Our Daily Bread: Introductory Edition

7- DAY EDITION

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.

ISAIAH 6:3

COVER PHOTO

Dorset coastline © allou, shutterstock.com EDITORIAL TEAM

Monica Brands, Anne Cetas, Joyce Dinkins, Tim Gustafson, J. R. Hudberg, Alyson Kieda, Becky Knapp and Peggy Willison Bill Crowder Xochitl Dixon

WRITERS

Dennis Fisher Adam Holz David C. McCasland

Keila Ochoa Amy Boucher Pye

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Scriptures taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

All rights reserved worldwide. © 2018 Our Daily Bread Ministries® • All rights reserved. • Printed in the United Kingdom.

F O R P E R S O N A L an d FA M I LY D E V O T I O N S . S I N C E 1956

® 7- DAY EDITION

Welcome to your introductory copy of Our Daily Bread!

At Our Daily Bread Ministries we’re passionate about helping people read and understand their Bibles. Reading the Bible is a key way we get to know God better and find out His wonderful plan for us. The Bible is completely different to any other book ever written; it is God’s story—and His story is all about Jesus, who came to give us new, unending life as part of God’s family. The articles, stories and illustrations in Our Daily Bread offer reflections and teaching on bite-sized chunks of the Bible each day, helping you to draw closer to God in your own life.

Walking with God is an exciting journey! Our Daily Bread Ministries has many printed and online resources to help you along the way. Just visit us at ourdailybread.org/uk to see everything we have available! All of our resources, including the regular copies of Our Daily Bread, are available to you without any requirement to donate.

Using Our Daily Bread We can read the Bible any time, any place. Having said that, it is helpful to settle down to read it with Our Daily Bread in an environment where you can take your time. Some of our readers love to do this first thing, before they start the day; others take Our Daily Bread with them on the commute to work or for their lunchbreaks. No matter where you choose to read your Bible, here are the key ways Our Daily Bread will help you:

AL for DAY 1

ngth for the Weary

beautiful, sunny day, I was walking in a park and ling very weary in spirit. It wasn’t just one thing ghing me down—it seemed to be everything. When opped to sit on a bench, I noticed a small plaque re in loving memory of a usband, father, brother, and TODAY’S READING Isaiah 40:27–31 o on the plaque were these they who wait for the Lord their strength; they shall with wings like eagles; they nd not be weary, they shall t faint” (ISA. 40:31 ESV). amiliar words came to me as a personal touch from ariness—whether physical, emotional or spiritual— all. Isaiah reminds us that although we become rd, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of ill not grow tired or weary” (V. 28). How easily I had at in every situation “[the Lord] gives strength to d increases the power of the weak” (V. 29). t like on your journey today? If fatigue has caused t God’s presence and power, why not pause and omise. “Those who hope in the Lord will renew h” (V. 31). Here. Now. Right where we are.

DAVID MCCASLAND

Lord, thank You that You do not grow weary. the strength to face whatever situation I am in today.

Share this prayer from our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ourdailybread

s struggles make you weary, find strength in the Lord.

The Bible Reading: This reference shows you the Bible passage being discussed in the Our Daily Bread article. The Bible is by far the most important thing you’ll read all day!

The Key Verse: It might be helpful to spend some time memorising this key part of the Bible passage so you can reflect on it during your day.

The Our Daily Bread Article: Our writers share inspiring stories, powerful insights and personal experiences to help you consider the truth and relevance of what you have read in the day’s Bible passage.

The Prayer: These prayers and reflections can be helpful ways for you to start talking to God about the things you have read and the ways you have been challenged.

The Closing Thought: This short statement is another handy way for you to keep the key message of the day’s reading close to your heart.

It is our prayer that the Our Daily Bread Bible reading notes will encourage, challenge and comfort you as you draw closer to God daily.

You can share the lessons and insights that most inspire you on our Facebook page! The Our Daily Bread Ministries family would love to hear your encouragements!

DAY 1

God’s Handiwork

The Fingerprint of God

L

ygon Stevens loved to climb mountains with her brother Nick. They were experienced climbers and both had summitted Mt. McKinley (Denali), the highest point in North America. Then, in January 2008, they were swept off a Colorado mountain by an avalanche, TODAY’S READING injuring Nick and killing twenty year old Ephesians 2:1–10 Lygon. When Nick later discovered his sister’s diary in one of her satchels, he was deeply comforted by its contents. It was filled with reflections, prayers and praise to God as seen in this entry: “I am a work of art, signed by God. But He’s not done; in fact, He has just begun. . . . I have on me the fingerprint of God. Never will there ever be another person like me. . . . I have a job to do in this life that no other can do.”

Although Lygon is no longer physically present on earth, through the legacy of her life and her diary she inspires and challenges those she left behind.

Because we are made in God’s image (GENESIS 1:26), each person is a “work of art, signed by God”. As the apostle Paul says, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (EPHESIANS 2:10).

Praise God that He uses each of us, in His own time and DENNIS FISHER way, to help others.

How would You like to use me, Lord?

I am open and willing.

Each person is a unique expression of God’s loving design.

DAY 2

Trusting Jesus

Into Our Storms

W

ind howled, lightning flashed, waves crashed. I thought I was going to die. My grandparents and I were fishing on a lake, but we’d stayed out too long.

As the sun set, a fast-moving squall swept over our small boat. My grandfather instructed me to sit in front to keep it from capsiz- TODAY’S READING ing. Terror flooded my heart. But then, Mark 4:35–41 somehow, I began to pray. I was fourteen.

I asked God for His reassurance and protection. The storm didn’t weaken, but we made it to shore. To this day, I don’t know if I’ve experienced a deeper certainty of God’s presence than that night in the storm.

Jesus is no stranger to storms. In Mark 4:35–41, He told His disciples to head across a lake that would soon turn windy and wild. The storm that night tested and bested these rugged fishermen.

They too thought they were going to die. But Jesus calmed the water and then led His disciples to deeper faith.

Likewise, Jesus invites us to trust Him in our storms.

Sometimes He miraculously stills the winds and the waves.

Sometimes He does something equally miraculous: He steadies our hearts and helps us to trust Him. He asks us to rest in the belief that He has the power to say to the waves, ADAM HOLZ “Quiet! Be still!”

Lord, the storms of our lives sometimes seem like they will swamp us.

Help us trust that You are the Master of the storm, to place our faith in You when life’s winds blow fiercely.

No danger can come so near that God is not nearer still.

DAY 3

God’s Welcome

The Art of Forgiveness

O

ne afternoon I spent two hours at an art exhibit—The Father & His Two Sons: The Art of Forgiveness—in which all of the pieces were focused on Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (SEE LUKE 15:11–31). I found Edward Riojas’ painting The Prodigal Son especially powerful. The painting portrays the once wayward son returning home, wearing rags and walking with his TODAY’S READING head down. With a land of death behind Luke 15:11–24 him, he steps onto a pathway where his father is already running towards him. At the bottom of the painting are Jesus’ words, “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion” (V. 20 KJV).

I was deeply moved by realising once more how God’s unchanging love has altered my life. When I walked away from Him, He didn’t turn His back, but kept looking, watching and waiting. His love is undeserved yet unchanging; often ignored yet never withdrawn.

We all are guilty, yet our heavenly Father reaches out to welcome us, just as the father in this story embraced his wayward son. “Let’s have a feast and celebrate” the father told the servants. “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (VV. 23–24).

The Lord still rejoices over those who return to Him today— DAVID MCCASLAND and that is worth celebrating!

Father, as we receive Your love and forgiveness, may we also extend it to others in Your name.

God’s love for us is undeserved yet unchanging.

DAY 4

Knowing Jesus

The Secret of Peace

G

race is a very special lady. One word comes to mind when I think of her: peace. The quiet and restful expression on her face has seldom changed in the six months I have known her, even though her husband was diagnosed with a rare disease and then hospitalised.

When I asked Grace the secret of her peace, she said, “It’s not a secret, it’s TODAY’S READING a person. It’s Jesus in me. There is no 2 Thessalonians 3:16–18 other way I can explain the quietness I feel in the midst of this storm.”

The secret of peace is our relationship to Jesus Christ. He is our peace.

When Jesus is our Saviour and Lord, and as we become more like Him, peace becomes real. Things like sickness, financial difficulties or danger may be present, but peace reassures us that God holds our lives in His hands (DANIEL 5:23), and we can trust that things will work together for good.

Have we experienced this peace that goes beyond logic and understanding? Do we have the inner confidence that God is in control? My wish for all of us today echoes the words of the apostle Paul: “May the Lord of peace himself give you peace.” And may we feel this peace “at all times and in every KEILA OCHOA way” (2 THESSALONIANS 3:16).

Dear Lord, please give us Your peace at all times and in every situation.

To trust in Jesus is peace.

DAY 5

God’s Words

Keeping Close

M

y mile-long walk home from dropping off my daughter at her school gives me the opportunity to memorise some verses from the Bible—if I’m intentional about doing so. When I take those minutes to turn over God’s Word in my mind, I often find them coming back to me later in the day, bringing me comfort and wisdom.

When Moses prepared the Israelites to enter the Promised Land, he urged them to hold close to God’s commands and decrees TODAY’S READING Deuteronomy 6:1–9 (DEUTERONOMY 6:1–2). Wanting them to flourish, he said they should turn these instructions over in their minds and discuss them with their children (VV. 6–7). He even said to tie them to their wrists and bind them to their foreheads (V. 8). He didn’t want them to forget God’s instructions to live as people who honoured the Lord and enjoyed His blessings.

How might you consider God’s words today? One idea is to write out a verse from Scripture, and every time you wash your hands or take a drink, read the words and turn them over in your mind. Or before you go to sleep, consider a short passage from the Bible as the last act of the day. Many are the ways of keeping AMY BOUCHER PYE God’s Word close to our hearts!

Lord God, thank You for giving us the Bible, which is a wellspring for life.

Help us to read and digest it today.

Surround yourself with God’s Word.

DAY 6

Talking with God

Phone Zone

O

ne of the benefits of mobile phones is that we now have virtually unlimited access to others. As a result, many people talk on the phone or text even while driving—sometimes resulting in terrible car crashes.

To avoid such disasters, many areas of the world have made distracted driving illegal. Road signs are popping up to remind drivers of special TODAY’S READING mobile phone zones where they can pull 1 Thess. 5:16–24 over to safely talk and text to their heart’s delight.

While it is a good idea to restrict mobile phone communication for drivers, there is another kind of communication that has no restrictions: prayer. God invites us to call on Him whether we are coming, going or sitting still.

In the New Testament, Paul’s words advise each person who wants to communicate with God to “pray continually” (1 THESSALONIANS 5:17). Paul brackets this divine open-door policy by encouraging us to “rejoice always” (V. 16) and to “give thanks in all circumstances” (V. 18). God calls us to joy and thanksgiving—expressions of faith in God through Christ anchored in continual prayer.

God is available for our quick cry or for a lengthy conversation. He welcomes us into a relationship with Him, a constant and endless sharing of our joys and gratitude, needs, questions and concerns (HEBREWS 4:15–16). We are always in the BILL CROWDER prayer zone.

I’m grateful Lord, that You want to hear from me.

I need You today.

When it comes to problems, the way out is to trust God.

DAY 7

Being Transformed

On-the-Job Training

W

hen my son’s teacher asked me to serve as a chaperone for their science camp, I hesitated. How could I be a role model when mistakes littered my past, when I still struggled, stumbled and slipped into old bad habits? God helped me love and raise my son, but I often doubted He could use me to serve others.

Sometimes I still fail to recognise TODAY’S READING that God—the only perfect One, the only 2 Timothy 1:6–14 One who can change hearts and lives— transforms us over time. Then the Holy Spirit reminds me how Paul encouraged Timothy to embrace his on-the-job training, persevere in faith and use the gifts God had given him (2 TIMOTHY 1:6). Timothy could be courageous because God, his power source, would help him love and be disciplined as he continued to grow and serve those within his sphere of influence (V. 7).

Christ saves and empowers us to honour Him with our lives, not because we have special qualifications but because we’re each valuable members of His family (V. 9).

We can persevere with confidence when we know our role is to simply love God and others. Christ’s role is to save us and give us a purpose that extends beyond our small vision of the world. As we follow Jesus daily, He transforms us while using us to encourage others as we share His love and truth wherXOCHITL DIXON ever He sends us.

Lord, thanks for affirming we can depend on You completely as we share You cheerfully, confidently and courageously.

Knowing our power-source personally gives us confidence in our role as servants to the King.

Getting Obsessed A thirty-two year old man was found dead in his chair at the beginning of 2015 after spending three days non-stop gaming in an online-gaming cafe.

He had died of a heart attack. Apparently it was a result of sitting still for so long, hardly sleeping and being pumped up to the eye-balls with adrenaline from the fantasy gaming action.

Shockingly, the police reported that even as the dead body was taken away, the other gamers in the cafĂŠ carried on with their own games! They were so obsessed with gaming, that they barely noticed the dead guy next to them!

Obsession had killed the man, but had also killed reality for the other gamers. For them, the fantasy world on their screens had become more important than the real world.

That, in effect, is what obsession is. It’s when we allow something to become more real and more important than reality itself.

Many of us obsess over our social media profiles, for example. These sites allow us to create our own fantasy lives and show whatever image we want about ourselves. Our pages, blogs and walls become our own little worlds that we can control. But does this obsession (or any other for that matter) really work? Ultimately, we can still worry about our looks; what people think of us can still change; and happiness can fizzle out. The more we obsess over what people are saying about us and what the latest celeb fashion trends are, etc., the more we become like those online gamers: fixated on just a small bit of reality and unable to have a balanced view of our lives.

A Final Thought

Following Jesus

The Bible says (maybe surprisingly) that obsession isn’t a bad thing. We all need something to make us feel secure about who we are and where we fit. The problem is that we get obsessed over the wrong stuff.

Jesus is the one we’re meant to be obsessed with. He said: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (JOHN 10:10). Jesus isn’t just a part of reality to fixate on; He is the very centre of life itself! Only by centring our lives round Him can we gain the assurance and satisfaction we’re looking for. After all, He is the one who made us and designed us! He is the only one who really understands us; even more than we understand ourselves!

When Jesus came to earth, He suffered and died in order to bring us back to God and “full” life—both now and when we die! He did this by choosing to die in our place. He wasn’t just dying a horrible death on the cross; He was dying our death and paying the penalty for our misplaced obsessions and rejection of God. He received God’s correct punishment for how we have lived so that we don’t have to face it. And then He did something that can give us real security. He rose again three days later.

By coming back to life, He beat death. Now He gives us God’s forgiveness, along with new and unending life in God’s family.

Getting obsession right

Jesus alone gives us the lasting satisfaction we need. That doesn’t mean we won’t face problems, job loss, rejection or illness when we choose to follow Him. But it means that we can still be satisfied even if those things happen, because our satisfaction will be based on God’s love and His promise of a place in heaven. God will always remain unchanging and reliable, even when everything around us—our likes, our hopes and even our friends—let us down.

But following Jesus isn’t like following another person on Twitter. Jesus isn’t just an addition to our lives. He alone is God, to be followed and loved first, making Him our one good obsession. Everything else (social media, football, celebrities, etc.) can stay as they are: things. We don’t need to ask them to fulfil us—only Jesus gives us full lives!

Getting obsessed with Jesus means putting Him before everything else. It means we look to God for our acceptance, purpose and satisfaction, just as He designed us to. This is a healthy obsession, because He is the only one in the world who can fulfil us! An obsession with God puts everything else in our lives in perfect balance.

The life of a Christian is not just a one-time decision to trust Jesus to pay our penalty and give us new life. It is a daily decision to allow Him to be in charge of every part of our lives as we follow His plan, not our own. This is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult, as in all of our relationships, but we can trust that God is always good, always loves us and is always on our side.

Adapted from Obsession—no big deal . . . right? Read the full booklet, and many others like it, at ourdailybread.org/lookingatlife

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