January 14: Morning
"Mighty to save." - Isaiah 63:1
By the words "to save" we understand the whole of the great work of salvation, from the first holy desire onward to complete sanctification. The words are multum in parro: indeed, here is all mercy in one word. Christ is not only "mighty to save" those who repent, but he is able to make men repent. He will carry those to heaven who believe; but he is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the despiser of his name to bend the knee before him. Nay, this is not all the meaning, for the divine power is equally seen in the after-work. The life of a believer is a series of miracles wrought by "the Mighty God." The bush burns, but is not consumed. He is mighty to keep his people holy after he has made them so, and to preserve them in his fear and love until he consummates their spiritual existence in heaven. Christ's might doth not lie in making a believer and then leaving him to shift for himself; but he who begins the good work carries it on; he who imparts the first germ of life in the dead soul, prolongs the divine existence, and strengthens it until it bursts asunder every bond of sin, and the soul leaps from earth, perfected in glory. Believer, here is encouragement. Art thou praying for some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ is "mighty to save." You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it to put forth its strength. Does your own case trouble you? Fear not, for his strength is sufficient for you. Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is "mighty to save;" the best proof of which lies in the fact that he has saved you. What a thousand mercies that you have not found him mighty to destroy!
Evening
"Beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." - Matthew 14:30
Sinking times are praying times with the Lord's servants. Peter neglected prayer at starting upon his venturous journey, but when he began to sink his danger made him a suppliant, and his cry though late was not too late. In our hours of bodily pain and mental anguish, we find ourselves as naturally driven to prayer as the wreck is driven upon the shore by the waves. The fox hies to its hole for protection; the bird flies to the wood for shelter; and even so the tried believer hastens to the mercy seat for safety. Heaven's great harbour of refuge is All-prayer; thousands of weather-beaten vessels have found a haven there, and the moment a storm comes on, it is wise for us to make for it with all sail.
Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words in the petition which Peter gasped out, but they were sufficient for his purpose. Not length but strength is desirable. A sense of need is a mighty teacher of brevity. If our prayers had less of the tail feathers of pride and more wing they would be all the better. Verbiage is to devotion as chaff to the wheat. Precious things lie in small compass, and all that is real prayer in many a long address might have been uttered in a petition as short as that of Peter.
Our extremities are the Lord's opportunities. Immediately a keen sense of danger forces an anxious cry from us the ear of Jesus hears, and with him ear and heart go together, and the hand does not long linger. At the last moment we appeal to our Master, but his swift hand makes up for our delays by instant and effectual action. Are we nearly engulfed by the boisterous waters of affliction? Let us then lift up our souls unto our Saviour, and we may rest assured that he will not suffer us to perish. When we can do nothing Jesus can do all things; let us enlist his powerful aid upon our side, and all will be well.
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Asher
[Ăsh'ûr] - happy.
The eighth son of Jacob and second of Zilpah, Leah's maid and progenitor of a tribe (Gen. 30:13, 35:26; 49:20;Deut. 33:24, 25). The New Testament form is Aser (Luke 2:36; Rev. 7:6). Asher was the founder of the Asherites (Num. 1:13; Judg. 1:32). Also the name of a town east of Shechem ( Josh. 17:7).
The Man with Shoes of Iron and Brass
In the blessings of Jacob and Moses, Asher is described as being not only acceptable to his brethren, but as one blessed of God with royal dainties or bountiful supplies. Of all the tribes of Israel the tribe of Asher has the least eventful history. It never produced a great warrior, judge, king or counselor. The land of Asher was as uneventful as the tribe itself. No great battles were fought there in Israel's time.
I. Asher and his bounties. Asher was the tribe of rich pastures. Asher dwelt in the midst of plenty and being willing to share what he had, was most acceptable to his brethren. Dipping the foot in oil may refer to the olive-trees, so plentiful in that thickly wooded part of Palestine. Acre, the port and town given to Asher, has been regarded as the key of Palestine, and as oil has been recently discovered near by, perhaps the fatness of the prophecies of Jacob and Moses is about to be realized to the full.
II. Asher and his female representative. No other tribe of Israel is represented in Scripture by a woman. One member of the tribe, a widow, represents the individual history of the tribe. "One Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher" (Luke 2:36-38). It was Anna who confessed Christ, at His birth, on the part of Israel.
III. Asher and his love of ease. The chief defect in the character of Asher was his unwillingness to drive out the Canaanites. He was content to dwell among them. The command was to utterly drive them out and make no terms with them. "Live and let live," seems to have been Asher's policy. Asher's rich bounties had an enervating effect upon the tribe. The people were conspicuous by their absence during the war with Sisera (Judg. 5:17). Apart from Anna, none of the tribe appear to have been eminent for prowess or piety. Prosperity resulted in ease and declension.
IV. Asher and the promise of endurance. Completing the blessing of Moses was a wonderful promise of endurance for the days of pilgrimage. "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy days so shall thy strength be." The words for shoes and strength are peculiar to this verse, and are found nowhere else in the Bible. Many guesses have been made as to the true meaning of these words. Such a promise was well understood by those who, as they journeyed through the great and terrible wilderness had raiment that waxed not old upon them and feet that did not swell. Anna is a fitting illustration of the promised endurance, seeing that she was long past eighty years of age when she saw the Saviour.
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Today's reading: Genesis 33-35, Matthew 10:1-20 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Genesis 33-35
Jacob Meets Esau
1 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked.
Jacob answered, "They are the children God has graciously given your servant...."
...read the rest on Bible Gateway
Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 10:1-20
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give....
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Bible Gateway's 2010 in Review
The New Year is well underway now, and all of us at Bible Gateway hope it's off to a great start for you and yours! Looking back, we are happy to say that 2010 was a good year for us at Bible Gateway. We are blessed to be part of an extraordinary community of people-people who visit Bible Gateway to undergo the life-changing experience of reading God's Word.
You might be interested to know that, in 2010:
- More than 70 million people visited Bible Gateway.
- We spent more than 23 million hours (over 1.4 billion minutes!) reading Scripture on Bible Gateway.
- More than 18 million people visited Bible Gateway from outside the United States.
- We had visitors from more than 236 countries or territories.
- Three of our top ten most popular Bible translations were Spanish language versions.
- People visiting Bible Gateway on mobile devices increased by 83% over last year, and by 51% for mobile device visits from outside the United States.
It is clear that Bible Gateway continues to be a favorite online destination for people who want to read God's Word, and more people than ever are finding Bible Gateway on their mobile devices or from countries around the globe, some of which offer only restricted access to the Bible, if any at all. Praise the Lord!
What's in Store for 2011
We are immensely blessed by this opportunity to share the Bible with people in as many languages and translations as we are allowed. With this opportunity comes great responsibility, and we take it very seriously. In 2011, we are in a position to continue growing and become an even more powerful force for God in the world, and we aim to be worthy stewards of such a responsibility.
Here are some of the things we are working on to continue making Bible Gateway a home for all those who wish to engage with the Holy Scriptures:
- The new BibleGateway.com design. You can see our work in progress at http://beta.biblegateway.com. This new design focuses on keeping Bible search and reading as easy to use as ever, while offering some enhanced features like improved parallel viewing, integrated Bible audio. Eventually, we'll add features that allow you to personalize your Bible Gateway experience.
- New translations. We are constantly working on adding new translations and enhancing existing ones. We recently added the Common English Bible and the Chinese Contemporary Bible. The Nuevo Traduccion Viviente is nearly ready to go live, as are the SBL Greek New Testament and the Phillips New Testament. We are so very grateful to our many publishing partners who allow us to license these translations and share them with you online.
- More newsletters. In 2010, we introduced email newsletters to Bible Gateway for the first time. In 2011, we plan to bring you more newsletter options to choose from, including devotionals, verses-of-the-day in other languages and translations, and even an exclusive apologetics newsletter we will talk more about in the coming months.
- A mobile app. That's right! We're working on it. Stay tuned in the coming months for news on this.
I want to take a moment to thank you, our dear visitors and readers. We are here for you by God's blessing because you have supported us over the years-by praying for us, by visiting the site, and by holding us accountable when we've gone astray. We humbly ask you to continue upholding us in these ways in the coming days, months, and years.
As we endeavor to make Bible Gateway an ever better place to read and study Scripture, we remain committed to the core of what makes us tick: the transforming Word of God. Scripture tells us to
"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need." (Romans 12:11-12, NIV)
By God's grace, may we be blessed to continue zealously sharing with the Lord's people around the world-both online and off-the living, breathing Word of God, every day, for as long as we are able.
Richest blessings for a Word-filled 2011!
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Get a free copy of Tortured for Christ
It was the book that shocked the nation. After surviving 14 years in communist prisons, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand came to America to proclaim the trials and testimonies of our persecuted brothers and sisters.
In Tortured for Christ, Wurmbrand tells of his imprisonment for his work with the underground church and introduces the work of The Voice of the Martyrs. Forty years later, The Voice of the Martyrs remains true to its calling to be a voice for persecuted Christians, to serve with them in their time of need and to assist them in their efforts to proclaim the gospel.
We would like to extend this special opportunity for you to request a complimentary copy of Tortured for Christ. Help spread the message of today's persecuted church.
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