my young men and women killed in their prime.

Angry, you killed them in cold blood, cut them down without mercy.

22  “You invited, like friends to a party, men to swoop down in attack

so that on the big day of God’s wrath no one would get away.

The children I loved and reared—gone, gone, gone.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, June 04, 2024

Today's Scripture

Psalm 42:1-5

A white-tailed deer drinks

from the creek;

I want to drink God,

deep draughts of God.

I’m thirsty for God-alive.

I wonder, “Will I ever make it—

arrive and drink in God’s presence?”

I’m on a diet of tears—

tears for breakfast, tears for supper.

All day long

people knock at my door,

Pestering,

“Where is this God of yours?”

4  These are the things I go over and over,

emptying out the pockets of my life.

I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,

right out in front,

Leading them all,

eager to arrive and worship,

Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—

celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!

5  Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?

Why are you crying the blues?

Fix my eyes on God—

soon I’ll be praising again.

He puts a smile on my face.

He’s my God.

Insight

Psalm 42 is the first of eleven psalms attributed to the sons of Korah (also Psalms 44-49; 84-85; 87-88). But who were they? The word sons here means descendants—not direct sons—of a man named Korah, who was part of a conspiracy to overthrow Moses’ leadership in the wilderness wanderings of the Exodus. Korah (of the tribe of Levi), Dathan, Abiram, and On—along with 250 respected community leaders—joined together in this conspiracy (Numbers 16:1-3). How ironic that years later, Korah’s descendants would follow the intended path of the Levites (see ch. 18) to be among the worship leaders of the nation. For a voice of dissension to pave the way for voices of worship is a beautifully redemptive story. By: Bill Crowder

Thirsty and Thankful

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. Psalm 42:1

Two friends and I were checking off a bucket list item—hiking the Grand Canyon. We wondered if we had enough water as we started out our hike, and it ran out fast. We were completely out of water with still a ways to go to reach the rim. Panting, mixed with praying, set in. Then we rounded a corner and what we maintain as a miracle happened. We spotted three water bottles tucked in a cleft in the rock with a note: “Knew you’d need this. Enjoy!” We looked at each other in disbelief, whispered a thank-you to God, took a couple of much-needed sips, and then set out on the last stretch. I’ve never been so thirsty—and thankful—in my life.

The psalmist didn’t have a Grand Canyon experience, but it’s clear he knew how a deer acts when thirsty and possibly scared. The deer “pants” (Psalm 42:1), a word that brings to mind thirst and hunger, to the point where if something doesn’t change, you’re afraid you might die. The psalmist equates the deer’s degree of thirst to his desire for God: “so my soul pants for you, my God” (v. 1).

Like much-needed water, God is our ever-present help. We pant for Him because He brings renewed strength and refreshment to our weary lives, equipping us for whatever the day’s journey holds. By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray

When have you been intensely thirsty or hungry, and scared? Why should you be longing for God’s presence?

Loving God, thank You for the renewed strength I experience as You fill my life. Forgive me for looking to any other source but You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, June 04, 2024

The Never-Failing God

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” — Hebrews 13:5

What path do my thoughts take? Do they turn to what God says or to what I fear? “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” If I am listening to God, I won’t simply take his comforting words and leave it at that; I’ll build upon them, adding words of my own: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid’” (Hebrews 13:6).

“Never will I leave you.” God has promised that he will never leave us—not for all our sin and selfishness and stubbornness. Have I truly let God say to me that he’ll never leave me? If I have, let me listen again.“Never will I forsake you.” Difficulty isn’t always what makes me think God will forsake me. Sometimes it’s the tedium of the day-to-day, of living with no great challenge to meet, no special vision to pursue, nothing wonderful or beautiful to urge me on. Can I hear God’s promise when life is uninspiring?

We have the idea that God is going to do something exceptional with us, that he’s preparing us for some extraordinary feat. But as we grow in grace, we find that he is glorifying himself through us here and now. If we hold fast to God’s promise, we will find that we have the most amazing strength, and we will learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways.

2 Chronicles 21-22; John 14

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? 

Disciples Indeed, 389 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, June 04, 2024

Someone You Can Finally Trust - #9757

Gal! That's the name of the dog that belongs to our missionary friend. She, and they, have lived on a Native American reservation. Most reservation dogs - they call them rez dogs - are pretty aggressive to say the least. They'll meet you whether you want to meet them or not. Not Gal. As soon as she sees anyone approaching, she runs for cover. You try to befriend her, she just cowers in a corner and trembles. It's pitiful! We asked our friends why Gal was so withdrawn, and it's a sad story. She'd been abused as a puppy by her former owner, and any time anyone got close, she was afraid. Yeah, that they would hurt her like those other people had.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Someone You Can Finally Trust."

Too hurt to trust anyone. That's not just something that happens to a pet. It happens to people a lot. Maybe it's happened to you. Somewhere along the way you've been hurt, you've been abandoned, betrayed, abused, mistreated. And like that little dog, you're afraid to let anyone get close. In fact, you may have built up some pretty elaborate defenses to make sure no one does. But really, you're just afraid they're going to hurt you like somebody else did.

I saw one of our team on that reservation get very close to Gal - that dog. In fact, Gal would seek her out and give and receive a lot of affection. But it was because that person took time to win that dog's trust. She proved that she only wanted to love her and help her, and that love actually broke through the fear and the hurt. That's what I pray will happen for you. See, there's someone who is leaning your direction this very day, someone with outstretched arms, not to hurt you but to hold you and to heal you. It's Jesus! He knows a lot about being hurt.

Listen to these words that describe Him. They are our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 61:1-2. "The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners."

See, Jesus is the healer of broken hearts and broken lives. He's the liberator from the darkness. But can He be trusted? God's answer - Romans 8:32 - "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not also graciously give us all things."

And then later in that chapter it says, "Nothing can ever separate us from His love." Can Jesus be trusted? Just walk up to that garbage dump hill called Skull Hill. Stand there in the pouring rain at the foot of Jesus' cross and see the agony Jesus is suffering there, the nails in His hands and feet, the thorns pressed on His brow, the spear wound in His side. Most of all, the total separation from God. And realize that's for you. That's your sin He's dying to pay for.

Oh you can trust Him. He loves you enough to die for you. And He's been waiting for you to turn your life over to Him so He can start the healing process that only He can bring. But first you have to tell Him that you're putting your total trust in Him to be your Savior. I know that word trust is a hard one after what you've been through. But you can't just go on hurting, and hiding and alone. And this One who loved you so much that He gave everything for you, He's the one person you can finally totally trust. You've been looking for Him. You've been longing for this person for a long time.

I hope you'll reach out to Him today and say, "Jesus, you loved me enough to die for me. I'm yours." And if you want to know how to get that relationship started, please go to our website. It'll take only a few minutes but it could make a lifetime of difference for you. It's ANewStory.com.

I don't know what you've been through, but Jesus does. And as He approaches you today, don't run from His open arms. As He reaches to you, you will see in His hands nail prints from the suffering He went through for you. Jesus is the Healer that your heart has always wanted.

Lamentations 1 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: RIVERS OF LIVING WATER - June 3, 2024

Your body is 80% fluid. Stop drinking and see what happens. Coherent thoughts vanish, skin grows clammy, and vital organs wrinkle. Deprive your heart of spiritual water and your dehydrated heart will send desperate messages – hopelessness, loneliness, resentment.

Where do you find water for your soul? Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38 NKJV).

Let Christ be the water of your soul. Church activities might hide a thirst, but only Christ quenches it. Drink him. Receive Christ’s work on the cross. The energy of His Spirit. His Lordship over your life. His unending, unfailing love. Drink deeply and often. And out of you will flow rivers of living water.

Lamentations 1

Worthless, Cheap, Abject!

1  1 Oh, oh, oh …

How empty the city, once teeming with people.

A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations,

once queen of the ball, she’s now a drudge in the kitchen.

2  She cries herself to sleep each night, tears soaking her pillow.

No one’s left among her lovers to sit and hold her hand.

Her friends have all dumped her.

3  After years of pain and hard labor, Judah has gone into exile.

She camps out among the nations, never feels at home.

Hunted by all, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.

4  Zion’s roads weep, empty of pilgrims headed to the feasts.

All her city gates are deserted, her priests in despair.

Her virgins are sad. How bitter her fate.

5  Her enemies have become her masters. Her foes are living it up

because God laid her low, punishing her repeated rebellions.

Her children, prisoners of the enemy, trudge into exile.

6  All beauty has drained from Daughter Zion’s face.

Her princes are like deer famished for food,

chased to exhaustion by hunters.

7  Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything,

when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help.

Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence.

8  Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast.

All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface.

Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.

9  She played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow,

and now she’s crashed royally, with no one to hold her hand:

“Look at my pain, O God! And how the enemy cruelly struts.”

10  The enemy reached out to take all her favorite things. She watched

as pagans barged into her Sanctuary, those very people for whom

you posted orders: keep out: this assembly off-limits.

11  All the people groaned, so desperate for food, so desperate to stay alive

that they bartered their favorite things for a bit of breakfast:

“O God, look at me! Worthless, cheap, abject!

12  “And you passersby, look at me! Have you ever seen anything like this?

Ever seen pain like my pain, seen what he did to me,

what God did to me in his rage?

13  “He struck me with lightning, skewered me from head to foot,

then he set traps all around so I could hardly move.

He left me with nothing—left me sick, and sick of living.

14  “He wove my sins into a rope

and harnessed me to captivity’s yoke.

I’m goaded by cruel taskmasters.

15  “The Master piled up my best soldiers in a heap,

then called in thugs to break their fine young necks.

The Master crushed the life out of fair virgin Judah.

16  “For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears,

and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul.

My children are wasted, my enemy got his way.”

17  Zion reached out for help, but no one helped.

God ordered Jacob’s enemies to surround him,

and now no one wants anything to do with Jerusalem.

18  “God has right on his side. I’m the one who did wrong.

Listen everybody! Look at what I’m going through!

My fair young women, my fine young men, all herded into exile!

19  “I called to my friends; they betrayed me.

My priests and my leaders only looked after themselves,

trying but failing to save their own skins.

20  “O God, look at the trouble I’m in! My stomach in knots,

my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion.

Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses.

21  “Oh, listen to my groans. No one listens, no one cares.

When my enemies heard of the trouble you gave me, they cheered.

Bring on Judgment Day! Let them get what I got!

22  “Take a good look at their evil ways and give it to them!

Give them what you gave me for my sins.

Groaning in pain, body and soul, I’ve had all I can take.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, June 03, 2024

Today's Scripture

1 John 1:5-10

Walk in the Light

5  This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.

6–7  If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

8–10  If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.

Insight

Verses 6-10 of 1 John 1 all begin with a conditional statement: “If we . . . .” In verse 6, John uses a phrase unique to him: “[we] do not live out the truth.” It could literally be translated as “we do not do the truth.” This phrase is also found in John 3:21: “Whoever lives by the truth [literally, does the truth] comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” In both instances, “doing the truth” is connected to one’s relationship with God. Since God can’t lie (see 1 Samuel 15:29; Titus 1:2), those who do not “do the truth,” are, by implication, liars and can have no “fellowship with Him” (1 John 1:6). In contrast, if we “do the truth”—“walk in the light”—Jesus’ blood “purifies us from all sin” and “we have fellowship with one another” (v. 7). By: J.R. Hudberg

Cleansed by Christ

He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us. 1 John 1:9

My first short-term missions trip was to the Amazon jungle in Brazil to help build a church by the river. One afternoon, we visited one of the few homes in the area that had a water filter. When our host poured murky well water into the top of the contraption, within minutes all the impurities were removed, and clean, clear drinking water appeared. Right there in the man’s living room, I saw a reflection of what it means to be cleansed by Christ.

When we first come to Jesus with our guilt and shame and ask Him to forgive us and we receive Him as our Savior, He cleanses us from our sins and makes us new. We’re purified just like the murky water was transformed into clean drinking water. What a joy it is to know we are in right standing with God because of Jesus’ sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:21) and to know God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

But the apostle John reminds us that this doesn’t mean we’ll never sin again. When we do sin, we can be assured by the image of a water filter and be comforted by knowing that as “we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Let’s live confidently knowing that we’re continually being cleansed by Christ. By:  Nancy Gavilanes

Reflect & Pray

Why is it vital to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins? How does it feel to know you don’t have to be a prisoner of sin?

Dear God, thank You that You’re faithful and just to forgive me if I confess my sins to You.

Learn more about having a personal relationship with God.

https://odb.org/personal-relationship-with-god

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, June 03, 2024

The Secret Of The Lord

The Lord confides in those who fear him. — Psalm 25:14

What is the sign of true friends? That they tell you secret sorrows? No, that they tell you secret joys. Many people will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the ultimate sign of intimacy is confiding secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us his joys? Or are we so busy telling God our secrets that we leave no room for him to talk to us?

At the beginning of our Christian life, our prayers are full of requests. Then we discover that what God wants is to bring us, through prayer, into a personal relationship with him so that he can reveal his will. Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer is, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Are we so committed to this way of praying that we catch the intimate secrets of God? God may bring us great big blessings, but it is the small, secret things that make us love him, because they show his amazing intimacy with us. They show that he knows every detail of our lives.

“He will instruct them in the ways they should choose” (Psalm 25:12). At the start of our life of faith, we want to be conscious of God guiding us. But as we go on, we no longer need to ask what his will is; the thought of choosing anything else no longer occurs to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God instructs us in every choice we make, guiding our common sense and alerting us when we are in danger of choosing something he doesn’t want. When God checks us in this way, we must obey. Never reason it out and say, “I wonder why I shouldn’t.” Whenever there is doubt, don’t.

2 Chronicles 19-20; John 13:21-38

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God does not further our spiritual life in spite of our circumstances, but in and by our circumstances. 

Not Knowing Whither, 900 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, June 03, 2024

How to Make the Bible About You - #9756

I was speaking at a youth conference, and we all had breakfast in the cafeteria together. And then when we got together for our morning session I said, "Now, I want you guys to imagine that somebody who was at breakfast with us comes in the room and his cheeks are all puffy and you ask him what's wrong, and he just goes, "uh...uh... uh..." And you go, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Here's a piece of paper to write down what's going on here." And he writes down, "I'm starved." Now I ask him, "Did you eat breakfast?" "Uh-huh." "And you're still hungry?" "Uh-huh." And then I would ask him, "Did you swallow it?" "Huh-uh." "Oh, maybe that's why you're still hungry." See, it isn't enough just to ingest your food; you've got to swallow it for it to do anything for you.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Make the Bible About You."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is in Joshua 1:8. And you might say it's about spiritual eating and spiritual digestion, because ingestion is not enough to satisfy your appetite. Ingesting food is not enough to nourish you. Joshua 1:8 puts it this way in the biblical formula for personal success. It says this, "Do not let this book of the law (the Bible) depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night."

In other words, be saturated with God's Word. Take a Bible bath. You should be in it day and night, really knowing what it's saying. But listen, it says, "So that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

Did you catch those words "careful to do"? It doesn't say, "I want you to read the Bible to just know what it says." I want you to read the Bible to do what it says. The purpose of being in God's Word is to memorize it, meditate on it, but then to do what you read. In other words, until the Bible gets into your real life, until you've found a change you're going to make because of what you've read, all you've done is sort of take it in, kind of hold it in your mouth spiritually, but it's not in your system.

So when you study the Bible, if you're going to read it to do something, that means before you close the Bible each morning when you're with the Lord, you say, "Lord, help me make a connection to something I'm going to face today." Always make that connection between what you're reading and what your life is doing right now. So, if you're reading about loving your brother, you say, "Okay, which brother am I having a hard time loving?" Okay, "Love your Ralph." Or whoever's the hard guy to love.

If it's talking about patience, you say, "Let's see, who do I need to be more patient with right now? Okay, Lord, help me be more patient with my Mom, or my wife." If it's talking about temptation, then you say, "Which temptation am I facing right now?" And you put that temptation into the verse. So if it says, "Do not let sin control your body." Then which sin? Okay, so you put in there, "Do not let gossip control your body" (the one you struggle with, whatever it is).

For example in James 1. Let's try this. You're reading the book of James, and it says, "Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds." Now if you're just ingesting, you'd kind of go, "Today I read about trials." Now, wait a minute. No, no! Which trial are you facing right now?" You go, "Oh, man, my boss!" Or you might say if you're married, "My in-laws." Okay, then make it in the verse, "Whenever you face trials of many kinds (with your boss, with your in-laws) because you know that the testing of your faith (by your boss), (your in-laws) develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Now, that verse could just be about trials in general, or it could be about someone or something you're facing today. When you make that connection, you begin to swallow what you're eating.

Every day ask yourself the question, "What am I going to do because of what I read?" And once you do that and start to make those changes, you are well on your way to an exciting new you - one day, one change at a time.

Hey, don't be content to just ingest the Bible, digest it. That's the only way you can grow.

Hebrews 11:20-40, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Blessed Man

My daughters are too old for this now, but when they were young, crib-size and diaper-laden-I'd come home, shout their names, and watch them run to me with extended arms and squealing voices. For the next few moments we would speak the language of love. We'd roll on the floor, gobble bellies, and tickle tummies and laugh and play. We delighted in each other's presence. They made no requests of me, with the exception of "Let's play, Daddy." And I made no demands of them, except, "Don't hit Daddy with the hammer." In this very special dad time-my kids let me love them!

Psalm 127:3-5 reminds us, "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

I am a blessed man!

From Dad Time

 Hebrews 11:20-40

By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.

21  By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph’s sons in turn, blessing them with God’s blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.

22  By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

23  By an act of faith, Moses’ parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child’s beauty, and they braved the king’s decree.

24–28  By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God’s people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah’s camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king’s blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn’t touch them.

29  By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.

30  By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.

31  By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.

32–38  I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets.… Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn’t deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

39–40  Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, June 02, 2024

Today's Scripture

Psalm 112

Hallelujah!

Blessed man, blessed woman, who fear God,

Who cherish and relish his commandments,

Their children robust on the earth,

And the homes of the upright—how blessed!

Their houses brim with wealth

And a generosity that never runs dry.

Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people—

God’s grace and mercy and justice!

The good person is generous and lends lavishly;

No shuffling or stumbling around for this one,

But a sterling and solid and lasting reputation.

Unfazed by rumor and gossip,

Heart ready, trusting in God,

Spirit firm, unperturbed,

Ever blessed, relaxed among enemies,

They lavish gifts on the poor—

A generosity that goes on, and on, and on.

An honored life! A beautiful life!

Someone wicked takes one look and rages,

Blusters away but ends up speechless.

There’s nothing to the dreams of the wicked. Nothing.

Insight

Psalm 112 begins in much the same way as Psalm 1, but instead of focusing on what the “blessed” person doesn’t do (see Psalm 1:1), it describes what those who fear God do. Much like the repeated theme of Psalm 119, the first verses of Psalm 112 focus on the blessings that come to those who love God’s law. And here we find still more allusion to the promises of God in Deuteronomy 6:1-3, that in loving God and keeping His commandments, the people of God will enjoy His promises.

For the Israelites, that meant earthly prosperity. For believers in Jesus today, we also claim God’s promises as we love and follow Him. But as Peter points out in his second letter, God has given us “everything we need” through Jesus to live a life that honors Him (2 Peter 1:3) and that the blessing is enjoying Him forever (v. 4). By: Jed Ostoich

Generously Given and Shared

Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely. Psalm 112:5

When my wife, Cari, and I finished our higher education, we had several thousand dollars in debt that we needed to consolidate through a lower interest rate. We applied for a loan at the local bank but were turned down because we hadn’t lived or worked in that city for long. A few days later, I shared what had happened with my friend Ming, who was an elder in our church. “I’d like to mention this to my wife,” he said on the way out the door.

A few hours later, the phone rang. It was Ming: “Ann and I would like to loan you the money you need, interest free,” he offered. I didn’t know what to say, so I responded, “I can’t ask that of you.” “You’re not asking!” Ming answered jovially. They kindly gave us the loan, and Cari and I paid them back as quickly as we could.

I believe Ming and Ann were generous because of their love for God. As Scripture tells us, “Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice” (Psalm 112:5). Those who trust in God can have “steadfast” hearts that “are secure” (vv. 7-8), understanding that He’s the source of everything good in their lives.

God has been generous with us, giving us life and forgiveness. Let’s be generous in sharing His love and our resources with those in need. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

How has God been generous to you? How can you share His kindness and generosity with someone in need today?

Thank You, loving Father, for giving me the gift of life and for providing for me every day. Help me to trust You and have a generous heart like Yours.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, June 02, 2024

What Are You Haunted By?

What man is he that feareth the Lord? — Psalm 25:12

What are you haunted by? “Nothing,” you will say. But we are all haunted by something. Usually we are haunted by ourselves or, if we are Christians, by our spiritual experience. The psalmist says we must be haunted by God—that it is God alone we must fear.

To be haunted by the Lord is to make him the ruling consciousness of our lives. A child’s consciousness is so mother-haunted that although children are not always consciously thinking of their mother, they instinctively seek their mother whenever a crisis arises. In the same way, we are to live and move and have our being in God. The whole of our life, inside and out, is to be absolutely dominated by his presence.

If we are haunted by God, nothing else can get in—no worries, no distractions, no troubles. We see now why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying (Matthew 6:25–34). How dare we be so unbelieving when God is all around?

“His soul shall dwell at ease” (Psalm 25:13 KJV). In tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander—in the midst of all these things—if our life is hidden with Christ in God, he will keep us in peace. We rob ourselves of the marvelous revelation of this abiding companion- ship. “God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can get through this shelter.

2 Chronicles 17-18; John 13:1-20

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

Jeremiah 44, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The State of Your Heart

The State of Your Heart

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” Luke 6:45, NIV

When you are offered a morsel of gossip marinated in slander, do you turn it down or pass it on? That depends on the state of your heart . . .

The state of your heart dictates whether you harbor a grudge or give grace, seek self-pity or seek Christ, drink human misery or taste God’s mercy.

Jeremiah 44

The Same Fate Will Fall upon All

1–6  44 The Message that Jeremiah received for all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, who had their homes in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and the land of Pathros: “This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You saw with your own eyes the terrible doom that I brought down on Jerusalem and the Judean cities. Look at what’s left: ghost towns of rubble and smoking ruins, and all because they took up with evil ways, making me angry by going off to offer sacrifices and worship the latest in gods—no-gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew the first thing about. Morning after morning and long into the night I kept after you, sending you all those prophets, my servants, begging you, “Please, please—don’t do this, don’t fool around in this loathsome gutter of gods that I hate with a passion.” But do you think anyone paid the least bit of attention or repented of evil or quit offering sacrifices to the no-gods? Not one. So I let loose with my anger, a firestorm of wrath in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and left them in ruins and wasted. And they’re still in ruins and wasted.’

7–8  “This is the Message of God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves—man, woman, child, and baby—from the life of Judah, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected? And why do you deliberately make me angry by what you do, offering sacrifices to these no-gods in the land of Egypt where you’ve come to live? You’ll only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.

9–11  “ ‘Have you so soon forgotten the evil lives of your ancestors, the evil lives of the kings of Judah and their wives, to say nothing of your own evil lives, you and your wives, the evil you flaunted in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? And to this day, there’s not a trace of remorse, not a sign of reverence, nobody caring about living by what I tell them or following my instructions that I’ve set out so plainly before you and your parents! So this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies decrees:

11–14  “ ‘Watch out! I’ve decided to bring doom on you and get rid of everyone connected with Judah. I’m going to take what’s left of Judah, those who have decided to go to Egypt and live there, and finish them off. In Egypt they will either be killed or starve to death. The same fate will fall upon both the obscure and the important. Regardless of their status, they will either be killed or starve. You’ll end up cursed, reviled, ridiculed, and mocked. I’ll give those who are in Egypt the same medicine I gave those in Jerusalem: massacre, starvation, and disease. None of those who managed to get out of Judah alive and get away to Egypt are going to make it back to the Judah for which they’re so homesick. None will make it back, except maybe a few fugitives.’ ”

Making Goddess Cookies

15–18  The men who knew that their wives had been burning sacrifices to the no-gods, joined by a large crowd of women, along with virtually everyone living in Pathros of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: “We’re having nothing to do with what you tell us is God’s Message. We’re going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our ancestors, our kings and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. We had a good life then—lots of food, rising standard of living, and no bad luck. But the moment we quit sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything fell apart. We’ve had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since.”

19  And then the women chimed in: “Yes! Absolutely! We’re going to keep at it, offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her. Aren’t our husbands behind us? They like it that we make goddess cookies and pour out our offerings to her.”

20–23  Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said, “The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—don’t you think God noticed? He noticed, all right. And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn’t take your evil behavior and your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley, a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. This doom has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you sinned against God! You refused to listen to him, wouldn’t live the way he directed, ignored the covenant conditions.”

24–25  Jeremiah kept going, but now zeroed in on the women: “Listen, all you who are from Judah and living in Egypt—please, listen to God’s Word. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You women! You said it and then you did it. You said, “We’re going to keep the vows we made to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out offerings to her, and nobody’s going to stop us!” ’

25–27  “Well, go ahead. Keep your vows. Do it up big. But also listen to what God has to say about it, all you who are from Judah but live in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name, backed by everything I am—this is God speaking!—that never again shall my name be used in vows, such as “As sure as the Master, God, lives!” by anyone in the whole country of Egypt. I’ve targeted each one of you for doom. The good is gone for good.

27–28  “ ‘All the Judeans in Egypt will die off by massacre or starvation until they’re wiped out. The few who get out of Egypt alive and back to Judah will be very few, hardly worth counting. Then that ragtag bunch that left Judah to live in Egypt will know who had the last word.

29–30  “ ‘And this will be the evidence: I will bring punishment right here, and by this you’ll know that the decrees of doom against you are the real thing. Watch for this sign of doom: I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who was after him.’ ”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, June 01, 2024

Today's Scripture

2 Timothy 1:6-10

And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

8–10  So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus.

Insight

Paul and Timothy had a wonderful relationship as mentor and mentee—one that Paul felt had risen to the level of a father and son (see 2 Timothy 1:2; 2:1). Though there were a number of men and women that Paul discipled and trained for ministry (including Titus, Tychicus, Aristarchus, Aquila and Priscilla, and others), there seems to be a distinctly different relationship with Timothy. In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul introduces him to the believers at Corinth this way: “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.” This is unusually strong language for Paul and clearly speaks to a depth of relationship. No wonder in some of his final words he appeals to Timothy to join him: “Do your best to come to me quickly” (2 Timothy 4:9). By: Bill Crowder

From Holey to Holy

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. 2 Timothy 1:9

As a child, my daughter loved playing with her Swiss cheese at lunch. She’d place the pastel yellow square on her face like a mask, saying, “Look, Mom,” her sparkly green eyes peeking out from two holes in the cheese. As a young mom, that Swiss-cheese mask summed up my feelings about my efforts—genuinely offered, full of love, but so very imperfect. Holey, not holy.

Oh, how we long to live a holy life—a life set apart for God and characterized by being like Jesus. But day after day, holiness seems out of reach. In its place, our “holeyness” remains.

In 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Paul writes to his protégé Timothy, urging him to live up to his holy calling. The apostle then clarified that “[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (v. 9). This life is possible not because of our character, but because of God’s grace. Paul continues, “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (v. 9). Can we accept God’s grace and live from the platform of power it provides?

Whether in parenting, marriage, work, or loving our neighbor, God calls us to a holy life—made possible not because of our efforts to be perfect but because of His grace. By:  Elisa Morgan

Reflect & Pray

How do you view personal holiness? In what ways will you ask God to remind you of His all-surpassing grace that brings about His holiness in your life?

Dear God, please help me to lean into Your grace and not my efforts to live a holy life.

For further study, read Why Would Anyone Want to Be Holy?

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, June 01, 2024

The Staggering Question

Son of man, can these bones live? — Ezekiel 37:3

Can that sinner be turned into a saint? Can that twisted life be put right? There is only one answer: “Sovereign Lord, you alone know” (Ezekiel 37:3).

Some of us think we know exactly what another soul needs. We come trampling in, armed with religious common sense, and say, “Oh, yes. With a little more Bible reading and devotion and prayer, I see how it can be done.” If we think this way, we are mistaking panic for inspiration. It’s much easier to do something than to trust in God. That is why so few of us work with God, while so many of us run around doing tasks he never asked us to do, saying we’re working for him. We would rather busy ourselves with work for God than believe in him.

If I believe in God, I know that he will do what I can’t. I despair of his ability to help others when I fail to see how he has helped me. Once I realize what God’s power has accomplished in my own life, I will stop despairing of others. But if I’ve never had any spiritual work done, I will panic. I panic to the exact degree that I lack personal spiritual experience.

“My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is apart from his presence, he has to show it to you inside yourself. If the Holy Spirit has given you this vision—the vision of what you are apart from the grace of God—you know that the worst criminal is only half as bad in practice as you are in possibility. “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals what human nature is apart from his grace.

2 Chronicles 15-16; John 12:27-50

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. 

Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L

Jeremiah 43, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: UNINTERRUPTED AWARENESS - May 31, 2024

Unceasing prayer may sound complicated, but it needn’t be that way – just change your definition of prayer. Think of prayer less as an activity for God and more as an awareness of God. Seek to live in uninterrupted awareness. Acknowledge his presence everywhere you go. As you stand in line to register your car, think, Thank you, Lord, for being here. In the grocery store as you shop, think, Your presence, my King, I welcome.

People struggle with life when they don’t have answers. The darkest valleys are blackened by the shadow of question marks. So what do you do? Think harder? Try harder? Have longer conversations with yourself? Ephesians 6:18 (MSG) says, “Pray hard and long.” Why not pray to the One with all the answers and let him take over?

Jeremiah 43

Death! Exile! Slaughter!

1–3  43 When Jeremiah finished telling all the people the whole Message that their God had sent him to give them—all these words—Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah, backed by all the self-important men, said to Jeremiah, “Liar! Our God never sent you with this message telling us not to go to Egypt and live there. Baruch son of Neriah is behind this. He has turned you against us. He’s playing into the hands of the Babylonians so we’ll either end up being killed or taken off to exile in Babylon.”

4  Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers, and the people along with them, wouldn’t listen to God’s Message that they stay in the land of Judah and live there.

5–7  Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers gathered up everyone who was left from Judah, who had come back after being scattered all over the place—the men, women, and children, the king’s daughters, all the people that Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had left in the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and last but not least, Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. They entered the land of Egypt in total disobedience of God’s Message and arrived at the city of Tahpanhes.

8–9  While in Tahpanhes, God’s Word came to Jeremiah: “Pick up some large stones and cover them with mortar in the vicinity of the pavement that leads up to the building set aside for Pharaoh’s use in Tahpanhes. Make sure some of the men of Judah are watching.

10–13  “Then address them: ‘This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: Be on the lookout! I’m sending for and bringing Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon—my servant, mind you!—and he’ll set up his throne on these very stones that I’ve had buried here and he’ll spread out his canopy over them. He’ll come and absolutely smash Egypt, sending each to his assigned fate: death, exile, slaughter. He’ll burn down the temples of Egypt’s gods. He’ll either burn up the gods or haul them off as booty. Like a shepherd who picks lice from his robes, he’ll pick Egypt clean. And then he’ll walk away without a hand being laid on him. He’ll shatter the sacred obelisks at Egypt’s House of the Sun and make a huge bonfire of the temples of Egypt’s gods.’ ”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, May 31, 2024

Today's Scripture

Jude 1:17-23

17–19  But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen: “In the last days there will be people who don’t take these things seriously anymore. They’ll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts.” These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. There’s nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit!

20–21  But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!

22–23  Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

Insight

Jude’s original intent in writing his letter was to teach about the truth of the gospel. However, he felt compelled to shift that purpose to addressing false teachers. He says, “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (v. 3). He goes on to say that those teachers “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (v. 4). He made further accusations in verses 8 and 12 but closed by encouraging the children of God to remain faithful (vv. 17-23) and assured them of God’s help: “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (v. 24). By: Bill Crowder

Mercy through Pizza

Be merciful to those who doubt. Jude 1:22

The invitation for dinner from my church leader Harold and his wife, Pam, warmed my heart, but also made me nervous. I’d joined a college Bible study group that taught ideas that contradicted some of the teachings in the Bible. Would they lecture me about that?

Over pizza, they shared about their family and asked about mine. They listened as I talked about homework, my dog Buchi, and the guy I had a crush on. Only later did they gently caution me about the group I was attending and explain what was wrong with its teachings.

Their warning took me away from the lies presented in the Bible study and close to the truths of Scripture. In his letter, Jude uses strong language about false teachers, urging believers to “contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3). He reminded them that “in the last times there will be scoffers . . . who divide you . . . and do not have the Spirit” (vv. 18-19). However, Jude also calls on believers to “be merciful to those who doubt” (v. 22) by coming alongside them, showing compassion without compromising the truth.

Harold and Pam knew I wasn’t firmly grounded in my faith, but instead of judging me, they first offered their friendship and then their wisdom. May God give us this same love and patience, using wisdom and compassion as we interact with those who have doubts. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

Who can you reach who’s struggling with their faith? How can you lovingly guide them to the truths of Scripture?

Father, I need Your wisdom and guidance to help those who are being affected by false teaching. Please give me the words to say.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, May 31, 2024

God First

Jesus would not entrust himself to them, . . . for he knew what was in each person.— John 2:24-25

Put trust in God first. “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people” (John 2:24). Our Lord trusted no one except God, yet he was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about anyone. He simply trusted entirely in what God’s grace could do. If we put our trust in people before God, if we insist on people being something they never can be—absolutely right—we’ll become bitter and end up despairing of everyone. This is why we must never trust in anything but the grace of God.

Put God’s needs first. “Here I am, I have come to do your will” (Hebrews 10:9). Many of us are obedient to whatever we perceive to be a need. We say to ourselves, “The unsaved are dying without God. They need the Lord; they need me to come and preach the gospel.” Jesus was never obedient to a need; he was obedient to the will of his Father. Before we rush off into work for God, we have to make sure that we are honoring God’s will for our own lives. God wants us to be rightly related to him. Once we are, he will open the way for us to meet needs elsewhere.

Put God’s trust first. “And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:5). God entrusts himself to us as an infant. He asks us to turn our personal life into a “Bethlehem,” a place where he may safely dwell, so that we may be slowly transfigured by his life inside us. God’s ultimate purpose for us is that his Son will be manifested in our mortal bodies. Are we honoring the trust he’s placed in us?

2 Chronicles 13-14; John 12:1-26

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. 

The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, May 31, 2024

It took me a while to get up the courage to clean our garage. It might have taken you time to do it too, if you had seen what shape it was in! I mean, there was the general accumulated "mess" that hadn't been touched for awhile. And then there was the mess left from youth ministry stored there. On top of that, different members of our family and staff had been going, and borrowing and returning, and borrowing and returning, and oh my goodness! The mess was there.

Oh, and then there was the mess from various friends who use our garage to store some of their things. All in all, we had discovered a new peak to be climbed. We called it Mount Mess! And there it was right in front of me. So, get on my work clothes, go downstairs, take a deep breath and I almost turned around and gave up. My first thought, "How about we torch it." No, we need to clean it. I thought maybe that would be the simplest answer. No, it's not good. But the question that depressed me was one that you've probably asked while facing a Mount Mess of your own, "Where do I start?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where Do I Start Cleaning?"

Our word for today from the Word of God, John 2, and I'm going to begin reading verses 13-16. "When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple area; both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, He said, 'Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father's house into a market.'"

I'll tell you what's incredible about this. This is Jesus' first appearance in Jerusalem. Want to make a good impression? He's going to the big city. You'd think He'd want to make a nice, positive impact there when He arrives. But notice what His first act is. It's not a miracle, it's not a healing, and it's not a sermon. It's an indignity - an attack - against sin in God's house.

Now, you and I are living in a world that morally resembles my un-cleaned garage; it is a spiritual mess. Sex has been divorced from love and commitment. Speaking of divorce, it's the most common "answer" for marital problems. Lying is so common you pretty much expect people not to be telling the truth. There's garbage permeating our media input, and it just goes on and on. Where are we going to start cleaning?

Well, Jesus will say, "Start by cleaning up My house." That's where He started. 1 Peter 4:17 says, "Judgment must begin at the house of God." A.W. Tozer said, "The Bible will not die in the hands of Communists, or humanists, or atheists, or abortionists. It will die in the hands of its friends because they don't use it themselves."

See, we've become amazingly casual about sin. Oh, we're against it, but we flirt with it and we see how close we can get to it. We read about it, we watch it being portrayed, we laugh about it, and we allow creeping compromise to erode what was once a much higher standard in our lives just a short time ago. Jesus takes a whip to sin when it's tolerated in His house, and you're His house now.

See, the Bible says we're the temple of the Holy Spirit; He lives in you. Now, you may look righteous compared to the rest of the people around you, but your standard isn't them. It's the personal holiness of Jesus himself. Oh, sure, we should fight the decay in our lost world, but we should turn most of our guns on our own sin - our own compromise. Many people are not considering Christ because they've never seen an alternative in someone their own age who is really living for Christ, demonstrating the difference.

The history of revival throughout the church tells us that whenever God's people start hating the sin in their own lives, tens of thousands of people start finding Christ. So, where do I start cleaning with the mess inside my own heart?

Hebrews 11:1-19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: PEACE HAPPENS WHEN WE PRAY - May 30, 2024

Worry happens when we keep our problems to ourselves or present our problems to the puny deities of money, muscle, or humankind. The act of prayer moves us from a spirit of concern to a spirit of gratitude. Even before our prayers are answered, our hearts begin to change. So take these steps:

First, take your worries to God. Set aside some time each day to pour out your concerns, complaints, fears and woes to him. Don’t suppress; express! Take everything to God and then…leave it with him.

Find a promise to match your problem. Spend time in the promises and stories of Scripture. Find a promise that fits your problem, and build your prayers around it.

Pray specifically. Generic prayers aren’t nearly as effective as heartfelt prayers that target particular needs.

Peace happens when we pray.

Hebrews 11:1-19

Faith in What We Don’t See

1–2  11 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

3  By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

4  By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

5–6  By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

7  By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.

8–10  By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

11–12  By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.

13–16  Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

17–19  By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, “Your descendants shall come from Isaac.” Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that’s what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Today's Scripture

Luke 6:43-45

Work the Words into Your Life

43–45  “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

Insight

Jesus’ words in Luke 6:17-49 mirror the discourse He gave in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Yet there are differences in the two settings. Matthew says “Jesus . . . went up on a mountainside and sat down” (5:1). Luke tells us that after spending the night on a mountainside praying with His disciples (6:12), “He went down with them and stood on a level place” (v. 17). Today’s Scripture reading is from this “sermon on the level place.” It shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus would share His transformational teaching at different locales. Most of His audience would be new and hadn’t yet heard His message. This section of Luke (6:43-45) loosely parallels Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:15-20, where He warns that we’ll know false prophets by their fruit. In Luke, however, Jesus focuses not on false teachers but on us. Our words reveal the kind of fruit we’re bearing. By: Tim Gustafson

Words Reflect Our Heart

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart. Luke 6:45 nlt

How do you eliminate foul language? A high school chose to institute a “no foul language” promise. The students took an oath, saying: "I do solemnly promise not to use profanities of any kind within the walls and properties of [our school].” This was a noble effort, but, according to Jesus, no external rule or pledge can ever cover the odor of foul speech.

Removing the stench of the words that come from our mouths begins with renewing our hearts. Just as people recognize the kind of tree by the fruit it bears (Luke 6:43-44), Jesus said that our speech is a convincing indicator of whether our hearts are in tune with Him and His ways or not. Fruit stands for a person’s speech, “for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (v. 45). Christ was pointing out that if we really want to change what’s coming out of our mouths, we first have to focus on changing our hearts as He helps us.

External promises are useless to curb the foul language that comes forth from an untransformed heart. We can only eliminate foul speech by first believing in Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:3) and then inviting the Holy Spirit to fill us (Ephesians 5:18). He works within us to inspire and help us to continually offer thanks to God (v. 20) and to speak encouraging and edifying words to others (4:15, 29; Colossians 4:6).  By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

What do your words and speech say about your heart? How are you inviting the Holy Spirit to transform your speech these days?

Dear Jesus, please help me speak words that honor You and edify others.

For further study, read Words Matter: Speaking with Wisdom in an Age of Outrage.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, May 30, 2024

“Yes, But . . . !”

I will follow you, Lord; but . . .— Luke 9:61

Suppose God tells you to do something that doesn’t square with your common sense. What are you going to do? Hang back? If this is your inclination, watch out. If you develop the habit of avoidance in your physical life, the habit will rule you until you break it. The same is true in your spiritual life. Again and again you will come to what Jesus Christ wants from you, and again and again you will turn back. “But suppose I obey God in this matter,” you say. “What about my concerns? I can only obey God if his command follows common sense. Don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands that we display the same reckless, daring attitude in spiritual life that the boldest among us display in natural life. If you’re going to do anything worthwhile, sometimes you have to risk everything and leap. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you leap into what he says, risking everything common sense has taught you. The instant you do, you’ll find that his command makes perfect spiritual sense.

Measured by the standard of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem insane. But if you measure them by the standard of faith, you will find that they are the words of God. Trust entirely in God, and when he brings you to the precipice of a challenge . . . leap. We act like pagans in a crisis: only one in a crowd is daring enough to risk everything on the character of God.

2 Chronicles 10-12; John 11:30-57

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

Disciples Indeed, 386 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Your Personal A.D. - #9754

Easter night, millions of Americans tuned in to Jesus, this was actually several years ago when "The Bible" miniseries was on cable TV. Except this time, "A.D. - The Bible Continues" was on a major network. I was one of those millions who was watching on Easter, plunged into the world-changing events of that first Good Friday and Easter.

I couldn't help but connect it to a touching Facebook post I saw on Good Friday about a bookstore visit that a dear Native American friend had with her young grandson - who she calls "Handsome." Handsome spotted a painting that really got his attention. It was Jesus nailed to the cross. He went straight to it and he said "with passion" in his voice, his grandma said, "Gramma look! Can we buy it? It's the last one. If we don't buy it, someone else will get it!"

Here's what our friend wrote: "Today is Good Friday, the day Jesus died on the cross for me. How could I not buy the picture for Handsome?" Well, I'll tell you, that picture of that little boy hugging that painting is tattooed in my mind. It occurred to me that the little guy was onto something.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Personal A.D."

You know what I think that little boy had? I think he had the idea that you need to make Jesus yours while you can. Not because there's a limited supply, but because that ultimate spiritual opportunity won't always be there.

Jesus described that opportunity this way in Revelation 3:20, "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in." If I hadn't already "opened the door" to Jesus, I think watching that TV reminder of His awful death might just have done it. Looking there and realizing that the price He paid to rescue me from the death penalty for what I've done against Him; for my sins. In the Bible's words, "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

I suspect a lot of us have felt that knock on the door, that tugging in our heart maybe many times. But just like that little Native boy realized, it's important to grab Jesus while you can, because we never know when our heart is going to beat for the last time. And we'll suddenly be on the brink of eternity.

Or because we have reached the spiritual point of no return. There is one the Bible calls the "Hardening of your heart." Ignoring Jesus' knock so many times you just don't hear Him anymore. The Bible has this warning and it is our word for today from the Word of God. It is from Hebrews 4:7. And who knows, it might have your name on it today. "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7).

You know, there seems to be one other especially disturbing way that we can miss Jesus; one that can make postponing Jesus life's biggest mistake. "Call on Him while He is near," the Bible says (Isaiah 55:6). Which suggests He won't always be near. Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father...draws them to Me" (John 6:44). I've got to come to Jesus, not when I'm ready, but when He's ready. When I "hear His voice."

If you feel that tugging, if you hear His voice inside, He's ready. It's time! You say, "Ron, I've never gotten this settled. Let's get this done today. Would you reach out with all the faith you can and say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Would you tell Him that in your heart? Tell Him that out loud if you choose. I would urge you to come to our website. It is all about securing your personal relationship with Jesus and thus securing your eternity. It's ANewStory.com. Please check it out.

I remember the day I heard that voice and I opened the door. It changed my life forever and my eternal destination; moving from the emptiness of life without Jesus to the amazingness of life with Him. And moving from B.C. - before Christ, without Christ - to my personal "A.D."