One Hundred And Three - Grace For The Captive

Grace for the Captive

Today’s Reading: Mark 5:1-20

Focal Verse: Mark 5:15

Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind.

Being possessed by a demon would be like being in a prison.  The Bible doesn’t tell us how or why he became possessed, but one thing it does tell us it that his life had become a nightmare.
He was living among the tombs.  He had incredible physical strength, but no control over his body.  He would scream and cut himself.
He ran up to Jesus and Jesus had mercy on him.  He didn’t ask questions or give a lecture.  He saw a tormented man crying out to Him and He set him free.
Chances are, most of you reading this are not demon-possessed.  Some of you, however, are captive to someone or something.  It could be alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, secret thought life, bitterness, rage…the list goes on.  Just as the demon-possessed man couldn’t free himself, neither can you.  Cry out to the Savior for His grace and be free.

Thank your Savior for setting you free.

-One Hundred And Two- Come And Worship

Come and Worship

Today’s Reading: Luke 7:36-50

Focal Verse: Luke 7:50

Then He said to the woman,

“Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace.”

God doesn’t expect for the people who worship Him to be perfect, but He does expect our worship to come from our total being (Matthew 22:37-38).  This prostitute did exactly that:

#1 – She sought out Jesus (v.37).  Worship requires that He must be

             our focus.

#2 – She brought Jesus her best (v.37).  If all we are giving Jesus 

       of our time and resources is our “leftovers”, He is not who we

       we are worshipping.

#3 – She came to Him in humility and repentance.  Even though 

         God is a God of grace, a worshipper must not lose sight that 

       HE IS GOD!  A worshipper in His presence will be humbled.

#4 – She showed Him her love with her actions.   A worshipper’s 

       love for Christ will naturally result in service for Christ.

Two people were at that dinner with Jesus.  One, a religious leader, showed no honor, no reverence, no love for Jesus.  The other, a prostitute, came to worship and, through the grace of God, was saved.

Which type of worshipper most closely resembles you – the Pharisee or the prostitute?  

One Hundred And One- Grace In Our Doubts

Grace in Our Doubts

Today’s Reading: Luke 7:18-22

Focal Verse: Luke 7:22

“…Go and tell…the things you have seen and heard.”

I really have an admiration for John the Baptist.  Anyone who lives in the desert, with clothes made out of camel’s hair, eating locust and wild honey, crying out for people to “Repent for the kingdom is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-4) is a pretty courageous fellow.  He obviously believed deeply in what he was called to do.
Even he had doubts, though.  He did what God said and ended up in a prison in danger of his life.  Although John had met Jesus and recognized Him as the Christ (Matthew 3:13-17), in his weakness, doubt crept in.
John knew where to go with his doubts.  He sent his disciples right to the Savior, asking, “Are you the One?”  Jesus didn’t chastise him for his weakness and doubt.  He put on such a show of miracles that John’s disciples couldn’t have any doubt of who He was, and said to them, “Go and tell.”

You can also see John 11:11-45 for a miracle that was for the purpose of strengthening faith. 

Follow the pattern of John the Baptist.  If there are areas where you doubt, take them to your Savior.

-One Hundred- The Grace Of The Sabbath

The Grace of the Sabbath

Today’s Reading: Mark 2:23-28

Focal Verse: Mark 2:27

Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

Satan and the world system try to distort every good gift God has given us.  One of these is the Sabbath.
God made us and knew our bodies, minds and spirits functioned best with rest.  So He built it in!  He commanded that six days we would work, but the seventh day was set apart for rest (Exodus 23:12).  In His grace, He put into place something He knew was needed for us to get fullness of life.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had so distorted the original intent of the Sabbath that it had become a day of stress instead of a day of rest.  Today, most of us live in such a hurried way that we try to defy our body’s need for rest.  Both are distortions of what God’s intent was.
The Sabbath – a day set aside from your normal labors for rest.  A gracious gift from your loving Creator.

Study what God’s word had to say about the Sabbath.

Rediscover His loving gift to you.

-Ninety Nine- Outcast, But Not Cast Out

Outcast, But Not Cast Out

Today’s Reading: Mark 2:13-17

Focal Verse: John 6:37

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”

He was a troubled young man.  He had smoked pot and gone drinking with his friends.  He had developed an eating disorder.  For the last year and a half, he had been on a mental and physical downward spiral, and although he was raised in church, he didn’t want anything to do with God.  His words and attitudes were full of hatred towards others.
But the youth pastor of the church he should have been attending didn’t give up on him.  He didn’t see the “outcast”.  He saw someone who needed Jesus.
He found something they had in common – Star Wars.  They went to the most recent Star Wars movie.  He then invited the blue-haired young man on the church’s graduating senior’s annual trip to Florida.  While there, that young man accepted Jesus as his Savior.  That young man was my son.
The hate in him disappeared overnight, but his blue hair stayed around a little while longer.  Pastors and youth leaders and other Christian youths took time to get to know him and disciple him.  They were patterning what we see Jesus doing in this passage.
I am thankful for believers who, like Jesus, don’t look at what a person looks like or their sin, but look inside to someone who needs a Savior.
We were once outcasts.  He didn’t turn us away.  We, who are His, must not turn others away either.  We must bring them to Him.

Acts 10:28b says, “But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”  Spend time meditating on this verse.

-Ninety Eight- Interruptible Grace

Interruptible Grace

Today’s Reading: Mark 2:1-5

Focal Verse: Mark 2:5

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,

 “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 

God is not too busy for you.  When you come to Him, He never says, “Go away.  I’m too busy.”  No matter where God is or what He is doing, if you seek Him, He will come to you (James 4:8).
The paralytic had a BIG problem, but God cares about all types of problems.  Your problems are not too little for Him to care about.  Even though He has many people calling on Him throughout the world, He knows just where you are (Jeremiah 23:34).
The Almighty God, the Creator…interruptible by you.

God cares about all aspects of your life, no matter how small they may seem.  Talk to the interruptible God about them today.

-Ninety Seven- It Took A Sacrifice

It Took a Sacrifice

Today’s Reading and Focal Verses: John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Grace isn’t free.
Yes, it’s offered freely to you, but it was at a cost to God.  It required a sacrifice on His part.
Webster’s defines “sacrifice” as “the surrender of something of value for the same of something else”.  God surrendered His Son for your sake that you might be saved.  His Son surrendered His rights.  It was His right to condemn us for our unrighteousness, but He surrendered that right.
We shouldn’t take the grace He has given us lightly.  1 Corinthians 6:20a tells us we are bought at a price.  The price was God’s Son.
God, thank You for paying the price of grace.

Are you willing to surrender something of value for the sake of something or someone else?

-Ninety Six- You Have A New Family!

You Have a New Family!

Today’s Reading and Focal Verses: John 1:12-13

But as many has received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

I was blessed.  I had a wonderful family growing up.  My parents were Christians and they loved us with the love of Christ.
I know not all families were, or are, that way.  You may have had a family where you didn’t feel that type of love from one or both of your parents.  You may have lived in foster homes and you may or may not have received the love you needed.  There are many different variations of what your family may have been like.
No matter how bad, or how wonderful, your family was, there is a better one in store for those who receive Christ.  You don’t come into this family through childbirth.  You don’t come into this family because another human told you that is where you had to go.  You come into this family by the grace of God through Christ Jesus His Son.
A child of God becomes a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:16-17).  Your Father will never abandon you (Hebrews 13:5).  You can count on His help in difficult times (Hebrew 4:16).  He will teach you all the things you need to know (James 1:5).
There are no members in God’s family that are not loved like the others (Acts 10:34).  The right to become His child is open to as many as will receive Him.
Family – the way God intended – a family of grace.

Thank God for taking you into His family.

Spend time thinking about what a privilege that is.

-Ninety Five- There Is Born To You A Savior

There is Born to You a Savior

Today’s Reading: Luke 2:8-11

Focal Verse: Luke 2:11

“For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

When a king, or another dignitary, comes to our country and a dinner is held in his honor, who is invited?  Other important dignitaries, the news media, Hollywood celebrities?  In most instances the common man would not have the opportunity to meet him.
I think it is significant that the first people told about Jesus’ birth were shepherds.  Shepherds didn’t have any political power or worldly importance.  They weren’t in the business of getting out information.  They didn’t have any special appeal to the public.  They were just simple men who spent their time with sheep, and yet God sent angels to them with the good news of His Son’s birth and to tell them how they could find Him.
We are all important in God’s eyes.  He didn’t send His Son just for the rich and the powerful, but also for the poor and weak.  He sent His grace to you.
“…For there is born to you…a Savior.”

If you don’t know Him as your Savior, you can take care of it now.

Click On Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock. http://thegracechronicles-penny.blogspot.com/2011/11/behold-i-stand-at-door-and-knock.html

If you have already been saved, thank God that He saw you as important.

Do you see others that way?  Are you telling them, “For unto you…”?

-Ninety Four- Joseph

Joseph

Today’s Reading: Matthew 1:18-25

Focal Verse: Matthew 1:20

“…Joseph…do not be afraid.”

They didn’t have DNA tests in Joseph’s day.   Joseph’s heart must have been broken and his pride wounded when he found out about Mary’s pregnancy.  He obviously cared very deeply for Mary, because he was trying to put her away quietly so as to cause her as little harm as possible.
God gave Joseph the results of a supernatural DNA test.  God sent an angel.  He could have commanded Joseph to take Mary as his wife and left it at that.  Joseph was an upright man (v.19) and probably would have just obeyed.  God graciously let Joseph in on the wonderful news of who this child was, and affirmed that Mary had not been unfaithful.  Joseph could obey with joy, and in the light of God’s love, fear melted away.

God doesn’t always give us all the details, but He has given us His Son and His word to reassure us of His love.  If obedience has been a problem for you, meditate on His word. Trust in the God who gave His Son for you.

-Ninety Three- Without Fear

Without Fear

Today’s Reading: Luke 1:67-79

Focal Verse: Luke 1:74

To grant us that we,

Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

Might serve Him without fear…

Some people are afraid of God.  Pagan people in Biblical times were so afraid of their false gods that they would sacrifice even their own children in an attempt to “appease” them.  Even today, some people envision God waiting to strike them with a lightening bolt.
The one true God sets us free so that we can worship and serve Him with no fear.  Just as God delivered Israel from their enemies so that they might serve without fear, He sent His Son to set us free from sin that we might also serve without fear.  We don’t have to fear this world (John 16:33).  We don’t have to fear death (1 Corinthians 15:54).  Because of His tender mercies, He sent His Son into the world so you could serve, not in darkness or fear, but in light and peace.

If you are living or serving in fear, meditate on these verses.

Pass on the good news of His deliverance of us from fear.

-Ninety Two- Mary

Mary

Today’s Reading: Luke 1:26-50 and John 19:25-27

Focal Verse: Luke 1:48

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

There are many beautiful pictures of Mary.  In a great number of them, she has an angelic look of perfection.  But Mary was not perfect.  She was an imperfect human just like you and me.
Mary didn’t even fully recognize the significance of her son’s birth (Luke 2:48-50; John 2:3-4).  Mary was like the other people we have been studying; imperfect, but favored by God.  The mother of the Son of God needed a Savior just like you and me.
As the Father showed grace to Mary, so did His Son.  When Jesus was dying on the cross, He didn’t forget her.  He made sure she would have someone to care for her like a son – John.
Mary – a simple maiden becomes blessed to all generations.  All because of the grace of God.

God uses ordinary people – people like you and me.

One thing you can see from Mary’s comments in the focal verse is that she was humble.  She knew that it was only because of God that she would be remembered for generations.  God wants to use you, too.  Go humbly before Him and express your willingness to do what He calls you to – 

whether great or small.

-Ninety One- Change

Change

Today’s Reading and Focal Verse: Malachi 3:6a

“For I am the LORD, I do not change.”

Change is inevitable in this life.  Some changes are good.  Some are not.  Some of us adjust easily, others don’t.  Regardless, change will happen.
One thing that will never change is God.  His grace for His people is here to stay.  Romans 11:29 says, “For the gifts and the calling of God is irrevocable.”  James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is not variation or shadow of turning.”
Many people break their promises, but when God says He doesn’t change, we can trust Him.  Numbers 23:19 reminds us that: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent.  Has He said, and will not do? Or has He spoken and will not make it good?”
Irrevocable, no variations, no lies – God’s grace.

Ask God to help you learn to trust in His unchanging nature.