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Showing posts from December 9, 2018

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OUR DAILY BREAD December 16, 2018 Sunday MIRRORS AND HEARERS Lawrence Darmani Whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it . . . will be blessed in what they do.  James 1:25 James 1:16–27 Amos 4–6; Revelation 7 When I emerged from my hotel in Kampala, Uganda, my hostess, who had come to pick me up for our seminar, looked at me with an amused grin. “What’s so funny?” I inquired. She laughed and asked, “Did you comb your hair?” It was my turn to laugh, for I had indeed forgotten to comb my hair. I’d looked at my reflection in the hotel mirror. How come I took no notice of what I saw? In a practical analogy, James gives us a useful dimension to make our study of Scripture more beneficial. We look in the mirror to examine ourselves to see if anything needs correction—hair combed, face washed, shirt properly buttoned. Like a mirror, the Bible helps us to examine our cha...

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OUR DAILY BREAD December 15, 2018 Saturday MOSAIC OF BEAUTY Lisa Samra My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  Luke 1:46–47 Luke 1:46–55 Amos 1–3; Revelation 6 Sitting in the courtyard of the Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem, Israel, I was overwhelmed with the beautiful display of sixty-seven mosaics containing the words of Luke 1:46–55 in as many languages. Traditionally known as the  Magnificat  from the Latin “to magnify,” these verses are Mary’s joyous response to the announcement that she will be the mother of the Messiah. Each plaque contains Mary’s words, including: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. . . . For the Mighty One has done great things for me” (vv. 46–49). The biblical hymn etched in the tiles is a song of praise as Mary recounts the faithfulness of God to her and the nation of Israel. A grateful recipient of God’s grace, Mary rejoices in her salvation (v. 47). She ...

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OUR DAILY BREAD December 14, 2018 Friday HEAVEN’S LOVE SONG Mart DeHaan We love him because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Revelation 5:1–13 Joel 1–3; Revelation 5 In 1936, songwriter Billy Hill released a popular hit song titled “The Glory of Love.” Before long a nation was singing about the joy of doing even little things out of love for one another. Fifty years later, lyricist Peter Cetera wrote a more romantic song with a similar title. He imagined two people living forever, knowing together they did it all—for the glory of love. Revelation, the last book in the Bible, describes a new love song that will someday lift the voices of everyone in heaven and earth (Revelation 5:9, 13). The music begins, however, in a minor key of mourning. John, our narrator, cries, seeing no answer to all that has gone wrong with the world (vv. 3–4). But his mood brightens and the music builds to a crescendo (vv. 12–13) as John learns the real gl...

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OUR DAILY BREAD December 13, 2018 Thursday THE “HOPE FOR A BABY” TREE Elisa Morgan His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22–23 Lamentations 3:1–3, 13–24 Hosea 12–14; Revelation 4 After wrapping the tree with clear twinkle lights, I tied pink and blue bows on its branches and christened it our “Hope for a Baby” Christmas tree. My husband and I had been waiting for a baby through adoption for more than four years. Surely by Christmas! Every morning I stopped at the tree and prayed, reminding myself of God’s faithfulness. On December 21 we received the news: no baby by Christmas. Devastated, I paused by the tree that had become a symbol of God’s provision.  Was God still faithful? Was I doing something wrong? At times, God’s apparent withholding results from His loving discipline. And other times God lovingly delays to renew our trust. In Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah describes God’s correction of...

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OUR DAY BREAD December 12, 2018 Wednesday THE “NO-SECRET” SECRET Randy Kilgore I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  Romans 7:15 Romans 7:14–25 Hosea 9–11; Revelation 3 A coworker confessed to me that he didn’t think he was “Jesus material.” I listened as he described what he called his “comfortable, narcissistic” life, and how it didn’t satisfy him. “But here’s my problem, I’ve been trying to be good, even caring, but it isn’t working. It seems that the very things I want to do, I can’t do, and the things I want to stop doing, I just keep doing.” “What’s your secret?” he asked me in complete sincerity. “My secret,” I answered, “is that there is no secret. I’m as powerless to live up to God’s standards as you are, which is why we need Jesus.”  I pulled out a Bible and showed him “his” quote as the apostle Paul expressed it in Romans 7:15. Paul’s words of frustration often resonate with both pre-Christians  and ...

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OUR DAILY BREAD December 11, 2018 Tuesday EXPECT THE MESSIAH Patricia Raybon “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary?”  Matthew 13:55 Matthew 13:53–58 Hosea 5–8; Revelation 2 The repairman looked young—too young to fix our problem, a car that wouldn’t start. “He’s just a kid,” my husband, Dan, whispered to me, showing his doubt. His disbelief in the young man sounded like the grumbling in Nazareth where citizens doubted who Jesus was. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” they asked (Matthew 13:55) when Jesus taught in the synagogue. Scoffing, they were surprised to hear that someone they knew was healing and teaching, and asked, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” (v. 54). Instead of trusting in Jesus, they were offended by the authority He displayed (vv. 15, 58). In this same way, we may struggle to trust in ...

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OUR DAILY BREAD December 10, 2018 Monday “THE LORD’S” Arthur Jackson The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Romans 8:16 Isaiah 44:1–5 Hosea 1–4; Revelation 1 It doesn’t take much to notice that getting “inked” is very popular these days. Some tattoos are so small that one barely notices them. Others—from athletes to actors to everyday people—have opted to cover much of their bodies with multicolored inks, words, and designs. The trend seems like it’s here to stay, a trend that netted $3 billion in revenue in 2014—and an additional $66 million for tattoo removal.  Regardless of how you may feel about tattoos, Isaiah 44 speaks metaphorically about people writing something on their hands: “The Lord’s” (v. 5). This “self-tattoo” is the climax of an entire paragraph that speaks of the Lord’s care for those He had chosen (v. 1). They could count on His help (v. 2); and their land and descendants were marked for blessing (v. 3). Two ...