Unraveling the Mysteries / Our Daily Bread

Unraveling the Mysteries October 30, 2017

Read: Psalm 119:97–104 Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 20–21; 2 Timothy 4 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.—Psalm 119:104 I have always enjoyed the wit and insight of Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz. One of my favorite cartoons drawn by him appeared in a book about young people in the church. It shows a young man holding a Bible as he tells a friend on the phone, “I think I’ve made one of the first steps toward unraveling the mysteries of the Old Testament . . . I’m starting to read it!” (Teen-Ager Is Not a Disease). Psalm 119 overflows with the writer’s hunger to understand and experience the power of God’s Word each day. “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (v. 97). This eager pursuit leads to growing wisdom, understanding, and obedience to the Lord (vv. 98–100). The Bible doesn’t contain a magic formula for “unraveling the mysteries” in its pages. The process is more than mental and requires a response to what we read. While some passages may remain puzzling to us, we can embrace those truths we clearly understand, and say to the Lord, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path” (vv. 103–104). A wonderful journey of discovery awaits us in God’s Word. —David C. McCasland Lord, thank You for the Bible, which gives us wisdom and understanding to follow Your pathway of life today. A commitment to read and follow God’s Word begins a daily journey of discovering His love and power. INSIGHT: Psalm 119 is well known as the longest chapter in the Bible. It is an acrostic psalm where each section begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This psalm praises the goodness and value of God’s law. The law is a reflection of God’s character; as we look at the law, we learn about Him. As you spend time studying God’s Word this week, reflect on what you learn about the character of God.  J.R. Hudberg

Substitution by Oswald Chambers

Substitution He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples. That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19). From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham. from The Highest Good, 548 L

Infinite God by Charles Stanley

John 4:19-24

While talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus explained an important attribute of God’s nature: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). The Father is not confined to a body in the way that human beings are.

The fact that God is spirit means He is not bound to time or space. He is with every believer during every moment of life. When we sense His presence in corporate worship at church or during personal prayer time at home, that is His Spirit interacting with our own. God’s freedom from limitation means that we are never without Him.

The heavenly Father is too awesome to be confined by physical boundaries. When the Israelites begged for a golden calf to worship (Ex. 32:1), they showed that they did not understand His boundless nature. Idolatry tries to confine an infinite Lord to a finite form so that He fits human perceptions and desires. But if He could be restricted to some animal or person, then He simply would not be worthy of worship.

The Father is infinite in His being and also, therefore, in every one of His attributes. His love has no restrictions, and His mercy is without end. We cannot sin enough or fall so far that we are beyond the reach of His loving grace. Though we may sometimes wish we could hide our deeds or our face from the heavenly Father, we are always in His presence. Take comfort in the knowledge that no matter where you go or what you do, your Father is with you.

Where is Your Focus Today? by Adrian Rogers

October 29

Where is Your Focus Today?

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14

When a runner is in a race, he puts his eyes on the goal. He doesn’t look at the grandstand or the other runners. Neither does he examine himself. He has his eyes on the goal. He looks away from everything else. The finish line is all he sees.

That’s exactly what we’re to do. The reason many Christians fail in the race is that they have not learned to look away from other things. They’re trying to look in both directions at the same time, and James 1:8 says, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” AndMatthew 6:22 says, “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”

Where is your focus today? Has the world drawn you back into itself, luring you away from the command of our Lord? Read Matthew 28:19-20. That’s your goal.

The Believer and Indwelling Sin by John MacArthur

The Believer and Indwelling Sin

“For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me” (Romans 7:14-17).

Believers have been freed from sin’s power, but not from its presence.

Romans 7:14-25 is perhaps the most autobiographical passage in all of Scripture. In this poignant account Paul describes in vivid, striking language his battle with indwelling sin. So powerful is that language that some believe it refers to Paul’s life before his conversion. But the apostle describes himself as one who seeks to obey God’s law and who hates evil (vv. 15, 19, 21), who is humble and broken over his sin (v. 18), and who acknowledges Jesus Christ as Lord and serves Him with his mind (v. 25). None of those things characterize an unbeliever.

The word “for” indicates that Paul is not beginning a new subject but is continuing with the thought from the first part of Romans 7, that the law reveals our sin. The law is not the problem but reveals the problem—sin. The apostle then makes the startling statement that he is “of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” “Flesh” is our unredeemed humanness—that part of us that is still sinful and fights against our new natures. Paul’s words do not mean that God had only partially saved him; rather, they emphasize that sin is still a powerful force in believers’ lives and is not to be trifled with.

Christians are under attack from the outside, from Satan and the evil world system. But we also have a “fifth column”—the flesh inside us, aiding and abetting those attacks. Fight the flesh today by making “no provision for [it] in regard to its lusts” (Rom. 13:14).

Suggestions for Prayer

“Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

For Further Study

What do the following passages teach about the possibility of a believer’s being “sold into bondage to sin”—Psalm 51:1-5; Isaiah 6:5; 1 John 1:8-10?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

October 29 / Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver (Malachi 3:3).

Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner's fire. It is with the most precious metals that the assayer takes the most pains, and subjects them to the hot fire, because such fires melt the metal, and only the molten mass releases its alloy or takes perfectly its new form in the mould.

The old refiner never leaves his crucible, but sits down by it, lest there should be one excessive degree of heat to mar the metal. But as soon as he skims from the surface the last of the dross, and sees his own face reflected, he puts out the fire.
--Arthur T. Pierson

He sat by a fire of seven-fold heat,
As He watched by the precious ore,
And closer He bent with a searching gaze
As He heated it more and more.
He knew He had ore that could stand the test,
And He wanted the finest gold
To mould as a crown for the King to wear,
Set with gems with a price untold.
So He laid our gold in the burning fire,
Tho' we fain would have said Him 'Nay,'
And He watched the dross that we had not seen,
And it melted and passed away.
And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright,
But our eyes were so dim with tears,
We saw but the fire--not the Master's hand,
And questioned with anxious fears.
Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,
As it mirrored a Form above,
That bent o'er the fire, tho' unseen by us,
With a look of ineffable love.
Can we think that it pleases His loving heart
To cause us a moment's pain?
Ah, no! but He saw through the present cross
The bliss of eternal gain.
So He waited there with a watchful eye,
With a love that is strong and sure,
And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat,
Than was needed to make it pure.

NKJV 365 / George Washington, The "American Moses"

NKJV 365 Day Reading Plan

Day 302 of 365 George Washington, The "American Moses" "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," said Major General Henry Lee about George Washington, after his death. He was surely that and more. Emerging as the most significant leader in the founding of the United States, he was the essential man, the American Moses, the Father of the Country. At the three major crossroads in the establishment of the nation, he led our troops to victory in the Revolutionary War, he superintended the Constitutional Convention, and he was unanimously elected as the first president. How, one wonders, is it possible for so much greatness to be embodied in one man? After all, he was surrounded by a host of other courageous leaders, brilliant thinkers, passionate orators, and gifted writers-Franklin, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Mason, John and Samuel Adams, Hamilton, Madison-almost all of whom were far better educated than he. Yet Washington always led the way. While much has often been made of his physical stature (he stood six feet two inches when the average man stood five feet seven inches, and he weighed two hundred pounds), or his courage, charisma, energy, vision, calm demeanor, or wealth, it was his high moral character that most historical sources commonly cite as the reason for his emergence as the supreme leader. Combine his sterling character and his genius in the area of leadership, and here was a man who could be trusted implicitly to lead over a long period of time and in the course of extraordinary difficulties. Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States, said about Washington: "He was . . . possessed of power, possessed of an extensive influence, but he never used it but for the benefit of his country. . . . If you look through the whole tenor of his life, history will not produce to us a parallel." Thomas Jefferson wrote of Washington: "His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known. No motives . . . of friendship or hatred being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man. It may truly be said that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance." Taken from The American Patriot's Bible Exodus 3:10 NASB 10 Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."

Day By Day With Billy Graham / Genuine Love

Day By Day With Billy Graham

Day 302 of 366 Genuine Love Thousands of young couples go through with a loveless marriage because no one ever told them what genuine love is. I believe we need to read the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, in which the Apostle Paul gives us a definition of love. He says, "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." If people today knew that kind of love, the divorce rate would be sharply reduced. Daily Prayer Lord Jesus, we need Your love and forgiveness in our hearts, if we are to love unselfishly. Colossians 2:2 NASB 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

The Jesus Bible Reading Plan / REDEEMED

The Jesus Bible Reading Plan

Day 301 of 365 REDEEMED God is a perfect God. His creation was perfect and humankind was created in his perfect image. Yet God's people fell away. They chose sin. They chose their own way, a way that led to death. But God promised to redeem his people, knowing the only way to life was by purchasing their freedom. "You were bought at a price" (1Co 6:20). Christ went ahead of God's people, preparing a place for them and making a way for them, ultimately giving "his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28). Through the blood of his Son, God redeemed humankind. They were once dead in their transgressions, but now are promised to be alive with Christ once again. The psalmist foreshadowed this, stating, "He will surely take me to himself" (Ps 49:15). Although risen from the dead and reunited with God (Mk 16:6), Christ showed himself to his disciples and those who loved him. After Christ's resurrection, the disciples were told, "He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you" (Mk 16:7). In the same way as for his first disciples, Christ has gone ahead of all believers, redeeming them to their Father and giving them hope of eternal life, which was "promised before the beginning of time" (Titus 1:2). Jesus, I am sorry that I have chosen my own way. I know that I was dead in my sins, but you have made me alive in you. Thank you for redeeming me and filling me with a new hope. Amen. Psalms 49:15 NASB 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah.

October 29 / Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning and Evening

Day 302 of 366 Morning - Day 302 "I have chosen you out of the world." Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial. Those who doubt the doctrines of grace, or who cast them into the shade, miss the richest clusters of Eshcol; they lose the wines on the lees well refined, the fat things full of marrow. There is no balm in Gilead comparable to it. If the honey in Jonathan's wood when but touched enlightened the eyes, this is honey which will enlighten your heart to love and learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Eat, and fear not a surfeit; live upon this choice dainty, and fear not that it will be too delicate a diet. Meat from the King's table will hurt none of his courtiers. Desire to have your mind enlarged, that you may comprehend more and more the eternal, everlasting, discriminating love of God. When you have mounted as high as election, tarry on its sister mount, the covenant of grace. Covenant engagements are the munitions of stupendous rock behind which we lie entrenched; covenant engagements with the surety, Christ Jesus, are the quiet resting-places of trembling spirits. "His oath, his covenant, his blood, Support me in the raging flood; When every earthly prop gives way, This still is all my strength and stay." If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he told Michal that election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart. Evening - Day 302 "His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven." Comparisons all fail to set forth the Lord Jesus, but the spouse uses the best within her reach. By the head of Jesus we may understand his deity, "for the head of Christ is God" and then the ingot of purest gold is the best conceivable metaphor, but all too poor to describe one so precious, so pure, so dear, so glorious. Jesus is not a grain of gold, but a vast globe of it, a priceless mass of treasure such as earth and heaven cannot excel. The creatures are mere iron and clay, they all shall perish like wood, hay, and stubble, but the ever living Head of the creation of God shall shine on forever and ever. In him is no mixture, nor smallest taint of alloy. He is forever infinitely holy and altogether divine. The bushy locks depict his manly vigour. There is nothing effeminate in our Beloved. He is the manliest of men. Bold as a lion, laborious as an ox, swift as an eagle. Every conceivable and inconceivable beauty is to be found in him, though once he was despised and rejected of men. "His head the finest gold; With secret sweet perfume, His curled locks hang all as black As any raven's plume." The glory of his head is not shorn away, he is eternally crowned with peerless majesty. The black hair indicates youthful freshness, for Jesus has the dew of his youth upon him. Others grow languid with age, but he is forever a Priest as was Melchizedek; others come and go, but he abides as God upon his throne, world without end. We will behold him tonight and adore him. Angels are gazing upon him--his redeemed must not turn away their eyes from him. Where else is there such a Beloved? O for an hour's fellowship with him! Away, ye intruding cares! Jesus draws me, and I run after him. John 15:19 NASB 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Song of Solomon 5:11 NASB 11 "His head is like gold, pure gold; His locks are like clusters of dates And black as a raven.

Trust Tally / Our Daily Bread

Trust Tally October 29, 2017

Read: Deuteronomy 1:21–33 Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 18–19; 2 Timothy 3 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. . . . Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.—Deuteronomy 1:21 Before my husband and I surrendered our lives to Christ, we seriously considered divorce. But after committing to love and obey God, we recommitted to each other. We sought wise counsel and invited the Holy Spirit to transform us individually and as a couple. Our heavenly Father continues to help us develop healthy communication skills. He’s teaching us how to love and trust Him—and one another—no matter what happens. Yet, even as we head toward celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary, I occasionally forget everything God has done in and through our trials. Sometimes, I struggle with a deep-seated fear of the unknown—experiencing unnecessary anxiety instead of relying on God’s track record. In Deuteronomy 1, Moses affirmed the Lord’s reliability. He encouraged the Israelites to move forward in faith so they could enjoy their inheritance (v. 21). But God’s people demanded details about what they’d be up against and what they’d receive before committing to trust Him with their future (vv. 22–33). Followers of Christ are not immune to succumbing to fear or anxiety. Worrying about what difficulties we may or may not encounter can keep us from depending on faith, and may even damage our relationships with God and others. But the Holy Spirit can help us create a trust tally of the Lord’s past faithfulness. He can empower us with courageous confidence in God’s trustworthiness yesterday, today, and forever. —Xochitl Dixon Lord, thank You for affirming that we don’t need to know everything that lies ahead when we know You. We know You never change. God’s past faithfulness proves His everlasting dependability.

Justification by Faith by Oswald Chambers

Justification by Faith If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  ROMANS 5:10 I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished. The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30). From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. from Disciples Indeed, 388 R

God’s Will is Worth the Wait by Charles Stanley

Psalm 27:13-14

Waiting is one of the most difficult disciplines Christians are called to practice. This is especially true when a heart’s desire is within reach and we feel sure God is about to come through with that blessing. But the Lord always has a good purpose when He asks us to wait, even when we cannot discern His motive for months or even years. Although difficult, waiting is essential to living a successful Christian life of obedience and reaped blessing.

One of the main reasons believers step out of God’s will—and consequently out of fellowship with Him—is overeagerness to act on their own, without first receiving divine guidance. Too often, we make this mistake while trying to do something we believe will bring pleasure to the Lord. But the way to please our Father is by following the Bible’s frequent exhortations to wait.

It is possible, however, for us to confuse waiting with idleness. Pausing for further instructions from God requires a determined stillness—a decision not to act until He provides clear direction. His plan for our life requires no guesswork on our part; He will give instructions when the time is right, so we must be in prayer and in the Word if we are to receive His directives. God works in this way because His plans are interconnected: What we do affects others as well as ourselves, both now and in the future.

Waiting is hard. We don’t want to stand still when our natural inclination says, “Grasp the prize before it slips away!” But wise believers wait until they have heard from God. Only then can we step out with confidence that we are walking in His will.

October 28 / Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6).

This is our rightful place, to be "seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and to "sit still" there. But how few there are who make it their actual experience! How few, indeed think even that it is possible for them to "sit still" in these "heavenly places" in the everyday life of a world so full of turmoil as this.

We may believe perhaps that to pay a little visit to these heavenly places on Sundays, or now and then in times of spiritual exaltation, may be within the range of possibility; but to be actually "seated" there every day and all day long is altogether another matter; and yet it is very plain that it is for Sundays and week-days as well.

A quiet spirit is of inestimable value in carrying on outward activities; and nothing so hinders the working of the hidden spiritual forces, upon which, after all, our success in everything really depends, as a spirit of unrest and anxiety.

There is immense power in stillness. A great saint once said, "All things come to him who knows how to trust and be silent." The words are pregnant with meaning. A knowledge of this fact would immensely change our ways of working. Instead of restless struggles, we would "sit down" inwardly before the Lord, and would let the Divine forces of His Spirit work out in silence the ends to which we aspire.

You may not see or feel the operations of this silent force, but be assured it is always working mightily, and will work for you, if you only get your spirit still enough to be carried along by the currents of its power.
--Hannah Whitall Smith

There is a point of rest
At the great center of the cyclone's force,
A silence at its secret source;
A little child might slumber undisturbed,
Without the ruffle of one fair curl,
In that strange, central calm, amid the mighty whirl.

It is your business to learn to be peaceful and safe in God in every situation.