Daily Archives: January 18, 2024

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Washing Feet . . . and Dishes

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Bible in a Year :

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

John 13:15

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

John 13:6–17

On Charley and Jan’s fiftieth wedding anniversary, they shared breakfast at a café with their son Jon. That day, the restaurant was understaffed with just a manager, cook, and one teenage girl who was working as hostess, waitress, and busser. As they finished their breakfast, Charley turned to his wife and son and said, “Do you have anything important going on in the next few hours?” They didn’t.

So, with permission from the manager, Charley and Jan began washing dishes in the back of the restaurant while Jon started clearing the cluttered tables. According to Jon, what happened that day wasn’t really that unusual. His parents had always set an example of Jesus who “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45).

In John 13, we read about the last meal Christ shared with His disciples. That night, the Teacher taught them the principle of humble service by washing their dirty feet (vv. 14–15). If He was willing to do the lowly job of washing a dozen men’s feet, they too should joyfully serve others.

Every avenue of service we encounter may look different, but one thing’s the same: there’s great joy in serving. The purpose behind acts of service isn’t to bring praise to the ones performing them, but to lovingly serve others while directing all praise to our humble, self-sacrificing God.

By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

When has someone unexpectedly offered to help you with a difficult task? Why is humility such an important aspect of serving others?

Loving Savior, thank You for showing me how to be a servant.

http://www.odb.org

John MacArthur

Grace to You; John MacArthur – Righteous Anger

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 “Walk . . . with all . . . gentleness” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

Our anger must be under control and should occur only for the right reason.

After the previous lesson, you might think that Christians must always be quiet and passive, never getting upset or angry about anything. Actually, believers do have the right to get angry, but only under certain conditions. Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” So there is a certain kind of anger that isn’t sinful. It must be under control, and it must be resolved expeditiously.

Proverbs 25:28 says, “Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit.” Someone who is out of control is vulnerable. He falls into every temptation, failure, and weakness. On the other hand, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city” (16:32). One who rules his spirit has power and energy, but it’s under control. That same power and energy out of control creates nothing but chaos and sinfulness. Those who are easily angered are not gentle.

Gentle people, on the other hand, control their energies and strengths, but they do have a tough side. They don’t back away from sin or cease to condemn evil. Since the gentle person submits himself to God, he becomes angry over things that offend God, not himself. If someone offends him personally, he doesn’t seek revenge. But when God is maligned, the lion in him roars. Such anger is called righteous indignation. Under God’s control, anger reacts when it ought to react, for the right reason, and for the right amount of time.

Suggestions for Prayer

Ask forgiveness if you are apt to get angry for the wrong reasons. Commit yourself to being gentle when you ordinarily would flare up in anger. If you don’t get angry when you see evil, ask God to make you sensitive to what He hates.

For Further Study

  • At the very time Moses was receiving God’s Law on Mount Sinai, the Israelites were involved in idolatry and debauchery. Read Exodus 32. What was Moses’ reaction to their sin?
  • Did he hold a grudge against them (vv. 31-32)?
  • How can Moses’ example be a pattern for your life?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur 

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Blessings Instead of Judgment

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Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

— Matthew 7:1 (NIV)

Sometimes when we feel insecure, rejected by others, or inferior to them, we struggle to simply admit we feel left out, ignored, or somehow less than the people around us. Instead, we become critical or judgmental toward them. But this is not the way God wants us to handle our emotions or to treat people.

We should choose to focus on God’s love for us and to remember that He accepts us unconditionally (Ephesians 1:4–6). He calls us “the apple of His eye” (Deuteronomy 32:10) and says we are inscribed on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). The more secure we are in His love, the less we will feel critical or negative toward others. The greater our understanding of God’s love for us, which we could never deserve, the more we realize that God loves everyone the same. He doesn’t have favorites (Romans 2:11). If He loves people, we can choose to love them too and not judge them, with His help.

Notice in today’s scripture that Jesus not only tells us not to judge people but also explains why we should refrain from doing so. It’s for our own good. We aren’t to judge others, so we won’t be judged. We do reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7), and if we sow criticism and judgment, we’ll find people criticizing and judging us. But if we sow love and blessing into other people, we’ll experience love and blessing too.

Next time you are tempted to criticize or judge someone for any reason, resist. Instead, choose to love and bless them.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, when I feel rejected or inferior to others, help me not to judge or criticize. Help me to love and bless everyone around me.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Alistair Begg

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – A Commitment to Prayer

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[Daniel] got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel 6:10

Short-term commitment is not too hard. It is disciplined consistency that comes harder to us—yet it is a key to spiritual growth.

The often sporadic nature of our commitment is seen in short-lived exercise programs, Bible memorization, reading plans, and New Year’s resolutions. How many of us start something well, only to later abandon it! But equally, you have probably encountered people who are incredibly consistent and disciplined. They walk their dog at the exact same time every day or collect their mail with such precise timing that you could set your watch by it; and when they set themselves to undertake a task or learn a new skill, they do so with a diligence that leaves you in no doubt that they will complete it.

Daniel was a man who exhibited such disciplined consistency when it came to prayer. His life was not marked by bursts of enthusiasm followed by chronic inertia. He clearly prayed whether he felt like it or not. There were probably times when he got up from his knees feeling really blessed and other times when he left feeling really flat, but he kept on. He prayed and he prayed and he prayed, no matter the circumstances. That’s discipline!

When a crisis hit, it didn’t create Daniel’s disciplined lifestyle; it revealed it. After King Darius issued an edict that made it illegal to pray to any god or man other than him for thirty days (Daniel 6:7), Daniel could have rationalized obedience to the king rather than to the Lord. He could have reasoned that because he’d stored up such phenomenal credit on the strength of all his years of prayer, he could be let off for a month. Apparently, though, such a thought never even crossed his mind. Instead, he continued in prayer just “as he had done previously.”

Surely there was a link between Daniel’s life of prayer and the bravery he showed in obeying the God of Israel rather than the most powerful king in the known world. Our Lord told us, too, that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). We are not to close prayer down for a while if we don’t feel like it or have little spare time for a season. If we want to live for Jesus when we’re under pressure, our prayer lives must be consistent. We must regard prayer as a fundamental element of our faith, not merely a nice supplement.

The door is wide open for you to demonstrate the same kind of consistent commitment to prayer as Daniel did. Through regular discipline, prayer can become your natural reaction to every situation in your life. Do you need to set aside a time each day when you will pray and give thanks to your God, come what may? Wherever God takes us, whatever we do, however His plan unfolds, may our prayers be unceasing.

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

Ephesians 3:14–21

Topics: Discipline Prayer

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – God Is a Tenderhearted Father

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“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” (Psalm 103:13)

One day Laurie and her sister Caroline came home from school, and both of their parents met them at the door. Their dad never came home from work in the middle of the day. They knew something must be wrong.

“Girls,” said their dad without his usual smile, “I have some sad news. Your grandpa died this morning.”

They sat down on the couch, their daddy in the middle with an arm around each of them. And Laurie and Caroline cried. Caroline looked up finally and noticed a tear rolling down her daddy’s cheek. She could hardly believe her eyes! She had never seen her daddy cry before. “He must really miss Grandpa too,” she thought. Later she realized that her dad was crying, not just because he missed Grandpa. He was crying for his daughters because they were sad.

Did you know that God is just as tenderhearted as a loving father? He feels every painful thing that you feel. He wants you to draw near to Him and let Him comfort you.

Maybe you do not have an earthly father in your home protecting, providing, and tenderly caring for you. God wants you to enjoy that special father-child relationship with Him alone. He promises in His Word to be a Father to the fatherless child (Psalm 68:5).

God is a tenderhearted Father who shares His children’s griefs and longs to comfort them.

My Response:
» Have I become God’s child by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ?
» Do I go to my heavenly Father when I need comfort?

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – How can so many Americans be so wrong on abortion?

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Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in America, more than sixty-three million babies have been aborted in our country.

This is a population four times the size of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston—combined.

And yet, more Americans than ever before think abortion should be legal under any circumstances. More than two-thirds also believe it should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy.

If you believe as I do that life begins at conception, you might be asking yourself: How can so many people be so wrong on this crucial issue?

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“The real question today”

It’s not because pro-life supporters are not vocal and visible.

The National March for Life is tomorrow in Washington, DC. It will be followed by Sanctity of Life Sunday, both of which are timed to coincide with January 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court issued its ruling that discovered a “right” to abortion in the US Constitution.

It’s no longer because of Roe v. Wade. After the Supreme Court overturned this horrendous ruling in 2022, returning the issue to the states, abortions increased nationwide.

It’s not because the science is unclear. The Supreme Court claimed in its 1973 ruling:

We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.

But resolving “the difficult question of when life begins” is precisely the issue. If life begins at conception, our founding declaration that “all men are created equal” and endowed with the “unalienable” right to “life” should clearly apply to preborn babies. As should every legal protection that currently applies to babies from the moment they are born.

The science is clearer than ever. As Jan Langman writes in Medical Embryology, “The development of a human being begins with fertilization.” (For Princeton University’s large collection of scientific statements concurring with this assessment, click here.)

On the tenth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Ronald Reagan wrote the only book ever published by a sitting US president. In Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation, he states:

The real question today is not when human life begins, but, What is the value of human life? The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother’s body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. The real question for him and for all of us is whether the tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law—the same right we have (his emphasis).

The foundational issue

Why, then, do so many Americans support the abortion of preborn children?

Some claim that abortion must be legal as an alternative for women who are victims of rape or incest. However, while such crimes are unspeakably horrific, only 1 percent of women who choose abortion do so for this reason.

Others cite the need to protect the health of the mother. However, only 3 percent of abortions are chosen for this reason.

In fact, the most popular motives for abortion are:

  • Unready for responsibility (21 percent)
  • Can’t afford baby now (21 percent)
  • Concerned about how having baby would change her life (16 percent)
  • Is too immature or young to have child (11 percent)
  • Has all the children she wanted or all children are grown (8 percent).

Here’s the foundational issue: most Americans want the right to determine what is right for themselves.

This is a major reason the majority of men in America want abortion to be legal under any circumstances: they want the state to have no authority over their personal decisions as well. And they want a woman who becomes pregnant with their unwanted child to be able to abort it.

This quest for personal autonomy extends to other moral issues. It helps explain LGBTQ advocacy by those who are not LGBTQ, for example. They not only see this as a civil right for others—they also want the right to live their lives however they wish.

How does God see America?

My purpose today is not to inflict guilt on those who have chosen abortion in the past. Nor is it to offer simple answers to such a divisive and complex issue.

Rather, it is to make this point:

Our democracy can function effectively only if it is practiced within the consensual morality its founders embraced.

As Benjamin Franklin noted, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”

When American culture decided that all truth is personal and all morality is subjective, our collective future became imperiled.

If we will not extend justice to the most innocent and vulnerable among us—our preborn babies—how can we claim to be a just society?

How does the God who cherishes children (Matthew 19:14), who fashioned us in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13–16; Jeremiah 1:5) and forbids the taking of innocent life (Proverbs 6:17), see our nation?

How is he calling you to love life as he does?

More resources on this topic from Denison Forum

Thursday news you need to know

Quotes for the day

  • “You shall not murder a child by abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born.” — Epistle of Barnabas 19:5, written between AD 70 and AD 132
  • “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.” — the original Hippocratic Oath

Denison Forum

John Hagee

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

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…You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Psalm 23:5

When the Lord anoints our heads with oil, our cups overflow with blessings. No need to tip them up to drain the bitter dregs at the bottom of our mugs. Our cups spill over with all the favor that He pours out!

We are vessels in the hands of a faithful Potter Who has plans to prosper us, to fill us with hope, to give us bright futures. He anoints us with the oil of gladness because we have loved Him and His righteous ways.

David assured us that goodness and mercy would follow us around all the days of our lives, that we would spend our days in the presence of the Lord where we will experience the fullest of joys. He pours out the anointing oil to the very brim – blessings that we cannot contain!

And when others jostle us, this mercy and goodness will splash over the rim with contagious joy. Our God-of-more-than-enough throws open the windows of heaven to rain down blessings that soak us, our children, our homes, our workplaces and communities. Dance in the downpour!

His anointing truly does lift the burdens off our bowed-down backs and destroy the yokes of bondage. Pressed down, shaken together – our cups run over!

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His peace. May your cup overflow with the anointing of the Holy One as He pours out a blessing that you cannot contain. May you experience the divine explosion of the presence and power of His anointing!

Today’s Bible Reading: 

Old Testament

Genesis 37:1-38:30

New Testament 

Matthew 12:22-45

Psalms & Proverbs

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 3:27-32

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Power to Live

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His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.
2 Peter 1:3

 Recommended Reading: Acts 1:8

Perhaps it happened to someone you know: a radical transformation after meeting Jesus Christ. Every life changes, but sometimes the change is so dramatic that it’s like the person was, well, born again—like the apostle Paul who went from murderous persecutor to missionary apostle. Nowhere was that change more evident than in the band of Christ’s disciples. Before Pentecost they were fearful; after Pentecost they were fearless.

What happened at Pentecost? The fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to them: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit filled the disciples and empowered them to live as bold witnesses for Christ. One of those disciples, Peter, later wrote that God’s “divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” through Christ.

If you are Christ’s today, you have power by the Spirit. You can do all things through Him (Philippians 4:13).

Christianity is not merely a program of conduct; it is the power of a new life.
Benjamin B. Warfield

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Called from Obscurity

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Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 

—1 Corinthians 1:26

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 1:26 

As Christians, we can get excited when a celebrity says they’ve become a follower of Jesus Christ. That is because we think we have someone cool on our side. That’s fine. Time will tell whether their conversion is genuine.

But it’s important for us to remember that God goes out of His way to use ordinary people. And the people God has used to touch the world often have been those you never would have expected to do great things with their lives.

It came as a surprise when God chose David, a shepherd boy, to become the next king of Israel. Yet David took it all in stride and wisely waited on the Lord for further direction.

In many ways, David was the very opposite of Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul came from a family who loved him, while David came from a family that neglected and even disliked him.

While Saul was the most handsome man in all of Israel, David was an ordinary man. While Saul was attractive on the outside, he was vain, shallow, and devoid of true integrity on the inside. In contrast, David had a deep commitment to God, even though he was very young.

This reminds us of the truth of Paul’s words: “Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful” (1 Corinthians 1:26–27 NLT).

God uses ordinary people. For example, Dwight L. Moody, one of the greatest evangelists of his day, was a shoe salesman. When he heard the gospel and gave his life to Christ, he went from selling soles to saving souls.

One day he was having a conversation with another Christian, who said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.”

Moody determined to be that man.

And Billy Graham, before he began his ministry, was a dairy farmer in North Carolina. Everyone knew him as Billy Frank. And he would have been about the last person whom people expected to become the most effective evangelist in world history.

The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT).

Notice this doesn’t say that God is looking for strong people. Rather, it says that God is looking “to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

The Bible is replete with stories like that of David, an obscure shepherd boy who was taken out of the fields and raised up to be the greatest king in the history of Israel.

Would you like God to use you to touch the lives of others? Would you like God to lead you and speak through you?

God goes out of His way to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie
Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Gods Shall Perish

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.


“Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” (Jeremiah 10:11)

This is a unique verse. Jeremiah, the second-longest book in the Bible, is written in Hebrew except for this one verse! Why would Jeremiah make this remarkable exception here?

This verse was written in Aramaic, which was the official language of the great Babylonian empire—the world’s chief nation at that time. The Babylonians, as prophesied by Jeremiah, were soon to be used as a weapon in God’s hand to punish His chosen people, carrying them into exile and captivity, and the main reason for such punishment was apostasy. God’s people had corrupted the worship of the true Creator God with the teachings and idols of the Babylonians and all the other nations around them who had rejected God.

Jeremiah had repeatedly condemned this apostasy, showing that God’s people were to be punished by the very nations whose religious philosophies had so attracted them.

But those nations needed also to understand that this was not because of their own strength nor the merits of their own gods. Thus, Jeremiah appropriately inserted a special word to be conveyed to the Babylonians in their own official tongue. Only the true God, who made the heavens and the earth, is in control of the heavens and the earth.

The same type of warning, delivered in the “official” language of the modern world (“science?”), is needed even more today than it was in Jeremiah’s day. Today’s “gods”—Marx, Darwin, etc.—are even less deserving of trust than Zeus or Baal, and yet professing Christians have gone after them in droves. It is urgent that we call them back to the true Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ, urging them—before God’s judgment falls once again—to repudiate every vestige of evolutionary humanism. HMM

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6