Devotional Passages for Week of March 12-19

Monday: Numbers 16:41-18:32, Mark 16:1-20, Psalm 55:1-23, Proverbs 11:7

Tuesday: Numbers 19:1-20:29, Luke 1:1-25, Psalm 56:1-13, Proverbs 11:8

Wednesday: Numbers 21:1-22:20, Luke 1:26-56, Psalm 57:1-11, Proverbs 11:9-11

Devotional Passages for Week of March 5-12

Monday:  Numbers 4:1-5:31, Mark 12:18-37, Psalm 48:1-14, Proverbs 10:26

Tuesday: Numbers 6:1-7:89, Mark 12:38-13:13, Psalm 49:1-20, Proverbs 10:27-28

Wednesday: Numbers 8:1-9:23, Mark 13:14-37, Psalm 50:1-23, Proverbs 10:29-30

Thursday: Numbers 10:1-11:23, Mark 14:1-21, Psalm 51:1-19, Proverbs 10:31-32

Friday: Numbers 11:24-13:33, Mark 14:22-52, Psalm 52:1-9, Proverbs 11:1-3

Saturday: Numbers 14:1-15:16, Mark 14:53-72, Psalm 53:1-6, Proverbs 11:4

Sunday: Numbers 15:17-16:40, Mark 15:1-47, Psalm 54:1-7, Proverbs 11:5-6

Monday: Numbers 16:41-18:32, Mark 16:1-20, Psalm 55:1-23, Proverbs 11:7

Talk to yourself much?

 If you ever were to walk into the Summer's Best Two Weeks office in the off-season it's quite possible you might hear one of our full time staff guys talking to himself.  Granted, all of us do this from time to time, but this person does it often.  Most commonly he can be heard pumping himself up, saying, "C'mon [insert name]" or sighs of discouragement "ohhh [insert name]!!"  Interestingly, this practice is found in the Bible. 

Worth the Wait

Worth the Wait

Psalm 40:1-21 (NIV) “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.“

“Are we there yet?” “What’s taking her so long?” “How long will I continue to struggle with …?” “Why doesn’t God seem to be listening to my prayers and answering them?” Let’s face it … waiting is difficult. It’s not easy. It requires self-discipline and in many, if not all, cases an understanding of why we should exercise patience. You’ve no doubt had the experience of waiting for someone and wondered what was causing their delay – like when you’re waiting outside of a grocery store for someone you love, but they seem like they’re taking forever and you’re wondering if the are just trying to torture you or forgot you were outside and you somehow think that each minute that passes is an hour and the game comes on in 15 minutes and you can’t believe you may miss the beginning and your schedule for the day will have to be thrown out … (deep breath) … not that I’ve ever experienced that myself :) Waiting is so hard for us, in part, because we live in a culture that promotes immediate gratification – why wait when you can have it (or something somewhat like it or at least a little bit like it or maybe not at all like it, but a reasonable substitute) right now.

Willing and Able

Willing and Able

Whether he can’t get his shirt on right, the puzzle pieces just won’t go together or his Thomas train tracks won’t line up, “Help please!” is the response of choice for my 2 year old son Luke. And since he has experienced me come to his rescue time and time again in the past, he is well aware of my ability to fix the situation. What he is really asking and sometimes pleading is, “Daddy are you WILLING to help?” Though I sometimes give him opportunity to figure it out on his own there are other times when my lack of action is due to my unwillingness. I put my needs above his.

In Mark 1:40 we see the account of a leper that kneels before Jesus and says, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” I love that here was never a question about Jesus ability to perform the act. The only uncertainty was Jesus’ willingness. As I read this story I can kind of see the fate of us all hanging in that brief moment before Jesus responds. Is God’s son willing to respond with compassion? Is he willing to heal? Is He willing to fix that which is broken? Will God get involved in the messiness of this world and our lives? My heart leaps when I read Jesus’ response, “I am willing: be cleansed.”

Wow, the God of the universe is willing to help. And not only in this one account but as we read, every time he is asked. And this willingness to heal the leper, or the blind and cripples is a foreshadowing of Christ’s willingness to make right the ultimate example of brokenness in the world, our separation from Him. Our sin has left us in the desperate position of crying out “Help please!” I am so thankful that my cry does not fall on deaf ears, but rather on ones full of compassion, ability, and readiness.

God is able as the Psalmist declares in Psalm 33:6-7,
“’By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap
He lays us the deep in storehouses.”

And just as importantly, He is willing.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matt 7:7

-SH

Devotional Passages for the Week of February 12-19

Sunday: Exodus 34:1-35:9, Matthew 27:15-31, Psalm 33:12-22, Proverbs 9:1-6

Monday: Exodus 35:10-36:38, Matthew 27:32-66, Psalm 34:1-10, Proverbs 9:7-8

Tuesday: Exodus 37:1-38:31, Matthew 28:1-20, Psalm 34:11-22, Proverbs 9:9-10

The Power of Your Words

You probably remember the commercial from Sprint advertising the efficiency of their Nextel “Direct Connect” where you can communicate instantaneously with groups of Nextel users.  In the ad, you see a legislative hall full of firefighters with their leader standing up front; phone in hand and the text reads, “What if firefighters ran the world?”

Speaker: “Anyone want better roads?”

Firemen in unison: “We do”

Speaker: “All in favor?”

Firemen in unison: “Aye”

Speaker: “Opposed?”

Silence

Gavel strikes…”Done”

The idea is that you can “Get more done Now” if you communicate using Nextel’s phones.  That’s the imagery that came into my mind as I read Psalm 29…

Dependence

Yesterday was a rough day.  I woke up in the middle of the night, and I just couldn’t get warm.  It doesn’t happen often, but I was most definitely sick and needed to be taken care of.  I needed blankets to be brought, medicine to be purchased, and food (but not too much food) to be prepared.  My reliance on others got me thinking about the concept of dependence.

Encouragement To Eat Your Daily Bread

Read Your Bible More and More
by John Piper  posted on Desiring God Blog  January 30, 2011

Don’t rest on past reading. Read your Bible more and more every year. Read it whether you feel like reading it or not. And pray without ceasing that the joy return and pleasures increase...

(to see skipped portion see Piper's blog)...So lets give heed to Mr. Ryle and never grow weary of the slow, steady, growth that comes from the daily, disciplined, increasing, love affair with reading the Bible.

Do not think you are getting no good from the Bible, merely because you do not see that good day by day. The greatest effects are by no means those which make the most noise, and are most easily observed. The greatest effects are often silent, quiet, and hard to detect at the time they are being produced.

Think of the influence of the moon upon the earth, and of the air upon the human lungs. Remember how silently the dew falls, and how imperceptibly the grass grows. There may be far more doing than you think in your soul by your Bible-reading. (J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 136)


© 2012 Desiring God, All rights reserved.

Psalm 23 Great Adventure Devotional

Devotional Passages for the Week of January 23-30

Monday: Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19

Tuesday: Genesis 48:1-49:33, Matthew 15:29-16:12, Psalm 20:1-9, Proverbs 4:20-27

Wednesday:  Genesis 50:1 - Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalm 21:1-13, Proverbs 5:1-6

Is Life Good?

 I have to believe that most, if not all of you, have seen these great t-shirts with the above logo.  I own one that pictures a fella going kayaking.  I genuinely enjoy wearing it because it reminds me of great times I've had boating various rivers & creeks.  Indeed life is good...or is it?

You may or may not be familiar with the competing brand of t-shirt that highlights the fact that indeed life can just plain stink sometimes.  So which is it?  Which t-shirt would you be wearing today?

• Is the answer to that question merely a matter of your life's circumstances in any given moment?  Any honest reflection would indicate that some people life's circumstances are good, while for others, life's circumstances stink.  
  
• Is your choice of wearing either t-shirt merely a matter of your life's circumstances? 

Devotional Passages for January 16-23

Monday:  Genesis 32:13-34:31, Matthew 11:7-30, Psalm 14:1-7, Proverbs 3:19-20

Tuesday:  Genesis 35:1-36:43, Matthew 12:1-21, Psalm 15:1-5, Proverbs 3:21-26

 Wednesday:  Genesis 37:1-38:30, Matthew 12:22-45, Psalm 16:1-11, Proverbs 3:27-32

A Day at Sea

I have a friend who enjoys sailing. On one of his adventures at sea, he found himself amidst a storm. Listening to him describe the unpredictability of the wind and waves made me very thankful that I was not on board this boat. Picture an epic battle on the waterfront between man and nature. Huge hands of water slapping the sides of the boat while rain blinds the crew and thunder claps on the storm with encouragement. I can only imagine the terror that would swell up inside me, in sync perfectly with the swell of the waves.

A Word for Those Who Have Forsaken Jesus

by John Piper | December 31, 2011 | Desiring God Blog www.desiringgod.org

How eager Jesus was to restore broken fellowship with his apostles after the resurrection! Surely this is a sign of how eager he is to restore us when we have drifted (or bolted) away.

All the apostles had forsaken him. In the garden, at his most sorrowful hour, "They all left him and fled” (Mark 14:50).

Now he was raised. What would he say to those who had abandoned him? Three healing things:
To Mary at the tomb: “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

“Brothers!” “Your Father!” “Your God!” I am going now. You will come later. We are, and we will be, together. I forgive you. Our Father forgives you.

He finds the apostles, stands among them, and says, “Peace be with you.” He showed them his hands and his side — horrible reminders of what it cost him when they forsook him. And he says again...

God is God of every inch of your body and every ounce of your soul

If you did not have an opportunity to read Oswald Chamber's My Utmost For His Highest yesterday (Jan. 9th), it is a great devotional entry.

He expounds on a verse from I Thessalonians 5:23, "May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless."

Chamber's writes:  "'Your whole spirit....' The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at.  Read the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies,
'Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea, but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than...

Devotional Passages for the Week of Jan. 8-15

Sunday: Genesis 18:16-19:38, Matthew 6:25-7:14, Psalm 8:1-9, Proverbs 2:6-15

Monday: Genesis 20:1-22:24, Matthew 7:15-29, Psalm 9:1-12, Proverbs 2:16-22

Tuesday: Genesis 23:1-24:51, Matthew 8:1-17, Psalm 9:13-20, Proverbs 3:1-6

Defeating Loneliness

"You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." Psalm 4:7

I was recently visiting at a Christian college and struck up a conversation with one of the professional counselors on campus.  I asked him, "What are the most common issues for which students seek out your help?"  One of the first things he mentioned was loneliness.  I was surprised by this answer, especially at a campus where there are so many opportunities for Christian fellowship.  He told me his belief that many students are not pursuing an authentic relationship with Jesus, which is always the first place to point those struggling with loneliness.  Secondly, another problem he pointed to was...

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4

What are you relying on to fulfill your needs?  How are you thoughts, time, and energy spent pursuing that which fulfills you? Psalm 127:2 warns us about “eating the bread of anxious toil.”  Perhaps you find yourself frequently anxious about the future of your pursuits and relationships.  Maybe you are rising early and going to bed late, frantically pursuing the fulfillment of one goal or another, relying on your own strength to meet those goals.  Or maybe at times you are in the opposite camp – what Proverbs 31:27 calls, “eating the bread of idleness.”  You find yourself lacking proper diligence and passively letting life go by, hoping that taking it easy is the best means to fulfillment. 

Some of us tend to be more prone to one of these extremes, others of us are people of extremes and so we find ourselves often at both ends of this spectrum.  In the middle we find...

Devotional Passages for the Week of January 3-9

Tuesday:  Genesis 5:1-7:24, Matthew 3:7-4:11, Psalm 3:1-8, Proverbs 1:10-19

Wednesday:  Genesis 8:1-10:32, Matthew 4:12-25, Psalm 4:1-8, Proverbs 1:20-23

Thursday:  Genesis 11:1-13:4, Matthew 5:1-26, Psalm 5:1-12, Proverbs 1:24-28