Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Daily Lectionary for WEDNESDAY, September 25, 2019

The Widow’s Offering
Luke 21:1-4

The Daily Lectionary
WEDNESDAY, September 25, 2019
(Revised Common Lectionary Year C)
(Semi-continuous Reading Plan)

Psalm 106:40-48
40 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his
     people, and he abhorred his heritage;
41 he gave them into the hand of the nations,
     so that those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
     and they were brought into subjection under their
     power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
     but they were rebellious in their purposes,
     and were brought low through their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress
     when he heard their cry.
45 For their sake he remembered his covenant,
     and showed compassion according to the abundance
     of his steadfast love.
46 He caused them to be pitied
     by all who held them captive.

47 Save us, O Lord our God,
     and gather us from among the nations,
   that we may give thanks to your holy name
     and glory in your praise.

48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
     from everlasting to everlasting.
   And let all the people say, “Amen.”
     Praise the Lord!

Jeremiah 10:17-25
The Coming Exile
10:17 Gather up your bundle from the ground,
     O you who live under siege!
18 For thus says the Lord:
   I am going to sling out the inhabitants of the land
     at this time,
   and I will bring distress on them,
     so that they shall feel it.

19 Woe is me because of my hurt!
     My wound is severe.
   But I said, “Truly this is my punishment,
     and I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed,
     and all my cords are broken;
   my children have gone from me,
     and they are no more;
   there is no one to spread my tent again,
     and to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid,
     and do not inquire of the Lord;
   therefore they have not prospered,
     and all their flock is scattered.

22 Hear, a noise! Listen, it is coming—
     a great commotion from the land of the north
   to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
     a lair of jackals.

23 I know, O Lord, that the way of human beings
     is not in their control,
     that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.
24 Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure;
     not in your anger, or you will bring me to nothing.

25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you,
     and on the peoples that do not call on your name;
   for they have devoured Jacob;
     they have devoured him and consumed him,
     and have laid waste his habitation.

Luke 20:45—21:4
Jesus Denounces the Scribes
20:45 In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering
21:1 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

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 New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year C. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2019, we will be in Year A. The year which ended at Advent 2018 was Year B. 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 on what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The story of the widow's offering has been used to show Christians what their attitude toward giving should be.

The Daily Prayer for WEDNESDAY, September 25, 2019


The Daily Prayer
for WEDNESDAY, September 25, 2019

God spoke to fourteenth-century mystic Catherine of Siena, saying, “I did not intend my creatures to make themselves servants and slaves to the world’s pleasures. They owe their first love to me. Everything else they should love and possess, as I told you, not as if they owned it but as something lent them.”

Thank you, Lord, for the abundance of blessings you shower upon us. Forgive us for the many ways we have turned your gifts into our achievements and so forgotten your generosity. Open our eyes to see that everything is a gift, and that every gift is to be shared for your glory. Amen.

Verse of the Day for WEDNESDAY, September 25, 2019

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=1%20John%202:1

1 John 2:1 (NIV) My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Read all of 1 John 2

Listen to 1 John 2

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Un dia a la Vez - Miércoles 25 de Septiembre de 2019

https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/un-dia-vez/2019/09/25

Hay que pagar un precio

Ustedes fueron comprados por un precio; no se vuelvan esclavos de nadie.

Para mí la llegada a este país hace veintidós años ha sido toda una experiencia. Lo he visto como la universidad de la vida donde me tocó aprender de todo un poco, desde ser mamá y ser esposa, hasta cocinar, trabajar y valerme por mi cuenta.

Podría decir que me tocó pagar un precio. Aunque fue muy duro y tuve que sacrificar muchas cosas que deseaba, no cambio por nada lo que he vivido. ¿Sabes por qué? Porque nunca debemos olvidar de dónde nos sacó Dios. Porque aprendemos a valorar lo que tenemos. Es una manera de mantenernos más enfocados y con los pies en la tierra. Lo que es más importante… ¡ser agradecidos!

Es mejor adquirir poco a poco las cosas, a que Dios nos lo dé todo de una vez, pues lo más seguro es que nos llenemos de orgullo y se nos olvide quién es el Rey de reyes.

No te quejes más de lo que estás viviendo en el lugar en que estás. Si te tocó regresar a tu tierra y esos no eran tus planes, da GRACIAS porque quizá te guardara de algo. Si estás en los Estados Unidos pero la situación no pinta bien para ti, piensa que Dios es el que te sostendrá siempre.

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
Para mí la llegada a este país hace veintidós años ha sido toda una experiencia. Lo he visto como la universidad de la vida donde me tocó aprender de todo un poco, desde ser mamá y ser esposa, hasta cocinar, trabajar y valerme por mi cuenta.

Standing Strong Through the Storm - Wednesday, September 25, 2019

https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/standing-strong-through-the-storm/2019/09/25
THE BODY OF JESUS

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

In China, one small group of believers gathered weekly in the back room of a small store to worship together during the Cultural Revolution. Since they could easily be overheard by anyone entering the store, they “sang” hymns together without words or music. Someone whispered the name of the song and the group together silently moved their lips simply “thinking” the words and music.

In the Bible, the church is called “God's husbandry,” “the body of Christ,” and the “household of Christ” (I Corinthians 3:9; 12:13,27; Hebrews 3:6). It is also called His bride and a wife (Revelation 19:7-9; 21:2,9; Ephesians 5:22-33). These are all simple examples given to help us understand that the Church is a spiritual entity, neither a building nor a human organization. This is probably the most common error in belief found among Christians. It is important that we realize that the church of Jesus Christ is basically and When Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus responded by promising to build His church on the solid “rock” of this great truth and that the gates of hell would not withstand it. (Matthew 16:13-18). According to the New Testament, a person who has recognized, as Peter did, that Jesus is the Christ, and who trusts in Him by faith as Savior and Lord, is “born again” (John 3:1-17).

This new birth is a spiritual experience that opens the heart to the Spirit of God. He enters that heart and dwells there. This believer is then a “priest” of God and enjoys direct access into the holy presence of God (I Peter 2:5,9; Hebrews 4:16). This relationship of an individual with Christ is clearly a spiritual relationship, and Jesus joins together individuals who have this faith in Him into a spiritual body—His church.

RESPONSE: I will cherish my relationship with Christ and His body—the Church.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord for Your household of faith. Help me to understand its functions and walk and serve in expressing them.

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

LHM Daily Devotions - September 25, 2019 - Come out from Under

https://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions/default.asp?date=20190925

"Come out from Under"

Sep. 25, 2019

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

It appears one of Satan's full-time tasks is to accuse the faithful before the Father. For him to condemn the saints is a futile thing. Perhaps he thinks there's some exception to God's love that won't save a believer. Wrong! Then again, maybe his tactic is to just wear God down, thinking that sooner or later the Father will get fed up with the whole saved-by-grace thing and just fry the whole lot of us. Wrong again! (Thank God!)

The above verses speak to the persistence of the foe we engage every day. What possible good could there be for Satan to accuse the faithful non-stop if he knows God and His promised mercy will not budge? Is it possible he doesn't know this? Or is he simply throwing it in God's face, so to speak, all the horrendous things His children have done before they became His through faith in Jesus? (I know, sick, right? Well, nobody said the devil wasn't twisted.)

Unfortunately, these accusations are part of our fallen world, too. Do you mull over past sins, rubbing salt in still open wounds? Do you find yourself locked in a spiral of stinkin' thinkin' where you berate yourself for this or that misdeed? When we perpetually replay our sins, for whatever reason, we do an injustice to God's grace. It's as if we're saying, "Thanks, Lord, I know You've covered my sins with Jesus' blood, but this particular sin, well, it still demands my full attention. I just can't let it go as easy as You can."

Really? You're going to hang on to something that God has forgiven?

Maybe a visit from David is in order: "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ... As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:10, 12).

And lest we forget, here's what Paul says about moving on: "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13b-14).

And lastly, when self-loathing has the upper hand, here's Paul's tour de force on the subject: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:1-4).

Living under sin's condemnation is no way to love. Come out from under and receive God's love and forgiveness.

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, free us from the bondage of deception that keeps us replaying our sins. Your Son has taken them all for us, and that is enough. In His Name we pray. Amen.

Reflection Questions:
  • Does life ever weigh heavy and wear you down, for no apparent reason? How do you rise above this mental funk?
  • Why would Satan spend time accusing the faithful night and day before God? What is there in it for him?
  • Does knowing that hurling accusations against believers is a chronic activity of Satan help put things into perspective?

This Daily Devotion was written by Paul Schreiber. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
Does life ever weigh heavy and wear you down, for no apparent reason?

Devocional del CPTLN del 25 de Septiembre de 2019 - Sal de allí abajo


ALIMENTO DIARIO

Sal de allí abajo

25 de Septiembre de 2019

Entonces oí una fuerte voz en el cielo, que decía: «¡Aquí están ya la salvación y el poder y el reino de nuestro Dios, y la autoridad de su Cristo! ¡Ya ha sido expulsado el que día y noche acusaba a nuestros hermanos delante de nuestro Dios! Ellos lo vencieron por la sangre del Cordero y por la palabra que ellos proclamaron; siempre estuvieron preparados a entregar sus vidas y morir.

Al parecer, una de las tareas de tiempo completo de Satanás es acusar a los fieles ante el Padre, aunque condenar a los santos sea inútil. Quizás él piense que hay alguna excepción al amor de Dios que impida salvar a algún creyente ¡Equivocación! Por otra parte, tal vez su táctica es simplemente cansar a Dios, pensando que tarde o temprano el Padre se hartará de todo eso de salvarnos por gracia y nos freirá a todos. ¡Nuevamente, equivocación! (¡Gracias a Dios!)

Los versículos anteriores hablan de la persistencia del enemigo al que nos enfrentamos todos los días. ¿Qué gana Satanás al acusar a los fieles sin parar, si sabe que la misericordia que Dios prometió nunca se acabará? ¿Es posible que él no sepa esto? ¿O simplemente está echándole en cara a Dios, por así decirlo, todas las cosas horrendas que sus hijos hicieron antes de haber sido hechos Suyos por la fe en Jesús? (Eso es una locura ¿verdad? Bueno, nadie ha dicho que el diablo no estuviera mal de la cabeza).

Desafortunadamente, estas acusaciones también son parte de nuestro mundo caído. ¿Piensas constantemente en tus pecados pasados, echándote sal en las heridas aún abiertas? ¿Te encuentras encerrado en un ciclo de pensamientos apestosos donde te castigas por este o aquel pecado? Cuando perpetuamente pensamos en nuestros pecados, somos injustos con la gracia de Dios. Es como si dijéramos: "Gracias, Señor, sé que has cubierto mis pecados con la sangre de Jesús, pero este pecado en particular, bueno, aún requiere de toda mi atención. Simplemente no puedo perdonarme tan fácilmente como tú ".

¿En serio? ¿Vas a aferrarte a algo que Dios ya ha perdonado?

Tal vez sea necesaria una plática con David: "No nos ha tratado como merece nuestra maldad, ni nos ha castigado como merecen nuestros pecados...Tan lejos como está el oriente del occidente, alejó de nosotros nuestras rebeliones." (Salmo 103:10, 12).

Y para que no lo olvidemos, esto dice Pablo en cuanto a dejar el pasado: "... pero una cosa sí hago: me olvido ciertamente de lo que ha quedado atrás, y me extiendo hacia lo que está adelante; ¡prosigo a la meta, al premio del supremo llamamiento de Dios en Cristo Jesús!" (Filipenses 3:13b-14).

Y, por último, para cuando nos odiamos a nosotros mismos, aquí está la obra maestra de Pablo en cuanto a eso: "Por tanto, no hay ninguna condenación para los que están unidos a Cristo Jesús, los que no andan conforme a la carne, sino conforme al Espíritu, porque la ley del Espíritu de vida en Cristo Jesús me ha librado de la ley del pecado y de la muerte. Porque Dios ha hecho lo que para la ley era imposible hacer, debido a que era débil por su naturaleza pecaminosa: por causa del pecado envió a su Hijo en una condición semejante a la del hombre pecador, y de esa manera condenó al pecado en la carne, para que la justicia de la ley se cumpliera en nosotros, que no seguimos los pasos de nuestra carne, sino los del Espíritu" (Romanos 8:1-4).

Vivir bajo la condena del pecado no nos permite amar. Sal de allí abajo y recibe el amor y el perdón de Dios.

ORACIÓN: Padre celestial, libéranos de la esclavitud del engaño que nos mantiene pensando constantemente en nuestros pecados. Tu Hijo los ha pagado todos por nosotros, y eso es suficiente. En su nombre oramos. Amén.

Paul Schreiber

Para reflexionar:
  • ¿Por qué Satanás pasa tiempo acusando a los fieles de día y de noche ante Dios? ¿Qué gana?
  • ¿Te ayuda a ver las cosas con otra perspectiva el saber que lanzar acusaciones contra los creyentes es una actividad crónica de Satanás?

© Copyright 2019 Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones. Que a través de estos devocionales, la Palabra de Dios te refresque en tu diario caminar.
¿Por qué Satanás pasa tiempo acusando a los fieles de día y de noche ante Dios?

Ministérios Pão Diário - Separado, mas não abandonado


https://paodiario.org/2019/09/25/separado-mas-n%c3%a3o-abandonado%e2%80%a9/

Separado, mas não abandonado



Agora, pois, encomendo-vos ao Senhor e à palavra da sua graça, que tem poder para vos edificar… v.32


Senti um nó na garganta ao dizer adeus à minha sobrinha que mudou de nosso Estado para fazer pós-graduação numa universidade distante. Embora ela já estivesse ausente por 4 anos na graduação, ainda morávamos relativamente perto e nos reuníamos facilmente. Ela agora moraria muito mais longe, e não mais nos encontraríamos regularmente para conversar. Eu precisava confiar que Deus cuidaria dela.

Paulo deve ter sentido o mesmo ao despedir-se dos anciãos da igreja em Éfeso. Tendo estabelecido a igreja e ensinado ali por 3 anos, concluíra que eles lhe eram tão próximos quanto a sua família. Agora que partia para Jerusalém, não os veria novamente.

Mas o apóstolo tinha um conselho de despedida para os efésios. Embora já não mais o tivessem como seu mestre, não precisavam se sentir abandonados. Deus continuaria a treiná-los através da “palavra da sua graça” (Atos 20:32) para liderar a igreja. Ao contrário de Paulo, Deus estaria sempre com eles.

Sejam os filhos que lançamos do ninho ou famílias e amigos que se mudam — dizer adeus pode ser muito difícil. Eles partem para longe de nossa influência para suas novas experiências. Quando largamos as mãos deles, podemos confiar que Deus as tem nas Suas. Ele pode continuar a moldá-los e a satisfazer as suas verdadeiras necessidades, mais do que jamais poderíamos.

Embora estejamos longe dos que amamos, eles nunca estão longe de Deus.


© 2019 Ministérios Pão Diário
Embora estejamos longe dos que amamos, eles nunca estão longe de Deus.