rules and order
by Poh Fang

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1 Corinthians 14:26-40
When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, . . . one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you (v.26).

As you step into the room, you’re greeted by a cacophony of noise. Everyone is talking, but no one is listening. For a moment, you think you’ve stepped into the New York Stock Exchange—but it isn’t that loud, lively place. It’s a church meeting in Corinth.

Obviously, the church in Corinth was anything but boring. It was bustling with activity. But, to maintain order, Paul needed to lay down some rules. He instructed that the primary principle of all activities in the church should be corporate edification. For “when you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you” (1 Corinthians 14:26). And it must be done in an orderly manner because “God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

Bible teacher Ray Stedman summarized it this way, “When the church comes together, it can be built up in marvelous ways. It can be such a strengthening thing to meet together, to encourage one another in our faith, to share in the exercise of spiritual gifts, to be taught by the mind of God, by the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, and to be comforted in times of trial and testing and pressure. This is the purpose for the church getting together. But whatever you do, do not let it become an endlessly confusing ministry, misrepresentative of the character of God, who is a God of order and decency.”

It’s exciting to attend a church that conforms to God’s instructions. So, brothers and sisters in Jesus, let’s play our part.

our daily journey

didn’t see it
by Tom Felten

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Acts 12:6-19
When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!” (v.14).

When a certain member of our family lost his brother’s new iPod Touch—in our home—a cloud of disappointment and bewilderment filled the air for several days. (How can you lose an iPod in a house?) Prayers were sent up and theories abounded as we strived to find the costly gadget. And then, below the very cushions where people had sat and prayed days before, the lost music and video player was found . . . deep inside the workings of our sleeper sofa!

This episode in the days of my family’s life reminds me of a humorous story found in Acts 12. It begins, however, in a not-so-funny way. The apostle Peter had been imprisoned in Jerusalem by King Herod (Acts 12:3).

As a favor to Jewish leaders, Herod already had seen to the killing of James (the brother of John). It looked like Peter was next on the list. As the apostle was being held in chains, the “church prayed very earnestly for him” (Acts 12:5). But then, the night before Peter was to go to trial, he was miraculously set free by an angel (Acts 12:7). Having gained his freedom, he headed for a safe place—the home of Mary, John Mark’s mother (Acts 12:10-12). (Here’s the funny part.) As Peter gently knocks at the gate of the home and quietly calls out, a girl named Rhoda hears him and is filled with joy. But instead of opening the door, she runs back and tells the others! Initially, the other believers, who had been diligently praying for Peter’s release, don’t believe her. So Peter keeps pounding on the door, and they finally let him in (Acts 12:13-16).

This amusing account packs a point: Is there something you’ve been earnestly praying for that God has already answered? It may be time for you to grasp the reality that God’s response has already been made plain.

our daily journey

Too Busy To Know God?
by Randy Kilgore

Read: Luke 10:38-42

She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. —Luke 10:39

One day when I was waiting to board a plane, a stranger who had overheard me mention that I was a chaplain began to describe to me his life before he met Christ. He said it was marked by “sin and self-absorption. Then I met Jesus.”

I listened with interest to a list of changes he had made to his life and good deeds he had done. But because everything he told me was about his busyness for God and not his fellowship with God, I wasn’t surprised when he added, “Frankly, chaplain, I thought I’d feel better about myself by now.”

I think the New Testament character Martha would have understood that stranger’s observation. Having invited Jesus to be a guest at her home, she set about doing what she thought were the important things. But this meant she couldn’t focus on Jesus. Because Mary wasn’t helping, Martha felt justified asking Jesus to chide her. It’s a mistake many of us make: We’re so busy doing good that we don’t spend time getting to know God better.

My advice to my new airplane friend came from the core of Jesus’ words to Martha in Luke 10:41-42. I said to him: “Slow down and invest yourself in knowing God; let His Word reveal Himself to you.” If we’re too busy to spend time with God, we’re simply too busy.

Savior, let me walk beside Thee,
Let me feel my hand in Thine;
Let me know the joy of walking
In Thy strength and not in mine. —Sidebotham

Our heavenly Father longs to spend time with His children.

our daily bread

i want to live
by roxanne robbins

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1 Samuel 2:6-10
The Lord gives both death and life (v.6).

My 6-year-old son, Wasswa, was outside riding his bicycle. I was in the kitchen when he came running to me with a cut under his left eye. As blood oozed, my frightened child cried out, “I want to live! I want to live! I want to live!”

Wasswa wasn’t merely frightened by the blood, he was terrified that he was going to die. And while his reaction might seem extreme, a glance at his past explains his fear.

Before he came to live with me, Wasswa had felt the “sting” of death multiple times. When he was just 18 months old, his twin brother died. At age 4, he lost his mother and father when they died of AIDS. Seven of Wasswa’s nine aunts and uncles, living in the same village, also died during the first 5 years of his life. In his impoverished community, more people were dying of disease than surviving. So it’s understandable that Wasswa thought death was encroaching on him as well.

No one wants to die young. When death taunted King David, he pleaded with God to spare him. “He broke my strength in midlife, cutting short my days,” David recalled. “But I cried to Him, ‘O my God, who lives forever, don’t take my life while I am so young!’” (Psalm 102:23-25). In response, God continued to protect and preserve his life. As Samuel declared, He is sovereign over both life and death.

Because of sin, “all creation was subjected to God’s curse [death]” (Romans 8:20). The good news is that Jesus Christ gives us victory over death. Through Him we can take heart that nothing, not even “death . . . fears . . . worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38-39). We can rest in His sovereign hands.

our daily journey

Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth

. . . when Moses was grown . . . he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens —Exodus 2:11

Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, ” ’. . . bring My people . . . out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ’Who am I that I should go . . . ?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God.

We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, “Who am I that I should go . . . ?” We must learn that God’s great stride is summed up in these words— “I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). We must also learn that our individual effort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.

my utmost for his highest

A No-Smiling Policy
by Anne Cetas

Read: John 13:31-35

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35

Usually we’re told to smile before someone takes our picture. But in some parts of the US, a no-smiling policy is enforced when getting your photo taken for a driver’s license. Because of identity theft, these motor vehicle departments carefully check new photos that are taken to be sure they don’t match photos already in the system. If someone gets a picture taken under a false name, an alarm is sent to the operator. From 1999 to 2009, one state stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses. But why no smiling? The technology recognizes a face more easily if the person has a neutral facial expression.

Jesus prescribed a good way to recognize a Christian. He told His disciples, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The ways to show love to fellow believers are as endless as there are people with needs: a note of encouragement, a visit, a meal, a gentle rebuke, a prayer, a Bible verse, a listening ear, even just a friendly smile.

The apostle John wrote, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). Can others recognize, by our care for fellow Christians, that we know and love the Lord?

For Christians to be recognized
As people who follow the Lord,
Their love for one another is
A virtue that can’t be ignored. —Sper

One measure of our love for God
is how much we show love to His children.

our daily bread

The Cost Of Fighting
by Bill Crowder

Read: James 4:1-10

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? —James 4:1

During a documentary on World War I, the narrator said that if Britain’s casualties in “the war to end all wars” were marched four abreast past London’s war monument, the processional would take 7 days to complete. This staggering word picture set my mind spinning at the awful cost of war. While those costs include monetary expense, destruction of property, and economic interruption, none of these compare to the human cost. Both soldiers and civilians pay the ultimate price, multiplied exponentially by the grief of the survivors. War is costly.

When believers go to war with one another, the cost is also high. James wrote, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” (James 4:1). In our own selfish pursuits, we sometimes battle without considering the price exacted on our witness to the world or our relationships with one another. Perhaps that is why James preceded these words with the challenge, “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (3:18).

If we are to represent the Prince of Peace in our world, believers need to stop fighting with one another and practice peace.

The wars and fights within the church
Disrupt our unity and peace;
How can we show the peace of Christ
Unless our conflicts cease? —Sper

When Christians are at peace with one another, the world can more clearly see the Prince of Peace.

our daily bread

the right heart
by Tom Felten

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2 Chronicles 30:1-21
May the Lord, who is good, pardon those who decide to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors, even though they are not properly cleansed for the ceremony (vv.18-19).

Having grown up in a musical home, I started writing songs at an early age. Some have taken months—even years—to compose. Others have come together in minutes, as the lyrics leaped onto the page. One day, after contemplating what God truly desires from us in worship, I experienced one of those “instant song” (just add melody) moments as these lyrics flowed from my pen: It’s in the heart, not in the voice. It’s out of love, not out of choice.

That song excerpt captures what King Hezekiah of Judah lived out in 2 Chronicles 30. King Ahaz, the previous king, had “continued to reject the Lord” (2 Chronicles 28:22), but Hezekiah reopened the temple even as the people of Judah began reopening their hearts to God (2 Chronicles 29:3).

After getting the temple “restored to service” (2 Chronicles 29:35), the good king prepared his people to celebrate the Passover. In fact, he even invited the people from Israel (to the north) to come and join the festivities (2 Chronicles 30:1). But an issue surfaced that threatened this sacred festival of worship to God: If Hezekiah and the people were to celebrate the Passover on the prescribed dates, the priests would not be prepared in time and not all the people would have made it to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30:3).

So what to do? Hezekiah pushed back the Passover one month. Even with that unheard of alteration, some of the people arrived late and weren’t properly cleansed for the ceremony (2 Chronicles 30:18). But the king allowed them to take part anyway, noting they had come with hearts that indicated their desire “to follow the Lord” (2 Chronicles 30:19).

Hezekiah revealed an important aspect of worship to God: It’s more important to have the right heart and attitude than to simply go through the motions in a certain way or at a certain time. Let’s worship God with truly devoted hearts today.

http://www.ourdailyjourney.org/2011/10/04/the-right-heart/our daily journey