A Re-post From Philip Yancey of Our Daily Bread

Do We Matter To God?

December 1, 2012 — by Philip Yancey

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Read: Isaiah 49:8-18

In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You. —Isaiah 49:8

Bible in a Year:
Galatians 1-3

When I consider Your heavens,” wrote the psalmist, “what is man that You are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:3-4). The Old Testament circles around this question. Toiling in Egypt, the Hebrew slaves could hardly believe Moses’ assurances that God would concern Himself with them. The writer of Ecclesiastes phrased the question more cynically: Does anything matter?
I was entertaining that same doubt myself when I received an invitation to address a conference on the theme: “I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (Isa. 49:16).
God made this stirring declaration to people suffering through a low point in their history as Isaiah prophesies that they would be taken away captive to Babylon. Hearing this, the people lamented, “The Lord has forsaken me, and . . . forgotten me” (Isa. 49:14). To this lamentation God gave a series of promises—the Servant Songs (Isa. 42–53)—in which He sets the stage of hope for deliverance from hostile enemies. He foretells of the incarnation and sacrificial death of the Servant.
Do we matter to God? Christmas memorializes God’s answer: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (7:14).

Love brought Him down from the glory,
Love made Him come from the sky;
Love in His heart for the sinner
Led Him to suffer and die. —Anon.

The fact of Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares. —Barclay

A Re-post From Dave Branon of Our Daily Bread

Our Prayer; God’s Will

November 30, 2012 — by Dave Branon

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Read: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

I pleaded with the Lord three times that [a thorn in the flesh] might depart from me. —2 Corinthians 12:8

Bible in a Year:
2 Corinthians 10-13

The handwritten prayer request was heartbreaking in its seeming impossibility: “Please pray—I have multiple sclerosis, weak muscles, trouble swallowing, increased pain, diminishing sight.” The woman’s body was breaking down, and I could sense despair in her plea for intercession.
But then came the hope—the strength that trumps the physical damage and degradation: “I know our blessed Savior is in full control. His will is of utmost importance to me.”
This person may have needed my prayers, but I needed something she had: unabated confidence in God. She seemed to present a perfect portrait of the truth God taught Paul when he asked for relief from his difficulty—what he called his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). His quest for relief turned out to be not just a seeming impossibility; his request was turned down flat by his heavenly Father. Paul’s continual struggle, which was clearly God’s will, was a valuable lesson: Through his weakness, God’s grace could be displayed and God’s strength was “made perfect” (v.9).
As we pour out our hearts to God, let’s be even more concerned with seeking His will than we are with receiving the answer we want. That’s where the grace and the strength come from.

Dear heavenly Father, I bring to You my petitions,
but I give to You my heart. While I plead for You to
answer my prayers, I also submit to Your will so that
my heart may be strengthened and Your work be done.

We pray not to obtain our will in heaven,
but to effect God’s will on earth.

A Re-post From Dennis Fisher of Our Daily Bread

A Life Of Honor

November 29, 2012 — by Dennis Fisher

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Read: Psalm 112

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. —Psalm 112:1

Bible in a Year:
2 Corinthians 7-9

In 2010, my brothers and I celebrated our dad’s 90th birthday. We hosted an open house with great food and fellowship. In the living room, family and friends took up banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, and Irish drum to play and sing all afternoon. A big cake was prepared with this written on it in frosting: “Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord—Psalm 112:1. Happy 90th birthday, Hal.”
When I later examined Psalm 112, I was impressed with how it seemed to describe my dad—who had walked with God for more than 50 years and is now at home with Him. Dad had his own share of heartaches and faults, but his steadfast faith resulted in much blessing. This psalm tells us that blessings will fall on the man who has a reverential fear of God and who delights in His commands. In response to this growing integrity and faith, God will extend blessing not only to the believer but also to his children (v.2).
This psalm challenges us to reflect an inner reverence for God and to make continual decisions to delight in following His commands. If we do that, then as we look back on our years—no matter how many or how few—we will know that God has helped us live a life of honor.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey. —Sammis

If you honor God in your heart, He will be honored by your life.

A Re-post From Bill Crowder of Our Daily Bread

Bookmobile

November 28, 2012 — by Bill Crowder

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Philippians 3:7-14

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. —Philippians 3:10

Bible in a Year:
2 Corinthians 4-6

Before the electronic gadgets and distractions of today, the long summer days of my boyhood were brightened each week when the bookmobile arrived. It was a bus lined with book-filled shelves that were transported from the regional library to neighborhoods so that those without transportation could access them. Because of the bookmobile, I spent many a happy summer day reading books that would otherwise have been inaccessible. To this day, I am thankful for the love of books that the bookmobile fostered in me.
Some Bible scholars say that the apostle Paul had a love of books and studied them till the end of his life. He wrote in his final letter, “Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments” (2 Tim. 4:13). The books he was asking for could very well have been the Old Testament and/or some of his own writings.
I’m sure that Paul’s pursuit of knowledge was more than intellectual curiosity or entertainment. It was the pursuit of Christ that drove Paul. His goal: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil 3:10). I pray that this same pursuit will drive us today.

Heavenly Father, give me a passionate desire
to know You and Your Son. Please stir my heart
for this, the greatest of all pursuits, so that
I might grow ever closer to You. Amen.

To know Christ is the greatest of all knowledge.

A Re-post From David C. McCasland of Our Daily Bread

More And More

November 27, 2012 — by David C. McCasland

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Read: 1 Thessalonians 3:12–4:10

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you. —1 Thessalonians 3:12

Bible in a Year:
2 Corinthians 1-3

A rallying cry often heard today in our economically challenged world is “Less and less.” Governments are called to balance their budgets. People are urged to use less energy and decrease consumption of limited resources. It is good advice that we should all heed. In the realm of faith, however, there are no shortages of love and grace and strength. Therefore, as followers of Christ, we are urged to demonstrate His love in our lives in ever-increasing measure.
In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the believers in Thessalonica, he urged them to “abound more and more” in a lifestyle that pleases God (4:1). He also commended them for their demonstration of love for each other, and called them to “increase more and more” in brotherly love (v.10).
That kind of ever-increasing love is possible only because it comes from God’s limitless resources, not from our own dwindling supply. Poet Annie Johnson Flint wrote:
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.
The apostle Paul expressed his desire for the believers: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you” (1 Thess. 3:12).
How much should we love God and others? More and more!

Our limited ability to love does not change God’s limitless power to love through us.