Morning, December 31
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On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  — John 7:37
Bible League: Living His Word
"For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish."
— Esther 4:14 ESV

Through a series of events outside of her control, Esther was in a position to save all the Jews in Persia. Is God calling you to use your position for a great task also? It may be your time to be doing what God has called you to be doing for His people. Can you hear the Lord say, "you have been chosen for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14)? In His infinite wisdom, God has set it all up. He's led you through a lot to get to this point. There have been educational experiences, life experiences, disciplinary experiences, and a whole host of other experiences. Together, they have made you ready. Together, they have given you the skills to succeed. The plan of the Lord for you was hatched in eternity, but it is coming to fruition now.

This means it's time for you to step up. It's time for you, like Esther, to speak out. This is not the time to be silent. This is not the time to shrink back in fear. Faith is required to believe that this is the time. The time you live in needs you more than you'll ever know. You have what it takes for the moment. You have the tools necessary for deliverance. Liberation is in your hands, but you must step up and speak out for it to come into being. Can't you see this? Can't you see that the Lord has set you in place for this time?

Don't think that you're not important enough. Don't underestimate your importance in the great scheme of things. If you shrink back in fear, if you remain silent, then the Lord will arrange deliverance from another place. Someone else will arise and take your place. Someone else with the strength and courage to step up and speak out will take over.

Deliverance will still come for God's people, but you will have forsaken your part in it. The moment will leave you behind.

Don't let that happen! Prepare yourself. Set aside your fear, step up, and speak out.
Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Malachi


Malachi 1 -- The Word of the Lord to Israel by Malach: I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Malachi 2 -- Priests Reproved for Neglecting Their Covenant; Judah's Unfaithfulness

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Malachi 3 -- Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; Robbery and Remembrance

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Malachi 4 -- God's Final Judgment on the Wicked and Blessing on the Good

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Revelation 22


Revelation 22 -- The River and Tree of Life; Christ Is Coming; Nothing may be added to the word of God

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
Insight
If your conscience is clear, you can come to God without fear, confident that your requests will be heard. John reaffirms Jesus' promise that whatever we ask for will be given to us. You will receive if you obey and do what pleases him because you will then be asking in line with God's will. Of course this does not mean that you can have anything you want, like instant riches.
Challenge
If you are truly seeking God's will, there are some requests you will not make.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
John 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. "We pray you," says the Apostle, "as though God did beseech you by us." What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul's thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year's last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as he cries to each of us,

"IF ANY MAN THIRST,

LET HIM

COME UNTO ME

AND DRINK."

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Deuteronomy 1:31  and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.'

Exodus 19:4  You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

Deuteronomy 32:11,12  "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. • "The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.

Isaiah 46:4  Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

Psalm 48:14  For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death.

Psalm 55:22  Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

Matthew 6:25,32  "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? • "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

1 Samuel 7:12  Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us."

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Evening December 30
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