Daily Treasure

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

The Jews and perhaps others looked for an earthly king when Jesus came to earth. They must have been disappointed when this didn’t happen.  Thank God that Christ was willing to humble Himself and take upon Himself the form of man so He could become our Savior and Redeemer. He paid the ultimate price to free us from the bondage of sin.  Don’t let pride interfere with you ministering to others. Today’s verse can help you remember the standard of humility He set for us.  We may not feel we measure up to it, but, it is one we must strive to live by.  Ponder this phrase throughout your day, “He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.”

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for church outreaches and midweek services tonight. Ask God to enable His followers to use this night often associated with evil for His glory and for good.

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

Christ emptied Himself, not of His deity, but He chose to become an obedient servant. I found some interesting statements concerning today’s verse in The NIV Study Bible He humbled Himself to do the will of His Father. The phrase “to death” can be described in the following statement: “It stresses both the totality and the climax of Jesus’ obedience. “on the cross” heightens Jesus’ humiliation; as someone cursed (Galatians 3:13). Crucifixion was the most degrading kind of execution that could be inflicted on a person.”

If we are going to follow His example, we must be willing to let go of self to do His will.

We sing  “I Surrender All.”  Do we mean it? Are we willing to follow and be His servant whatever the cost?

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for fall outreach events in Home Missions churches throughout North America.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7).

The past couple months we have dealt with the pride issue. I pray we have examined our hearts concerning pride and its dangers.  For the month of November we will be studying about humility.  I like what our study writer states in her introduction as she turns the spotlight on her own life.  “He calls me to discard my prideful wrappings, discover and deal with the pride in my heart and ditch that pride for humility.  He bids me let Jesus be Jesus in me as I live in the palm of God’s Mighty Hand.”   May we evaluate ourselves as well and determine in our hearts to let go of pride.

The first week of our study, “Let Jesus Be” gives us a vivid picture of the greatest example of humility.  Christ left the splendor of Heaven to come to this earth.  He didn’t come to it as a king as some had hoped, but, He came in “the form of a servant.”   From His lowly birth until His death on the Cross, He ministered.  He humbled Himself by laying aside His power and glory and became like us.

Tomorrow we will continue to look at Christ as the greatest example of humility. I leave you with this question: What do you think you should do to achieve humility?

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray that the winter issue of Treasure (now gone to press) would be printed and delivered in a timely manner in the midst of a multiplicity of political mailers now on the presses and at the post office.

“In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained…” (Ezra 6:3 ESV).

As I read Ezra chapter 6, I find King Darius making, more accurately reinstating, a law in regards to the rebuilding of the Temple —no one was exempt.  Every Jew was ordered to be a part of the renovations, whether by donating funds, providing meals, supplying animals for sacrifice or whatever else was needed.

As Christians, the same decree is issued to us.

We gripe about the fall of our country.  We complain there’s nothing fit to watch on television.  We murmur about the way God has been taken out of the schools, the government and in some cases, the home.

So, what are you doing about it?

In Ezra’s day if it was found out that you were not giving ALL you could, in time or expendables, a price was to be paid:  a beam out of your own home would be pulled out, thus allowing you to live in rubble like the Lord was having to do.  Go ahead, look it up in Ezra 6:11 NLT.

What would it mean in today’s time?  I’ve got an idea of what it would look like…

—The plug would be pulled on our cable if our tithes weren’t joyfully given.

—The season tickets would be revoked if our pews were habitually left empty on Sunday.

—Inadequate service would be our lot at our favorite restaurants if we failed to serve in our church.

We have a very important role to play in the rebuilding of godly values in our country, state, town, neighborhood and home.  We do.  No, not the government.  Not the church itself.  We have responsibilities that we have left undone…and there’s going to be a price to pay.

Are you willing to pay it?

Malinda Edgell
Illinois

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for your pastor today. If you haven’t yet observed Pastor Appreciation, offer him thanks and gratitude for his service to God and your congregation. A thank you note and gift card wouldn’t hurt, either.

“Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord.  For surely you have a future ahead of you, your hope will not be disappointed”  (Proverbs 23:17-18 NLT).

We’ve all done it.  We’ve grumbled about it, mumbled unkind things in reference to it and stood back scratching our heads in wonder.  Good things happen to the worst of people, and well, we don’t understand it.

We’ve all sat in a waiting room.  Waiting, impatiently at times, for news on a believing loved one.  A biopsy result, a test finding or a surgeon’s report.  We’ve judged the answer we received against the one of the family on the other side of the room—and well, to the best of our estimation, we got the bad end of the deal.

We’ve been sidelined at work, in our families or in life in general.  Our dreams broken.  Our goals yet to be met.  And we’re called to applaud the promotion of the guy down the hallway.  To work under the unbeliever in the office.

We’ve received what to us looks like a great role in the play of life, only to find our we’re the understudy to a less than desirable, foul-mouthed, never-darken-the-door-of-a-church star.

We’ve all been handed a 2nd place ribbon at some time or another.

We’ve all been announced as runner-up.

We’ve all thought about throwing in the towel on this Christianity-thing.  After all, what’s it doing for us?  Where’s it gotten us?  Is anyone, anyone at all, noticing how we’ve put heart and soul into living in godliness?  All our best efforts are getting us nowhere.

Don’t.  Don’t throw in the towel.  Don’t give up on walking the straight path.  Don’t envy the lives of those living without Christ, no matter what they seem to have going for them.

Our bright future is not necessarily going to occur here.  All they have now, may in fact, be all they’ll ever get.

Your hope, your commitment, your determination and your work for Christ will not disappoint.

Malinda Edgell
Illinois

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Lee Ann Wilfong as she leads Missouri Women Active for Christ.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

I read over a few commentaries and found the phrase that best describes the first part of our verse.  It is found in the words, “unconditional surrender.”  It is emptying ourselves of self and laying everything at the feet of Jesus.  If we truly do this, it will be much easier to resist the devil when he tempts us to do wrong.  The basic problem is if we don’t have a close relationship with the Lord, we are easy prey for devil. We find ourselves unable to defend ourselves. If we do our best to stay in the will of God, the devil has to flee. We can lead victorious lives knowing God is with us to help fight the forces of evil.

We will begin our November study on humility next week, so we can include devotionals for the PreThanksgiving Week of  Prayer, November 12-16.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

 PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Sally Wilcox as she leads Texas Women Active for Christ.

“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).

Most of us are familiar with the story of Job. We can almost agonize with him as we read the account.  It’s hard to imagine the words of our verses. Adam Clarke says this about our verses. “I have heard of thee “ – I have now such a discovery of thee as I have never had before. I have only heard of thee by tradition, or from imperfect information; now the eye of my mind clearly perceives thee, and in seeing thee, I see myself; for the light that discovers thy glory and excellence, discovers my meanness and vileness.”

By nature we are not humble.  It often takes some type of crisis to bring us to that point. But, Job?  The man had suffered tremendously.  I would dare say none of us have met with his adversity.  We see not even a trace of pride left in God’s servant as the Spirit of God gives him a clear picture of God’s greatness.  Job completely emptied himself before God.  This was and is true humility.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Joanna Felts as she guides California Women Active for Christ.