My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers of Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kindom "Ready in Season” for Saturday, 25 April 2015

My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers of Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kindom "Ready in Season” for Saturday, 25 April 2015
Be ready in season and out of season.[2 Timothy 4:2]
Many of us suffer from the unbalanced tendency to “be ready” only “out of season.” The season does not refer to time; it refers to us. This verse says, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season.” In other words, we should “be ready” whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would never do anything. There are some people who are totally unemployable in the spiritual realm. They are spiritually feeble and weak, and they refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.
One of the worst traps a Christian worker can fall into is to become obsessed with his own exceptional moments of inspiration. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you tend to say, “Now that I’ve experienced this moment, I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, and God will make sure of that. Those times are entirely the gift of God. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best for God, as during those exceptional times, you actually become an intolerable burden on Him. You will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously aware of His inspiration to you at all times. If you make a god out of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life, never to return until you are obedient in the work He has placed closest to you, and until you have learned not to be obsessed with those exceptional moments He has given you.2 Timothy 4:2 proclaim the Word! Be on hand with it whether the time seems right or not. Convict, censure and exhort with unfailing patience and with teaching.
Bible in One Year:
2 Samuel 21:1 In David’s time there was a famine that lasted three years, and David consulted Adonai. Adonai said, “It is because of Sha’ul and his bloodstained house, because he put to death the people of Giv‘on.” 2 The king summoned the Giv‘onim and said to them — these Giv‘onim were not part of the people of Isra’el but from the remnant of the Emori; and the people of Isra’el had sworn to them; but Sha’ul, in his zeal for the people of Isra’el and Y’hudah, had sought to exterminate them — 3 David said to the Giv‘onim, “What should I do for you? With what should I make atonement, so that you will be able to bless Adonai’s heritage?” 4 The Giv‘onim said to him, “Our dispute with Sha’ul can’t be resolved with silver or gold; and we don’t have the right to put anyone in Isra’el to death.” He said, “So, what do you say that I should do for you?” 5 They answered the king, “The man who ruined us, who schemed against us so that we would cease to exist anywhere in Isra’el’s territory — 6 have seven of his male descendants handed over to us, and we will put them to death by hanging before Adonai in Giv‘ah of Sha’ul, whom Adonai chose.” The king said, “I will hand them over.” 7 But the king spared M’fivoshet, the son of Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul, because of the oath before Adonai between David and Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul. 8 The king took the two sons of Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Sha’ul, Armoni and M’fivoshet; and the five sons of Mikhal the daughter of Sha’ul, whom she bore to Adri’el the son of Barzillai the Mecholati; 9 and handed them over to the Giv‘onim, who hanged them on the hill before Adonai. All seven died; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest season, at the beginning of the barley harvest. 10 Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth, spread it out toward a cliff for herself and stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until water was poured out on the bodies from the sky, not letting the birds land on them during the day or the wild animals at night.
11 David was told what Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Sha’ul, had done. 12 So David went and took the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Y’honatan his son from the men of Yavesh-Gil‘ad, who had stolen them from the open square of Beit-Sh’an, where the P’lishtim had hanged them at the time the P’lishtim had killed Sha’ul at Gilboa; 13 and he brought up from there the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Y’honatan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 14 Then they buried the bones of Sha’ul and Y’honatan his son in the territory of Binyamin in Tzela, in the tomb of Kish his father; they did everything the king ordered. Only after that was God prevailed on to show mercy to the land.
15 Once again the P’lishtim made war on Isra’el. David went down with his servants and fought against the P’lishtim, but David began to get tired. 16 Yishbi-B’nov, one of the sons of the giant, said that he would kill David; his spear weighed seven pounds, and he was wearing new armor. 17 But Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah came to David’s rescue by striking the P’lishti and killing him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must no longer go out with us to battle, in order not to quench the lamp of Isra’el.” 18 A while after this there was again war with the P’lishtim, at Gov. Sibkhai the Hushati killed Saf, one of the sons of the giant. 19 There was more war with the P’lishtim at Gov; and Elchanan the son of Ya‘arei-Orgim, the Beit-Lachmi, killed Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam. 20 There was again war at Gat, where there was a belligerent man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — twenty-four in all — and he too was a son of the giant. 21 When he mocked Isra’el, Y’honatan the son of Shim‘ah David’s brother killed him. 22 These four were sons of the giant in Gat; they fell at the hands of David and his servants.
22:1 David said the words of this song to Adonai on the day Adonai delivered him from the power of all his enemies and from the power of Sha’ul. 2 He said:
“Adonai is my Rock, my fortress and deliverer,
3 the God who is my Rock, in whom I find shelter,
my shield, the power that saves me,
my stronghold and my refuge.
My savior, you have saved me from violence.
4 I call on Adonai, who is worthy of praise;
and I am saved from my enemies.
5 “For death’s breakers were closing over me,
the floods of B’liya‘al terrified me,
6 the ropes of Sh’ol were wrapped around me,
the snares of death lay there before me.
7 In my distress I called to Adonai;
yes, I called to my God.
Out of his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry entered his ears.
8 “Then the earth quaked and shook,
the foundations of heaven trembled.
They were shaken because he was angry.
9 Smoke arose in his nostrils;
and from his mouth, devouring fire,
with coals blazing from it.
10 He lowered heaven and came down
with thick darkness under his feet.
11 He rode on a keruv and flew,
he was seen on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness his canopy around him,
thick clouds in the skies dense with water.
13 From the brightness before him,
fiery coals flamed out.
14 “Adonai thundered from heaven,
Ha‘Elyon sounded his voice.
15 He sent out arrows and scattered them;
with lightning he routed them.
16 The channels of the sea appeared,
the foundations of the world were exposed
at Adonai’s rebuke,
at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 “He sent from on high, he took me
and pulled me out of deep water;
18 he rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from those who hated me, for they were stronger than I.
19 They came against me on my day of calamity,
but Adonai was my support.
20 “He brought me out to an open place;
he rescued me, because he took pleasure in me.
21 Adonai rewarded me for my uprightness,
he repaid me because my hands were clean.
22 “For I have kept the ways of Adonai,
I have not done evil by leaving my God;
23 for all his rulings were before me,
I did not depart from his regulations.
24 I was pure-hearted toward him
and kept myself from my sin.
25 “Hence Adonai repaid me for my uprightness,
according to my purity in his view.
26 With the merciful, you are merciful;
with the champion of purity, you are pure;
27 with the honest, you are honest;
but with the crooked you are cunning.
28 People afflicted, you save;
but when your eyes are on the haughty, you humble them.
29 “For you, Adonai, are my lamp;
Adonai lights up my darkness.
30 With you I can run through a whole troop of men,
with my God I can leap a wall.
31 “As for God, his way is perfect,
the word of Adonai has been tested by fire;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
32 For who is God but Adonai,
and who is a Rock but our God?
33 “God is my strength and protection;
he makes my way go straight.
34 He makes me swift and sure-footed as a deer
and enables me to stand on my high places.
35 He trains my hands for war
until my arms can bend a bow of bronze;
36 You give me your shield, which is salvation;
your answers make me great.
37 You lengthen the steps I can take,
yet my ankles do not turn.
38 “I pursued my enemies and wiped them out,
without turning back until they were destroyed.
39 I destroyed them, crushed them; they can’t get up;
they have fallen under my feet.
40 “For you braced me with strength for the battle
and bent down my adversaries beneath me.
41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
so that I could destroy those who hate me.
42 “They looked, but there was no one to help,
even to Adonai, but he didn’t answer.
43 I pulverized them like dust on the ground,
pounded and stamped on them like mud in the streets.
44 “You also freed me from the quarrels of my people.
You kept me to be the head of the nations;
a people I did not know now serve me.
45 Foreigners come cringing to me;
the moment they hear of me, they obey me.
46 Foreigners lose heart as they stagger from their fortresses.
47 “Adonai is alive! Blessed is my Rock!
Exalted be God, the Rock of my salvation,
48 the God who gives me vengeance
and makes peoples submit to me.
49 He brings me out from my enemies.
You raise me over those who rebel against me,
you rescue me from violent men.
50 “So I give thanks to you, Adonai, among the nations;
I sing praises to your name.
51 He is a tower of salvation for his king;
he displays grace to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.”
Luke 18:24 Yeshua looked at him and said, “How hard it is for people with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God! 25 It’s easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He said, “What is impossible humanly is possible with God.”
28 Kefa said, “Look, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 Yeshua answered them, “Yes! I tell you that everyone who has left house, wife, brothers, parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 will receive many times as much in the ‘olam hazeh, and in the ‘olam haba eternal life.”
31 Then, taking the Twelve, Yeshua said to them, “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. 32 For he will be handed over to the Goyim and be ridiculed, insulted and spat upon. 33 Then, after they have beaten him, they will kill him. But on the third day he will rise.” 34 However, they understood none of this; its meaning had been hidden from them, and they had no idea what he was talking about.
35 As Yeshua approached Yericho, a blind man was sitting by the road, begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going past, he asked what it was all about; 37 and they told him, “Yeshua from Natzeret is passing by.” 38 He called out, “Yeshua! Son of David! Have pity on me!” 39 Those in front scolded him in order to get him to shut up, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David! Have pity on me!” 40 Yeshua stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he had come, Yeshua asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Lord, let me be able to see.” 42 Yeshua said to him, “See again! your trust has healed you!” 43 Instantly he received his sight and began following him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they too praised God.
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