ODB:Do I Have To Read Leviticus?
June 15, 2011 READ: Isaiah 55:6-13 My Word . . . shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. —Isaiah 55:11 Do I really have to read Leviticus?” A young executive asked me this in earnest as we talked about the value of spending time in reading the Bible. “The [...]
ODB: The Pilot’s Rutter
May 27, 2011
READ: Psalm 119:129-136
Direct my steps by Your Word. —Psalm 119:133
During the era of great sea exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, sailing ships traversed vast, hazardous oceans and navigated dangerous coastlines. Pilots used various navigation techniques—including a book called a “rutter” (not the “rudder,” the ship’s steering device). This was a log of events kept by earlier voyagers who chronicled their encounters with previously unknown and difficult waters. By reading the sailing details in a rutter, captains could avoid hazards and make it through difficult waters.
In many ways, the Christian life is like a voyage, and the believer needs help in navigating life’s perilous seas. We have that help because God has given us His Word as a “spiritual rutter.” Often when we reflect on a meaningful passage, we can recall God’s faithfulness through trying circumstances. As the psalmist suggests, perils are found not only in life situations but also in our inner tendency toward sin. Because of these dual concerns, he wrote, “Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me” (119:133).
As you reflect on the teaching in the Bible, you’ll be reminded of God’s past care, assured of the Lord’s guidance in trying circumstances, and warned against sinfulness. That’s the advantage of having a “spiritual rutter.”
— Dennis Fisher
With God’s Word as your map and His Spirit as your compass, you’re sure to stay on course.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...ODB: Humbly Receive
May 20, 2011
READ: James 1:13-22
Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. —James 1:21
While reading the first chapter of James, I was struck by the phrase “humbly accept the Word planted in you, which can save you” (v.21 NIV). A decision with which I’d been struggling came to mind, and I thought: I don’t need to read another book, attend another seminar, or ask another friend about this. I need to obey what the Bible tells me to do. My efforts to be better informed had become a means of resisting God’s instruction rather than receiving it.
James was writing to followers of Christ when he said: “Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:21-22).
Bible scholar W. E. Vine said that the Greek word used here for receive means “deliberate and ready reception of what is offered.” Meekness is an attitude toward God “in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting.” A humble heart doesn’t fight against God or contend with Him.
God’s powerful Word, implanted in our hearts, is a trustworthy source of spiritual wisdom and strength. It’s available to all who will humbly receive it.
— David C. McCasland
Open your Bible prayerfully, read it carefully, and obey it joyfully.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: Chocolate-fueled Car
March 13, 2011
READ: 1 Kings 19:1-8
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. —Psalm 19:7
Many people like both the sweetness and the energy they get from chocolate. Yet British auto technicians have found a surprising use for this sweet food. Scientists at the University of Warwick have built a racecar that runs on vegetable oils and chocolate. The fuel provides energy so that the car can reach top speeds of 135 mph.
The Bible also records a surprising source of energy from a food. When Elijah had been used by God on Mt. Carmel to call fire down from heaven, this spiritual high was followed by persecution and melancholy. In response to Elijah’s depression, God sent an angel to provide food, drink, and rest for the weary prophet. The sustaining power of that food from heaven was remarkable: “So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8).
Just as we need food to sustain our physical lives, we also need nourishing food for our spiritual lives. God’s Word is “sweeter . . . than honey and the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10) and feeds our souls. It makes “wise the simple” (v.7) and provides both nourishment and energy for life’s long journey. Take time to feed on it.
— Dennis Fisher
God feeds us through His Word.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: truth or error
October 29, 2010
READ: 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. —2 Timothy 2:15
Steve often witnesses to his co- workers. But when he mentions something directly from the Bible, someone frequently responds: “Wait! That was written by men, and it’s full of errors just like any other book.”
The following letter to the editor in our local newspaper expresses a similar thought: “Believers cite that the Word of God is infallible, but I see no apparent reason to believe that the words written in the Bible by man are any more infallible than the words written in a science journal by man.”
How do we respond when the Scriptures are so readily dismissed as being just man’s words with errors? Most of us aren’t biblical scholars and may not have an answer. But if we do some reading (2 Tim. 2:15), we’ll find the evidence that it’s God-inspired (3:16) and therefore trustworthy.
For example, consider this: Over a period of 1,600 years, 40 different authors wrote the 66 books of the Bible. There were 400 silent years between the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 of the New Testament. Yet, Genesis to Revelation tell one unified story.
While we accept the Bible by faith, there’s plenty of evidence that it’s true. Let’s be diligent to study and share what we learn with others. —Anne Cetas
In a skeptical world you can trust God’s reliable Word.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: speaking for God
October 16, 2010
READ: Jeremiah 23:16,30-40
We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. —2 Corinthians 4:2
Despite my best efforts to write clearly, sometimes I’m mis-understood. I feel bad about my failure and try to improve my skills. Occasionally, however, readers take words out of context or read into them something that bears no resemblance to the intended meaning. This is frustrating because there’s no way to control how people use words once they are published.
This brings to mind a much more serious offense—that of misusing the words of the Lord. The prophets in Jeremiah’s day did this. They put their own words into God’s mouth by claiming He said things they wanted to be true but that God had never said. So the Lord told His people, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. . . . They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16). Then the Lord warned the people that He would forsake those who pervert His words and cast them from His presence (vv.36,39).
In contrast, the apostle Paul made a point of saying that he did not handle the Word of God deceitfully (2 Cor. 4:2). He knew the danger of preaching his own ideas rather than God’s. All of us need to be careful to use God’s Word for His purpose, rather than for our own agenda. —Julie Ackerman Link
We must align ourselves with the Bible and never try to align the Bible to ourselves.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: bull’s eye!
October 9, 2010
READ: Psalm 86
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth. —Psalm 86:11
If we’re not careful, we may become like the man who prided himself on being an expert archer. The secret to his success was that after he shot his arrow at the side of a barn, he painted a bull’s-eye around the arrow.
It’s easy to live our lives doing what we want and thinking that our ways and instincts are right on target when in reality our “bull’s-eye” shots at life are not on target at all. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Sometimes it may feel right to seek revenge, hoard money, chase pleasure, or yell at people who yell at us. But God’s ways are different from ours. He has painted a bull’s-eye on forgiving those who have hurt us, on giving generously to those in need, on living to please Him rather than ourselves, and on turning the other cheek. We need to pray, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth” (Ps. 86:11). And then we need to aim to follow His ways in all that we do and say.
But we all need help to aim at the right target. Thankfully, the bull’s-eye is already painted in the brushstrokes of God’s truth as revealed in His Word. When we aim our lives at God’s Word, we’ll discover that His ways are right on target—every time! —Joe Stowell
God’s ways are our targets for living.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: there’s an “app” for that
October 2, 2010
READ: Ephesians 5:1-7
Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge. —Proverbs 23:12
Remember when phones were for making phone calls? With the advent of the smart phone, what was once a way to talk to someone has become a storehouse of data. Add cell-phone applications (computer programs) to that, and you can read sports reports, play games, plan trips, find an apartment—or any of well over 100,000 other tasks available with an “app.”
That’s pretty amazing, but the “apps” for phones are nothing compared with the kind of “apps” Scripture gives us. The “applications” of the Bible are direct notes from God telling us how to apply the truth of His Word to all of life.
Take Philippians 2, for instance: The unity app (2:2), the humility app (2:3), the no-grumbling app (2:14), the shine-as-lights app (2:15). Or look at the apps of Ephesians 5: The imitate-God app (5:1), the walk-in-love app (5:2), the purity app (5:3), the tongue app (5:4). And the book of Proverbs? It’s teeming with applications.
You don’t have to wait for someone to offer these on the Internet. Just open the Bible and see the hundreds of ways to apply Scripture in your life. Got a question about the Christian life? Search the Bible. The answers are there, waiting to be discovered. —Dave Branon
The Bible has treasures of wisdom for you— read it and apply it!
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: is it true?
September 22, 2010
READ: Galatians 1:1-9
They received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. —Acts 17:11
Trust, but verify.” My husband loves that quote from Ronald Reagan. During his time in office, the former US President wanted to believe everything he was told in his political dealings with others. But since the security of his country depended on the truth being told—he strived to verify everything.
Acts 17:11 tells us that the Bereans had a similar attitude about knowing the truth. “They received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” In other words, the Bereans didn’t simply believe what someone else was telling them. They also verified it on their own—on a daily basis.
That’s important for us to consider as well. Whether we receive our Bible teaching through church, Sunday school, radio, or TV—we need to test what we hear against God’s inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We are to “be diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God, . . . rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2:15). If we do this, we won’t become prey to those who teach “a different gospel,” and those who “want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6-7)—false teachers who come as wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15).
Remember, trust—but verify! —Cindy Hess Kasper
Knowing what’s true is the first step in knowing what’s false.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: it’s the real deal
September 15, 2010
READ: 1 Peter 1:3-12
I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. —1 Peter 5:12
One of the coolest things hanging on the wall in my home office is a Certificate of Authenticity.
It has on it the logo of US Space Shuttle flight 110, which was launched in April 2002. Aboard the Atlantis on that flight was Mission Specialist Rex Walheim, who took into outer space an article from Our Daily Bread titled “Seeing God’s Glory.” Lt. Col. Walheim sent me the certificate to prove that this devotional page actually left earth’s atmosphere.
Sometimes we need these kinds of things—documents that verify truth. If I were to show that article to someone and say, “This flew on the Space Shuttle,” I could be doubted because I would have no proof. But when Walheim sent me the Certificate of Authenticity, he gave me verification.
In 1 Peter, Simon Peter created a Certificate of Authenticity for his message about the grace of God. In chapter 5, he wrote, “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this [letter] is the true grace of God” (v.12). Peter was assuring his readers that the many messages of 1 Peter—themes of hope and courage and even suffering—were all authentic and demonstrate the grace of God.
Looking for evidence of God’s grace? Read 1 Peter, and be confident that its teaching is the real deal. —Dave Branon
To trust God is to trust in His holy Word.
Source: Our Daily Bread
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