The Daily Bible Readings for WEDNESDAY, August 26, 2020

The Daily Bible Readings

WEDNESDAY, August 26, 2020

Psalm 8; Exodus 2:15b-22; Matthew 26:6-13

The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)

Today's Verse-of-the-Day: Romans 12:4-5

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Today's Readings:

Psalm 8

From the mouths of infants

1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Exodus 2:15b-22

Moses flees to Midian

2:15b But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Matthew 26:6-13

A woman anoints Jesus

26:6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,

7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.

8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?

9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.

10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.

11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.

12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.

13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV).

The Daily Bible Readings are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2020, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2019 was Year C. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Bible Readings for WEDNESDAY, August 26, 2020
Psalm 8; Exodus 2:15b-22; Matthew 26:6-13 (KJV)

The Daily Prayer for WEDNESDAY, August 26, 2020

The Daily Prayer

WEDNESDAY, August 26, 2020

In 1920, the United States Congress ratified its nineteenth amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

A reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “You are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Creator God, with joy and thanksgiving we celebrate that you made humans in your image, both male and female. We thank you especially today for those women in our lives through whom we have caught glimpses of your love. Amen.

Ichthus Ministries Daily Devotions — Willing to Lose

Willing to Lose

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

— Romans 12:14-21

There's an internet forum where I hang out. It's a discussion board, and tempers grow hot when an argument is raging. The funny thing is how many people have to have the final word. If their opponent posts, they must write a reply—even if it's three in the morning, even if what the other person wrote is obviously wrong and the whole world can see it. They simply can't leave it alone.

There are a lot of people who have that attitude in real life too, aren't there? People who have never learned the lesson: "You don't have to win every time. You can let someone else have the last word. You can simply walk away."

This is the attitude that Paul is recommending to the Romans. He wants them to be free from this ridiculous compulsion—free to live as children of God, out of the cycle of vengeance, and tit for tat. And so he says to them, "Live in harmony with one another ... Repay no one evil for evil ... If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

This is not the way of the world, as you know from your own experience. In fact, it is apt to make your neighbors' eyes bug out when they see you refusing to harm your enemies though it is in your power! But it is the way of Jesus, our Savior. For even though we were formerly enemies of God, rebels with hearts set on our own selfish wishes, God did not wish us evil. Instead, He set out to rescue us. He could have zapped us all from orbit, but instead, He entered our world Himself as a tiny baby, born to a poor family in a conquered country. He came to do us good—to teach, to heal, and ultimately to lay down His own life for us on the cross. By His dying, He rescued us from death, and by His rising to life again, He gave us—even us!—life that would last forever.

Now we are no more enemies of God, but His beloved children. We are not rebels, but citizens of heaven. God has repaid us good for evil, and His Holy Spirit lives in us as a free gift. Now the Holy Spirit can work through us, too, to spread this strange, upside-down Gospel to those who have never yet known it—as we too repay our enemies good for evil, and pray for those who do us harm.

Lord, live in me and do this strange loving work through me, so that others will come to trust in You. Amen.

Dr. Kari Vo

Reflection Questions:

1. How hard is it for you to let someone else "win" instead of you?

2. When did someone repay you good for evil?

3. How did that make you feel? What was your relationship like, going forward?

Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
How hard is it for you to let someone else "win" instead of you?

Standing Strong Through the Storm — REFINER’S FIRE

REFINER’S FIRE

“…I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

— Zechariah 13:9

In 2004, my colleague and friend Dr. Jim Cunningham was in Ethiopia teaching Standing Strong Through the Storm (SSTS). His teaching assignments took him to the far western province of Gambella where many Christians of the Anuak tribe had been killed in recent fighting. The believers there told him about one of their pastors, Okok Ojula, who was in prison in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Okok had been head of the Bureau of Social Rehabilitation in Gambella. He was falsely accused of corruption and taking three million Ethiopian Birr. No evidence was presented so the trial was moved to Addis—three days away by bus—to a federal court. He had been sitting in jail for two years waiting for a trial date to be set! His wife Nuno and their six children were patiently waiting back in Gambella. They asked Jim to visit Pastor Okok in prison.

Jim went to the Administrator’s Office of the main federal prison back in Addis to try and see Pastor Okok. “Why do you want to see him?” the administrator asked. Jim responded, “Because I was in Gambella, met his wife Nuno and their six children and I told them I would come and give him greetings from them.”

He replied rather directly, “Why do YOU want to see him?” Jim looked him in the eye and said, “Okuk is a Christian and a pastor in Gambella, I am a Christian and a pastor in Canada. I want to meet him and pray with him!” At that moment the administrator’s countenance changed. He turned to Jim and said, “You may meet him next door in the Deputy Administrator’s office.”

Okuk was brought in for forty-five minutes—with coffee provided—and they shared and prayed together! It was a great time of blessing for both men.

After three and a half years, Okuk was released from prison as a free man completely exonerated. He then shared with Jim by mail that he had earlier conformed his life around serving the Lord, resuming his education at the highest level, doing research work, and other valuable good things to help people. But he had never thought of imprisonment at any time. Time was very precious to him and he never thought of wasting it in prison sitting under a hostile situation. But having been in prison he learned many lessons.

Commenting about Moses’ burning bush, he said, “Prison to me, is a place where the Lord can appear to us in flames of fire to refine us—but never ‘burn us up.’ I see that the Lord is more concerned with our perfection obtained through walks in all levels of patience, endurance, character, and hope in order to expel fear and self-centeredness in our lives—and prepare us to see and believe that He is God Almighty as He appeared to Moses. He intends for us not to put Him in our little box to use Him as an instrument to suit our release from the prison. [Rather] patience, endurance, character, and hope have to finish their work to perfection.”

RESPONSE: Today I will accept that God may have to put me through the refiner’s fire to perfect me.

PRAYER: Lord, build patience, endurance, character and hope into my life in Your way and purpose.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.

John Piper Devotional — Shadows and Streams

Shadows and Streams

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

— Psalm 104:31–34

God rejoices in the works of creation because they point us beyond themselves to God himself.

God means for us to be stunned and awed by his work of creation. But not for its own sake. He means for us to look at his creation and say: If the mere work of his fingers (just his fingers! Psalm 8:3) is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty, what must this God be like in himself!

These are but the backside of his glory, as it were, darkly seen through a glass. What will it be to see the Creator himself! Not his works! A billion galaxies will not satisfy the human soul. God and God alone is the soul’s end.

Jonathan Edwards expressed it like this:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here…[These] are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the ocean.

This is why Psalm 104 (verses 31–34) comes to a close like this, with a focus on God himself. In the end, it will not be the seas or the mountains or the canyons or the water spiders or the clouds or the great galaxies that fill our hearts to breaking with wonder and fill our mouths with eternal praise. It will be God.
God rejoices in the works of creation because they point us beyond themselves to God himself.

Un dia a la Vez — El desorden y la suciedad (segunda parte)

El desorden y la suciedad (segunda parte)

Sé ejemplo de los creyentes en palabra, conducta, amor, espíritu, fe y pureza.

— 1 Timoteo 4:12, RV-60

Ayer aprendimos de dos grandes enemigos en la vida que nos pueden estar restando bendiciones: el desorden y la suciedad.

A lo mejor la casa donde vives es, como dicen, una tasita de té que brilla de limpieza, pero tu vida por dentro está desordenada y sucia. Así que debes comprender que hay que hacer cambios. Estos cambios no suceden de la noche a la mañana y llevarán su tiempo. Sin embargo, una vez que lo entiendas, puedes tomar cartas en el asunto.

El orden empieza por ti mismo siendo limpio, pulcro y agradable para tu esposa, tus hijos y los que te rodean, y también en la manera de mantener tu casa. Entonces, quizá la pregunta que te hagas sea esta: «¿Cómo puedo cambiar?». La respuesta es que con Dios todo es posible.

Pídele a Dios que te ayude a ser ordenado. Desecha lo que ya no usas. No acumules basura, ni desperdicios en la cocina debido a la pereza. Que tu baño, tu ropa, y hasta tu auto, muestren a Cristo. Además, ten presente que lo que les modeles a tus hijos será lo que seguirán como ejemplo. Si te ven descuidado y abandonado, es muy probable que hagan lo mismo.

Hoy el Señor te da la oportunidad de cambiar, de echar fuera el desorden y la suciedad y de cortar esas ataduras. Como resultado, serás capaz de prepararte para el orden y la limpieza de tu vida.

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
A lo mejor la casa donde vives es, como dicen, una tasita de té que brilla de limpieza, pero tu vida por dentro está desordenada y sucia.

Devocional CPTLN — Dispuesto a perder

Dispuesto a perder

Bendigamos a los que nos persiguen; bendigamos y no maldigamos. Gocémonos con los que se gozan y lloremos con los que lloran. Vivamos como si fuéramos uno solo. No seamos altivos, sino juntémonos con los humildes. No debemos creernos más sabios que los demás. No paguemos a nadie mal por mal. Procuremos hacer lo bueno a los ojos de todo el mundo. Si es posible, y en cuanto dependa de nosotros, vivamos en paz con todos. No busquemos vengarnos, amados míos. Mejor dejemos que actúe la ira de Dios, porque está escrito: «Mía es la venganza, yo pagaré, dice el Señor.» Por lo tanto, si nuestro enemigo tiene hambre, démosle de comer; si tiene sed, démosle de beber. Si así lo hacemos, haremos que éste se avergüence de su conducta. No permitamos que nos venza el mal. Es mejor vencer al mal con el bien.

— Romanos 12:14-21

Participo en un foro en línea donde los ánimos se calientan cuando se desata una discusión. Me llama la atención cuántas personas necesitan tener la última palabra. Lo mismo sucede en la vida real con las personas que nunca aprendieron que no tienen que ganar cada vez, que pueden dejar que alguien más tenga la última palabra.

Esta es la actitud que Pablo recomienda a los romanos. Él quiere que estén libres de tan ridícula compulsión, libres para vivir como hijos de Dios, fuera del ciclo de venganza y del ojo por ojo. Y entonces les dice: "Vivamos como si fuéramos uno solo no ... No paguemos a nadie mal por mal ... Si es posible, y en cuanto dependa de nosotros, vivamos en paz con todos. No busquemos vengarnos... Mejor dejemos que actúe la ira de Dios... No permitamos que nos venza el mal. Es mejor vencer al mal con el bien".

Este no es el camino del mundo, como sabes por tu propia experiencia. De hecho, es probable que tus vecinos te juzguen cuando vean que te niegas a dañar a tus enemigos. Pero es el camino de Jesús, nuestro Salvador. Porque aunque antes éramos enemigos de Dios, rebeldes y buscando solo nuestros deseos egoístas, Dios no nos deseaba el mal. En cambio, se dispuso a rescatarnos. Podría haberse deshecho de todos nosotros, pero en su lugar, entró en nuestro mundo como un bebé nacido de una familia pobre en un país conquistado. Él vino a hacernos bien, a enseñar, a sanar y, en última instancia, a dar su vida por nosotros en la cruz. ¡Al morir nos rescató de la muerte, y al resucitar a la vida nos dio, incluso a nosotros, vida para siempre.

Ahora ya no somos enemigos de Dios, sino sus amados hijos. No somos rebeldes, sino ciudadanos del cielo. Dios nos ha pagado bien por mal, y su Espíritu Santo vive en nosotros como un regalo gratis. Ahora, el Espíritu Santo también puede trabajar a través de nosotros para difundir este Evangelio extraño a aquellos que aún no lo han conocido.

ORACIÓN: Señor, vive en mí y haz este extraño y amoroso trabajo a través de mí, para que otros confíen en ti. Amén.

Dra. Kari Vo

Para reflexionar:

* ¿Alguna vez alguien te pagó bien por mal?

* ¿Cómo te hizo sentir eso? ¿Cómo fue tu relación con esa persona a partir de ese momento?

© Copyright 2020 Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones. Que a través de estos devocionales, la Palabra de Dios te refresque en tu diario caminar.
¿Alguna vez alguien te pagó bien por mal?

Ministérios Pão Diário — Descongelado

Descongelado

Escritura de hoje: Gálatas 2:11-16
Bíblia em um ano: Salmo 119:89-176; 1 Coríntios 8

…quando Pedro veio a Antioquia, tive de opor-me a ele abertamente…

— Gálatas 2:11

Durante um debate sobre reconciliação, um participante disse: “Não congele as pessoas no tempo”. E observou a nossa tendência de lembrar os erros das pessoas, e nunca lhes dar a chance de mudar.

Na vida de Pedro há muitos momentos em que Deus poderia tê-lo “congelado”, mas não o fez. Esse discípulo impulsivo “corrigiu” Jesus, recebendo dura repreensão do Senhor (Mateus 16:21-23). Negou a Cristo (João 18:15-17), para mais tarde ser restaurado (21:15-19). E uma vez colaborou com divisões raciais dentro da igreja.

Essa questão surgiu quando Pedro (Cefas) se separou dos gentios (Gálatas 2:11,12), após ter-se associado livremente com eles. Mas chegaram judeus que insistiam na necessidade de circuncisão dos cristãos, e Pedro passou a evitar os gentios não circuncidados, sinalizando uma volta perigosa à Lei de Moisés. Paulo chamou esse comportamento de “hipocrisia” (v.13).

A questão foi resolvida com a confrontação corajosa de Paulo. Pedro voltou a servir a Deus no belo espírito de unidade que Ele quer para nós.

Ninguém precisa ficar congelado em seus piores momentos. Na graça de Deus podemos nos envolver e aprender uns com os outros, confrontarmo-nos quando necessário e crescermos juntos em Seu amor.

Por:  Tim Gustafson

Refletir & Orar

Senhor, aproxima-nos hoje de ti para que possamos nos aproximar uns dos outros. Protege a unidade da Tua Igreja. Dá-nos entendimento onde há desconfiança. Cura-nos onde estamos divididos.

Se confrontamos alguém, devemos ter um objetivo: a restauração, não o constrangimento.

© 2020 Ministérios Pão Diário
“Não congele as pessoas no tempo”