Entries by YMI
ODB: Giving It To God
September 17, 2014
READ: Mark 10:17-22
[He] went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. —Mark 10:22
A hero to a generation of people who grew up after World War II, Corrie ten Boom left a legacy of godliness and wisdom. A victim of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, she survived to tell her story of faith and dependence on God during horrendous suffering.
“I have held many things in my hands,” Corrie once said, “and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that, I still possess.”
Corrie was well acquainted with loss. She lost family, possessions, and years of her life to hateful people. Yet she learned to concentrate on what could be gained spiritually and emotionally by putting everything in the hands of her heavenly Father.
What does that mean to us? What should we place in God’s hands for safekeeping? According to the story of the rich young man in Mark 10, everything. He held abundance in his hands, but when Jesus asked him to give it up, he refused. He kept his possessions and he failed to follow Jesus—and as a result he “went away sorrowful” (v.22).
Like Corrie ten Boom, we can find hope by putting everything in God’s hands and then trusting Him for the outcome.
— Dave Branon
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live. —Van de Venter
No life is more secure than a life surrendered to God.
ODJ: making Jesus angry
September 17, 2014
READ: Mark 3:1-6
Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him (v.4).
My wife rarely gets angry, and in that way she’s my complete opposite. But that also means that when she does get mad, I pay very close attention because only something significant gets her worked up.
In Mark 3 something similar took place. Jesus wasn’t simply annoyed with the Pharisees; He was enraged and grieved. His reaction wasn’t something that we find very often in the Gospels, so why was He so angry? (v.5).
There are a few reasons, but one of them is simply that the Pharisees used the Word as a weapon instead of a blessing. Technically the Pharisees weren’t wrong in challenging Jesus, because breaking the Sabbath was a capital crime as prescribed in the Old Testament (Exodus 31:12-17). It’s likely that they felt they were being faithful to the letter of the law (Mark 3:4). But they completely misrepresented the spirit of it, for the law of the Sabbath wasn’t given to Israel to be used to trap others, but to bless them.
As Jesus taught in Mark 2:27, the Sabbath was made for us, and not the other way around. But the Pharisees had no desire to instruct Him or prevent Him from making a terrible mistake. No, their only goal was to see if Jesus would violate the law to aid them in their agenda (3:2). To them, Scripture was a tool to wield for punishment, not blessing. And this mentality angered Jesus.
I often have to remind myself of this truth: God’s Word isn’t here to punish me or put me in my place, but to instruct and bless me! To think anything else grieves Jesus. Having the right perspective has transformed my approach to Scripture. I no longer view it as something I should be frightened of. Instead, it’s something that I rejoice in and treasure!
—Peter Chin
365-day plan› John 15:17-16:4
Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 to see the purposes of Scripture that Paul lifts up.
Do you ever view Scripture as a weapon for punishment? Why? How are you encouraged by the fact that God’s Word both convicts and comforts?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
ODB: A Heart For Prayer
September 16, 2014
READ: Psalm 27:7-14
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” —Psalm 27:8
While traveling on an airplane with her 4- and 2-year-old daughters, a young mom worked at keeping them busy so they wouldn’t disturb others. When the pilot’s voice came over the intercom for an announcement, Catherine, the younger girl, paused from her activities and put her head down. When the pilot finished, she whispered, “Amen.” Perhaps because there had been a recent natural disaster, she thought the pilot was praying.
Like that little girl, I want a heart that turns my thoughts toward prayer quickly. I think it would be fair to say that the psalmist David had that kind of heart. We get hints of that in Psalm 27 as he speaks of facing difficult foes (v.2). He said, “Your face, Lord, I will seek” (v.8). Some say that David was remembering the time he was fleeing from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10) or from his son Absalom (2 Sam. 15:13-14) when he wrote this psalm. Prayer and dependence on God were in the forefront of David’s thinking, and he found Him to be his sanctuary (Ps. 27:4-5).
We need a sanctuary as well. Perhaps reading or praying this psalm and others could help us to develop that closeness to our Father-God. As God becomes our sanctuary, we’ll more readily turn our hearts toward Him in prayer.
— Anne Cetas
and have You as my sanctuary. Help me not to
worry about the words I say, but just to express my
heart to You and to nestle down close to You.
In prayer, God can still our hearts and quiet our minds.
ODJ: roots
September 16, 2014
READ: Matthew 12:22-37
A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad (v.33).
My friend noticed that his maple tree was shedding leaves prematurely. The tree doctor told him his tree was suffering from a girdling root. It had taken 30 years, but the offending root had encircled the tree and was now slowly choking it. If my friend didn’t dig down and hack the root off, the tree would die.
The Pharisees had allowed the root of pride and jealousy to smother their love for God. When Jesus cast out a demon from a blind and mute man, they credited His miracle to Satan (Matthew 12:24). Jesus replied that it wouldn’t make sense for Satan to drive out Satan, and He warned that the Pharisees had become bad trees that could only produce bad fruit (vv.33-35).
Like my friend’s tree, we can look fine on the outside, while inside a root of pride, envy or lust slowly suffocates our spiritual lives. The damage can go deep, far beneath the surface where others can’t see it. But if we don’t take decisive action, we’ll begin to show signs of decay and spiritual death.
It’s vital that we also root out the evil that begins to grow between us and others. Hebrews 12:15 commands, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”
Paul says that after we’ve uprooted evil, we keep healthy by planting our roots in Jesus, so that “[our] roots will grow down into God’s love and keep [us] strong” (Ephesians 3:17). He also says, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:7).
—Mike Wittmer
365-day plan› John 15:1-16
Read Ephesians 3:14-21 to learn what feeds our roots and makes us healthy and strong.
What’s the state of your roots—your spiritual condition? What personal or relational sin must you address before it grows and chokes you?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
ODB: The Blame Game
September 15, 2014
READ: Genesis 16:1-6; 21:8-13
My wrong be upon you! . . . The Lord judge between you and me. —Genesis 16:5
When Jenny’s husband left her for another woman, she vowed that she would never meet his new wife. But when she realized that her bitterness was damaging her children’s relationship with their father, she asked for God’s help to take the first steps toward overcoming bitterness in a situation she couldn’t change.
In Genesis 16, we read the story of a couple to whom God promised a baby. When Sarai suggested that her husband Abram have a child with their servant Hagar, she wasn’t fully trusting God for the child He had promised. When the baby was born, Hagar despised Sarai (Gen. 16:3-4), and Sarai became bitter (vv.5-6).
Hagar had been the slave with no rights and suddenly she was special. How did Sarai react? By blaming others, including Abram (v.5). God’s promise was realized in the birth of Isaac 14 years later. Even his weaning celebration was spoiled by Sarai’s attitude (21:8-10).
It may never have been easy for Sarai to have lived with the consequences of their decision to go ahead of God. It may have taken a miracle of grace to change her attitude but that could have transformed everything. Sarai couldn’t reverse the decision, but through God’s strength, she could have lived with it differently, and given God the glory.
— Marion Stroud
may not change, Your grace is strong enough
to change us in our situations. Help us as we
struggle sometimes to live in this sinful world.
By God’s grace, we can reflect His light in the dark times.
ODJ: hope
September 15, 2014
READ: Psalm 65:1-13
You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our saviour. You are the hope of everyone on earth (v.5).
Today was a day of gladness; tonight has been difficult. A seemingly small event had unleashed a torrent of emotion in me. The day before, my husband and I had received difficult news. Being stirred with faith, during the daylight hours I had grabbed on to the inexplicable determination and joy God placed in my heart—even in that difficult place. As the day turned into evening, though, I didn’t feel victorious. I felt lonely, discouraged and frustrated.
Rather than giving up, I leaned into God’s presence and poured out my heart. Not in a bitter onslaught. Not with a litany of excuses. Not a recounting of heroic sacrifices. I simply remembered.
Less than 24 hours earlier, God had spoken to my heart: this is going to be a good year. Asking the Lord for encouragement, I picked up my Bible and read Psalm 65. With no grand exclamation, no flood of expectant emotion, no immediate resolution to my concerns, I set my heart on these words: “You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance” (v.11). In that moment, I chose Him. In the trial, I chose hope.
Revealing not only the promise of blessing, Jeremiah 17:7 makes evident the heartbeat of hope (Psalm 65:5): trust. Because it’s a quality revealed by an eternal God, hope can’t simply be conjured up by us. With or without us, hope lives. But it’s our choice as to whether it will live in us. More than the desire for a happy life, hope calls us to press forward even though we have yet to see the completion of what we hope for and to release control so that we can rest in His strength (Romans 5:5, 8:24-25; Hebrews 6:18-19, 10:23).
—Regina Franklin
365-day plan› John 14:15-31
Read Lamentations 3:17-26 and consider Jeremiah’s declaration in light of his circumstances.
What enemies of hope do you face? If hope has been repressed or lost, what can you do to restore it?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
ODB: Gentle Jesus
September 14, 2014
READ: Matthew 18:1-10
Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3
Charles Wesley (1707–1788) was a Methodist evangelist who wrote more than 9,000 hymns and sacred poems. Some, like “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” are great, soaring hymns of praise. But his poem “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild,” first published in 1742, is a child’s quiet prayer that captures the essence of how all of us should seek the Lord in sincere, simple faith.
Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb,
In Thy gracious hands I am;
Make me, Savior, what Thou art,
Live Thyself within my heart.
When some followers of Jesus were jockeying for position in His kingdom, the Lord “called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt. 18:2-3).
Not many children seek position or power. Instead, they want acceptance and security. They cling to the adults who love and care for them. Jesus never turned children away.
The last stanza of Wesley’s poem shows a childlike desire to be just like Jesus: “I shall then show forth Thy praise / Serve Thee all my happy days; / Then the world shall always see / Christ, the holy Child, in me.”
— David C. McCasland
to know Your love and care, and to rest in Your
embrace. Grant my desire to be like You in all
my ways that I might live for Your honor.
Faith shines brightest in a childlike heart.