Bible in One Year: Exodus 25-26; Matthew 20:17-34
Monday, January 31, 2022
Do You See Your Calling? / Chambers
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Two Gates, Two Ways / Charles Stanley
Two Gates, Two Ways
Have you ever been accused of being a narrow-minded Christian? Those who level such accusations against us certainly mean it as an insult. According to Jesus, however, that’s the only way to walk if we want to experience abundant life now and eternal life with Him in heaven. But it will require a deliberate choice on our part, because no one automatically drifts onto this pathway.
The broad way is easy to find. In fact, unless you make a conscious choice to avoid it, you’ll find yourself on it. Most people like this wide path because it encompasses all philosophies and belief systems. Everything is acceptable, and everyone’s “truth” is valid. It even seems like the loving path because no one is left out. There are no restrictions, and freedom is unlimited. Or is it?
What those who travel this road fail to realize is that it’s a downward descent into destruction. All the promises it gives of satisfaction and fulfillment end in disappointment because it’s a path without God. But those who enter by the narrow gate of faith in Christ find the peace and joy of a relationship with Him that satisfies the heart. The gate is small because truth guards the entrance. The way is narrow because the Lord protects us with wise boundaries.
Which path are you traveling? You can’t have one foot on each, because they’re going in opposite directions. When you tolerate everything, you’re headed for destruction. But when you choose the narrow way, your life truly begins. You’ll walk with Christ day by day until He walks you home to heaven.
Praying for an Audience / Adrian Rogers
Praying for an Audience
Sermon: 2294 – Christ of Every Crisis
Pray Over This
“Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”
Ponder This
I heard about a young lawyer who just got his degree and opened up his brand spanking new law offices. He didn’t have any clients, but he had his sign out front. One day, he heard footsteps in the hallway and thought his first client was coming. So, he picked up the phone like he was busy. He said, “Hello, yes, no, I’m sorry I can’t, perhaps next Thursday. I have a heavy corporation case coming up on Wednesday but perhaps we can arrange it.” And he put the phone down. By this time the man he heard coming was standing in front of his desk. The lawyer said, “Yes sir, what may I do for you?” The man replied, “Well, I’m from the telephone company and I came to hook up your telephone.” Many times, our prayers are that way—we’re trying to impress somebody else but we haven’t connected with God. The people in today’s passage weren’t trying to impress anybody else. They were desperate. Their prayer was unto God.
- Would you say you more often pray for God to hear or for others to hear?
- What might be some characteristics of these two kinds of prayers?
Practice This
Spend time today praying to God. Be honest with Him, sharing your heart and praying for Him—and not anyone else—to hear.
Unapologetic Tears / ODB
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Do Not Be Ashamed / Alistair Begg
Do Not Be Ashamed
Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling.
It’s far too easy to be ashamed—to be ashamed of the Master, of the Master’s servants, and of the Master’s message. Therefore, it is a great challenge to hear how Paul exhorts Timothy, and us, to “not be ashamed.”
Vague talk about religion, God, and spirituality is largely tolerable in Western culture; we often hear or read all kinds of ambiguous statements that seem to be loosely aligned with the gospel. What is unacceptable by society’s standard, though, is a clear declaration that there is salvation in no one other than Jesus Christ. If we are prepared to claim with Peter that there is “no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), then Paul’s word to Timothy here will be a word for us: “Share in suffering for the gospel.”
Paul’s invitation to join in the privilege of suffering for the gospel is, in one sense, troubling to us. It stands in stark contrast to the Christian triumphalism of our day, which always seeks to present Christian living in glowing colors. So many want only to confirm and affirm God’s power to heal, to accomplish miracles, and to lead His people to victory. The Bible and human experience, however, tell us that in the vast majority of cases—and leaving aside death as the ultimate healing—those for whom we have prayed will continue to suffer and live in the midst of difficult days. We must tell the truth: in the words of John Newton, the Christian must pass “through many dangers, toils and snares”[1]—and there are always more trials just over the horizon, especially if we are to remain faithful to the call to preach the gospel to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).
How, then, are we to persevere in suffering for the gospel? It is the power of God, through the grace of God, that keeps us to the end. Newton’s lyrics speak to this reality: “’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” A wonderful truth!
God has saved you, and He can hold you fast in the midst of suffering. God has commissioned you, and He can give you courage when you are called to testify to the truth about Him. The truth of His sustaining power is able to stir your heart and transform your life. In the midst of difficult and doubt-filled days, you can cling to this reality as a bastion for your soul. And when you are tempted to shrink back from standing up for the Master, His servants, or His message, you can look to His power, offering up a silent prayer for your witness to be effective as you open your mouth to speak. “Do not be ashamed.”
Romans 1:8-17
Use Your Time Wisely / Billy Graham
Use Your Time Wisely
Nothing takes God by surprise. Everything is moving according to a plan; and God wants you in that plan. The devil also has a plan for the world. God has a plan and the devil has a plan, and you will have to decide which plan you are going to fit into. Scripture says that God allows us 70 years and some beyond. The first 15 are spent in childhood and early adolescence. Twenty years are spent in bed; and in the last five, physical limitations start to curtail our activities. That gives us about 30 years in which to live as adults. We take time out for eating, and for figuring our taxes, and we are down to perhaps 15 years. Now suppose we spend seven of those years watching television. That cuts us down to seven or eight years. Our time is short! The time we can invest for God, in creative things, in reaching our fellowmen for Christ, is short!
Daily Prayer
Each hour of every day that is left of this earthly life, I would spend serving You, Lord Jesus. Forgive the time spent so often in needless endeavor.
“yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
James 4:14
Spiritual Priorities / Greg Laurie
Spiritual Priorities
“But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”’” (Matthew 4:4 NLT).
During His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus, being God, could have said, “Satan, be banished!” and Satan would have left. Jesus had that authority and power over the Devil. But He didn’t do this.
Instead, when the Devil came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3 NLT), Jesus quoted Scripture.
He said, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (verse 4 NLT). Here’s the essence of what Satan was saying to Jesus: put the physical before the spiritual.
We face this temptation all the time. The Devil will come to us and whisper, “Hey, you need to have a little fun. You know you can play now and pay later. Don't worry about the repercussions. God’s okay with this. You’ll be okay. You can trust me.”
Yet the Bible tells us that the Devil is a liar and the father of lies (see John 8:44).
Sometimes people get their lives out of whack by putting physical things before spiritual things. They become obsessed, and they let things become more important to them than God.
It’s great to have a relationship, but don’t put a relationship above God. And it’s fine to have a career, but don’t put your career above God. So by saying, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” Jesus was simply pointing out that we should have our spiritual priorities in order. He was saying that we need to put God first.
So put God in His rightful place in your life. And when the Devil comes to you with a temptation, quote the Word of God.
Quietness / Streams
Quietness
He giveth quietness. - Job 34:29
Quietness amid the dash of the storm. We sail the lake with Him still; and as we reach its middle waters, far from land, under midnight skies, suddenly a great storm sweeps down. Earth and hell seem arrayed against us, and each billow threatens to overwhelm. Then He arises from His sleep, and rebukes the winds and the waves; His hand waves benediction and repose over the rage of the tempestuous elements. His voice is heard above the scream of the wind in the cordage and the conflict of the billows, “Peace, be still!” Can you not hear it? And there is instantly a great calm. “He giveth quietness.” Quietness amid the loss of inward consolations. He sometimes withdraws these, because we make too much of them. We are tempted to look at our joy, our ecstasies, our transports, or our visions, with too great complacency. Then love for love’s sake, withdraws them. But, by His grace, He leads us to distinguish between them and Himself. He draws nigh, and whispers the assurance of His presence. Thus an infinite calm comes to keep our heart and mind. “He giveth quietness.”
“He giveth quietness.” O Elder Brother,
Whose homeless feet have pressed our path of pain,
Whose hands have borne the burden of our sorrow,
That in our losses we might find our gain.
“Of all Thy gifts and infinite consolings,
I ask but this: in every troubled hour
To hear Thy voice through all the tumults stealing,
And rest serene beneath its tranquil power.
“Cares cannot fret me if my soul be dwelling
In the still air of faith’s untroubled day;
Grief cannot shake me if I walk beside thee,
My hand in Thine along the darkening way.
“Content to know there comes a radiant morning
When from all shadows I shall find release,
Serene to wait the rapture of its dawning—
Who can make trouble when Thou sendest peace?”
The Pace of Your Spiritual Journey / Spurgeon
The Pace of Your Spiritual Journey
Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outran the Cushite.
Running is not everything. There is much in the way that we select: A swift foot over hill and down dale will not keep pace with a slower traveler upon level ground. How is it with my spiritual journey? Am I laboring up the hill of my own works and down into the ravines of my own humiliations and resolutions, or do I run by the plain way of “Believe and live”?
How blessed is it to wait upon the Lord by faith! The soul runs without weariness and walks without fainting in the way of believing. Christ Jesus is the way of life, and He is a plain way, a pleasant way, a way suitable for the tottering feet and feeble knees of trembling sinners. Am I found in this way, or am I hunting after another track such as priestcraft or metaphysics may promise me?
I read of the way of holiness, that the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein. Have I been delivered from proud reason and been brought as a little child to rest in Jesus‘ love and blood? If so, by God’s grace I shall outrun the strongest runner who chooses any other path.
This truth I may remember to my profit in my daily cares and needs. It will be my wisest course to go at once to my God, and not to wander in a roundabout manner to this friend and that. He knows my wants and can relieve them. To whom should I repair but to Himself by the direct appeal of prayer and the plain argument of the promise? “Straightforward makes the best runner.” I will not parley with the servants but hasten to their master.
In reading this passage, it strikes me that if men vie with each other in common matters, and one outruns the other, I ought to be in solemn earnestness so to run that I may obtain. Lord, help me to gird up the loins of my mind, and may I press forward toward the mark for the prize of my high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Are You Scared of Loving Zacchaeus? By Laura MacCorkle
Are You Scared of Loving Zacchaeus?
By Laura MacCorkle
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Luke 19:5, NIV
I’m scared of some things—and some people—but I’m not too scared about spending time with those who don’t know Jesus. Never have been.
In fact, I enjoy people who are vastly different than me. I must say, though, that I am nowhere even close to the greatest friend-who-knew-no-stranger-of-all-time: Jesus. And so I admire his ability to walk toward those who might scare you and me … those who we might walk away from today.
Zacchaeus was one such character. He really was a despicable little man. As I’m sure you know, tax collectors in Bible times were not the sort of person you invited over for a potluck to your home on an early spring evening. No, they were viewed as the lowest of the low. The pond scum of society. The ones you wouldn’t even let in your front door.
Amazingly, though, Jesus didn’t adjust his course when he was walking through Jericho one fine day. With his eye on the tax collector, Jesus walked right to where Zacchaeus was perched in a sycamore tree. Because he was small in stature, Zacchaeus had climbed up this tree so that he could see who Jesus was when he passed by in the crowd of people. He had heard about him, and now he wanted to see for himself.
Had he heard how he’d performed miracles? How he’d attracted and fed large crowds of people? How he’d touched the untouchables and healed those with leprosy? How he’d stood up to the religious establishment and called them on their legalistic teachings?
Who knows for sure. But whatever he had heard, Zacchaeus wanted to see this man who defied everyone’s expectations of what the Messiah would be.
“Zacchaeus,” Jesus said as he addressed him by name. “Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
Can you imagine what Zacchaeus must have thought? He knows me! Wait, HOW does he know me? And why is he coming to spend time with me? Doesn’t he know that everyone despises me because I take all of their money? Why would he want to spend time with ME?
But whatever Zaccheus may have thought didn’t stop him from scrambling down the tree and welcoming Jesus “gladly.” He was smitten with the love of the Savior. And he knew that this was the Christ.
“Look, Lord!” Zacchaeus said to him. “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
How amazing is that? Jesus didn’t shy away from someone who the rest of society was shunning. He also didn’t get up in Zacchaeus’ face, make him feel like dirt and then strike him down with the Law in his initial effort to love him. No, he just said, “Hey, I see you and I’m going to spend some time with you. Come on, let’s go!”
It’s the “great commission” in action. “Go ye into all the world.” Even to the parts of town that you usually avoid. Even to the societal groups that offend you. Even to the family member who has chosen to live a different lifestyle. He, she, they … any of these people can represent Zacchaeus in your life.
But don’t walk away from them. Walk toward them. And extend an invitation for a better way of living and the hope of a glorious eternity. Just like Jesus did for you.
Intersecting Faith & Life: So maybe you think I missed that one part of the Zacchaeus story with the crowd. Well, I didn’t. I just saved it for last. When the crowd witnessed Jesus make his invitation to Zacchaeus, they muttered, ”He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’” How sad. But isn’t that also you and me? We all have a person or a people group who is hard for us to love. Don’t be scared of loving the Zacchaeuses in your life. The Lord will help you follow his example as you love others to him.
Further Reading:
Mark 16:15, NIV
John 13:34-35, NIV
1 Peter 4:8-11, NIV
How to increase your spiritual endurance / Senior Living
How to increase your spiritual endurance
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” - Psalm 46:10
Dick Wade, a sportswriter in Kansas City, wanted to find out how much “action” really occurred in a regular baseball game. So he took a stopwatch to a game and counted the time it took the ball to leave the pitcher’s hand and reach the plate, as well as the time the ball was actually in play.
Wade discovered that in the 2-hour and 28-minute game, the amount of action was only about 8 minutes and 30 seconds.
There’s something to be said, though, when it comes to a sport like baseball. Because of the “downtime” in a game, baseball players are able to play 162 games a year almost daily during the regular season. Football players, however, have much more action in their game. Yet, they’re only able to play 16 games, one per week, with many more instances of injuries on the field.
This can tell us something about the importance of “downtime” in the Christian life. For people who are always “blowing and going,” their endurance can often cause them to exhaust themselves. Yet, for those who make downtime a priority, they tend to have more energy for the long haul.
Make downtime a priority. Take time to rest in the Lord. When you do, you’ll have much more endurance to continue going and growing strong in Christ!
Prayer Challenge
Pray that God would help you find times for rest in Him to increase your long-term spiritual endurance.
Questions for Thought
Have you experienced “burnout” in the Christian life? How might times of rest have helped you to avoid that?
What can you begin doing today to make resting in the Lord a priority and increase your spiritual endurance?
Blessed to Bless / David Jeremiah
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January 31 / Wisdom from the Psalms
Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.
Bill was beginning to doubt his faith. He had been confirmed into a church almost twenty years ago, he had once read the Bible regularly, and he still prayed occasionally, always at meals. Still, he felt like he was just stumbling through life like a sleepwalker. Nothing seemed to matter, and Bill felt that his life laced purpose. There had to be something more, but Bill was wondering what it was.
If the Lord is not a real and vital part of our lives, then we are only half living. God renews us and puts purpose into our being. We are spiritual batteries which constantly need to be recharged. We cannot be recharged apart from the power source: Jesus Christ. The Bible, the church, fellowship with other believers, prayer; these and many other activities draw us close to God and therefore energize our spiritual lives. Draw close to God and feel the power. It's waiting right now, and it is given freely.
Prayer: Energize my life with the power of Your Holy Spirit, Lord. Grant that I might live life fully, not halfway. Open my eyes to the glorious life I have been given. Amen.
January 31 / C.S. Lewis
Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow. But if He knows I am going to do so-and-so, how can I be free to do otherwise? Well, here once again, the difficulty comes from thinking that God is progressing along the Timeline like us: the only difference being that He can see ahead and we cannot. Well, if that were true, if God foresaw our acts, it would be very hard to understand how we could be free not to do them. But suppose God is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call ‘tomorrow’ is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call ‘today’. All the days are ‘Now’ for Him. He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees you doing them, because, though you have lost yesterday, He has not. He does not ‘foresee’ you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because, though tomorrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him. You never supposed that your actions at this moment were any less free because God knows what you are doing. Well, He knows your tomorrow’s actions in just the same way—because He is already in tomorrow and can simply watch you. In a sense, He does not know your action till you have done it: but then the moment at which you have done it is already ‘Now’ for Him.
From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
From the Depths to the Heights / Chuck Swindoll
From the Depths to the Heights
In just a few verses, the songwriter of Psalm 116 has climbed from the utter depths of grief and sorrow to the heights of praising God. His journey undoubtedly took many months, however. The song merely recounts his ordeal.
While his praising God marks the pinnacle of his climb, it also appears to be his means of getting there. He didn't wait until he felt better before giving the Lord praise.
I Shall Praise His Name
Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His godly ones.
O LORD, surely I am Your servant,
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid,
You have loosed my bonds.
To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And call upon the name of the LORD.(116:15–17)
The psalmist declares his thanks and praises God's name in appreciation for all His goodness. Strangely, though, the songwriter mentions "the death of His godly ones" as a part of his praise. Why? I think the answer is connected to his tragic experience mentioned in verses 3–4, 6, and 8. In fact, I believe the psalmist had been delivered from death, perhaps as a lone survivor. In verse 16, he mentions himself as "the son of Your handmaid" from whom he had been "loosed." In other words, he had been loosed from the bonds of death, if I interpret this correctly. I suggest that the calamity and grief mentioned earlier quite probably snuffed out the life of several of his loved ones, likely including his mother—which resulted in his tears and grief (116:8), sorrow and disillusionment (116:10–11). Even in these circumstances, he rendered his praise to God.
He calls the death of these loved ones "precious" in God's sight. I don't think this means that God took delight in the fact that they died, but that He considered their deaths honorable. Moreover, they didn't die anonymously, without the Lord's notice. He was intensely aware of their passing, and He gave value to their ordeal.
None of God's people pass from this world to the next without God's notice. When they die, He is present and He cares. According to other passages of Scripture, the goodness of God becomes their possession when they enter His presence to be with Him forever. While the composer mourns the passing of his loved ones, and laments how much he misses being with them, he knows they will no longer have to suffer the grind of grief and sorrow. They will never shed tears of sadness again.
In this way, the psalmist praised God in the midst of his own grief because he knew the Lord would raise a wonderful tomorrow from the ashes of today. That is the way it ought to be. Our praise and thanksgiving should be expressed regardless. When we learn to give thanks in everything, we will discover God's most basic lessons for our lives—even in times of distress—even in times of sorrow and grief.
January 31 / Daily Blessings
Daily Blessings
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come.” - John 16:13
“He shall not speak of himself.” There is something peculiarly gracious in this feature of the Holy Spirit, that, if we may use the expression, he does not glorify himself by speaking of himself in the same direct, personal manner as the Father and the Son speak of themselves. Thus the Father speaks of himself all through the word; and the Son speaks of himself in Scripture after Scripture; but the Holy Spirit, though he speaks in the Scripture, for by his divine inspiration the whole was written, yet does not speak of himself in a positive, direct manner, nor call upon us in a clear, personal way to believe in, worship, and adore him.
But his office and work are to testify to our conscience and bear witness to our spirit of both the Father and the Son. Thus as a Spirit of adoption he enables the soul to cry, “Abba, Father,” and so testifies of the Father. As a Spirit of revelation he manifests to the soul the glorious Person of Christ, and thus testifies of the Son. But he does not in a personal manner manifest himself, or testify of himself.
How, then, do we know him? By his operations, his influences, his teachings, his consolations, his sealings, his softenings, meltings, humblings, waterings, enlargings, openings, liberatings, strengthenings, and enablings. The Lord therefore said to his disciples, “But you know him, for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.” Thus we know his indwelling by the light he gives to see our evidences clear and bright; by the life which he diffuses into the soul, to renew and revive our drooping graces; by the submission which he imparts in affliction and tribulation to the sovereign will of God; by the meekness which he bestows under the chastening rod; by the gracious confidence which he will not allow us to cast away; by the holy boldness which he grants before the enemies of truth; by the zeal which he kindles in the heart for the truth as it is in Jesus, and for the glory of God; by the suitable words which he brings to the mind in defense of the gospel; and by the power which he gives to speak them forth with an authority which silences, if it does not convince, the adversary.
Thus, though the blessed Spirit does not speak of himself, he makes himself effectually known by his indwelling power and grace. O blessed Teacher, holy Comforter, gracious Intercessor, and heavenly Witness, come and take up your abode in our heart; there reveal and form Jesus, the hope of glory; there shed abroad the love of God; there bear your divine testimony to our sonship; there cry, “Abba, Father;” there teach and sanctify and bless, that we and all in whom you have wrought your work of grace may be “filled with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Sunday, January 30, 2022
The Dilemma of Obedience / Oswald Chambers
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