Today's Reading:

The Transfiguration
(Matthew 17.1-13; Luke 9.28-36)

Mark 9 ²Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain, where they were alone. As they looked on, a change came over Jesus, ³and his clothes became shining white--whiter than anyone in the world could wash them. ⁴Then the three disciples saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus. ⁵Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "Teacher, how good it is that we are here! We will make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁶He and the others were so frightened that he did not know what to say.
⁷Then a cloud appeared and covered them with its shadow, and a voice came from the cloud, "This is my own dear Son--listen to him!" ⁸They took a quick look around but did not see anyone else; only Jesus was with them.
⁹As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has risen from death."
¹⁰They obeyed his order, but among themselves they started discussing the matter, "What does this 'rising from death' mean?" ¹¹And they asked Jesus, "Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?"
¹²His answer was, "Elijah is indeed coming first in order to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man will suffer much and be rejected? ¹³I tell you, however, that Elijah has already come and that people treated him just as they pleased, as the Scriptures say about him."

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit
(Matthew 17.14-21; Luke 9.37-43a)

¹⁴When they joined the rest of the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and some teachers of the Law arguing with them. ¹⁵When the people saw Jesus, they were greatly surprised, and ran to him and greeted him. ¹⁶Jesus asked his disciples, "What are you arguing with them about?"
¹⁷A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, because he has an evil spirit in him and cannot talk. ¹⁸Whenever the spirit attacks him, it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth, grits his teeth, and becomes stiff all over. I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they could not."
¹⁹Jesus said to them, "How unbelieving you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy to me!" ²⁰They brought him to Jesus.
As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a fit, so that he fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. ²¹"How long has he been like this?" Jesus asked the father.
"Ever since he was a child," he replied. ²²"Many times the evil spirit has tried to kill him by throwing him in the fire and into water. Have pity on us and help us, if you possibly can!"
²³"Yes," said Jesus, "if you yourself can! Everything is possible for the person who has faith."
²⁴The father at once cried out, "I do have faith, but not enough. Help me have more!"
²⁵Jesus noticed that the crowd was closing in on them, so he gave a command to the evil spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "I order you to come out of the boy and never go into him again!"
²⁶The spirit screamed, threw the boy into a bad fit, and came out. The boy looked like a corpse, and everyone said, "He is dead!" ²⁷But Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him rise, and he stood up.
²⁸After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive the spirit out?"
²⁹"Only prayer can drive this kind out," answered Jesus; "nothing else can."

Jesus Speaks Again about His Death
(Matthew 17.22, 23; Luke 9.43b-45)

³⁰Jesus and his disciples left that place and went on through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where he was, ³¹because he was teaching his disciples: "The Son of Man will be handed over to those who will kill him. Three days later, however, he will rise to life."
³²But they did not understand what this teaching meant, and they were afraid to ask him.

Who Is the Greatest?
(Matthew 18.1-5; Luke 9.46-48)

³³They came to Capernaum, and after going indoors Jesus asked his disciples, "What were you arguing about on the road?"
³⁴But they would not answer him, because on the road they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest. ³⁵Jesus sat down, called the twelve disciples, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all." ³⁶Then he took a child and had him stand in front of them. He put his arms around him and said to them, ³⁷"Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me."

Whoever Is Not against Us Is for Us
(Luke 9.49, 50)

³⁸John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group."
³⁹"Do not try to stop him," Jesus told them, "because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. ⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹I assure you that anyone who gives you a drink of water because you belong to me will certainly receive a reward.

Temptations to Sin
(Matthew 18.6-9; Luke 17.1, 2)

⁴²"If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around the neck and be thrown into the sea. ⁴³So if your hand makes you lose your faith, cut it off ! It is better for you to enter life without a hand than to keep both hands and go off to hell, to the fire that never goes out. ⁴⁵And if your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off ! It is better for you to enter life without a foot than to keep both feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out! It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁸There 'the worms that eat them never die, and the fire that burns them is never put out.'
⁴⁹"Everyone will be purified by fire as a sacrifice is purified by salt.
⁵⁰"Salt is good; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?
"Have the salt of friendship among yourselves, and live in peace with one another."

David's Song of Victory
(Psalm 18)

2 Samuel 22 When the LORD saved David from Saul and his other enemies, David sang this song to the LORD:
²The LORD is my protector;
he is my strong fortress.
³My God is my protection,
and with him I am safe.
He protects me like a shield;
he defends me and keeps me safe.
He is my savior;
he protects me and saves me from violence.
⁴I call to the LORD,
and he saves me from my enemies.
Praise the LORD!
⁵The waves of death were all around me;
the waves of destruction rolled over me.
⁶The danger of death was around me,
and the grave set its trap for me.
⁷In my trouble I called to the LORD;
I called to my God for help.
In his temple he heard my voice;
he listened to my cry for help.
⁸Then the earth trembled and shook;
the foundations of the sky rocked and quivered
because God was angry!
⁹Smoke poured out of his nostrils,
a consuming flame and burning coals from his mouth.
¹⁰He tore the sky open and came down,
with a dark cloud under his feet.
¹¹He flew swiftly on his winged creature;
he traveled on the wings of the wind.
¹²He covered himself with darkness;
thick clouds, full of water, surrounded him;
¹³ burning coals flamed up from the lightning before him.
¹⁴Then the LORD thundered from the sky,
and the voice of Almighty God was heard.
¹⁵He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
with flashes of lightning he sent them running.
¹⁶The floor of the ocean was laid bare,
and the foundations of the earth were uncovered
when the LORD rebuked his enemies
and roared at them in anger.
¹⁷The LORD reached down from above and took hold of me;
he pulled me out of the deep waters.
¹⁸He rescued me from my powerful enemies
and from all those who hate me--
they were too strong for me.
¹⁹When I was in trouble, they attacked me,
but the LORD protected me.
²⁰He helped me out of danger;
he saved me because he was pleased with me.
²¹The LORD rewards me because I do what is right;
he blesses me because I am innocent.
²²I have obeyed the law of the LORD;
I have not turned away from my God.
²³I have observed all his laws;
I have not disobeyed his commands.
²⁴He knows that I am faultless,
that I have kept myself from doing wrong.
²⁵And so he rewards me because I do what is right,
because he knows that I am innocent.
²⁶O LORD, you are faithful to those who are faithful to you,
and completely good to those who are perfect.
²⁷You are pure to those who are pure,
but hostile to those who are wicked.
²⁸You save those who are humble,
but you humble those who are proud.
²⁹You, LORD, are my light;
you dispel my darkness.
³⁰You give me strength to attack my enemies
and power to overcome their defenses.
³¹This God--how perfect are his deeds,
how dependable his words!
He is like a shield
for all who seek his protection.
³²The LORD alone is God;
God alone is our defense.
³³This God is my strong refuge;
he makes my pathway safe.
³⁴He makes me sure-footed as a deer;
he keeps me safe on the mountains.
³⁵He trains me for battle,
so that I can use the strongest bow.
³⁶O LORD, you protect me and save me;
your help has made me great.
³⁷You have kept me from being captured,
and I have never fallen.
³⁸I pursue my enemies and defeat them;
I do not stop until I destroy them.
³⁹I strike them down, and they cannot rise;
they lie defeated before me.
⁴⁰You give me strength for the battle
and victory over my enemies.
⁴¹You make my enemies run from me;
I destroy those who hate me.
⁴²They look for help, but no one saves them;
they call to the LORD, but he does not answer.
⁴³I crush them, and they become like dust;
I trample on them like mud in the streets.
⁴⁴You saved me from my rebellious people
and maintained my rule over the nations;
people I did not know have now become my subjects.
⁴⁵Foreigners bow before me;
when they hear me, they obey.
⁴⁶They lose their courage
and come trembling from their fortresses.
⁴⁷The LORD lives! Praise my defender!
Proclaim the greatness of the strong God who saves me!
⁴⁸He gives me victory over my enemies;
he subdues the nations under me
⁴⁹ and saves me from my foes.
O LORD, you give me victory over my enemies
and protect me from violent men.
⁵⁰And so I praise you among the nations;
I sing praises to you.
⁵¹God gives great victories to his king;
he shows constant love to the one he has chosen,
to David and his descendants forever.

Unfaithful Gomer--Unfaithful Israel

Hosea 2 ²My children, plead with your mother--though she is no longer a wife to me, and I am no longer her husband. Plead with her to stop her adultery and prostitution. ³If she does not, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will make her like a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst. ^4-5I will not show mercy to her children; they are the children of a shameless prostitute. She herself said, "I will go to my lovers--they give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine."
⁶So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall to block her way. ⁷She will run after her lovers but will not catch them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, "I am going back to my first husband--I was better off then than I am now."
⁸She would never acknowledge that I am the one who gave her the grain, the wine, the olive oil, and all the silver and gold that she used in the worship of Baal. ⁹So at harvest time I will take back my gifts of grain and wine, and will take away the wool and the linen I gave her for clothing. ¹⁰I will strip her naked in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to save her from my power. ¹¹I will put an end to all her festivities--her annual and monthly festivals and her Sabbath celebrations--all her religious meetings. ¹²I will destroy her grapevines and her fig trees, which she said her lovers gave her for serving them. I will turn her vineyards and orchards into a wilderness; wild animals will destroy them. ¹³I will punish her for the times that she forgot me, when she burned incense to Baal and put on her jewelry to go chasing after her lovers. The LORD has spoken.

The LORD's Love for His People

¹⁴So I am going to take her into the desert again; there I will win her back with words of love. ¹⁵I will give back to her the vineyards she had and make Trouble Valley a door of hope. She will respond to me there as she did when she was young, when she came from Egypt. ¹⁶Then once again she will call me her husband--she will no longer call me her Baal. ¹⁷I will never let her speak the name of Baal again.
¹⁸At that time I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and birds, so that they will not harm my people. I will also remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, and will let my people live in peace and safety.
¹⁹Israel, I will make you my wife;
I will be true and faithful;
I will show you constant love and mercy
and make you mine forever.
²⁰I will keep my promise and make you mine,
and you will acknowledge me as LORD.
^21-22At that time I will answer the prayers of my people Israel.
I will make rain fall on the earth,
and the earth will produce grain and grapes and olives.
²³I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper.
I will show love to those who were called "Unloved,"
and to those who were called "Not-My-People"
I will say, "You are my people,"
and they will answer, "You are our God."

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Heaven, Your Word, we see many examples in the old and new testament where people think they don't have anything or at least not enough to make a difference. We see in Your Word though that when we give it to You and Your purpose, You can take it, multiply it, and have left overs for us.

I remember the lady with the little oil, who when the man of God (Elijah) asked for a little water and a morsel of bread, she replied: "As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." But as we continue to read from 1 Kings 17 in verse 13 and following we see that God has a plan and if we are willing to take the little we have and give it to God, trusting in Him, we can experience a miracle because of our faith and obedience.

1 Kings 17:

13 Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth." 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" 19 But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again." 22 The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." 24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."

I also remember the lady with a little oil who asked Elisha for help and when he asked her what she had in her house, at first she start with "Nothing at all", but continued with "except a small jar of olive oil". We all have something in our house that can help God provide for our every needs. Are you facing hard times and wondering what to do? What do you have that You can give to God, trusting in Him, and believing that He can meet your every need? Let's take a look in 2 Kings 4 how the rest of this story continues.

2 Kings 4:

1 The widow of a member of a group of prophets went to Elisha and said, "Sir, my husband has died! As you know, he was a God-fearing man, but now a man he owed money to has come to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt." 2 "What shall I do for you?" he asked. "Tell me, what do you have at home?"

"Nothing at all, except a small jar of olive oil," she answered. 3 "Go to your neighbors and borrow as many empty jars as you can," Elisha told her. 4 "Then you and your sons go into the house, close the door, and start pouring oil into the jars. Set each one aside as soon as it is full." 5 So the woman went into her house with her sons, closed the door, took the small jar of olive oil, and poured oil into the jars as her sons brought them to her. 6 When they had filled all the jars, she asked if there were any more. "That was the last one," one of her sons answered. And the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 She went back to Elisha, the prophet, who said to her, "Sell the olive oil and pay all your debts, and there will be enough money left over for you and your sons to live on."

And in today's Reading, I saw another example of God's provision and care for His people in Mark 8.

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand People
(Matthew 15.32-39)

Mark 8 Not long afterward another large crowd came together. When the people had nothing left to eat, Jesus called the disciples to him and said, ²"I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. ³If I send them home without feeding them, they will faint as they go, because some of them have come a long way."
⁴His disciples asked him, "Where in this desert can anyone find enough food to feed all these people?"
⁵"How much bread do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven loaves," they answered.
⁶He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the crowd; and the disciples did so. ⁷They also had a few small fish. Jesus gave thanks for these and told the disciples to distribute them too. ^8-9Everybody ate and had enough--there were about four thousand people. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over. Jesus sent the people away ¹⁰and at once got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod
(Matthew 16.5-12)

¹⁴The disciples had forgotten to bring enough bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat. ¹⁵"Take care," Jesus warned them, "and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."
¹⁶They started discussing among themselves: "He says this because we don't have any bread."
¹⁷Jesus knew what they were saying, so he asked them, "Why are you discussing about not having any bread? Don't you know or understand yet? Are your minds so dull? ¹⁸You have eyes--can't you see? You have ears--can't you hear? Don't you remember ¹⁹when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand people? How many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up?"
"Twelve," they answered.
²⁰"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand people," asked Jesus, "how many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up?"
"Seven," they answered.
²¹"And you still don't understand?" he asked them.

Are you feeling down and out? What do you have in Your house that God can take and multiply to provide maybe just for you and your family, or maybe even for the greater good of all those around you? Don't give up. Don't be afraid. For God's Word says - "Fear Not, Just Believe". Worry changes nothing, but prayer changes everything.

Do you have a prayer request that I can join you in praying?

Do you have a need that requires faith and prayer?

God provides us with one another because He never meant for us to go through this life alone.

Let me know. Let Your brothers and sisters in Christ know. We will all pray for you and your needs in Jesus' name. Amen.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for my family and for my parents. I pray Lord that You will help me to honor my parents so that I may live long and that it may go well with me in the land the Lord my God is giving me. Lord, there are many time in life when things happen for reasons unknown to me, however, I know that You are in control and I pray that You will give me the wisdom to respond properly, the grace to react appropriately, and the strength to press on. Lord, I know that it is by grace that I have been saved through faith in my Lord Jesus Christ, not by works so that I can't boast. Lord, I know that I am saved for I believe in my mind and heart that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and that I have confessed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. Lord, I also know that Your Word says that in this world I will face trouble. I pray Lord that You will be my strength during these times. I pray Lord that You will give me patience and wisdom to get through and respond appropriately in those times so that I may be an ambassador for You to this world. Lord, today I stand up and say that I will stand in the gap. I know Lord, that You are looking to the east and to the west for someone who will stand in the gap, and I step out to stand there for those You have called, for those who are struggling, for this country and my home countries in hopes that they will turn from their evil ways and conform to Your ways. We have all sinned and fallen short from Your glory and so I pray that today and everyday that I will be able to shine the light of Jesus to those I encounter in order to bring praise and glory and honor to You, the king of kings, the lord of Lord in Jesus' name I pray. And Lord, I will give You the praise and the glory and the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading: Mark 7.1-13, 2 Samuel 17 and Daniel 11.2-20

Today's Reading: Mark 6.30-56, 2 Samuel 16 and Daniel 10.1-11.2

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
(Matthew 14.13-21; Luke 9.10-17; John 6.1-14)

Mark 6³⁰The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. ³¹There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time to eat. So he said to them, "Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while." ³²So they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place.
³³Many people, however, saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples. ³⁴When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. ³⁵When it was getting late, his disciples came to him and said, "It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. ³⁶Send the people away, and let them go to the nearby farms and villages in order to buy themselves something to eat."
³⁷"You yourselves give them something to eat," Jesus answered.
They asked, "Do you want us to go and spend two hundred silver coins on bread in order to feed them?"
³⁸So Jesus asked them, "How much bread do you have? Go and see."
When they found out, they told him, "Five loaves and also two fish."
³⁹Jesus then told his disciples to make all the people divide into groups and sit down on the green grass. ⁴⁰So the people sat down in rows, in groups of a hundred and groups of fifty. ⁴¹Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²Everyone ate and had enough. ⁴³Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left of the bread and the fish. ⁴⁴The number of men who were fed was five thousand.

How much faith do you have? Many people think of Peter as having failed, but consider this, how many of them stepped out of the boat? How many walked on water? He may have lost focus, but God planted a see of faith that allowed him to step out of the boat, since if you don't step out of the boat, you will never get a chance to walk on water. Are you stuck in the boat and wondering why you aren't experiencing miracles? God's Word says if we seek Him we will find Him. So lets take a chance today and seek God with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength, and all our soul.

Jesus Walks on the Water
(Matthew 14.22-33; John 6.15-21)

⁴⁵At once Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida, on the other side of the lake, while he sent the crowd away. ⁴⁶After saying good-bye to the people, he went away to a hill to pray. ⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, while Jesus was alone on land. ⁴⁸He saw that his disciples were straining at the oars, because they were rowing against the wind; so sometime between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to them, walking on the water. He was going to pass them by, ⁴⁹but they saw him walking on the water. "It's a ghost!" they thought, and screamed. ⁵⁰They were all terrified when they saw him.
Jesus spoke to them at once, "Courage!" he said. "It is I. Don't be afraid!" ⁵¹Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. The disciples were completely amazed, ⁵²because they had not understood the real meaning of the feeding of the five thousand; their minds could not grasp it.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret
(Matthew 14.34-36)

⁵³They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, where they tied up the boat. ⁵⁴As they left the boat, people recognized Jesus at once. ⁵⁵So they ran throughout the whole region; and wherever they heard he was, they brought to him the sick lying on their mats. ⁵⁶And everywhere Jesus went, to villages, towns, or farms, people would take their sick to the marketplaces and beg him to let the sick at least touch the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were made well.

Daniel's Vision by the Tigris River

Daniel 10 In the third year that Cyrus was emperor of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar. The message was true but extremely hard to understand. It was explained to him in a vision.
²At that time I was mourning for three weeks. ³I did not eat any rich food or any meat, drink any wine, or comb my hair until the three weeks were past.
⁴On the twenty-fourth day of the first month of the year I was standing on the bank of the mighty Tigris River. ⁵I looked up and saw someone who was wearing linen clothes and a belt of fine gold. ⁶His body shone like a jewel. His face was as bright as a flash of lightning, and his eyes blazed like fire. His arms and legs shone like polished bronze, and his voice sounded like the roar of a great crowd.
⁷I was the only one who saw the vision. Those who were with me did not see anything, but they were terrified and ran and hid. ⁸I was left there alone, watching this amazing vision. I had no strength left, and my face was so changed that no one could have recognized me. ⁹When I heard his voice, I fell to the ground unconscious and lay there face downward. ¹⁰Then a hand took hold of me and raised me to my hands and knees; I was still trembling.
¹¹The angel said to me, "Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you." When he had said this, I stood up, still trembling.
¹²Then he said, "Daniel, don't be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. ¹³The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia. ¹⁴I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the future. This is a vision about the future."
¹⁵When he said this, I stared at the ground, speechless. ¹⁶Then the angel, who looked like a human being, reached out and touched my lips. I said to him, "Sir, this vision makes me so weak that I can't stop trembling. ¹⁷I am like a slave standing before his master. How can I talk to you? I have no strength or breath left in me."
¹⁸Once more he took hold of me, and I felt stronger. ¹⁹He said, "God loves you, so don't let anything worry you or frighten you."
When he had said this, I felt even stronger and said, "Sir, tell me what you have to say. You have made me feel better."
^20-21He said, "Do you know why I came to you? It is to reveal to you what is written in the Book of Truth. Now I have to go back and fight the guardian angel of Persia. After that the guardian angel of Greece will appear. There is no one to help me except Michael, Israel's guardian angel.
Daniel 11 ¹He is responsible for helping and defending me. ²And what I am now going to tell you is true."

A Lamp under a Bowl
(Luke 8.16-18)

Mark 4²¹Jesus continued, "Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or under the bed? Isn't it put on the lampstand? ²²Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be uncovered. ²³Listen, then, if you have ears!"
²⁴He also said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear! The same rules you use to judge others will be used by God to judge you--but with even greater severity. ²⁵Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little they have."

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶Jesus went on to say, "The Kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed in his field. ²⁷He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and growing. Yet he does not know how it happens. ²⁸The soil itself makes the plants grow and bear fruit; first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain. ²⁹When the grain is ripe, the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has come.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed
(Matthew 13.31, 32, 34; Luke 13.18, 19)

³⁰"What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like?" asked Jesus. "What parable shall we use to explain it? ³¹It is like this. A man takes a mustard seed, the smallest seed in the world, and plants it in the ground. ³²After a while it grows up and becomes the biggest of all plants. It puts out such large branches that the birds come and make their nests in its shade."
³³Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these; he told them as much as they could understand. ³⁴He would not speak to them without using parables, but when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain everything to them.

Jesus Calms a Storm
(Matthew 8.23-27; Luke 8.22-25)

³⁵On the evening of that same day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." ³⁶So they left the crowd; the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and they took him with them. Other boats were there too. ³⁷Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water. ³⁸Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, "Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?"
³⁹Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, "Be quiet!" and he said to the waves, "Be still!" The wind died down, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you frightened? Do you still have no faith?"
⁴¹But they were terribly afraid and began to say to one another, "Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11 The following spring, at the time of the year when kings usually go to war, David sent out Joab with his officers and the Israelite army; they defeated the Ammonites and besieged the city of Rabbah. But David himself stayed in Jerusalem.
²One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked around up there, he saw a woman taking a bath in her house. She was very beautiful. ³So he sent a messenger to find out who she was, and learned that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. ⁴David sent messengers to get her; they brought her to him and he made love to her. (She had just finished her monthly ritual of purification.) Then she went back home. ⁵Afterward she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him.
⁶David then sent a message to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent him to David. ⁷When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going. ⁸Then he said to Uriah, "Go on home and rest a while." Uriah left, and David had a present sent to his home. ⁹But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards. ¹⁰When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he asked him, "You have just returned after a long absence; why didn't you go home?"
¹¹Uriah answered, "The men of Israel and Judah are away in battle, and the Covenant Box is with them; my commander Joab and his officers are camping out in the open. How could I go home, eat and drink, and sleep with my wife? By all that's sacred, I swear that I could never do such a thing!"
¹²So David said, "Then stay here the rest of the day, and tomorrow I'll send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³David invited him to supper and got him drunk. But again that night Uriah did not go home; instead he slept on his blanket in the palace guardroom.
¹⁴The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ¹⁵He wrote: "Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed." ¹⁶So while Joab was besieging the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong. ¹⁷The enemy troops came out of the city and fought Joab's forces; some of David's officers were killed, and so was Uriah.
¹⁸Then Joab sent a report to David telling him about the battle, ¹⁹and he instructed the messenger, "After you have told the king all about the battle, ²⁰he may get angry and ask you, 'Why did you go so near the city to fight them? Didn't you realize that they would shoot arrows from the walls? ²¹Don't you remember how Abimelech son of Gideon was killed? It was at Thebez, where a woman threw a millstone down from the wall and killed him. Why, then, did you go so near the wall?' If the king asks you this, tell him, 'Your officer Uriah was also killed.'"
²²So the messenger went to David and told him what Joab had commanded him to say. ²³He said, "Our enemies were stronger than we were and came out of the city to fight us in the open, but we drove them back to the city gate. ²⁴Then they shot arrows at us from the wall, and some of Your Majesty's officers were killed; your officer Uriah was also killed."
²⁵David said to the messenger, "Encourage Joab and tell him not to be upset, since you never can tell who will die in battle. Tell him to launch a stronger attack on the city and capture it."
²⁶When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him. ²⁷When the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to the palace; she became his wife and bore him a son. But the LORD was not pleased with what David had done.

Nathan's Message and David's Repentance

2 Samuel 12 The LORD sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had many cattle and sheep, ³while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. ⁴One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest."
⁵David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die! ⁶For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took."
⁷"You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul. ⁸I gave you his kingdom and his wives; I made you king over Israel and Judah. If this had not been enough, I would have given you twice as much. ⁹Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife! ¹⁰Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife. ¹¹I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight. ¹²You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see.'"
¹³"I have sinned against the LORD," David said.
Nathan replied, "The LORD forgives you; you will not die. ¹⁴But because you have shown such contempt for the LORD in doing this, your child will die." ¹⁵Then Nathan went home.

David's Son Dies

The LORD caused the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David to become very sick. ¹⁶David prayed to God that the child would get well. He refused to eat anything, and every night he went into his room and spent the night lying on the floor. ¹⁷His court officials went to him and tried to make him get up, but he refused and would not eat anything with them. ¹⁸A week later the child died, and David's officials were afraid to tell him the news. They said, "While the child was living, David wouldn't answer us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that his child is dead? He might do himself some harm!"
¹⁹When David noticed them whispering to each other, he realized that the child had died. So he asked them, "Is the child dead?"
"Yes, he is," they answered.
²⁰David got up from the floor, took a bath, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. Then he went and worshiped in the house of the LORD. When he returned to the palace, he asked for food and ate it as soon as it was served. ²¹"We don't understand this," his officials said to him. "While the child was alive, you wept for him and would not eat; but as soon as he died, you got up and ate!"
²²"Yes," David answered, "I did fast and weep while he was still alive. I thought that the LORD might be merciful to me and not let the child die. ²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Could I bring the child back to life? I will some day go to where he is, but he can never come back to me."

Solomon Is Born

²⁴Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He had intercourse with her, and she bore a son, whom David named Solomon. The LORD loved the boy ²⁵and commanded the prophet Nathan to name the boy Jedidiah, because the LORD loved him.

David Captures Rabbah
(1 Chronicles 20.1-3)

²⁶Meanwhile Joab continued his campaign against Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon, and was about to capture it. ²⁷He sent messengers to David to report: "I have attacked Rabbah and have captured its water supply. ²⁸Now gather the rest of your forces, attack the city and take it yourself. I don't want to get the credit for capturing it." ²⁹So David gathered his forces, went to Rabbah, attacked it, and conquered it. ³⁰From the head of the idol of the Ammonite god Molech David took a gold crown which weighed about seventy-five pounds and had a jewel in it. David took the jewel and put it in his own crown. He also took a large amount of loot from the city ³¹and put its people to work with saws, iron hoes, and iron axes, and forced them to work at making bricks. He did the same to the people of all the other towns of Ammon. Then he and his men returned to Jerusalem.

Daniel in the Pit of Lions

Daniel 6 Darius decided to appoint a hundred and twenty governors to hold office throughout his empire. ²In addition, he chose Daniel and two others to supervise the governors and to look after the king's interests. ³Daniel soon showed that he could do better work than the other supervisors or the governors. Because he was so outstanding, the king considered putting him in charge of the whole empire. ⁴Then the other supervisors and the governors tried to find something wrong with the way Daniel administered the empire, but they couldn't, because Daniel was reliable and did not do anything wrong or dishonest. ⁵They said to each other, "We are not going to find anything of which to accuse Daniel unless it is something in connection with his religion."
⁶So they went to see the king and said, "King Darius, may Your Majesty live forever! ⁷All of us who administer your empire--the supervisors, the governors, the lieutenant governors, and the other officials--have agreed that Your Majesty should issue an order and enforce it strictly. Give orders that for thirty days no one be permitted to request anything from any god or from any human being except from Your Majesty. Anyone who violates this order is to be thrown into a pit filled with lions. ⁸So let Your Majesty issue this order and sign it, and it will be in force, a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed." ⁹And so King Darius signed the order. ¹⁰When Daniel learned that the order had been signed, he went home. In an upstairs room of his house there were windows that faced toward Jerusalem. There, just as he had always done, he knelt down at the open windows and prayed to God three times a day.
¹¹When Daniel's enemies observed him praying to God, ¹²all of them went together to the king to accuse Daniel. They said, "Your Majesty, you signed an order that for the next thirty days anyone who requested anything from any god or from any human being except you, would be thrown into a pit filled with lions."
The king replied, "Yes, that is a strict order, a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."
¹³Then they said to the king, "Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, does not respect Your Majesty or obey the order you issued. He prays regularly three times a day."
¹⁴When the king heard this, he was upset and did his best to find some way to rescue Daniel. He kept trying until sunset. ¹⁵Then Daniel's enemies came back to the king and said to him, "Your Majesty knows that according to the laws of the Medes and Persians no order which the king issues can be changed."
¹⁶So the king gave orders for Daniel to be taken and thrown into the pit filled with lions. He said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve so loyally, rescue you." ¹⁷A stone was put over the mouth of the pit, and the king placed his own royal seal and the seal of his noblemen on the stone, so that no one could rescue Daniel. ¹⁸Then the king returned to the palace and spent a sleepless night, without food or any form of entertainment.
¹⁹At dawn the king got up and hurried to the pit. ²⁰When he got there, he called out anxiously, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Was the God you serve so loyally able to save you from the lions?"
²¹Daniel answered, "May Your Majesty live forever! ²²God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. He did this because he knew that I was innocent and because I have not wronged you, Your Majesty."
²³The king was overjoyed and gave orders for Daniel to be pulled up out of the pit. So they pulled him up and saw that he had not been hurt at all, for he trusted God. ²⁴Then the king gave orders to arrest all those who had accused Daniel, and he had them thrown, together with their wives and children, into the pit filled with lions. Before they even reached the bottom of the pit, the lions pounced on them and broke all their bones.
²⁵Then King Darius wrote to the people of all nations, races, and languages on earth:
"Greetings! ²⁶I command that throughout my empire everyone should fear and respect Daniel's God.
"He is a living God,
and he will rule forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and his power will never come to an end.
²⁷He saves and rescues;
he performs wonders and miracles
in heaven and on earth.
He saved Daniel from being killed by the lions."
²⁸Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Today's Reading: Mark 3.20-35, 2 Samuel 7-8 and Daniel 4

Jesus and Beelzebul
(Matthew 12.22-32; Luke 11.14-23; 12.10)

Mark 3²⁰Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. ²¹When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, "He's gone mad!"
²²Some teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem were saying, "He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive them out."
²³So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. ²⁵If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart. ²⁶So if Satan's kingdom divides into groups, it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end.
²⁷"No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.
²⁸"I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say. ²⁹But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin." ( ³⁰Jesus said this because some people were saying, "He has an evil spirit in him.")

Jesus' Mother and Brothers
(Matthew 12.46-50; Luke 8.19-21)

³¹Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside the house and sent in a message, asking for him. ³²A crowd was sitting around Jesus, and they said to him, "Look, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, and they want you."
³³Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" ³⁴He looked at the people sitting around him and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does what God wants is my brother, my sister, my mother."

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Nathan's Message to David
(1 Chronicles 17.1-15)

2 Samuel 7 King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD kept him safe from all his enemies. ²Then the king said to the prophet Nathan, "Here I am living in a house built of cedar, but God's Covenant Box is kept in a tent!"
³Nathan answered, "Do whatever you have in mind, because the LORD is with you." ⁴But that night the LORD said to Nathan, ⁵"Go and tell my servant David that I say to him, 'You are not the one to build a temple for me to live in. ⁶From the time I rescued the people of Israel from Egypt until now, I have never lived in a temple; I have traveled around living in a tent. ⁷In all my traveling with the people of Israel I never asked any of the leaders that I appointed why they had not built me a temple made of cedar.'
⁸"So tell my servant David that I, the LORD Almighty, say to him, 'I took you from looking after sheep in the fields and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ⁹I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have defeated all your enemies as you advanced. I will make you as famous as the greatest leaders in the world. ^10-11I have chosen a place for my people Israel and have settled them there, where they will live without being oppressed any more. Ever since they entered this land, they have been attacked by violent people, but this will not happen again. I promise to keep you safe from all your enemies and to give you descendants. ¹²When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. ¹³He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues forever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him as a father punishes his son. ¹⁵But I will not withdraw my support from him as I did from Saul, whom I removed so that you could be king. ¹⁶You will always have descendants, and I will make your kingdom last forever. Your dynasty will never end.'"
¹⁷Nathan told David everything that God had revealed to him.

David's Prayer of Thanksgiving
(1 Chronicles 17.16-27)

¹⁸Then King David went into the Tent of the LORD's presence, sat down and prayed, "Sovereign LORD, I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, nor is my family. ¹⁹Yet now you are doing even more, Sovereign LORD; you have made promises about my descendants in the years to come. And you let a man see this, Sovereign LORD! ²⁰What more can I say to you! You know me, your servant. ²¹It was your will and purpose to do this; you have done all these great things in order to instruct me. ²²How great you are, Sovereign LORD! There is none like you; we have always known that you alone are God. ²³There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them have spread your fame throughout the world. You drove out other nations and their gods as your people advanced, the people whom you set free from Egypt to be your own. ²⁴You have made Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.
²⁵"And now, LORD God, fulfill for all time the promise you made about me and my descendants, and do what you said you would. ²⁶Your fame will be great, and people will forever say, 'The LORD Almighty is God over Israel.' And you will preserve my dynasty for all time. ²⁷LORD Almighty, God of Israel! I have the courage to pray this prayer to you, because you have revealed all this to me, your servant, and have told me that you will make my descendants kings.
²⁸"And now, Sovereign LORD, you are God; you always keep your promises, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. ²⁹I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favor. You, Sovereign LORD, have promised this, and your blessing will rest on my descendants forever."

David's Military Victories
(1 Chronicles 18.1-17)

2 Samuel 8 Some time later King David attacked the Philistines again, defeated them, and ended their control over the land.
²Then he defeated the Moabites. He made the prisoners lie down on the ground and put two out of every three of them to death. So the Moabites became his subjects and paid taxes to him.
³Then he defeated the king of the Syrian state of Zobah, Hadadezer son of Rehob, as Hadadezer was on his way to restore his control over the territory by the upper Euphrates River. ⁴David captured seventeen hundred of his cavalry and twenty thousand of his foot soldiers. He kept enough horses for a hundred chariots and crippled all the rest.
⁵When the Syrians of Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer, David attacked it and killed twenty-two thousand men. ⁶Then he set up military camps in their territory, and they became his subjects and paid taxes to him. The LORD made David victorious everywhere. ⁷David captured the gold shields carried by Hadadezer's officials and took them to Jerusalem. ⁸He also took a great quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities ruled by Hadadezer.
⁹King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated all of Hadadezer's army. ¹⁰So he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him for his victory over Hadadezer, against whom Toi had fought many times. Joram took David presents made of gold, silver, and bronze. ¹¹King David dedicated them for use in worship, along with the silver and gold he took from the nations he had conquered-- ¹²Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek--as well as part of the loot he had taken from Hadadezer.
¹³David became even more famous when he returned from killing eighteen thousand Edomites in Salt Valley. ¹⁴He set up military camps throughout Edom, and the people there became his subjects. The LORD made David victorious everywhere.
¹⁵David ruled over all of Israel and made sure that his people were always treated fairly and justly. ¹⁶Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, was the commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records; ¹⁷Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the court secretary; ¹⁸Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of David's bodyguards; and David's sons were priests.

---

Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream

Daniel 4 King Nebuchadnezzar sent the following message to the people of all nations, races, and languages in the world:
"Greetings! ²Listen to my account of the wonders and miracles which the Supreme God has shown me.
³"How great are the wonders God shows us!
How powerful are the miracles he performs!
God is king forever; he will rule for all time.
⁴"I was living comfortably in my palace, enjoying great prosperity. ⁵But I had a frightening dream and saw terrifying visions while I was asleep. ⁶I ordered all the royal advisers in Babylon to be brought to me so that they could tell me what the dream meant. ⁷Then all the fortunetellers, magicians, wizards, and astrologers were brought in, and I told them my dream, but they could not explain it to me. ⁸Then Daniel came in. (He is also called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god.) The spirit of the holy gods is in him, so I told him what I had dreamed. I said to him: ⁹Belteshazzar, chief of the fortunetellers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that you understand all mysteries. This is my dream. Tell me what it means.
¹⁰"While I was asleep, I had a vision of a huge tree in the middle of the earth. ¹¹It grew bigger and bigger until it reached the sky and could be seen by everyone in the world. ¹²Its leaves were beautiful, and it was loaded down with fruit--enough for the whole world to eat. Wild animals rested in its shade, birds built nests in its branches, and every kind of living being ate its fruit.
¹³"While I was thinking about the vision, I saw coming down from heaven an angel, alert and watchful. ¹⁴He proclaimed in a loud voice, 'Cut the tree down and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Drive the animals from under it and the birds out of its branches. ¹⁵But leave the stump in the ground with a band of iron and bronze around it. Leave it there in the field with the grass.
"'Now let the dew fall on this man, and let him live with the animals and the plants. ¹⁶For seven years he will not have a human mind, but the mind of an animal. ¹⁷This is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses--even to those who are least important.'
¹⁸"This is the dream I had," said King Nebuchadnezzar. "Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means. None of my royal advisers could tell me, but you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."

Daniel Explains the Dream

¹⁹At this, Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar, was so alarmed that he could not say anything. The king said to him, "Belteshazzar, don't let the dream and its message alarm you."
Belteshazzar replied, "Your Majesty, I wish that the dream and its explanation applied to your enemies and not to you. ²⁰The tree, so tall that it reached the sky, could be seen by everyone in the world. ²¹Its leaves were beautiful, and it had enough fruit on it to feed the whole world. Wild animals rested under it, and birds made their nests in its branches.
²²"Your Majesty, you are the tree, tall and strong. You have grown so great that you reach the sky, and your power extends over the whole world. ²³While Your Majesty was watching, an angel came down from heaven and said, 'Cut the tree down and destroy it, but leave the stump in the ground. Wrap a band of iron and bronze around it, and leave it there in the field with the grass. Let the dew fall on this man, and let him live there with the animals for seven years.'
²⁴"This, then, is what it means, Your Majesty, and this is what the Supreme God has declared will happen to you. ²⁵You will be driven away from human society and will live with wild animals. For seven years you will eat grass like an ox and sleep in the open air, where the dew will fall on you. Then you will admit that the Supreme God controls all human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses. ²⁶The angel ordered the stump to be left in the ground. This means that you will become king again when you acknowledge that God rules all the world. ²⁷So then, Your Majesty, follow my advice. Stop sinning, do what is right, and be merciful to the poor. Then you will continue to be prosperous."
²⁸All this did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹Only twelve months later, while he was walking around on the roof of his royal palace in Babylon, ³⁰he said, "Look how great Babylon is! I built it as my capital city to display my power and might, my glory and majesty."
³¹Before the words were out of his mouth, a voice spoke from heaven, "King Nebuchadnezzar, listen to what I say! Your royal power is now taken away from you. ³²You will be driven away from human society, live with wild animals, and eat grass like an ox for seven years. Then you will acknowledge that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses."
³³The words came true immediately. Nebuchadnezzar was driven out of human society and ate grass like an ox. The dew fell on his body, and his hair grew as long as eagle feathers and his nails as long as bird claws.

Nebuchadnezzar Praises God

³⁴"When the seven years had passed," said the king, "I looked up at the sky, and my sanity returned. I praised the Supreme God and gave honor and glory to the one who lives forever.
"He will rule forever,
and his kingdom will last for all time.
³⁵He looks on the people of the earth as nothing;
angels in heaven and people on earth
are under his control.
No one can oppose his will
or question what he does.
³⁶"When my sanity returned, my honor, my majesty, and the glory of my kingdom were given back to me. My officials and my noblemen welcomed me, and I was given back my royal power with even greater honor than before.
³⁷"And now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, honor, and glorify the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right and just, and he can humble anyone who acts proudly."

Next Page

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Today's Reading: Mark 3.1-19, 2 Samuel 6 and Daniel 3

Nothing is too big for my God and nothing will stop Him from doing what is right.

The Man with a Paralyzed Hand
(Matthew 12.9-14; Luke 6.6-11)

Mark 3 Then Jesus went back to the synagogue, where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. ²Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong; so they watched him closely to see whether he would cure the man on the Sabbath. ³Jesus said to the man, "Come up here to the front." ⁴Then he asked the people, "What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone's life or to destroy it?"
But they did not say a thing. ⁵Jesus was angry as he looked around at them, but at the same time he felt sorry for them, because they were so stubborn and wrong. Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it became well again. ⁶So the Pharisees left the synagogue and met at once with some members of Herod's party, and they made plans to kill Jesus.

A Crowd by the Lake

⁷Jesus and his disciples went away to Lake Galilee, and a large crowd followed him. They had come from Galilee, from Judea, ⁸from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of the Jordan, and from the region around the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All these people came to Jesus because they had heard of the things he was doing. ⁹The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him. ¹⁰He had healed many people, and all the sick kept pushing their way to him in order to touch him. ¹¹And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, "You are the Son of God!"
¹²Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles
(Matthew 10.1-4; Luke 6.12-16)

¹³Then Jesus went up a hill and called to himself the men he wanted. They came to him, ¹⁴and he chose twelve, whom he named apostles. "I have chosen you to be with me," he told them. "I will also send you out to preach, ¹⁵and you will have authority to drive out demons."
¹⁶These are the twelve he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); ¹⁷James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means "Men of Thunder"); ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

Have you looked to see what God wants you to do? Have You followed the pattern that He has shown you? There is a reason that He has given us His Word - The Bible, it is to guide us and protect us from the lies and deceit of the enemy of our souls - the devil. There is a Heaven and there is a Hell - since God has given us a freewill it is up to us to choose. What will you choose? I choose life and life to the full through my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who can and gave His life that I could be reconciled to God and receive the promises of eternal life. I thank Him and praise Him, in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Covenant Box Is Brought to Jerusalem
(1 Chronicles 13.1-14; 15.25 --16.6, 43)

2 Samuel 6 Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of thirty thousand men, ²and led them to Baalah in Judah, in order to bring from there God's Covenant Box, bearing the name of the LORD Almighty, whose throne is above the winged creatures. ³They took it from Abinadab's home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, ⁴with Ahio walking in front. ⁵David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might to honor the LORD. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.
⁶As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. ⁷At once the LORD God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence. Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, ⁸and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah ever since. David was furious because the LORD had punished Uzzah in anger.
⁹Then David was afraid of the LORD and said, "How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?" ¹⁰So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. ¹¹It stayed there three months, and the LORD blessed Obed Edom and his family.
¹²King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the LORD had blessed Obed Edom's family and all that he had; so he got the Covenant Box from Obed's house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration. ¹³After the men carrying the Covenant Box had gone six steps, David had them stop while he offered the LORD a sacrifice of a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴David, wearing only a linen cloth around his waist, danced with all his might to honor the LORD. ¹⁵And so he and all the Israelites took the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy and the sound of trumpets.
¹⁶As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and jumping around in the sacred dance, and she was disgusted with him. ¹⁷They brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent that David had set up for it. Then he offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the LORD. ¹⁸When he had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty ¹⁹and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat, and some raisins. Then everyone went home.
²⁰Afterward, when David went home to greet his family, Michal came out to meet him. "The king of Israel made a big name for himself today!" she said. "He exposed himself like a fool in the sight of the servant women of his officials!"
²¹David answered, "I was dancing to honor the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and his family to make me the leader of his people Israel. And I will go on dancing to honor the LORD, ²²and will disgrace myself even more. You may think I am nothing, but those women will think highly of me!"
²³Michal, Saul's daughter, never had any children.

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Nebuchadnezzar Commands Everyone to Worship a Gold Statue

Daniel 3 King Nebuchadnezzar had a gold statue made, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and he had it set up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. ²Then the king gave orders for all his officials to come together--the princes, governors, lieutenant governors, commissioners, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other officials of the provinces. They were to attend the dedication of the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ³When all these officials gathered for the dedication and stood in front of the statue, ⁴a herald announced in a loud voice, "People of all nations, races, and languages! ⁵You will hear the sound of the trumpets, followed by the playing of oboes, lyres, zithers, and harps; and then all the other instruments will join in. As soon as the music starts, you are to bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. ⁶Anyone who does not bow down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace." ⁷And so, as soon as they heard the sound of the instruments, the people of all the nations, races, and languages bowed down and worshiped the gold statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Daniel's Three Friends Are Accused of Disobedience

⁸It was then that some Babylonians took the opportunity to denounce the Jews. ⁹They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "May Your Majesty live forever! ¹⁰Your Majesty has issued an order that as soon as the music starts, everyone is to bow down and worship the gold statue, ¹¹and that anyone who does not bow down and worship it is to be thrown into a blazing furnace. ¹²There are some Jews whom you put in charge of the province of Babylon--Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego--who are disobeying Your Majesty's orders. They do not worship your god or bow down to the statue you set up."
¹³At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the three men to be brought before him. ¹⁴He said to them, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you refuse to worship my god and to bow down to the gold statue I have set up? ¹⁵Now then, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, oboes, lyres, zithers, harps, and all the other instruments, bow down and worship the statue. If you do not, you will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Do you think there is any god who can save you?"
¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, "Your Majesty, we will not try to defend ourselves. ¹⁷If the God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing furnace and from your power, then he will. ¹⁸But even if he doesn't, Your Majesty may be sure that we will not worship your god, and we will not bow down to the gold statue that you have set up."

Daniel's Three Friends Are Sentenced to Death

¹⁹Then Nebuchadnezzar lost his temper, and his face turned red with anger at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual. ²⁰And he commanded the strongest men in his army to tie the three men up and throw them into the blazing furnace. ²¹So they tied them up, fully dressed--shirts, robes, caps, and all--and threw them into the blazing furnace. ²²Now because the king had given strict orders for the furnace to be made extremely hot, the flames burned up the guards who took the men to the furnace. ²³Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still tied up, fell into the heart of the blazing fire.
²⁴Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement. He asked his officials, "Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the blazing furnace?"
They answered, "Yes, we did, Your Majesty."
²⁵"Then why do I see four men walking around in the fire?" he asked. "They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt--and the fourth one looks like an angel."

The Three Men Are Released and Promoted

²⁶So Nebuchadnezzar went up to the door of the blazing furnace and called out, "Shadrach! Meshach! Abednego! Servants of the Supreme God! Come out!" And they came out at once. ²⁷All the princes, governors, lieutenant governors, and other officials of the king gathered to look at the three men, who had not been harmed by the fire. Their hair was not singed, their clothes were not burned, and there was no smell of smoke on them.
²⁸The king said, "Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued these men who serve and trust him. They disobeyed my orders and risked their lives rather than bow down and worship any god except their own.
²⁹"And now I command that if anyone of any nation, race, or language speaks disrespectfully of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he is to be torn limb from limb, and his house is to be made a pile of ruins. There is no other god who can rescue like this."
³⁰And the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to higher positions in the province of Babylon.

Heavenly Father,
Help me to grab onto what  You have to revealed to me about my marriage and family. Help me to model after You and be one who loves and encourages his family. Help me to be the husband that is like Jesus willing to give up his life for his wife as Jesus gave up His life for the church. Help me to be a good father, just as You are so awesome and have and continue to be a role model of what a father should be. Lord help me with this today for I give You all the praise and the glory and the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading: Mark 2, 2 Samuel 4-5 and Daniel 2.24-49

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man
(Matthew 9.1-8; Luke 5.17-26)

Mark 2 A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum, and the news spread that he was at home. ²So many people came together that there was no room left, not even out in front of the door. Jesus was preaching the message to them ³when four men arrived, carrying a paralyzed man to Jesus. ⁴Because of the crowd, however, they could not get the man to him. So they made a hole in the roof right above the place where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they let the man down, lying on his mat. ⁵Seeing how much faith they had, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
⁶Some teachers of the Law who were sitting there thought to themselves, ⁷"How does he dare talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!"
⁸At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, "Why do you think such things? ⁹Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, pick up your mat, and walk'? ¹⁰I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"
¹²While they all watched, the man got up, picked up his mat, and hurried away. They were all completely amazed and praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Jesus Calls Levi
(Matthew 9.9-13; Luke 5.27-32)

¹³Jesus went back again to the shore of Lake Galilee. A crowd came to him, and he started teaching them. ¹⁴As he walked along, he saw a tax collector, Levi son of Alphaeus, sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, "Follow me." Levi got up and followed him.
¹⁵Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house. A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table. ¹⁶Some teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees, saw that Jesus was eating with these outcasts and tax collectors, so they asked his disciples, "Why does he eat with such people?"
¹⁷Jesus heard them and answered, "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts."

The Question about Fasting
(Matthew 9.14-17; Luke 5.33-39)

¹⁸On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and asked him, "Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?"
¹⁹Jesus answered, "Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that. ²⁰But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
²¹"No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole. ²²Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins."

The Question about the Sabbath
(Matthew 12.1-8; Luke 6.1-5)

²³Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. As his disciples walked along with him, they began to pick the heads of wheat. ²⁴So the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do that on the Sabbath!"
²⁵Jesus answered, "Have you never read what David did that time when he needed something to eat? He and his men were hungry, ²⁶so he went into the house of God and ate the bread offered to God. This happened when Abiathar was the High Priest. According to our Law only the priests may eat this bread--but David ate it and even gave it to his men."
²⁷And Jesus concluded, "The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath. ²⁸So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

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Ishbosheth Is Murdered

2 Samuel 4 When Saul's son Ishbosheth heard that Abner had been killed in Hebron, he was afraid, and all the people of Israel were alarmed. ²Ishbosheth had two officers who were leaders of raiding parties, Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon, from Beeroth in the tribe of Benjamin. (Beeroth is counted as part of Benjamin. ³Its original inhabitants had fled to Gittaim, where they have lived ever since.)
⁴Another descendant of Saul was Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, who was five years old when Saul and Jonathan were killed. When the news about their death came from the city of Jezreel, his nurse picked him up and fled; but she was in such a hurry that she dropped him, and he became crippled.
⁵Rechab and Baanah set out for Ishbosheth's house and arrived there about noon, while he was taking his midday rest. ⁶The woman at the door had become drowsy while she was sifting wheat and had fallen asleep, so Rechab and Baanah slipped in. ⁷Once inside, they went to Ishbosheth's bedroom, where he was sound asleep, and killed him. Then they cut off his head, took it with them, and walked all night through the Jordan Valley. ⁸They presented the head to King David at Hebron and said to him, "Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul, who tried to kill you. Today the LORD has allowed Your Majesty to take revenge on Saul and his descendants."
⁹David answered them, "I take a vow by the living LORD, who has saved me from all dangers! ¹⁰The messenger who came to me at Ziklag and told me of Saul's death thought he was bringing good news. I seized him and had him put to death. That was the reward I gave him for his good news! ¹¹How much worse it will be for evil men who murder an innocent man asleep in his own house! I will now take revenge on you for murdering him and will wipe you off the face of the earth!" ¹²David gave the order, and his soldiers killed Rechab and Baanah and cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up near the pool in Hebron. They took Ishbosheth's head and buried it in Abner's tomb there at Hebron.

David Becomes King of Israel and Judah
(1 Chronicles 11.1-9; 14.1-7)

2 Samuel 5 Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and said to him, "We are your own flesh and blood. ²In the past, even when Saul was still our king, you led the people of Israel in battle, and the LORD promised you that you would lead his people and be their ruler." ³So all the leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. ⁵He ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
⁶The time came when King David and his men set out to attack Jerusalem. The Jebusites, who lived there, thought that David would not be able to conquer the city, and so they said to him, "You will never get in here; even the blind and the crippled could keep you out." ( ⁷But David did capture their fortress of Zion, and it became known as "David's City.")
⁸That day David said to his men, "Does anybody here hate the Jebusites as much as I do? Enough to kill them? Then go up through the water tunnel and attack those poor blind cripples." (That is why it is said, "The blind and the crippled cannot enter the LORD's house.")
⁹After capturing the fortress, David lived in it and named it "David's City." He built the city around it, starting at the place where land was filled in on the east side of the hill. ¹⁰He grew stronger all the time, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.
¹¹King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with carpenters and stone masons to build a palace. ¹²And so David realized that the LORD had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people.
¹³After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David took more concubines and wives, and had more sons and daughters. ¹⁴The following children were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

Victory over the Philistines
(1 Chronicles 14.8-17)

¹⁷The Philistines were told that David had been made king of Israel, so their army set out to capture him. When David heard of it, he went down to a fortified place. ¹⁸The Philistines arrived at Rephaim Valley and occupied it. ¹⁹David asked the LORD, "Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?"
"Yes, attack!" the LORD answered. "I will give you the victory!"
²⁰So David went to Baal Perazim and there he defeated the Philistines. He said, "The LORD has broken through my enemies like a flood." And so that place is called Baal Perazim. ²¹When the Philistines fled, they left their idols behind, and David and his men carried them away.
²²Then the Philistines went back to Rephaim Valley and occupied it again. ²³Once more David consulted the LORD, who answered, "Don't attack them from here, but go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees. ²⁴When you hear the sound of marching in the treetops, then attack because I will be marching ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army." ²⁵David did what the LORD had commanded, and was able to drive the Philistines back from Geba all the way to Gezer.

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Daniel Tells the King the Dream and Explains It

Daniel 2 ²⁴So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had commanded to execute the royal advisers. He said to him, "Don't put them to death. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means."
²⁵At once Arioch took Daniel into King Nebuchadnezzar's presence and told the king, "I have found one of the Jewish exiles who can tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream."
²⁶The king said to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar), "Can you tell me what I dreamed and what it means?"
²⁷Daniel replied, "Your Majesty, there is no wizard, magician, fortuneteller, or astrologer who can tell you that. ²⁸But there is a God in heaven, who reveals mysteries. He has informed Your Majesty what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you the dream, the vision you had while you were asleep.
²⁹"While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about the future; and God, who reveals mysteries, showed you what is going to happen. ³⁰Now, this mystery was revealed to me, not because I am wiser than anyone else, but so that Your Majesty may learn the meaning of your dream and understand the thoughts that have come to you.
³¹"Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at. ³²Its head was made of the finest gold; its chest and arms were made of silver; its waist and hips of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴While you were looking at it, a great stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it, struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, and shattered them. ³⁵At once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold crumbled and became like the dust on a threshing place in summer. The wind carried it all away, leaving not a trace. But the stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole earth.
³⁶"This was the dream. Now I will tell Your Majesty what it means. ³⁷Your Majesty, you are the greatest of all kings. The God of heaven has made you emperor and given you power, might, and honor. ³⁸He has made you ruler of all the inhabited earth and ruler over all the animals and birds. You are the head of gold. ³⁹After you there will be another empire, not as great as yours, and after that a third, an empire of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. ⁴⁰And then there will be a fourth empire, as strong as iron, which shatters and breaks everything. And just as iron shatters everything, it will shatter and crush all the earlier empires. ⁴¹You also saw that the feet and the toes were partly clay and partly iron. This means that it will be a divided empire. It will have something of the strength of iron, because there was iron mixed with the clay. ⁴²The toes--partly iron and partly clay--mean that part of the empire will be strong and part of it weak. ⁴³You also saw that the iron was mixed with the clay. This means that the rulers of that empire will try to unite their families by intermarriage, but they will not be able to, any more than iron can mix with clay. ⁴⁴At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever. ⁴⁵You saw how a stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it and how it struck the statue made of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God is telling Your Majesty what will happen in the future. I have told you exactly what you dreamed, and have given you its true meaning."

The King Rewards Daniel

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground and gave orders for sacrifices and offerings to be made to Daniel. ⁴⁷The king said, "Your God is the greatest of all gods, the Lord over kings, and the one who reveals mysteries. I know this because you have been able to explain this mystery." ⁴⁸Then he gave Daniel a high position, presented him with many splendid gifts, put him in charge of the province of Babylon, and made him the head of all the royal advisers. ⁴⁹At Daniel's request the king put Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in charge of the affairs of the province of Babylon; Daniel, however, remained at the royal court.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Do you realize how important it is for a son to know how he is loved by his dad?

Have you expressed to your son in words, not just in action how much you love them?

Have you expressed to your son how much God loves him and how it is shown in the Word of God (the Bible)?

God himself shows us that it is even important for Jesus to hear from His heavenly Father words of encouragement.

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
(Matthew 3.13--4.11; Luke 3.21, 22; 4.1-13)

⁹Not long afterward Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, "You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you."

If it was important enough to tell Jesus who wouldn't have had self-confidence or doubt about the love of the Father, how much more important is it for us fathers to express to our sons how much they are loved.

Let's stop the cycle of men that are unsure about the love between themselves and their fathers and as we go into Father's day - let's give back to our children a word of encouragement and a word of love so that they know beyond a shadow of a doubt because they have heard it from our own mouths.

I LOVE YOU.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day. I thank You for a great family, Your provision through a great job and times of fellowship with other believers. I pray Lord that You will bless all three of these areas and help me to be a blessing to others in all these areas. Lord, I still remember when I was baptized on the same day as my wife as we were following Your example - if Jesus did it, we should do it - that was so powerful, I remember the feeling coming up out of the water and knowing that I was changed. Lord, I remember during the week of spiritual emphasis that same year when one of the guest spoke of the Holy Spirit and called us to the altar if we wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I remember the power and confidence, the boldness of my confidence in You and how I know have another prayer language that can speak to You and express things I could not otherwise be able to say. Thank You my Lord and I pray that others will be able to share their experiences to encourage and lift up other believers - that we would build up unity of the body around the world in Jesus' name I pray. Lord, I give You all the praise and all the glory and all the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's reading: Mark 1.1-20, 2 Samuel 2.1-3.1 and Daniel 1

The Preaching of John the Baptist
(Matthew 3.1-12; Luke 3.1-18; John 1.19-28)

Mark 1 This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ²It began as the prophet Isaiah had written:
"God said, 'I will send my messenger ahead of you
to open the way for you.'
³Someone is shouting in the desert,
'Get the road ready for the Lord;
make a straight path for him to travel!'"
⁴So John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching. "Turn away from your sins and be baptized," he told the people, "and God will forgive your sins." ⁵Many people from the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem went out to hear John. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.
⁶John wore clothes made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁷He announced to the people, "The man who will come after me is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to bend down and untie his sandals. ⁸I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
(Matthew 3.13--4.11; Luke 3.21, 22; 4.1-13)

⁹Not long afterward Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, "You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you."
¹²At once the Spirit made him go into the desert, ¹³where he stayed forty days, being tempted by Satan. Wild animals were there also, but angels came and helped him.

Jesus Calls Four Fishermen
(Matthew 4.12-22; Luke 4.14, 15; 5.1-11)

¹⁴After John had been put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee and preached the Good News from God. ¹⁵"The right time has come," he said, "and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!"
¹⁶As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, catching fish with a net. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, "Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people." ¹⁸At once they left their nets and went with him.
¹⁹He went a little farther on and saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat getting their nets ready. ²⁰As soon as Jesus saw them, he called them; they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went with Jesus.

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David Is Made King of Judah

2 Samuel 2 After this, David asked the LORD, "Shall I go and take control of one of the towns of Judah?"
"Yes," the LORD answered.
"Which one?" David asked.
"Hebron," the LORD said. ²So David went to Hebron, taking with him his two wives: Ahinoam, who was from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal's widow, who was from Carmel. ³He also took his men and their families, and they settled in the towns around Hebron. ⁴Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and anointed David as king of Judah.
When David heard that the people of Jabesh in Gilead had buried Saul, ⁵he sent some men there with the message: "May the LORD bless you for showing your loyalty to your king by burying him. ⁶And now may the LORD be kind and faithful to you. I too will treat you well because of what you have done. ⁷Be strong and brave! Saul your king is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me as their king."

Ishbosheth Is Made King of Israel

⁸The commander of Saul's army, Abner son of Ner, had fled with Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim. ⁹There Abner made Ishbosheth king of the territories of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin, and indeed over all Israel. ¹⁰He was forty years old when he was made king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.
But the tribe of Judah was loyal to David, ¹¹and he ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years.

War between Israel and Judah

¹²Abner and the officials of Ishbosheth went from Mahanaim to the city of Gibeon. ¹³Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, and David's other officials met them at the pool, where they all sat down, one group on one side of the pool and the other group on the opposite side. ¹⁴Abner said to Joab, "Let's have some of the young men from each side fight an armed contest."
"All right," Joab answered.
¹⁵So twelve men, representing Ishbosheth and the tribe of Benjamin, fought twelve of David's men. ¹⁶Each man caught his opponent by the head and plunged his sword into his opponent's side, so that all twenty-four of them fell down dead together. And so that place in Gibeon is called "Field of Swords."
¹⁷Then a furious battle broke out, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David's men. ¹⁸The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel, who could run as fast as a wild deer, ¹⁹started chasing Abner, running straight for him. ²⁰Abner looked back and said, "Is that you, Asahel?"
"Yes," he answered.
²¹"Stop chasing me!" Abner said. "Run after one of the soldiers and take what he has." But Asahel kept on chasing him. ²²Once more Abner said to him, "Stop chasing me! Why force me to kill you? How could I face your brother Joab?" ²³But Asahel would not quit; so Abner, with a backward thrust of his spear, struck him through the stomach so that the spear came out at his back. Asahel dropped to the ground dead, and everyone who came to the place where he was lying stopped and stood there.
²⁴But Joab and Abishai started out after Abner, and at sunset they came to the hill of Ammah, which is to the east of Giah on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner again and took their stand on the top of a hill. ²⁶Abner called out to Joab, "Do we have to go on fighting forever? Can't you see that in the end there will be nothing but bitterness? We are your relatives. How long will it be before you order your men to stop chasing us?"
²⁷"I swear by the living God," Joab answered, "that if you had not spoken, my men would have kept on chasing you until tomorrow morning." ²⁸Then Joab blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to stop pursuing the Israelites; and so the fighting stopped.
²⁹Abner and his men marched through the Jordan Valley all that night; they crossed the Jordan River, and after marching all the next morning, they arrived back at Mahanaim.
³⁰When Joab gave up the chase, he gathered all his men and found that nineteen of them were missing, in addition to Asahel. ³¹David's men had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin. ³²Joab and his men took Asahel's body and buried it in the family tomb at Bethlehem. Then they marched all night and at dawn arrived back at Hebron.
2 Samuel 3 The fighting between the forces supporting Saul's family and those supporting David went on for a long time. As David became stronger and stronger, his opponents became weaker and weaker.

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THE STORY OF DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDS (1.1--6.28)

The Young Men at Nebuchadnezzar's Court

Daniel 1 In the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia attacked Jerusalem and surrounded the city. ²The Lord let him capture King Jehoiakim and seize some of the Temple treasures. He took some prisoners back with him to the temple of his gods in Babylon, and put the captured treasures in the temple storerooms.
³The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief official, to select from among the Israelite exiles some young men of the royal family and of the noble families. ⁴They had to be handsome, intelligent, well-trained, quick to learn, and free from physical defects, so that they would be qualified to serve in the royal court. Ashpenaz was to teach them to read and write the Babylonian language. ⁵The king also gave orders that every day they were to be given the same food and wine as the members of the royal court. After three years of this training they were to appear before the king. ⁶Among those chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all of whom were from the tribe of Judah. ⁷The chief official gave them new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
⁸Daniel made up his mind not to let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him, ⁹and God made Ashpenaz sympathetic to Daniel. ¹⁰Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, "The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you don't look as fit as the other young men, he may kill me."
¹¹So Daniel went to the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends. ¹²"Test us for ten days," he said. "Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look."
¹⁴He agreed to let them try it for ten days. ¹⁵When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food. ¹⁶So from then on the guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provided.
¹⁷God gave the four young men knowledge and skill in literature and philosophy. In addition, he gave Daniel skill in interpreting visions and dreams.
¹⁸At the end of the three years set by the king, Ashpenaz took all the young men to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹The king talked with them all, and Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah impressed him more than any of the others. So they became members of the king's court. ²⁰No matter what question the king asked or what problem he raised, these four knew ten times more than any fortuneteller or magician in his whole kingdom. ²¹Daniel remained at the royal court until Cyrus, the emperor of Persia, conquered Babylonia.

Next Page

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and for the provision of a family, a home, a church, and a job. Lord, in all I say and do, please be glorified. Lord, help me to be a light in the darkness. Help me to shine through the confusion. Help me to work for the unity of the body of Christ. Lord, please allow us to come together in fellowship and to share our burdens and the load so that nobody is alone in their challenges an struggles. Lord, I thank You for the door of opportunity You have opened and ask that You help me to walk through - with the boldness that comes from trusting in a mighty God. Help me Lord to not make it about me, to keep me from falling into pride and boasting, but to have confidence and boldness because of You - less of me and more of You I pray. I pray for Your healing touch Lord as sickness has invaded my camp - at home and at work. Bring Your healing touch so that we can be strong and united, healthy to do Your good work, in Jesus' name I pray. And Lord, we will give You all the praise and all the glory and all the honor in Jesus' name. Amen. 

Personal Greetings

Romans 16 I recommend to you our sister Phoebe, who serves the church at Cenchreae. ²Receive her in the Lord's name, as God's people should, and give her any help she may need from you; for she herself has been a good friend to many people and also to me.
³I send greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in the service of Christ Jesus; ⁴they risked their lives for me. I am grateful to them--not only I, but all the Gentile churches as well. ⁵Greetings also to the church that meets in their house.
Greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus, who was the first in the province of Asia to believe in Christ. ⁶Greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for you. ⁷Greetings also to Andronicus and Junia, fellow Jews who were in prison with me; they are well known among the apostles, and they became Christians before I did.
⁸My greetings to Ampliatus, my dear friend in the fellowship of the Lord. ⁹Greetings also to Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ's service, and to Stachys, my dear friend. ¹⁰Greetings to Apelles, whose loyalty to Christ has been proved. Greetings to those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. ¹¹Greetings to Herodion, a fellow Jew, and to the Christians in the family of Narcissus.
¹²My greetings to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who work in the Lord's service, and to my dear friend Persis, who has done so much work for the Lord. ¹³I send greetings to Rufus, that outstanding worker in the Lord's service, and to his mother, who has always treated me like a son. ¹⁴My greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and all the other Christians with them. ¹⁵Greetings to Philologus and Julia, to Nereus and his sister, to Olympas and to all of God's people who are with them.
¹⁶Greet one another with the kiss of peace. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.

Final Instructions

¹⁷I urge you, my friends: watch out for those who cause divisions and upset people's faith and go against the teaching which you have received. Keep away from them! ¹⁸For those who do such things are not serving Christ our Lord, but their own appetites. By their fine words and flattering speech they deceive innocent people. ¹⁹Everyone has heard of your loyalty to the gospel, and for this reason I am happy about you. I want you to be wise about what is good, but innocent in what is evil. ²⁰And God, our source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings; and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, fellow Jews.
²²I, Tertius, the writer of this letter, send you Christian greetings.
²³My host Gaius, in whose house the church meets, sends you his greetings; Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.

Concluding Prayer of Praise

²⁵Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past. ²⁶Now, however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.
²⁷To the only God, who alone is all-wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever! Amen.

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David Learns of Saul's Death

2 Samuel 1 After Saul's death David came back from his victory over the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag for two days. ²The next day a young man arrived from Saul's camp. To show his grief, he had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head. He went to David and bowed to the ground in respect. ³David asked him, "Where have you come from?"
"I have escaped from the Israelite camp," he answered.
⁴"Tell me what happened," David said.
"Our army ran away from the battle," he replied, "and many of our men were killed. Saul and his son Jonathan were also killed."
⁵"How do you know that Saul and Jonathan are dead?" David asked him.
⁶He answered, "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and I saw that Saul was leaning on his spear and that the chariots and cavalry of the enemy were closing in on him. ⁷Then he turned around, saw me, and called to me. I answered, 'Yes, sir!' ⁸He asked who I was, and I told him that I was an Amalekite. ⁹Then he said, 'Come here and kill me! I have been badly wounded, and I'm about to die.' ¹⁰So I went up to him and killed him, because I knew that he would die anyway as soon as he fell. Then I took the crown from his head and the bracelet from his arm, and I have brought them to you, sir."
¹¹David tore his clothes in sorrow, and all his men did the same. ¹²They grieved and mourned and fasted until evening for Saul and Jonathan and for Israel, the people of the LORD, because so many had been killed in battle.
¹³David asked the young man who had brought him the news, "Where are you from?"
He answered, "I'm an Amalekite, but I live in your country."
¹⁴David asked him, "How is it that you dared kill the LORD's chosen king?" ¹⁵Then David called one of his men and said, "Kill him!" The man struck the Amalekite and mortally wounded him, ¹⁶and David said to the Amalekite, "You brought this on yourself. You condemned yourself when you confessed that you killed the one whom the LORD chose to be king."

David's Lament for Saul and Jonathan

¹⁷David sang this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸and ordered it to be taught to the people of Judah. (It is recorded in The Book of Jashar.)
¹⁹"On the hills of Israel our leaders are dead!
The bravest of our soldiers have fallen!
²⁰Do not announce it in Gath
or in the streets of Ashkelon.
Do not make the women of Philistia glad;
do not let the daughters of pagans rejoice.
²¹"May no rain or dew fall on Gilboa's hills;
may its fields be always barren!
For the shields of the brave lie there in disgrace;
the shield of Saul is no longer polished with oil.
²²Jonathan's bow was deadly,
the sword of Saul was merciless,
striking down the mighty, killing the enemy.
²³"Saul and Jonathan, so wonderful and dear;
together in life, together in death;
swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.
²⁴"Women of Israel, mourn for Saul!
He clothed you in rich scarlet dresses
and adorned you with jewels and gold.
²⁵"The brave soldiers have fallen,
they were killed in battle.
Jonathan lies dead in the hills.
²⁶"I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan;
how dear you were to me!
How wonderful was your love for me,
better even than the love of women.
²⁷"The brave soldiers have fallen,
their weapons abandoned and useless."

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A Prayer for the King

Psalm 72 Teach the king to judge with your righteousness, O God;
share with him your own justice,
²so that he will rule over your people with justice
and govern the oppressed with righteousness.
³May the land enjoy prosperity;
may it experience righteousness.
⁴May the king judge the poor fairly;
may he help the needy
and defeat their oppressors.
⁵May your people worship you as long as the sun shines,
as long as the moon gives light, for ages to come.
⁶May the king be like rain on the fields,
like showers falling on the land.
⁷May righteousness flourish in his lifetime,
and may prosperity last as long as the moon gives light.
⁸His kingdom will reach from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
⁹The peoples of the desert will bow down before him;
his enemies will throw themselves to the ground.
¹⁰The kings of Spain and of the islands will offer him gifts;
the kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him offerings.
¹¹All kings will bow down before him;
all nations will serve him.
¹²He rescues the poor who call to him,
and those who are needy and neglected.
¹³He has pity on the weak and poor;
he saves the lives of those in need.
¹⁴He rescues them from oppression and violence;
their lives are precious to him.
¹⁵Long live the king!
May he be given gold from Sheba;
may prayers be said for him at all times;
may God's blessings be on him always!
¹⁶May there be plenty of grain in the land;
may the hills be covered with crops,
as fruitful as those of Lebanon.
May the cities be filled with people,
like fields full of grass.
¹⁷May the king's name never be forgotten;
may his fame last as long as the sun.
May all nations ask God to bless them
as he has blessed the king.
¹⁸Praise the LORD, the God of Israel!
He alone does these wonderful things.
¹⁹Praise his glorious name forever!
May his glory fill the whole world.

Amen! Amen!

²⁰This is the end of the prayers of David son of Jesse.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Today's Reading: Romans 15.1-13, 1 Samuel 27-28 and Psalm 70

Please Others, Not Yourselves

Romans 15 We who are strong in the faith ought to help the weak to carry their burdens. We should not please ourselves. ²Instead, we should all please other believers for their own good, in order to build them up in the faith. ³For Christ did not please himself. Instead, as the scripture says, "The insults which are hurled at you have fallen on me." ⁴Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us, in order that we might have hope through the patience and encouragement which the Scriptures give us. ⁵And may God, the source of patience and encouragement, enable you to have the same point of view among yourselves by following the example of Christ Jesus, ⁶so that all of you together may praise with one voice the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel to the Gentiles

⁷Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted you. ⁸For I tell you that Christ's life of service was on behalf of the Jews, to show that God is faithful, to make his promises to their ancestors come true, ⁹and to enable even the Gentiles to praise God for his mercy. As the scripture says,
"And so I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to you."
¹⁰Again it says,
"Rejoice, Gentiles, with God's people!"
¹¹And again,
"Praise the Lord, all Gentiles; praise him, all peoples!"
¹²And again, Isaiah says,
"A descendant of Jesse will appear; he will come to rule the Gentiles, and they will put their hope in him."
¹³May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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David among the Philistines

1 Samuel 27 David said to himself, "One of these days Saul will kill me. The best thing for me to do is to escape to Philistia. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel, and I will be safe." ²So David and his six hundred men went over at once to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³David and his men settled there in Gath with their families. David had his two wives with him, Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal's widow, from Carmel. ⁴When Saul heard that David had fled to Gath, he gave up trying to find him.
⁵David said to Achish, "If you are my friend, let me have a small town to live in. There is no need, sir, for me to live with you in the capital city." ⁶So Achish gave him the town of Ziklag, and for this reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. ⁷David lived in Philistia for sixteen months.
⁸During that time David and his men would attack the people of Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek, who had been living in the region a very long time. He would raid their land as far as Shur, all the way down to Egypt, ⁹killing all the men and women and taking the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and even the clothes. Then he would come back to Achish, ¹⁰who would ask him, "Where did you go on a raid this time?" and David would tell him that he had gone to the southern part of Judah or to the territory of the clan of Jerahmeel or to the territory where the Kenites lived. ¹¹David would kill everyone, men and women, so that no one could go back to Gath and report what he and his men had really done. This is what David did the whole time he lived in Philistia. ¹²But Achish trusted David and said to himself, "He is hated so much by his own people the Israelites that he will have to serve me all his life."
1 Samuel 28 Some time later the Philistines gathered their troops to fight Israel, and Achish said to David, "Of course you understand that you and your men are to fight on my side."
²"Of course," David answered. "I am your servant, and you will see for yourself what I can do."
Achish said, "Good! I will make you my permanent bodyguard."

Saul Consults a Medium

³Now Samuel had died, and all the Israelites had mourned for him and had buried him in his hometown of Ramah. Saul had forced all the fortunetellers and mediums to leave Israel.
⁴The Philistine troops assembled and camped near the town of Shunem; Saul gathered the Israelites and camped at Mount Gilboa. ⁵When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was terrified, ⁶and so he asked the LORD what to do. But the LORD did not answer him at all, either by dreams or by the use of Urim and Thummim or by prophets. ⁷Then Saul ordered his officials, "Find me a woman who is a medium, and I will go and consult her."
"There is one in Endor," they answered.
⁸So Saul disguised himself; he put on different clothes, and after dark he went with two of his men to see the woman. "Consult the spirits for me and tell me what is going to happen," he said to her. "Call up the spirit of the man I name."
⁹The woman answered, "Surely you know what King Saul has done, how he forced the fortunetellers and mediums to leave Israel. Why, then, are you trying to trap me and get me killed?"
¹⁰Then Saul made a sacred vow. "By the living LORD I promise that you will not be punished for doing this," he told her.
¹¹"Whom shall I call up for you?" the woman asked.
"Samuel," he answered.
¹²When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed and said to Saul, "Why have you tricked me? You are King Saul!"
¹³"Don't be afraid!" the king said to her. "What do you see?"
"I see a spirit coming up from the earth," she answered.
¹⁴"What does it look like?" he asked.
"It's an old man coming up," she answered. "He is wearing a cloak."
Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed to the ground in respect.
¹⁵Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me? Why did you make me come back?"
Saul answered, "I am in great trouble! The Philistines are at war with me, and God has abandoned me. He doesn't answer me any more, either by prophets or by dreams. And so I have called you, for you to tell me what I must do."
¹⁶Samuel said, "Why do you call me when the LORD has abandoned you and become your enemy? ¹⁷The LORD has done to you what he told you through me: he has taken the kingdom away from you and given it to David instead. ¹⁸You disobeyed the LORD's command and did not completely destroy the Amalekites and all they had. That is why the LORD is doing this to you now. ¹⁹He will give you and Israel over to the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will join me, and the LORD will also give the army of Israel over to the Philistines."
²⁰At once Saul fell down and lay stretched out on the ground, terrified by what Samuel had said. He was weak, because he had not eaten anything all day and all night. ²¹The woman went over to him and saw that he was terrified, so she said to him, "Please, sir, I risked my life by doing what you asked. ²²Now please do what I ask. Let me fix you some food. You must eat so that you will be strong enough to travel."
²³Saul refused and said he would not eat anything. But his officers also urged him to eat. He finally gave in, got up from the ground, and sat on the bed. ²⁴The woman quickly killed a calf which she had been fattening. Then she took some flour, prepared it, and baked some bread without yeast. ²⁵She set the food before Saul and his officers, and they ate it. And they left that same night.

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A Prayer for Help
(Psalm 40.13-17)

Psalm 70 Save me, O God!
LORD, help me now!
²May those who try to kill me
be defeated and confused.
May those who are happy because of my troubles
be turned back and disgraced.
³May those who make fun of me
be dismayed by their defeat.
⁴May all who come to you
be glad and joyful.
May all who are thankful for your salvation
always say, "How great is God!"
⁵I am weak and poor;
come to me quickly, O God.
You are my savior and my LORD--
hurry to my aid!

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Today's Reading: Romans 14, 1 Samuel 26 and Psalm 69

Do Not Judge Others

Romans 14 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but do not argue with them about their personal opinions. ²Some people's faith allows them to eat anything, but the person who is weak in the faith eats only vegetables. ³The person who will eat anything is not to despise the one who doesn't; while the one who eats only vegetables is not to pass judgment on the one who will eat anything; for God has accepted that person. ⁴Who are you to judge the servants of someone else? It is their own Master who will decide whether they succeed or fail. And they will succeed, because the Lord is able to make them succeed.
⁵Some people think that a certain day is more important than other days, while others think that all days are the same. We each should firmly make up our own minds. ⁶Those who think highly of a certain day do so in honor of the Lord; those who will eat anything do so in honor of the Lord, because they give thanks to God for the food. Those who refuse to eat certain things do so in honor of the Lord, and they give thanks to God. ⁷We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only. ⁸If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹For Christ died and rose to life in order to be the Lord of the living and of the dead. ¹⁰You then, who eat only vegetables--why do you pass judgment on others? And you who eat anything--why do you despise other believers? All of us will stand before God to be judged by him. ¹¹For the scripture says,
"As surely as I am the living God, says the Lord,
everyone will kneel before me,
and everyone will confess that I am God."
¹²Every one of us, then, will have to give an account to God.

Do Not Make Others Fall

¹³So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make others stumble or fall into sin. ¹⁴My union with the Lord Jesus makes me certain that no food is of itself ritually unclean; but if you believe that some food is unclean, then it becomes unclean for you. ¹⁵If you hurt others because of something you eat, then you are no longer acting from love. Do not let the food that you eat ruin the person for whom Christ died! ¹⁶Do not let what you regard as good get a bad name. ¹⁷For God's Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of the righteousness, peace, and joy which the Holy Spirit gives. ¹⁸And when you serve Christ in this way, you please God and are approved by others.
¹⁹So then, we must always aim at those things that bring peace and that help strengthen one another. ²⁰Do not, because of food, destroy what God has done. All foods may be eaten, but it is wrong to eat anything that will cause someone else to fall into sin. ²¹The right thing to do is to keep from eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that will make other believers fall. ²²Keep what you believe about this matter, then, between yourself and God. Happy are those who do not feel guilty when they do something they judge is right! ²³But if they have doubts about what they eat, God condemns them when they eat it, because their action is not based on faith. And anything that is not based on faith is sin.

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David Spares Saul's Life Again

1 Samuel 26 Some men from Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah and told him that David was hiding on Mount Hachilah at the edge of the Judean wilderness. ²Saul went at once with three thousand of the best soldiers in Israel to the wilderness of Ziph to look for David, ³and camped by the road on Mount Hachilah. David was still in the wilderness, and when he learned that Saul had come to look for him, ⁴he sent spies and found out that Saul was indeed there. ⁵He went at once and located the exact place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, slept. Saul slept inside the camp, and his men camped around him.
⁶Then David asked Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai the brother of Joab (their mother was Zeruiah), "Which of you two will go to Saul's camp with me?"
"I will," Abishai answered.
⁷So that night David and Abishai entered Saul's camp and found Saul sleeping in the center of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the troops were sleeping around him. ⁸Abishai said to David, "God has put your enemy in your power tonight. Now let me plunge his own spear through him and pin him to the ground with just one blow--I won't have to strike twice!"
⁹But David said, "You must not harm him! The LORD will certainly punish whoever harms his chosen king. ¹⁰By the living LORD," David continued, "I know that the LORD himself will kill Saul, either when his time comes to die a natural death or when he dies in battle. ¹¹The LORD forbid that I should try to harm the one whom the LORD has made king! Let's take his spear and his water jar, and go." ¹²So David took the spear and the water jar from right beside Saul's head, and he and Abishai left. No one saw it or knew what had happened or even woke up--they were all sound asleep, because the LORD had sent a heavy sleep on them all.
¹³Then David crossed over to the other side of the valley to the top of the hill, a safe distance away, ¹⁴and shouted to Saul's troops and to Abner, "Abner! Can you hear me?"
"Who is that shouting and waking up the king?" Abner asked.
¹⁵David answered, "Abner, aren't you the greatest man in Israel? So why aren't you protecting your master, the king? Just now someone entered the camp to kill your master. ¹⁶You failed in your duty, Abner! I swear by the living LORD that all of you deserve to die, because you have not protected your master, whom the LORD made king. Look! Where is the king's spear? Where is the water jar that was right by his head?"
¹⁷Saul recognized David's voice and asked, "David, is that you, my son?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," David answered. ¹⁸And he added, "Why, sir, are you still pursuing me, your servant? What have I done? What crime have I committed? ¹⁹Your Majesty, listen to what I have to say. If it is the LORD who has turned you against me, an offering to him will make him change his mind; but if some people have done it, may the LORD's curse fall on them. For they have driven me out from the LORD's land to a country where I can only worship foreign gods. ²⁰Don't let me be killed on foreign soil, away from the LORD. Why should the king of Israel come to kill a flea like me? Why should he hunt me down like a wild bird?"
²¹Saul answered, "I have done wrong. Come back, David, my son! I will never harm you again, because you have spared my life tonight. I have been a fool! I have done a terrible thing!"
²²David replied, "Here is your spear, Your Majesty. Let one of your men come over and get it. ²³The LORD rewards those who are faithful and righteous. Today he put you in my power, but I did not harm you, whom the LORD made king. ²⁴Just as I have spared your life today, may the LORD do the same to me and free me from all troubles!"
²⁵Saul said to David, "God bless you, my son! You will succeed in everything you do!"
So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

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A Cry for Help

Psalm 69 Save me, O God!
The water is up to my neck;
²I am sinking in deep mud,
and there is no solid ground;
I am out in deep water,
and the waves are about to drown me.
³I am worn out from calling for help,
and my throat is aching.
I have strained my eyes,
looking for your help.
⁴Those who hate me for no reason
are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
My enemies tell lies against me;
they are strong and want to kill me.
They made me give back things I did not steal.
⁵My sins, O God, are not hidden from you;
you know how foolish I have been.
⁶Don't let me bring shame on those who trust in you,
Sovereign LORD Almighty!
Don't let me bring disgrace to those who worship you,
O God of Israel!
⁷It is for your sake that I have been insulted
and that I am covered with shame.
⁸I am like a stranger to my relatives,
like a foreigner to my family.
⁹My devotion to your Temple burns in me like a fire;
the insults which are hurled at you fall on me.
¹⁰I humble myself by fasting,
and people insult me;
¹¹I dress myself in clothes of mourning,
and they laugh at me.
¹²They talk about me in the streets,
and drunkards make up songs about me.
¹³But as for me, I will pray to you, LORD;
answer me, God, at a time you choose.
Answer me because of your great love,
because you keep your promise to save.
¹⁴Save me from sinking in the mud;
keep me safe from my enemies,
safe from the deep water.
¹⁵Don't let the flood come over me;
don't let me drown in the depths
or sink into the grave.
¹⁶Answer me, LORD, in the goodness of your constant love;
in your great compassion turn to me!
¹⁷Don't hide yourself from your servant;
I am in great trouble--answer me now!
¹⁸Come to me and save me;
rescue me from my enemies.
¹⁹You know how I am insulted,
how I am disgraced and dishonored;
you see all my enemies.
²⁰Insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
I had hoped for sympathy, but there was none;
for comfort, but I found none.
²¹When I was hungry, they gave me poison;
when I was thirsty, they offered me vinegar.
²²May their banquets cause their ruin;
may their sacred feasts cause their downfall.
²³Strike them with blindness!
Make their backs always weak!
²⁴Pour out your anger on them;
let your indignation overtake them.
²⁵May their camps be left deserted;
may no one be left alive in their tents.
²⁶They persecute those whom you have punished;
they talk about the sufferings of those you have wounded.
²⁷Keep a record of all their sins;
don't let them have any part in your salvation.
²⁸May their names be erased from the book of the living;
may they not be included in the list of your people.
²⁹But I am in pain and despair;
lift me up, O God, and save me!
³⁰I will praise God with a song;
I will proclaim his greatness by giving him thanks.
³¹This will please the LORD more than offering him cattle,
more than sacrificing a full-grown bull.
³²When the oppressed see this, they will be glad;
those who worship God will be encouraged.
³³The LORD listens to those in need
and does not forget his people in prison.
³⁴Praise God, O heaven and earth,
seas and all creatures in them.
³⁵He will save Jerusalem
and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there and possess the land;
³⁶the descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love him will live there.

Consider politics for a minute - we see the roller coaster through the old testament based on how the people are acting - consider what is going on in your country today.

What phase of the ups and downs or round and round of a roller coaster are you going through today in the area of country, state/province, regional, city authorities? Your president or prime minister? Your mayor or regional representative? There are times when you hear people speaking bad or trying to rebel against the authority over them in a way that is constructive, however, others are violent or even do evil.

Consider where you are right now? Are you doing right so that you don't get in trouble? Are you doing right out of reverence for God?

OR

Are you rebelling in a way that wouldn't be glorifying to God? Are you doing things that people would consider evil and putting yourself at risk of criminal or judicial persecution?

Are you being obedient to those in authority over you? Did you realize that God put them there? (for a reason) Did you realize that God gave them permission? Before acting out - consider these words:

Duties toward State Authorities

Romans 13 Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God's permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God. ²Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself. ³For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you, ⁴because they are God's servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God's servants and carry out God's punishment on those who do evil. ⁵For this reason you must obey the authorities--not just because of God's punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.
⁶That is also why you pay taxes, because the authorities are working for God when they fulfill their duties. ⁷Pay, then, what you owe them; pay them your personal and property taxes, and show respect and honor for them all.

Today's Reading: Romans 13, 1 Samuel 25 and Psalm 68

How about the way you treat people in general or how they treat you? What are your thoughts in that area? Are you speaking out of love or with an intent to harm them? Are you speaking to build them up or tear them apart? Are you respectful of God and those whom he has placed around you?

Duties toward One Another

⁸Be under obligation to no one--the only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the Law. ⁹The commandments, "Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else"--all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." ¹⁰If you love others, you will never do them wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law.
¹¹You must do this, because you know that the time has come for you to wake up from your sleep. For the moment when we will be saved is closer now than it was when we first believed. ¹²The night is nearly over, day is almost here. Let us stop doing the things that belong to the dark, and let us take up weapons for fighting in the light. ¹³Let us conduct ourselves properly, as people who live in the light of day--no orgies or drunkenness, no immorality or indecency, no fighting or jealousy. ¹⁴But take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and satisfying its desires.

Today's Reading:
Romans 12, 1 Samuel 23-24 and Psalm 67

Life in God's Service

Romans 12 So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. ²Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God--what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.
³And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you. ⁴We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. ⁵In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. ⁶So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God's message, we should do it according to the faith that we have; ⁷if it is to serve, we should serve; if it is to teach, we should teach; ⁸if it is to encourage others, we should do so. Whoever shares with others should do it generously; whoever has authority should work hard; whoever shows kindness to others should do it cheerfully.
⁹Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. ¹⁰Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another. ¹¹Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion. ¹²Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times. ¹³Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers.
¹⁴Ask God to bless those who persecute you--yes, ask him to bless, not to curse. ¹⁵Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise.
¹⁷If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good. ¹⁸Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. ¹⁹Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, "I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord." ²⁰Instead, as the scripture says: "If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame." ²¹Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.

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David Saves the Town of Keilah

1 Samuel 23 David heard that the Philistines were attacking the town of Keilah and were stealing the newly harvested grain. ²So he asked the LORD, "Shall I go and attack the Philistines?"
"Yes," the LORD answered. "Attack them and save Keilah."
³But David's men said to him, "We have enough to be afraid of here in Judah; it will be much worse if we go to Keilah and attack the Philistine forces!" ⁴So David consulted the LORD again, and the LORD said to him, "Go and attack Keilah, because I will give you victory over the Philistines." ⁵So David and his men went to Keilah and attacked the Philistines; they killed many of them and took their livestock. And so it was that David saved the town.
⁶When Abiathar son of Ahimelech escaped and joined David in Keilah, he took the ephod with him.
⁷Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, "God has put him in my power. David has trapped himself by going into a walled town with fortified gates." ⁸So Saul called his troops to war, to march against Keilah and besiege David and his men.
⁹When David heard that Saul was planning to attack him, he said to the priest Abiathar, "Bring the ephod here." ¹⁰Then David said, "LORD, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come to Keilah and destroy it on account of me, your servant. ¹¹Will the citizens of Keilah hand me over to Saul? Will Saul really come, as I have heard? LORD, God of Israel, I beg you to answer me!"
The LORD answered, "Saul will come."
¹²"And will the citizens of Keilah hand my men and me over to Saul?" David asked again.
"They will," the LORD answered.
¹³So David and his men--about six hundred in all--left Keilah at once and kept on the move. When Saul heard that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up his plan.

David in the Hill Country

¹⁴David stayed in hiding in the hill country, in the wilderness near Ziph. Saul was always trying to find him, but God did not turn David over to him. ¹⁵David saw that Saul was out to kill him.
David was at Horesh, in the wilderness near Ziph. ¹⁶Jonathan went to him there and encouraged him with assurances of God's protection, ¹⁷saying to him, "Don't be afraid. My father Saul won't be able to harm you. He knows very well that you are the one who will be the king of Israel and that I will be next in rank to you." ¹⁸The two of them made a sacred promise of friendship to each other. David stayed at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
¹⁹Some people from Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and said, "David is hiding out in our territory at Horesh on Mount Hachilah, in the southern part of the Judean wilderness. ²⁰We know, Your Majesty, how much you want to capture him; so come to our territory, and we will make sure that you catch him."
²¹Saul answered, "May the LORD bless you for being so kind to me! ²²Go and make sure once more; find out for certain where he is and who has seen him there. I hear that he is very cunning. ²³Find out exactly the places where he hides, and be sure to bring back a report to me right away. Then I will go with you, and if he is still in the region, I will hunt him down, even if I have to search the whole land of Judah."
²⁴So they left and returned to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in a desolate valley in the southern part of the Judean wilderness. ²⁵Saul and his men set out to look for David, but he heard about it and went to a rocky hill in the wilderness of Maon and stayed there. When Saul heard about this, he went after David. ²⁶Saul and his men were on one side of the hill, separated from David and his men, who were on the other side. They were hurrying to get away from Saul and his men, who were closing in on them and were about to capture them. ²⁷Just then a messenger arrived and said to Saul, "Come back at once! The Philistines are invading the country!" ²⁸So Saul stopped pursuing David and went to fight the Philistines. That is why that place is called Separation Hill. ²⁹David left and went to the region of Engedi, where he stayed in hiding.

David Spares Saul's Life

1 Samuel 24 When Saul came back from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David was in the wilderness near Engedi. ²Saul took three thousand of the best soldiers in Israel and went looking for David and his men east of Wild Goat Rocks. ³He came to a cave close to some sheep pens by the road and went in to relieve himself. It happened to be the very cave in which David and his men were hiding far back in the cave. ⁴They said to him, "This is your chance! The LORD has told you that he would put your enemy in your power and you could do to him whatever you wanted to." David crept over and cut off a piece of Saul's robe without Saul's knowing it. ⁵But then David's conscience began to hurt, ⁶and he said to his men, "May the LORD keep me from doing any harm to my master, whom the LORD chose as king! I must not harm him in the least, because he is the king chosen by the LORD!" ⁷So David convinced his men that they should not attack Saul.
Saul got up, left the cave, and started away. ⁸Then David went out after him and called to him, "Your Majesty!" Saul turned around, and David bowed down to the ground in respect ⁹and said, "Why do you listen to people who say that I am trying to harm you? ¹⁰You can see for yourself that just now in the cave the LORD put you in my power. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I felt sorry for you and said that I would not harm you in the least, because you are the one whom the LORD chose to be king. ¹¹Look, my father, look at the piece of your robe I am holding! I could have killed you, but instead I only cut this off. This should convince you that I have no thought of rebelling against you or of harming you. You are hunting me down to kill me, even though I have not done you any wrong. ¹²May the LORD judge which one of us is wrong! May he punish you for your action against me, for I will not harm you in the least. ¹³You know the old saying, 'Evil is done only by evil people.' And so I will not harm you. ¹⁴Look at what the king of Israel is trying to kill! Look at what he is chasing! A dead dog, a flea! ¹⁵The LORD will judge, and he will decide which one of us is wrong. May he look into the matter, defend me, and save me from you."
¹⁶When David had finished speaking, Saul said, "Is that really you, David my son?" And he started crying. ¹⁷Then he said to David, "You are right, and I am wrong. You have been so good to me, while I have done such wrong to you! ¹⁸Today you have shown how good you are to me, because you did not kill me, even though the LORD put me in your power. ¹⁹How often does someone catch an enemy and then let him get away unharmed? The LORD bless you for what you have done to me today! ²⁰Now I am sure that you will be king of Israel and that the kingdom will continue under your rule. ²¹But promise me in the LORD's name that you will spare my descendants, so that my name and my family's name will not be completely forgotten." ²²David promised that he would.
Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went back to their hiding place.

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A Song of Thanksgiving

Psalm 67 God, be merciful to us and bless us;
look on us with kindness,
²so that the whole world may know your will;
so that all nations may know your salvation.
³May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
⁴May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
because you judge the peoples with justice
and guide every nation on earth.
⁵May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
⁶The land has produced its harvest;
God, our God, has blessed us.
⁷God has blessed us;
may all people everywhere honor him.

Today's Reading:
Romans 11.25-36, 1 Samuel 21-22 and Psalm 66

What spoke to me today: (God's Word)

1 Samuel 22 David fled from the city of Gath and went to a cave near the town of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there, they joined him. ²People who were oppressed or in debt or dissatisfied went to him, about four hundred men in all, and he became their leader.

What I heard: (My interpretation)

You too like David will be a leader. People see in you something that is missing in themselves. You can help them to be mighty men and women in order to find victory over the struggles and challenges in their lives. You may not realize or even think that you have all the answers, but you have God and he will direct your path. Consider David who wasn't perfect, but the Bible says that he was a man after God's own heart. Be humble. Don't let pride trip you up. Look to God constantly for direction and wisdom for all your question and choices and watch how He will bless and multiply His blessings upon you.

My Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and for putting the nuggets I need to hear to be encouraged and to find direction in Your Word for me to find at the right time. Lord, I don't know how You do it, I am just glad that You do. I tell people I don't know how, but I at least know who. Lord, I praise You and worship You today as I go to be a face in the crowd where Your glory and majesty, promises and power, will be revealed through me - Help me to be a good ambassador for You today and that peoples lives will be changed. People who are working with me within the booth. People who walk by the booth. People who visit the booth. People who engage me at the booth. As I approach my 11th anniversary, I pray for my wife and our children. I thank You, praise You, worship You, and honor You for such an incredible blessing. Help me to become a better husband and father in Jesus' name. Amen. And Lord, may you receive all the praise and all the glory today, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Devotional: Effective Leadership

Integrity with God

Obedience to follow God

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and pray that You will help me to be an effective leader.
Lord, Help me to have the integrity that I need to have the character and responses that glorify You.
Lord, Help me to be obedient from the initial request from You. Let there be no hesitation in my step when I receive a word of encouragement or direction.

I thank You and will praise You and honor You and glorify You in Jesus' name. Amen.

Help me Lord as I step into a new role and sing with the choir this weekend. May my worship be glorifying to You and help lead others into a higher level of worship, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading: Romans 11.1-24, 1 Samuel 20 and Psalm 65

God's Mercy on Israel

Romans 11 I ask, then: Did God reject his own people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the beginning. You know what the scripture says in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel: ³"Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me." ⁴What answer did God give him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not worshiped the false god Baal." ⁵It is the same way now: there is a small number left of those whom God has chosen because of his grace. ⁶His choice is based on his grace, not on what they have done. For if God's choice were based on what people do, then his grace would not be real grace.
⁷What then? The people of Israel did not find what they were looking for. It was only the small group that God chose who found it; the rest grew deaf to God's call. ⁸As the scripture says, "God made their minds and hearts dull; to this very day they cannot see or hear." ⁹And David says,
"May they be caught and trapped at their feasts;
may they fall, may they be punished!
¹⁰May their eyes be blinded so that they cannot see;
and make them bend under their troubles at all times."
¹¹I ask, then: When the Jews stumbled, did they fall to their ruin? By no means! Because they sinned, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make the Jews jealous of them. ¹²The sin of the Jews brought rich blessings to the world, and their spiritual poverty brought rich blessings to the Gentiles. Then, how much greater the blessings will be when the complete number of Jews is included!

The Salvation of the Gentiles

¹³I am speaking now to you Gentiles: As long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I will take pride in my work. ¹⁴Perhaps I can make the people of my own race jealous, and so be able to save some of them. ¹⁵For when they were rejected, all other people were changed from God's enemies into his friends. What will it be, then, when they are accepted? It will be life for the dead!
¹⁶If the first piece of bread is given to God, then the whole loaf is his also; and if the roots of a tree are offered to God, the branches are his also. ¹⁷Some of the branches of the cultivated olive tree have been broken off, and a branch of a wild olive tree has been joined to it. You Gentiles are like that wild olive tree, and now you share the strong spiritual life of the Jews. ¹⁸So then, you must not despise those who were broken off like branches. How can you be proud? You are just a branch; you don't support the roots--the roots support you.
¹⁹But you will say, "Yes, but the branches were broken off to make room for me." ²⁰That is true. They were broken off because they did not believe, while you remain in place because you do believe. But do not be proud of it; instead, be afraid. ²¹God did not spare the Jews, who are like natural branches; do you think he will spare you? ²²Here we see how kind and how severe God is. He is severe toward those who have fallen, but kind to you--if you continue in his kindness. But if you do not, you too will be broken off. ²³And if the Jews abandon their unbelief, they will be put back in the place where they were; for God is able to do that. ²⁴You Gentiles are like the branch of a wild olive tree that is broken off and then, contrary to nature, is joined to a cultivated olive tree. The Jews are like this cultivated tree; and it will be much easier for God to join these broken-off branches to their own tree again.

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Jonathan Helps David

1 Samuel 20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went to Jonathan. "What have I done?" he asked. "What crime have I committed? What wrong have I done to your father to make him want to kill me?"
²Jonathan answered, "God forbid that you should die! My father tells me everything he does, important or not, and he would not hide this from me. It just isn't so!"
³But David answered, "Your father knows very well how much you like me, and he has decided not to let you know what he plans to do, because you would be deeply hurt. I swear to you by the living LORD that I am only a step away from death!"
⁴Jonathan said, "I'll do anything you want."
⁵"Tomorrow is the New Moon Festival," David replied, "and I am supposed to eat with the king. But if it's all right with you, I will go and hide in the fields until the evening of the day after tomorrow. ⁶If your father notices that I am not at the table, tell him that I begged your permission to hurry home to Bethlehem, since it's the time for the annual sacrifice there for my whole family. ⁷If he says, 'All right,' I will be safe; but if he becomes angry, you will know that he is determined to harm me. ⁸Please do me this favor, and keep the sacred promise you made to me. But if I'm guilty, kill me yourself ! Why take me to your father to be killed?"
⁹"Don't even think such a thing!" Jonathan answered. "If I knew for sure that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you?"
¹⁰David then asked, "Who will let me know if your father answers you angrily?"
¹¹"Let's go out to the fields," Jonathan answered. So they went, ¹²and Jonathan said to David, "May the LORD God of Israel be our witness! At this time tomorrow and on the following day I will question my father. If his attitude toward you is good, I will send you word. ¹³If he intends to harm you, may the LORD strike me dead if I don't let you know about it and get you safely away. May the LORD be with you as he was with my father! ¹⁴And if I remain alive, please keep your sacred promise and be loyal to me; but if I die, ¹⁵show the same kind of loyalty to my family forever. And when the LORD has completely destroyed all your enemies, ¹⁶may our promise to each other still be unbroken. If it is broken, the LORD will punish you."
¹⁷Once again Jonathan made David promise to love him, for Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself. ¹⁸Then Jonathan said to him, "Since tomorrow is the New Moon Festival, your absence will be noticed if you aren't at the meal. ¹⁹The day after tomorrow your absence will be noticed even more; so go to the place where you hid yourself the other time, and hide behind the pile of stones there. ²⁰I will then shoot three arrows at it, as though it were a target. ²¹Then I will tell my servant to go and find them. And if I tell him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them,' that means that you are safe and can come out. I swear by the living LORD that you will be in no danger. ²²But if I tell him, 'The arrows are on the other side of you,' then leave, because the LORD is sending you away. ²³As for the promise we have made to each other, the LORD will make sure that we will keep it forever."
²⁴So David hid in the fields. At the New Moon Festival, King Saul came to the meal ²⁵and sat in his usual place by the wall. Abner sat next to him, and Jonathan sat across the table from him. David's place was empty, ²⁶but Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, "Something has happened to him, and he is not ritually pure." ²⁷On the following day, the day after the New Moon Festival, David's place was still empty, and Saul asked Jonathan, "Why didn't David come to the meal either yesterday or today?"
²⁸Jonathan answered, "He begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. ²⁹'Please let me go,' he said, 'because our family is celebrating the sacrificial feast in town, and my brother ordered me to be there. So then, if you are my friend, let me go and see my relatives.' That is why he isn't in his place at your table."
³⁰Saul became furious with Jonathan and said to him, "How rebellious and faithless your mother was! Now I know you are taking sides with David and are disgracing yourself and that mother of yours! ³¹Don't you realize that as long as David is alive, you will never be king of this country? Now go and bring him here--he must die!"
³²"Why should he die?" Jonathan replied. "What has he done?"
³³At that, Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, and Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David. ³⁴Jonathan got up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that day--the second day of the New Moon Festival. He was deeply distressed about David, because Saul had insulted him. ³⁵The following morning Jonathan went to the fields to meet David, as they had agreed. He took a young boy with him ³⁶and said to him, "Run and find the arrows I'm going to shoot." The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷When the boy reached the place where the arrow had fallen, Jonathan shouted to him, "The arrow is farther on! ³⁸Don't just stand there! Hurry up!" The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master, ³⁹not knowing what it all meant; only Jonathan and David knew. ⁴⁰Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to town.
⁴¹After the boy had left, David got up from behind the pile of stones, fell on his knees and bowed with his face to the ground three times. Both he and Jonathan were crying as they kissed each other; David's grief was even greater than Jonathan's. ⁴²Then Jonathan said to David, "God be with you. The LORD will make sure that you and I, and your descendants and mine, will forever keep the sacred promise we have made to each other." Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

---

Praise and Thanksgiving

Psalm 65 O God, it is right for us to praise you in Zion
and keep our promises to you,
²because you answer prayers.
People everywhere will come to you
³on account of their sins.
Our faults defeat us,
but you forgive them.
⁴Happy are those whom you choose,
whom you bring to live in your sanctuary.
We shall be satisfied with the good things of your house,
the blessings of your sacred Temple.
⁵You answer us by giving us victory,
and you do wonderful things to save us.
People all over the world
and across the distant seas trust in you.
⁶You set the mountains in place by your strength,
showing your mighty power.
⁷You calm the roar of the seas
and the noise of the waves;
you calm the uproar of the peoples.
⁸The whole world stands in awe
of the great things that you have done.
Your deeds bring shouts of joy
from one end of the earth to the other.
⁹You show your care for the land by sending rain;
you make it rich and fertile.
You fill the streams with water;
you provide the earth with crops.
This is how you do it:
¹⁰you send abundant rain on the plowed fields
and soak them with water;
you soften the soil with showers
and cause the young plants to grow.
¹¹What a rich harvest your goodness provides!
Wherever you go there is plenty.
¹²The pastures are filled with flocks;
the hillsides are full of joy.
¹³The fields are covered with sheep;
the valleys are full of wheat.
Everything shouts and sings for joy.

What does it take to be saved?

1. Confess that Jesus is Lord
2. Believe that God raised him from death

Romans 10:9

How are we put right with God?

• It is our faith that puts us right with God
• It is by our confession that we are saved

Romans 10:10

How can people call out to God for help if they have note believed?

¹⁴But how can they call to him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed? ¹⁵And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? As the scripture says, "How wonderful is the coming of messengers who bring good news!" ¹⁶But not all have accepted the Good News. Isaiah himself said, "Lord, who believed our message?" ¹⁷So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.
¹⁸But I ask: Is it true that they did not hear the message? Of course they did--for as the scripture says:
"The sound of their voice went out to all the world;
their words reached the ends of the earth."
¹⁹Again I ask: Did the people of Israel not understand? Moses himself is the first one to answer:
"I will use a so-called nation
to make my people jealous;
and by means of a nation of fools
I will make my people angry."
²⁰And Isaiah is even bolder when he says,
"I was found by those who were not looking for me;
I appeared to those who were not asking for me."
²¹But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I held out my hands to welcome a disobedient and rebellious people."

When can we grow most? How can we grow in times of challenges?

We usually grow more during the hard times. We learn to lean on God more when the weight feels too much. God has offered to swap for your burdens for His is light. God has offered to swap your sorrows and your pains for His joy. The hard times or challenging times can be times of growth - in faith, in character, and in humility.

A Prayer for Protection

Psalm 64 I am in trouble, God--listen to my prayer!
I am afraid of my enemies--save my life!
²Protect me from the plots of the wicked,
from mobs of evil people.
³They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like arrows.
⁴They are quick to spread their shameless lies;
they destroy good people with cowardly slander.
⁵They encourage each other in their evil plots;
they talk about where they will place their traps.
"No one can see them," they say.
⁶They make evil plans and say,
"We have planned a perfect crime."
The human heart and mind are a mystery.
⁷But God shoots his arrows at them,
and suddenly they are wounded.
⁸He will destroy them because of those words;
all who see them will shake their heads.
⁹They will all be afraid;
they will think about what God has done
and tell about his deeds.
¹⁰All righteous people will rejoice
because of what the LORD has done.
They will find safety in him;
all good people will praise him.

Today's Reading: Romans 9.30-10.21, 1 Samuel 19 and Psalm 64

As we look at God's Word today - realize that the devil uses the same techniques today as he has over the centuries - since Genesis until now. Do you remember in Genesis 3:1 when the snake tried to twist what God had said to Adam and Eve?

Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:1 (AMP)

Attached below is the posting from Gerry in a forum on facebook.

Did God Really Say?

To members of Jesus Christ; The Way, The Truth, The Life

Gerry Desjardins

June 2 at 7:07am

Reply

Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:1 (AMP)
It’s no surprise to me that satan’s tactics have not changed down through the ages. He still says to those who are the Lord’s: "Are you sure God really said that?" or "Are you sure that the bible is really God’s word? After all there is so many good things in other religions. Open up your eyes and see that maybe the bible doesn’t have all the truth after all?" Every time I hear those words I hear the hiss of the snake.
Those who are satan’s would tell you that some things that are called sin in the bible are not really a sin. It means something else. It has been misinterpreted. How could things that feel so good and bring such pleasure be a sin? "Eve, Adam, Look at the fruit and see how nice and tasty it looks." Like them many give in and are lost forever.
For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son——both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:4
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
We have whole churches that teach things contrary to God and have thrown out the bible all together because they listened to a lie. Denominations that were once great moves of God have fallen to great depths because they followed the path of the flesh instead of the Spirit. They listened to those who thought they knew better than God and had a better way. Those churches are now like empty tombs full of empty pews with only the dead attending. If only they had heeded the warning Paul had given.
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Romans 16:17-18 (NIV)
You need to keep your eyes open for people like this. People who will say they used to be a believer thinking that they have found a greater truth but in reality followed after a false teaching and have begun teaching it themselves. They heard a lie and believed it. Peter says of them:
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them——bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
11Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; 11yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. 12But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed——an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey——a beast without speech——who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity——for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." 2 Peter 2:1-3, 11-22 (NIV)
For 25 years I was blind and believed that maybe there was other ways to God. That is until I had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. When I met Him a light turned on and what I believed was just fairy tales and written by men, became real and alive. God’s Spirit reached into my heart and spirit and my heart was changed. There is not a thing that anyone could say or do that could change the course that God has put me on. There is not a thing or any other religion that will give you the answers you are looking for. All others are just copycats of the real thing.
God’s word never changes. What was sin yesterday is still sin today. You can’t rationalize it away. You can’t philosophize it to suit your own needs. To those that are perishing, it will always be a closed book. They will always be looking for ways to discredit it. God’s word has stood the test of time and many down through the ages have tried to destroy it and have failed. Many have foolishly challenged God, the creator of this entire universe and thought that they knew better then Him or the words that He has given to man to their shame.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:25
Watch out for these men and women who will change the word of God into a lie. Watch out for their smooth and flattering words. Satan is the father of lies and has been a liar since the beginning. Don’t believe a word he or those that unknowingly or knowingly follow him say. They will tell you to speak plainly to them without using God’s word and yet that is always how Jesus confronted the devil. With the Word.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4:4-11 (NIV)
If God’s word was good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough for me. Like Paul said, have nothing to do with these people who teach things other than what you have learned. When God says something He means it. His word is true and alive. Every single word.
Please take a look at my other 2 pages. One has to do with covenanting to pray for Quebec. An area of North America that has never seen a sustained move of God.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36358225647
The other is A Worshiper's Space. A page to come and learn and discuss what it means to be a worshiper of the Living God in today's world.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16776563526
See you again next week Lord willing. Until then, may the Lord bless and keep you from all harm and may you walk continually in His light surrounded by His ever abiding presence.
Gerry Desjardins

Heavenly Father, I thank You for this new day and for having brought Brad back into my life. I lift him up to You today and ask that You help him to draw closer to You where there is safety and freedom as with David from Saul. Help him with wisdom and direction to receive Your wisdom and Your blessings. I ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.