Friday, May 30, 2014

A New Covenant Psalm

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever thought of the 23rd Psalm as a New Covenant psalm? David is not asking for anything, he is not worried about anything; he is simply declaring how wonderful the Lord is to him. There is no bargaining with the Lord, no attempt to make a tit-for-tat agreement with Him. The Lord is his Shepherd; he will never “want” for anything. As a loving Shepherd, the Lord will make him to lie down in green pastures, will lead him beside “still waters,” will heal him, “restore” his soul, will lead him in “paths of righteousness,” in other words will lead him in such a way that when life is over and David looks back, he will see that everything that has happened to him was the best, even though at the time he couldn’t see how.
That’s like the fantastic promises the Lord made to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, 3. (In Galatians 3:15-17 and in Romans 4:13 Paul says that those promises were the New Covenant.) Abraham did not bargain with the Lord, strike an agreement with Him, do a tit-for-tat “contract.” The Lord simply promised Abraham the sky, out and out; no strings attached (read it--it’s astonishing). Abraham’s part of the “contract” (if you want to call it that) was his melted-heart response, “I believe.” The lesson is clear: it’s what the Bible has been trying to tell us all along: righteousness comes through believing God’s promises!
David believed, that “even though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with Him.” Even in his last extremity, the Lord “anoints his head with oil and his cup runs over,” and therefore “goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life.” Good News for you today!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 22, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Agape Revealed

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The gospel of Jesus Christ is totally different than any other religion that has ever existed on earth. In fact, all other religions are in some way counterfeits of the original religion revealed by the one true God. The counterfeits all have one common denominator principle: you win the favor of God (or of the gods) by your works, by your obedience, by the good things that you do or that you sacrifice.
In contrast, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a revelation of what God has done and is doing for us, and worship therefore consists of simply beholding, contemplating, understanding, appreciating the character of this one true God. "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," God says (Isa. 45:22). The serpent is lifted up on a pole so that the stricken Israelites could simply look and be healed (Num. 21:9). John says, "Behold, what manner of love (agape) the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1).
People criticize such a religion--you just look and you're saved?! That's silly! But yes, that's indeed what the Bible teaches. Paul says that just by looking, sinners are changed, converted: "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory ... by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). You can imagine how Satan hates such a religion as that!
But what is it that we are to look at, to behold? The answer is: the cross of Christ. Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). There is where the agape is revealed for us to "behold." Paul says it is our privilege to "comprehend" the amazing dimensions of that agape (Eph. 3:14-21).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 6, 1998.
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Monday, May 26, 2014

One of the Greatest Mysteries in the Bible

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
One of the strangest mysteries in the Bible is where we find Jesus blaming people of His day for a crime that someone else committed 800 years earlier. If someone were to blame me for starting World War I, for example, I would take offense because I wasn't even born when it started. How could Jesus, the Righteous One, be so apparently unfair?
The problem is in Matthew 23:35. Jesus is preaching His last sermon in the glorious Temple. Some may say that He was deliberately inviting His own death by laying out before the leaders their sins just as they were. (Why not be more political and soften up His words?) Then Jesus tells these august pastors of the flock that "YOU slew Zacharias ... between the temple and the altar." The story goes that the blood of this martyr stained the stones in the pavement forever! (See 2 Chronicles 24:20, 21.)
Can't you imagine those scribes and Pharisees responding in indignation, "Why do You blame US for a crime committed 800 years before we were born? How unfair can You be?"
But like He always did, Jesus told the truth. The same awful sin that King Joash and the leaders of his day committed when they stoned Zechariah right there in the holy Temple, these religious leaders were already nursing in their hearts--for within a few hours they would crucify the Son of God. So, in a corporate sense, they were guilty also of the murder of Zacharias!
The record of your sin is not like your electric light bill--you pay only for what you use; as sinners by nature we are truly guilty of all the sin ever committed--just give us enough time and opportunity. It wasn't only the Romans and the Pharisees who crucified Christ; "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" Yes, in a corporate sense.
Christ prayed for corporate forgiveness to be given to them all, "for they know not what they do." Thank Him, and receive it.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 10, 2001.
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Monday, May 19, 2014

A Growing-up Process Now Taking Place

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Quarrels and contention come because of our love of self, says the apostle James (4:1-3). Whether it's a marital, family, neighborly, or even a theological quarrel, we feel the pressing desire to justify ourselves by our defense of what we did or said, shielding ourselves from accusation.
How infantile we can become! But thank God, there is a growing-up process now taking place. We have come to Daniel's "time of the end" (11:35, 12:4). It's not only a time when "signs" in heaven and earth proclaim that the coming of the Lord draws nigh (James 5:8), but it's a time for spiritual growth in preparation for meeting the Lord of glory face to face at His second coming. A blessed time!
The preparation process is the experience of "justification by faith." We don't seek to justify ourselves; we wait upon the Lord to do it for us, in other words, we wait for justification by faith. That's the meaning of David's telling us, "Waiton the Lord, .. wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14). "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" (37:5). It will take Him some time, but oh, it's so much better than our fighting our way to "justification" on our own and winning our quarrel (we think)! "He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday" (vs. 6). "Wait patiently for Him" (vs. 7).
In this "time of the end" there is also the final cosmic Day of Atonement, the time for the special work of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. It's the ministry of the Savior as High Priest in preparing a people to stand in the final moments of time. "In your patience you possess your souls," says the Savior, speaking of this time (Luke 21:19); but patience is impossible unless there is faith--unless we believe "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5).
Whether you're a teen or a centenarian, this is "present truth" (2 Peter 1:12).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 22, 2006.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Saturday, May 17, 2014

Believe as Your "Father Abraham" Did

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Some days the sun shines bright, others it's cloudy and gloomy. Was it so with Jesus?
Yes! Matthew says of Him at Gethsemane, "He began to be sorrowful and very heavy" (Matt. 26:37, 38). Even earlier when the Greeks came to Him, He said, "Now is My soul troubled" (John 12:27).
Has God provided for such a time in our personal experience? Yes! He has given us His new covenant to replace our old covenant; it's His own one-sided, unilateral promises which He made to Abraham His "friend" and to his descendants. If, like Abraham, you respond to God's call, "come out of [Babylon], My people," you are a descendant of Abraham "in Christ," and all those promises are made to you (2 Chron. 20:7; Rev. 14:8; 18:1-4; Rom. 4:1, 16, 17, etc.). What are those new covenant promises?
1. He will make of you a "great" person "in Christ." Yes!
2. He will "bless" you "in Christ." Yes!
3. He will actually make your "name great," which means, "He will give you the desires of your heart" "in Christ" (cf. Psalm 37:4). True!
4. He will deliver you from being a "nobody," so you will "be a blessing" wherever you go, "in Christ." Wonderful, but true!
5. He will "bless those who bless you," "in Christ." Amazing.
6. He will not bless those who don't bless you. Again, very true!
7. You will help bring salvation to the world (all taken from Gen. 12:2, 3).
Now, "believe" the Lord your God as your "father Abraham" did!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 15, 2005.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Friday, May 16, 2014

The Only Way to Perceive Grace

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
What difference does it make whether Christ died our "first death" (what the Bible says is "sleep") or the "second death" (of the "Lake of Fire")? He has given us a ticket to heaven; isn't that enough for us to understand? We have the Life Insurance Policy; what more is needed? Why stretch our minds and hearts any further? For thousands of years this idea has never come up. Why is it so important now?"
We have come to a time in world history when "sin [has] abounded" more and more; grace therefore must abound "much more" or we shall end up with the "mark of the beast."
That "grace" is not a "hocus-pocus" legal maneuver beyond our range of knowledge. Much more abounding grace speaks to the heart and meets the increasing demands of modern temptation to abounding sin. 2 Corinthians 8:9 tells us that we can perceive "grace" only by understanding the sacrifice of Christ, how far He went in becoming "poor" that we "through His poverty might be rich." He went the full length of the second death! If past generations did not fully understand it, that does not excuse us for failure.
There is a "breadth, and length, and depth, and height" in the love that motivated Christ to His cross that "children" can grasp only as they "grow up into Christ in all things, ... from whom the whole body [of the church is] fitly joined together" (Eph 3:17, 18; 4:15, 16). If we choose to remain infantile when it's time to "grow up," we ourselves cancel that "ticket to heaven" that He gave us. Now it's grow up or die on the vine. We are living in the "time of the end."
Yes, it's true that Charles Wesley in the 1700s prayed "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise" while he still believed in the papal doctrine of natural immortality. But now it's impossible to "sing" understandably about that cross if we believe in that false doctrine. There's lots of growing up that's on God's agenda for us now.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 10, 2001.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Thursday, May 15, 2014

A Prayer Pleasing to the Lord

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
A great awakening occurred in the early part of the 19th century in both America and Europe. It concerned the Bible books of Daniel and Revelation. Simultaneously in many lands, there came a spontaneous conviction expressed in print that these two books were no longer "sealed." They could be understood!
Joseph Wolff, a Jewish boy with an inquiring mind, heard his elders lamenting that "Israel" had been punished for her sins. He asked, "What sins?" "Our fathers killed the prophets!"
Then a Christian neighbor of the Wolffs told the lad, "Son, the reason the Jews are oppressed is that your forefathers rejected and murdered their true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth! If you will simply read Isaiah 53, you will see the truth!"
The boy went home, read it, and saw it. Then he simply asked his father what it meant, and the father sternly rebuked him--he "must never again ask that question!" That exchange led him to become a Christian, and he grew up to become a missionary to many parts of the Middle East. What he discovered in the Bible was that we are living in "the time of the end," and Jesus wants to come soon. Daniel and Revelation made sense!
Foremost in all of these widely separated yet phenomenal awakenings was the question, "What is the truth? What does the Bible really teach?"
The work of these pioneers as well as of Luther and Calvin and the Wesleys, must go on to full development in preparing a people for the return of Jesus. And again today, the important question is: what does the Bible really say? Confusion again reigns in Christendom as it did long ago. If your church is like the average, very likely there is confusion and dissent there, too. But no prayer is more pleasing to the Lord to hear than your cry for understanding of the truth, based on your willingness to study and learn. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," said Jesus (John 8:32).
It's a sin in a time of crisis not to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, which is truth (cf. Matt. 5:6). We must each inquire and study for himself, even if we discover that truth is unpopular!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 14, 2004.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Cherish the Faith of the "Son of David"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever done or said something foolish, even stupid, and you feared it might hurt someone else? And you hesitated to pray because you knew the fault was totally yours?
The dear Lord has hidden in His word something that is a blessing to you in this particular circumstance.
David has been anointed by Samuel with the assurance that God would lead him to become king of Israel. But everything has gone against him. He knows King Saul is "the anointed of the Lord," by God's choice. But Saul has been violently opposing David, forcing him to hide in caves like a runaway criminal.
David has endured these trials for years, and prayed earnestly. But finally the strain proves too great even for his faith. In 1 Samuel 27 he gives in to unbelief: "And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in the coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand" (vs. 1).
Sorry, David; that was raw unbelief. The great progenitor of the Messiah has stumbled. His faith was not perfect when he sought refuge among the enemies of God's people.
David made friends with Achish, their king. Then the problem became critical when Achish, determined to conquer Israel, "said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men" (28:1).
David is now in a terrible predicament. How can he refuse to help Achish who has apparently saved his life? And how can he, anointed to someday be king of Israel, join in a war against his own people? If you have fought against your own people how can you someday become their shepherd?
We don't have any special psalm that expressed David's desperate prayer this time. Psalm 34 is his prayer the first time he fled to Achish. But perhaps he found it difficult to pray this second time, when his mistake of unbelief landed him in the middle of the army attacking Israel, bent on killing "the anointed of the Lord."
But note how the dear Lord saved David out of this impossible trap: "The princes of the Philistines" didn't trust him and protested to Achish, "Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him [Ziklag], and let him not go down with us to battle" (1 Sam. 29:3, 4). Had not these pagan "princes" delivered him, David could never have become king of Israel!
Yes, the Lord saves His people out of their stupid mistakes even when their faith falters. And don't say that David was more important than you; God's concern is the same for you. Cherish the faith of "the Son of David." He "lived" in David's psalms; you do the same.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 6, 2003.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Insight in This Story Will Help Children

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The lady's prayers were just not being answered. It's a strange story to be in the Bible: Jesus just walked on as though He hadn't heard her. The Bible plainly says, "He answered her not a word" (Matt. 15:21-28). That doesn't sound natural for Him, does it?
We love miracle stories of answered prayer, and we tell them to our children hoping they will inspire them to believe. But sometimes children's prayers apparently don't get answered; we don't know how many are perplexed by miracle stories. Youth often end up discouraged and "lukewarm." First, we should never tell a story that we don't know for sure is true. The monks in the Middle Ages told the people "pious tales." Secondly, we should tell the children this story of the lady whose prayer Jesus didn't answer, and why He didn't respond to her. The insight in this story will help them.
He happened to have come to where she lived; she had heard of Him and believed He was the Messiah. So, as He was walking along the road, she came up to Him. Her prayer was simple and utterly sincere: "'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is severely demon-possessed.'"
He walked on as though He had never heard her! Then she began badgering the disciples; would they please intercede with Him to pay her some attention, like many discouraged people who appeal to the saints for help. They were annoyed; she was a Gentile. They "urged Him, 'Send her away, for she cries out after us.'" They too paid her no attention.
He did respond, in her hearing: "'I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" Gentiles are outside My ministry. Goodbye, please, it seemed He said.
But the lady wouldn't give up. She plunked herself down in front of Him, and begged, "'Lord, help me!'" Because she believed He was "the Son of David," she also believed there was another side to Him. Then He said something that must have hurt: "'It's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.'" I think I would have given up and gone home angry. Me, a dog?! But she had wit as well as faith: "'True, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table!" When a woman lawyer goes after you, your facade can crumble. She was smart, and she was right.
Jesus all along had wanted to help her. He had staged His attitude as a lesson to His disciples, not to despise Gentiles, or women. Her prayer was answered, her daughter delivered, because she believed in His character of love, and she persisted. A good story!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 11, 2004.
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Monday, May 12, 2014

How Much Does God Love You, Personally?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
How much does God love you, personally? Your happiness (here and forever) depends on how you believe it. None of us was born already believing; we all have had to learn how to believe; and for that we need the Good News in the Bible. Winning the lottery is not the way to learn that God loves you; everything of human happiness you've been given can take wings and fly away.
You may say that "God so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son" sounds too far away--2000 years ago. But the Bible reveals His ongoing love for you. For example:
(1) Your Savior takes you by the arm to lead you "in the paths of righteousness." He actually takes you by your hand and says, Come, let's go to happiness! He loves you like a father loves a little son who is just learning to walk. Read it in Hosea 11:3, 4: "I taught Ephraim [My people] also to go, taking them by their arms; ... I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." No, He doesn't force you; but He does everything possible short of it. If you don't refuse, He will be to you the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23.
(2) Isaiah says that He actually takes you by the hand to lead you to heaven: "I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee" (41:10, 13).
(3) If you make a mistake and take a wrong path in your blindness or foolishness, He does not forsake you. He will do for you what He did for Saul of Tarsus who was hell-bent on taking the wrong path. The Lord put obstacles in his path to make the wrong way seem like kicking against the goads (see Acts 26:14). Yes, the Lord made it "hard" for Saul to be lost! Isn't that personal love?
(4) And the Savior continually reminds you that He has made His "yoke ... easy, and [His] burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30).
You believe it, or you dis-believe it; but if you are having trouble believing it, He "helps [your] unbelief" if you will let Him (Mark 9:24). In fact, ask Him to; you can never perish if you pray that prayer.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 20, 2002.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Friday, May 09, 2014

The Grand Final Ingathering of Souls

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There are honest-hearted people scattered in all cultures and kinds of religious faith who will gladly open their hearts to Jesus when they hear His message clearly. He says, "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd" (John 10:16).
That's the grand final ingathering of souls that Revelation 18:1-4 speaks of--when a message lightens the earth with glory, and God's people now in "Babylon" hear the Voice from heaven that says with authority, "Come out of her, My people." That Voice has been nearly silenced through a period of three centuries, but "the Scripture cannot be broken" and God's word must be fulfilled (John 10:35). The Voice will yet be heard. Isaiah describes the Loud Cry ingathering: "'Lift up your eyes, look around and see; all these gather together and come to you. As I live,' says the Lord, 'you shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament. ...'" (Isa. 49:18, NJKV).
Jesus pleads with His Father that these "other sheep" become one, that is, united (John 17:21). Now they are scattered; some keep the seventh day, many keep the first; what will bring them into "one"?
It will be the cross on which the Lord was crucified; they will understand in unison what He accomplished. Today, they are divided in that vision: some see that the cross was meant only to make an offer to the world, that Christ's sacrifice does us no good unless and until we decide to believe and receive the offer.
Others believe that all the good we have ever known is the purchase of that sacrifice; that it proclaims that Jesus became our "last Adam," reversed the judicial condemnation that the first Adam put on the human race, and by virtue of His sacrifice Christ pronounced on "all men" a "judicial ... verdict of acquittal" (Rom. 5:16, REB); that He "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9); that He earned the title "Savior of the world" (John 4:42); that He gave Himself to "every man" and will save every soul who will let Him do so and will stop resisting Him.
As time goes on, the Holy Spirit will deepen convictions of truth in people's hearts; and truth always unites--it never divides honest people.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 1, 2007.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Tuesday, May 06, 2014

The Key to World Peace

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Can we be sure that another devastating world war will not come?
No, but we can be thankful that there has been no nuclear war since the first atomic bombs of 1945. The repentance and faithfulness of God's people are the key to world stability until the close of history. The cruel world empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Rome would never have trampled the earth if ancient Israel had been true to her divine calling.
God needs the cooperation of His people, and history demonstrates that God's people do have a profound influence. Revelation discloses the behind-the-scenes efforts of "four angels ... holding the four winds of the earth [global holocaust?] ... till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Rev. 7:1-3). It is clear, therefore, that the key to world peace is the progress of that sealing work!
Meanwhile, all whose hearts respond to God's love remain "strangers and pilgrims" in a hostile world. Crime and hated may flourish all around them, yet they dwell in the world as Jesus did. He was the rightful heir of all things, yet as an alien He had to bide His time. His presence through the Holy Spirit is promised to His people.
Talk of a human-instigated doomsday should not terrify us. God's promises are abundant if we will only believe Him. "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Isa. 33:14-17).
The Lord promises us bread and water, not cake and ice cream. The Son of man had no where to lay His head, and we cannot demand more. But we can have what He had--an abiding peace "under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).
Hope and confidence leap out from almost every page of the Bible. "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee. ... When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isa. 43:1, 2).
Those who cherish and believe these promises thus join themselves to the Lord and stand with Him on His side in the final struggle. This faith is "the victory that overcometh the world" (1 John 5:4).
--Robert J. Wieland
From: Signs of the Times, "World Peace: Is the Outlook Hopeless?" April 1986.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Monday, May 05, 2014

God's Forgiveness Is Great, as Is His Love

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Habakkuk is a tiny little book tucked away in an obscure spot in the Old Testament where few people ever see it. The prophet had a very serious question which he asked the Lord: "Why do You protect and prosper the wicked" (chapter 1, verses 1-4)?
The Lord did not answer him all at once--good lesson for us! The prophet said, "I will take up my position on the watch-tower, keeping a look out to learn what He says to me, how He responds to my complaint" (2:1).
The prophet's question was eternal in its significance; it is just as up-to-date now as ever. The Lord welcomes our sincere questions that trouble us. Ask those questions of Him seriously; don't be like a child who asks for something today and then forgets tomorrow that he asked. Bring your serious questions regarding how the Lord has treated you in your life, why this or that disappointment may have come to you, why He permitted it; pour out your heart before Him, hold nothing back.
Verse 1: Note, he waited for an answer. He was not impatient with the Lord. See how often the Psalmist brings his "complaint" before the Lord (55:2; 102, title; 142:2.) Be honest and straightforward with the Lord (after all, isn't He your "heavenly Father"?).
Verse 2: "And the LORD answered me ..." He will "answer" you, too. It may be by a "still, small voice." But He will not despise your sincere prayer! Remember David's lesson he learned in deep repentance: "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). So, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).
"Boldly"? Even though you have sinned?
Yes, for His forgiveness is great, as is His love (agape).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 26, 2008.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Sunday, May 04, 2014

Did the Father Answer Jesus' Prayer on the Cross?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The words have astounded the world for nearly two millennia. They are a miracle in themselves. We are still trying to understand:
How could a Man who is being cruelly crucified pray for those murdering Him? Murder was not unknown; crucifixion was all too common in the Roman Empire. What had never been known in history was a victim praying for the forgiveness of His crucifiers. Jesus repeated His prayer over and over: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34; present ongoing tense, Greek). When the apostles fanned out proclaiming Good News everywhere, this detail riveted the attention of the Roman world.
Was Jesus' prayer answered? For the pagan Romans who were doing the job, it seems that at least one, maybe even two or three of them, did repent. There was the centurion whose heart testified, "Truly this was the Son of God" (Matt. 27:54), and maybe the soldiers who kindly gave Him a drink when He cried out that He was thirsty. But did any of the Pharisees and Sadducees and council members who voted "crucify Him" have a change of heart? We don't know of any.
The apostle Paul fills in the detail for us (Rom. 5:15-18): Yes, the Father heard and answered that prayer. He didforgive them all. He did forgive the world for rejecting and crucifying His Son (includes you and me). The Roman centurion received the forgiveness, and we trust will be saved eternally. The Jewish leaders were forgiven no less, but they did not receive the gift. None will at last die the second death for crucifying Jesus; those who die that death will die because of their hard-hearted unbelief in rejecting what the Father gave them.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 1, 2002.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Friday, May 02, 2014

Today We Can Choose to Stand on the Right Side

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever had the experience of someone hating you because you were right? And they have falsely accused you? It’s painful. You can’t hate them back, and be a Christian yourself; you must love them. Neither should you be a wimp, a doormat for people to walk over. That’s not healthy self-respect for your God-given integrity of person.
Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:11, 12: “Blessed [happy] are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
Persecution began with Cain killing Abel because Abel was righteous and Cain was not (Gen. 4:8). All through history, God’s true prophets have always been reviled and persecuted by God’s professed people. Jesus spoke of this to the leadership of God’s true church in His day--the leaders of the Jews, the scribes and Pharisees.
In Matthew 23:13-39 He fixed on them the guilt of all the murders committed in the world from A to Z, from the murder of Abel to that of Zechariah, who was murdered in the very temple itself in Jerusalem, between the porch and the altar, his blood spattered on the stones of the pavement, blood which could never be cleaned away. Yet Zechariah was murdered some 800 years before Christ’s day. How then could the Jewish leaders in Christ’s day be guilty of a murder committed long before they were born? The answer is--corporate guilt.
Now we are coming to the end of time, and the last generation will be judged for all that has happened in previous history--either in repentance for the sins of the world, or in crucifying Christ afresh. Some who now preach will become persecutors; and some who now persecute will become converted like Saul of Tarsus. The Good News is that today we can choose to stand on the right side!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 6, 1998.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.