Our Daily Bread -- An Open Hand July 17, 2016

Read: Acts 20:22-35 Bible in a Year: Psalms 18-19; Acts 20:17-38 It is more blessed to give than to receive. —Acts 20:35 In 1891, Biddy Mason was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Los Angeles. That wasn’t unusual for a woman born into slavery, but it was remarkable for someone as accomplished as Biddy. After winning her freedom in a court battle in 1856, she combined her nursing skills with wise business decisions to make a small fortune. As she observed the plight of immigrants and prisoners, she reached out to them, investing in charity so frequently that people began lining up at her house for help. In 1872, just sixteen years out of slavery, she and her son-in-law financed the founding of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. Biddy embodied the apostle Paul’s words: “I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35). Paul came from privilege, not slavery, yet he chose a life that would lead to his imprisonment and martyrdom so that he could serve Christ and others. In 1988, benefactors unveiled a tombstone for Biddy Mason. In attendance were the mayor of Los Angeles and nearly 3,000 members of the little church that had begun in her home over a century earlier. Biddy once said, “The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance even as it receives.” The hand that gave so generously received a rich legacy. —Tim Gustafson Who in your life is struggling and could use a little help from you? How can you reach out to that person or family today? The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance even as it receives. Biddy Mason INSIGHT: One of Paul’s longest recorded messages from his preaching ministry is found in Acts 20:17-35. His purpose was to share with the Ephesian church leadership what serving God from the heart involves. Paul’s message includes his example of service among them and his concern that false teachers might lead them astray. Bill Crowder Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Day 260 - Greater Compassion for Others

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Greater Compassion for Others Day 260 It is amazing how grief enables people to relate to one another at a deeper level than before. Until you've experienced grief, you cannot empathize with someone else who is going through it. During your healing process, you may find yourself becoming more sensitive to the hurts and needs of others. "Sometimes I can't even recognize the person I was before," says Dora, who lost a child. "I think that my ability to empathize or have compassion has been strengthened. I'm not so quick to place judgment on a situation or on a person. What may appear on the outside to be one way, may be a completely different story on the inside." You know what grief feels like. You know what it's like to disguise your feelings as you go about your daily tasks, keeping a stoic face as you relate to people at work, in the community, or at church. Use your experience and knowledge of grief to help others. You are the one who realizes that everyone has deep fears and griefs of their own. What act of kindness or compassion will best help those you come in contact with today? God asks you to follow Jesus' example of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Follow His example daily. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Lord God, let me not make assumptions about the people I meet today; instead, guide me to pass along Your kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Amen. Through a Season of Grief The daily email messages you are receiving are also available in a book format. Purchase as a gift for a friend or buy a print copy for yourself. Through a Season of Grief by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard is available at online and local bookstores or at griefshare.org/devotional. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755

Our Daily Bread -- The Gift and the Giver July 16, 2016

Read: Luke 1:67-79 Bible in a Year: Psalms 16-17; Acts 20:1-16 Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us. —Luke 1:78 nlt It’s only a keychain. Five little blocks held together by a shoelace. My daughter gave it to me years ago when she was seven. Today the lace is frayed and the blocks are chipped, but they spell a message that never grows old: “I ❤️ DAD.” The most precious gifts are determined not by what went into them, but by who they are from. Ask any parent who ever received a bouquet of dandelions from a chubby hand. The best gifts are valued not in money but in love. Zechariah understood that. We hear it in his prophetic song as he praised God for giving him and his wife Elizabeth their son John when they were well past their childbearing years (Luke 1:67-79). Zechariah rejoiced because John was to be a prophet who would proclaim God’s greatest gift to all people—the coming Messiah: “Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us” (Luke 1:78 nlt). Those words point to a gift given with so much love that it will even “shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death” (1:79). The sweetest gift we can receive is God’s tender mercy—the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus. That gift cost Him dearly at the cross, but He offers it freely out of His deep love for us. —James Banks Jesus, thank You for Your gift of forgiveness and life through You. I receive Your gift with joy. Jesus is both the Gift and the Giver. INSIGHT: Luke 1:67-79 is a great example of the complex literary structure of the Bible where poetry intertwines with prose. Luke is telling a story—actually two stories that overlap and interconnect: the angelic announcement and subsequent birth of John the Baptist and the angelic announcement of Jesus’s birth and Mary’s subsequent pregnancy. Each story includes a song (Mary’s—Luke 1:46-55; Zechariah’s—Luke 1:67-79). It is in response to the birth of his son and the coming arrival of the Messiah that Zechariah cries out, “The God of Israel . . . has come to his people and redeemed them” (Luke 1:68). Dennis Moles Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Day 259 - Adversity: Unlocks the Doors

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Adversity: Unlocks the Doors Day 259 A Christian's troubles advance God's purposes, purposes only He can fully understand. As a human, you try so hard to understand. But if God could be fully understood, where's the power and sovereignty in that? What would make Him any different than just another smart human? He is above all; His ways are so perfect that a mere human could not possibly understand on this side of heaven. This is why you can place your absolute trust and your life in Him, despite the pain and the heartache. Because He is the God above all, when you get to heaven and see the world from His point of view, you will be astounded by the perfection of His loving plan. Dr. Richard Bewes says, "The world outside doesn't understand that. The world outside tends to see adversity as a dead end. We don't, not in the Christian church. Christians see it as a gateway to progress, to advancement with the knowledge of God, to the very kingdom of God itself." Reach through the pain to grasp hold of the knowledge of God. "So that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this" (1 Thessalonians 3:3 NASB). "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of the God" (Acts 14:22 NASB). God, I reach past the oppression of this world and cling to You. You are the almighty sovereign Lord. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755

Our Daily Bread -- Unexpected July 15, 2016

Read: Matthew 10:35-42 Bible in a Year: Psalms 13-15; Acts 19:21-41 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. —Matthew 10:39 In the midday heat of summer, while traveling in the American South, my wife and I stopped for ice cream. On the wall behind the counter we saw a sign reading, “Absolutely No Snowmobiling.” The humor worked because it was so unexpected. Sometimes saying the unexpected has the most effect. Think of this in regard to a statement by Jesus: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:39). In a kingdom where the King is a servant (Mark 10:45), losing your life becomes the only way to find it. This is a startling message to a world focused on self-promotion and self-protection. In practical terms, how can we “lose our life”? The answer is summed up in the word sacrifice. When we sacrifice, we put into practice Jesus’s way of living. Instead of grasping for our own wants and needs, we esteem the needs and well-being of others. Jesus not only taught about sacrifice but He also lived it by giving Himself for us. His death on the cross became the ultimate expression of the heart of the King who lived up to His own words: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). —Bill Crowder Loving Father, teach me the heart of Christ, that I might more fully appreciate the sacrifice He has made for me and be willing to sacrifice myself for others. Nothing is really lost by a life of sacrifice.  Henry Liddon INSIGHT: After appointing twelve men as His disciples (Matt. 10:1-4), Jesus gave them their first assignment to go and preach the good news that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (v. 7). Jesus warned that people in the world would not want to hear about Him: “You will be hated by everyone because of me” (v. 22). We, too, may be ignored, opposed, rejected, persecuted, and even killed (vv. 16-22). It may cost us to share the gospel with others, and we may experience hostility even from our own family (vv. 35-36). To overcome these challenges, Jesus calls for a commitment to Him that is greater than any other (vv. 37-39). Sim Kay Tee Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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