Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Unknown" for Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Matthew 24:6-8 - (Jesus said) "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains."The title of the article in the New York Post captured my attention. It said, "This is what would happen if North Korea launched a real attack."
The article began with a number of assumptions. For example, the author pretty much counted on the fact that the North Korean dictator would continue to rankle most of the rest of the world. Then there was the acknowledgment that while self-preservation might be paramount to most nations' decision-makers, North Korea was more concerned about saving face and not being pushed around.
The rest of the article was filled with a great many seriously depressing facts. Here are just a few. The article said that if North Korea launched an attack,
• President Trump would have ten minutes to decide if he wanted to retaliate;
• a North Korean missile would take a half hour to reach Los Angeles or Seattle;
• East Coast cities like New York and Washington would have 30 to 40 minutes to prepare;
• folks in the USA should be thankful because people in Seoul would have only six minutes to find suitable shelter, and the population of Tokyo would be limited to ten or eleven minutes before a North Korean missile would detonate.
Depressing? You bet! But it could get worse.
Rather than using its nukes, North Korea might elect to launch medium-range missiles armed with chemical and biological warheads. Not even the experts know if any of our counter measures could stop cruise missiles or disease-bearing artillery shells.
Any reader who waded through that article had to feel well educated. The only real question the article left unanswered was what would we do in case of a nuclear attack?
• Would we spend the minutes calling and reassuring our family and friends of our love?
• Would we try to apologize to all those whom we have hurt?
• Would we throw the world's shortest party?
• Would we quit our job and tell the boss what we really thought of him?
Or we could share the Savior with an unbeliever for one last time; or spend those minutes in prayer and thanks that the Savior's grace and salvation remains unaffected by wars and rumors of wars and, because of Jesus, we will be more than victors (see Romans 8:31-39).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me be prepared for the unknown hour when You will come or when I will leave. Grant me a faith which is unshakable. In Jesus' Name I pray it. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Chris Perez for the New York Post on May 16, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Isaiah 26-27; Ephesians 6
Isaiah 26:1 On that day this song will be sung
in the land of Y’hudah:
“We have a strong city!
He has built walls and ramparts for our safety.
2 Open the gates! Let the righteous nation enter,
a nation that keeps faith!
3 “A person whose desire rests on you
you preserve in perfect peace,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in Adonai forever,
because in Yah Adonai,
is a Rock of Ages.”
5 For he has humbled those in high places,
levelling the lofty city,
levelling it to the ground,
laying it in the dust.
6 It is trampled underfoot by the feet of the poor,
by the footsteps of the needy.
7 The way of the righteous is level;
Righteous One, you smooth the path for the righteous.
8 Following the way of your judgments,
we put our hope in you.
The desire of all our soul
is to remember you and your name.
9 My soul desires you at night,
my spirit in me seeks you at dawn;
for when your judgments are here on earth,
the people in the world learn what righteousness is.
10 Even if pity is shown to the wicked,
he still doesn’t learn what righteousness is.
In a land of uprightness he will still act wrongly
and fail to see the majesty of Adonai.
11 Adonai, you raised your hand,
but they still didn’t see.
Yet with shame they will see your zeal for the people.
Yes, fire will destroy your enemies.
12 Adonai, you will grant us peace;
because all we have done, you have done for us.
13 Adonai our God, other lords
besides you have ruled us,
but only you do we invoke
by name.
14 The dead will not live again,
the ghosts will not rise again;
for you punished and destroyed them,
wiped out all memory of them.
15 You enlarged the nation, Adonai,
you enlarged the nation;
and thus you glorified yourself;
you extended all the frontiers of the country.
16 Adonai, when they were troubled,
they sought you.
When you chastened them,
they poured out a silent prayer.
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
cries out and writhes in her labor pains,
so we have been at your presence, Adonai —
18 we have been pregnant and been in pain.
But we, as it were, have given birth to wind;
we have not brought salvation to the land,
and those inhabiting the world have not come to life.
19 Your dead will live, my corpses will rise;
awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;
for your dew is like the morning dew,
and the earth will bring the ghosts to life.
20 Come, my people, enter your rooms,
and shut your doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.
21 For see! Adonai emerges from his place
to punish those on earth for their sin.
Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and no longer conceal its slain.
27:1 On that day Adonai,
with his great, strong, relentless sword,
will punish Livyatan the fleeing serpent,
the twisting serpent Livyatan;
he will slay the sea monster.
2 On that day, a pleasant vineyard —
sing about it!
3 “I, Adonai, guard it.
Moment to moment I water it.
So that no harm will come to it,
I guard it night and day.
4 I have no anger in me.
If it gives me briars and thorns,
then, as in war, I will trample it down
and burn it up at once;
5 unless it takes hold of my strength,
in order to make peace with me,
yes, to make peace with me.”
6 The time is coming when Ya‘akov will take root;
Isra’el will bud and flower,
and fill the whole world with a harvest.
7 [Adonai] will not strike Isra’el,
as he did others who struck Isra’el;
he will not kill them,
as he did the others.
8 Your controversy with her is fully resolved
by sending her [into exile].
He removes her with a rough gust of wind
on a day when it’s blowing from the east.
9 So the iniquity of Ya‘akov is atoned for by this,
and removing his sin produces this result:
he chops up all the altar stones like chalk —
sacred poles and sun-pillars stand no more.
10 For the fortified city is alone,
abandoned and deserted, like the desert.
Calves graze and lie down there,
stripping its branches bare.
11 When its harvest dries up, it is broken off;
women come and set it on fire.
For this is a people without understanding.
Therefore he who made them will not pity them,
he who formed them will show them no mercy.
12 On that day Adonai will beat out the grain
between the Euphrates River and the Vadi of Egypt;
and you will be gathered, one by one,
people of Isra’el!
13 On that day a great shofar will sound.
Those lost in the land of Ashur will come,
also those scattered through the land of Egypt;
and they will worship Adonai
on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim.
Ephesians 6:1 Children, what you should do in union with the Lord is obey your parents, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” — this is the first commandment that embodies a promise — 3 “so that it may go well with you, and you may live long in the Land.”[Ephesians 6:3 Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16]
4 Fathers, don’t irritate your children and make them resentful; instead, raise them with the Lord’s kind of discipline and guidance.
5 Slaves, obey your human masters with the same fear, trembling and single-heartedness with which you obey the Messiah. 6 Don’t obey just to win their favor, serving only when they are watching you; but serve as slaves of the Messiah, doing what God wants with all your heart. 7 Work willingly as slaves, as people do who are serving not merely human beings but the Lord. 8 Remember that whoever does good work, whether he be a slave or a free man, will be rewarded by the Lord.
9 And masters, treat your slaves the same way. Don’t threaten them. Remember that in heaven both you and they have the same Master, and he has no favorites.
10 Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! 11 Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. 12 For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. 13 So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. 14 Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist,[Ephesians 6:14 Isaiah 11:5] put on righteousness for a breastplate,[Ephesians 6:14 Isaiah 59:17] 15 and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom.[Ephesians 6:15 Isaiah 52:7] 16 Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. 17 And take the helmet of deliverance;[Ephesians 6:17 Isaiah 59:17] along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God; 18 as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God’s people.
19 And pray for me, too, that whenever I open my mouth, the words will be given to me to be bold in making known the secret of the Good News, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may speak boldly, the way I should.
21 Now, so that you may also be informed about how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus, the dear brother and a faithful worker for the Lord, will tell you everything. 22 This is the very reason I have sent him to you, so that you may know how we are getting along and so that he may comfort and encourage you.
23 Shalom to the brothers. May God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah give you love and trust. 24 Grace be to all who love our Lord Yeshua the Messiah with undying love.
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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