Daily Archives: December 27, 2024

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Acts of Grace

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Do not kill them . . . . Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink. 2 Kings 6:22

Today’s Scripture

2 Kings 6:18-23

Today’s Insights

Author Ray Stedman draws an intriguing comparison between the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Elijah first appears in 1 Kings 17. He displays God’s power and judgment, calling down fire from heaven as he faced 450 prophets of the false god Baal (18:30-39). Then in 2 Kings 1:9-12 he did it again, killing the soldiers sent by evil King Ahaziah to arrest him. Then Elisha “took the mantle” (2 Kings 2:14 nkjv), or role, of Elijah. He had a powerful yet less fiery ministry than did Elijah. Stedman notes that Jesus’ ascension into heaven after His resurrection (Acts 1:8-9) was foreshadowed by Elijah, who ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11-12). Similarly, he also points out that Elisha foreshadows the ministry of the Holy Spirit—the Helper Jesus promised to send us after He returned to His Father. Again and again, we see the Scriptures pointing to Christ.

Today’s Devotional

In the novel About Grace, David Winkler longs to find his estranged daughter, and Herman Sheeler is the only person who can help him. But there’s a hitch. David’s daughter was born from David’s affair with Herman’s wife, and Herman had warned him never to contact them again.

Decades pass before David writes to Herman, apologizing for what he’s done. “I have a hole in my life because I know so little about my daughter,” he adds, begging for information about her. He waits to see if Herman will help him.

How should we treat those who’ve wronged us? The king of Israel faced this question after his enemies were miraculously delivered into his hands (2 Kings 6:8-20). “Shall I kill them?” he asks the prophet Elisha. No, Elisha says. “Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master” (vv. 21-22). Through this act of grace, Israel finds peace with its enemies (v. 23).

Herman replies to David’s letter, invites him to his home and cooks him a meal. “Lord Jesus,” he prays before they eat, “thank You for watching over me and David all these years.” He helps David find his daughter, and David later saves his life. In God’s hands, our acts of grace toward those who’ve wronged us often result in a blessing to us.

Reflect & Pray

Whose acts of grace have inspired you in the past? What act of grace could you offer someone today?

Dear Jesus, please give me the wisdom and power today to offer grace to those who’ve wronged me.

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Power of Ownership

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But God will redeem me…for He will receive me. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Psalm 49:15 (AMPC)

When offenses come and we are tempted to get into strife, it is wise for us to examine our thoughts and take ownership of our actions.

If you find that you are justifying having a bad attitude, I encourage you to realize that justifying any bad behavior that the Word of God condemns is a dangerous thing. It keeps us deceived and unable to take ownership of our faults.

Nobody enjoys saying, “I was wrong—please forgive me,” but it is one of the most powerful six-word sentences in the world. It brings peace to turmoil; joy replaces frustration, and this attitude puts a smile on God’s face. He is delighted when we follow His ways instead of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Prayer of the Day: Father, help me see myself as You see me. Renew my mind to reflect my true identity in Christ and embrace the life You have planned for me, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Denzel Washington becomes a licensed minister

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“If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you.”

Denzel Washington has made fifty movies and won two Oscars, but he wrote recently in Esquire, “The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit,” an experience that occurred forty years ago.

Last Saturday, he received his minister’s license and was baptized. In a video he shared online, he said, “It took a while, but I’m finally here . . . If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you.”

Washington is right in ways we cannot begin to imagine.

Literally.

“If your mind were only a slightly greener thing”

One of my sons gave me The Overstory by Richard Powers as a Christmas present. As soon as I began reading, I understood why it won the Pulitzer Prize and was a #1 New York Times bestseller.

The novel is creatively centered around trees and those who experience them. It begins with a woman in a park leaning against a pine. The tree and those farther away say to her:

All the ways you imagine us—bewitched mangroves up on stilts, a nutmeg’s inverted spade, gnarled baja elephant trunks, the straight-up missile of a sal—are always amputations. Your kind never sees us whole. There’s always as much belowground as above.

That’s the trouble with people, their root problem. . . . A chorus of living wood sings to the woman: If your mind were only a slightly greener thing, we’d drown you in meaning (his italics).

As I read, I made a note: “What is true of roots below is also true of heaven above. What we cannot see is what makes possible what we can see. There is far more that we do not know than what we do. What we do not know changes our lives the most.”

Here’s why.

Why Jesus had to come at Christmas

The Bible says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), that he is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), and that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8; cf. Malachi 3:6). Each aspect of his character requires the other: If God is love, he must always do what holiness requires. If he is holy, he must always do what love requires. And he cannot change—he must always do the most loving and righteous thing in our lives.

This is why Jesus had to come at Christmas. He had to come to save us in love while atoning for our sin in holiness, revealing his unchanging nature by taking on our nature while preserving his own.

But this was also true for millennia before Christmas. From Joseph saving his people from starvation, to Moses liberating them from slavery, to Joshua leading them into their Promised Land, to David defeating their enemies, to the prophets declaring his pathways to flourishing— God was unchangingly loving and holy.

It has been true for millennia after Christmas. From Cornelius opening the way for Gentile conversion to Paul taking the gospel across the Empire, to writers giving us the New Testament, and to parents, pastors, evangelists, theologians, political leaders, soldiers, doctors, attorneys, engineers, business people, teachers, and a plethora of others—God continues to act in and through us in ways that are unchangingly loving and holy.

And what is true on earth is true in heaven as well.

Why “we are more than conquerors”

In Paul’s soaring revelation we read, “Jesus Christ is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34; cf. Hebrews 7:25). The apostle can therefore ask rhetorically, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35) and proceed to list the worst enemies we face before assuring us, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (v. 37).

All this because Jesus is “interceding for us” right now, continuing the Christmas miracle as he incarnates his unchanging holy love in and through us.

Do you believe the Father always answers his Son’s prayers? One day we will fully know what today we can only “know in part” (1 Corinthians 13:12). On that day, I believe we will see the thousands of ways the Father acted in our lives because the Son prayed for us.

In the meantime, the familiar words of Alfred Lord Tennyson take on new meaning for us:

More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.

What would you like to ask Jesus to pray for, for you?

Friday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” —Robert Murray McCheyne

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – Walk Before Me

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 “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Genesis 17:1)

Abraham had been “walking” in the land of Canaan nearly 25 years when God gave this command to him. He had experienced the shameful rebuke in Egypt by Pharaoh and a marvelous victory against Chedorlaomer. He then demonstrated both humility and obedience before Melchizedek.

God had been explicit in His promises to Abraham, but the promised heir had not yet come. Now, in spite of the awful lapse of faith with Hagar and the nagging burden of Ishmael, God insisted that Abraham “walk before” Him and “be perfect.”

The Hebrew language here is unusual. The word translated “before me” is panyim, basically meaning “the face.” This is the term used in the first commandment where we are told to “have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).

In Genesis 17:1, the phrase could well be translated “walk, looking at my face.” The first commandment could also be translated “don’t let any other god get between your face and my face.”

The implication is obvious. God expects us to live in such a way that His “face” (person, character, presence) is always “before” us so that our “walk” (lifestyle, behavior) is “perfect” (complete, whole, healthy), with nothing inhibiting the relationship “of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).

“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9). After warning Israel of the dangers of the pagan nations surrounding them, Moses still insisted that they should “be perfect with the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13). No matter what the circumstances may be, if we are looking at God’s “face,” we will walk perfectly. HMM III

 

 

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

 

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – Where The Battle’s Lost And Won

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If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord… — Jeremiah 4:1

The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before Him. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there. If I say, “I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test,” I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between my self and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God’s decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.

In dealing with other people, the line to take is to push them to an issue of will. That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God — “My Utmost for His Highest.”

Zechariah 1-4; Revelation 18

Wisdom from Oswald

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

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham

Billy Graham – Find Peace With God

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The Lord will bless his people with peace.
—Psalm 29:11

How do we find peace with God? We must stop fighting! We must surrender! We must serve! Of course, these steps will be motivated by faith and mingled with love. Having found peace with God, next we experience the peace of God.

This peace of God is not a mere abstraction advocated by preachers and theologians. Thousands of people can witness that they have actually experienced the peace of God and have found it wonderfully adequate for this present day. “For He is our peace.”

You can have peace with God today.

Lea este devocional en español en es.billygraham.org.

Prayer for the day

Father, I thank You for the peace You have given to me, which does not depend on feelings or circumstances.

 

 

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GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – The Work of His Hands

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The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.—Psalm 19:1 (NIV)

Even in the midst of winter, when the weather outside might seem harsh, spending a few moments outdoors can be invigorating and inspiring. By taking the time to breathe in the crisp air and observe the wonders of creation, we can connect with God’s presence and find refreshing newness in our lives.

Dear God, thank You for the beauty of Your creation and the opportunity to experience it daily.

 

 

https://guideposts.org/daily-devotions/devotions-for-women/devotions-for-faith-prayer-devotions-for-women/

Every Man Ministry

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck -No Looking Back

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Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ––Genesis 19:24-26

When I was a kid I had a set of those Bible story books with the blue covers written by Arthur S. Maxwell. I loved those books for their awesome illustrations. But one story that always freaked me out was the one about Lot’s wife. If you will recall, God condemns the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction for their wickedness. Lot escapes with his wife and two daughters, and is instructed by two angels not to look back as they flee. Lot’s wife can’t resist the urge to take a peek, and is instantly turned into a pillar of salt.

It’s a cautionary tale that Jesus references two millennia later when he teaches His disciples about the kingdom to come. Luke 17:31-33 says,

On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.

“On that day” refers to the Second Coming of Jesus, and how no one knows when it will take place. He references Lot’s wife as a cautionary tale: Don’t be fixated on the things of this world, but prepare your heart and spirit for His return.

For God’s man, this means living our lives as if Jesus were returning today. Confessing our sins to one another, keeping short accounts in our relationships, and living each day in the power—and under the guidance—of the Holy Spirit. It means holding on lightly to the material things of this world, and always prioritizing His kingdom over our earthly pursuits and preoccupations.

Lot’s wife looked backward—as did many of the Israelites in the desert, who looked back and missed the leaks and onions of Egypt—and suffered for it. Brother, set your sights on the things above—and be ready for His return.

Lord, it’s tempting to look back at the “good times” in my life, but You’ve called me to a higher purpose. Help me set my sites on the things that are precious to You.

 

 

Every Man Ministries