USEFUL BREATH IS ON PAUSE

 

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR USEFUL BREATH SUBSCRIBERS:  

This is the final post on this blog for awhile. It might even be the final post. Time will tell.

Please visit https://www.valleycc.org/bible-helps.html to find new resources to help you with reading and understanding scripture. 



I’ve been posting this blog every day since October 2006. I hope it is has been a help and encouragement to the many readers who have joined me over the years. Thanks for your support and participation.



The blog will continue to stay online and you can find specific passages of Scripture by using the search bar.

I may turn the blog into a two-year daily devotional book. We'll see if that happens.

Dave Burkum

Never Having Enough

Today's Reading:
Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 132:1-18 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Ecclesiastes 4:10-12
10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

Insight:
One by one, the writer of Ecclesiastes methodically dismantles the idols and false hopes of life. Money and possessions are among the meaningless things to love. Why love something that cannot satisfy? Why accumulate when there is never enough? Why make more to spend more? Don't treasures become junk once you realize they are nothing more than things to store or stare at? Who benefits? Who gets a better night's sleep—the person with nothing to lose or the person with an abundance of things to lose? What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul?

Response and Action:
I want to love and value the things that matter most. I want to put first the things that last. I want to live in a way that all I need is all I want. I will strive to be a good steward, I will not seek fulfillment in possessions. I will strive to be a hard worker, but I will not put my trust in wealth. I will do all I can to be a fruitful servant, but I will not expect things to give me joy. I will endeavor to be responsible in my financial affairs, but I will not waste time worrying about loss. I will give thanks for the many blessings and provision I enjoy, but I will not be deceived into thinking that life is about having an abundance of things.

O God, help me to be a good steward of all you have given me. Grant me the wisdom and the will to guard my heart, to feed my spirit, to stimulate my mind, and care for my body. Help me to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Help me to value and love the things worthy of value and love. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Through Christ, I pray. Amen. 

Spiritual Formation Verses: 1 Timothy 6:9-10
 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Resources:
Breaking the Idols of Your Heart
by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman

Certainty and Hope

 Today's Reading:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22
Hebrews 11:1-16
Psalm 131:1-3 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Hebrews 11:1-2
1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

Insight:
By faith, it is possible to have a certainty about how I see the world and where I place my hope. The story of faith recorded in the Scriptures includes many men and women who lived by faith. What they believed about God guided their choices and actions. Real faith looks beyond circumstances and the limitations of self. 

Hebrews 11:39-40 - "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

People who have faith in God look beyond what they have received and what they are experiencing today. They believe that God has something better planned for humankind, and that he will be faithful to his promises.

Response and Action:
I will put my faith in God. I believe that God has something better planned for his people, something better for me, and something better for the world. I will follow the example of the long train of believers throughout history who have exemplified faith in God.

My faith in God, and confidence in his promises, will guide my actions and choices each day. I will live each day with a certainty about God's love and faithfulness.

O God, increase my faith. Help me to live out my faith in thought, word, and deed. Help me to gain insight, inspiration, and encouragement from examples of faith recorded in Scripture and throughout Christian history. Help me to look beyond what is seen and to grasp what is unseen and yet so real. May I, like the ancients of the faith, be commended one day for my steadfast confidence in you. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being  renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Resources:
Living Faith: A Guide to the Christian Life
by John Schwarz

Encourage Each Other

Today's Reading:
Job 40:1-42:17
Hebrews 10:18-39
Psalm 130:1-8 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Hebrews 10:23-25
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Insight:
God is faithful and he will keep his promises made to us in Christ. Because I have professed faith in Christ, I will hold on tightly to the hope I have in him. Christian community should be a source of encouragement to all believers. It should also prompt us to grow in love and to do good deeds.

Response and Action:
I must hold on tightly to the hope I have in Jesus. I must live out my faith in the company of friends who also follow Jesus. Christian community is necessary for me. I will be actively involved in the fellowship of the Church. Christian friends can encourage me in my faith and spur me on to do good deeds. I, too, can be a source of godly encouragement and prompting for others.

O God, you are faithful to your promises. Help me to remember your promises and cling to the hope I have in you. Surround me with Christian friends who can encourage me and push me toward righteousness. Help me to be a source of encouragement and prompting for my Christian friends. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Romans 15:4-6
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Recommended Reading:
Encouragement: The Key to Caring
by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan B. Allender

 

Hearts and Minds

 Today's Reading:
Job 37:1-39:30
Hebrews 10:1-17
Psalm 129:1-8 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Hebrews 10:14-17 
14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their  minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

Insight:
The sacrifices of the Jewish priesthood had to be repeated over and over because they were only about forgiveness and repentance. The sacrifice of Christ Jesus was about forgiveness from sin, and it was also about something even greater—transformation and freedom from our bondage to sin. The priesthood of Christ brought more than forgiveness; it brought the possibility of new life.

By the power and grace of the Spirit of Christ, we can now escape from our fallen obligation to sin. Instead of trying to keep a law that is external and contrary to our nature, the Christ-follower has the will and the ways of God engraved upon their hearts and written in their minds. Because our nature is changed, we can be renovated from the inside out. We experience more than forgiveness; we experience transformation.

Response and Action:
My faith in Christ is about more than forgiveness. I look to the power and grace of his Holy Spirit to change me. I do not look to him for new rules and special insights to pursue in my own strength. Rather, I look to him for the transformation of my heart and mind. I want to have a heart and mind that are inclined toward the ways of Christ. The holiness and wholeness of my life must flow out from the change I am experiencing in the deepest parts of my being. I want more than forgiveness for my past; I desire strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

O God, help me to live for you and through you in thought, word, and deed. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. By the power and grace of your Holy Spirit, lead, teach, shape, and strengthen me that I might delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name.  Thank you for Jesus who makes forgiveness possible. Thank you, even more, that he makes change and new life possible. Thank you for the new and living way he has opened for us. It's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Romans 8:12-13
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Recommended Reading:
Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ
by Dallas Willard

Once for All

 Today's Reading:
Job 34:1-36:33
Hebrews 9:11-28
Psalm 128:1-6 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Hebrews 9:23-28
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Insight:
While many things before Jesus (the tabernacle, ceremonial washings, offerings, feast days, the temple, sacrifices, Passover) pointed to God's plan and desire to save the world from sin, Jesus himself is God's plan. Jesus is not another symbol or message about the salvation God has in mind for the world and mankind; Jesus actually is that plan. All those other things were preparing the way and pointing to him.

Response and Action:
My faith is in Jesus the Christ. I believe that he takes away the sins of the world through his sacrifice on the cross. The cross is much more than a symbol of God's love. Jesus’ sacrifice is God's love in action. Through Christ's death, the separation from God caused by my sins has been taken away. I will praise Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, my redeemer, and my salvation. I long for his appearing on the final day when my salvation will be fully realized.

Lord Jesus, you are worthy of my praise, my life, and my all. You were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. I will give you my worship and honor and glory and power, forever and ever! I look for the resurrection and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Isaiah 53:6 
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Recommended Reading:
The Cross of Christ
by John R. W. Stott

Unless the Lord Builds the House

 Today's Reading:
Job 31:1-33:33
Hebrews 9:1-10
Psalm 127:1-5 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Psalm 127:1-2
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. 2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Insight:
As the Israelites climbed the road to Jerusalem for feast days and sang these songs, they remembered what it must have been like for the first generation who returned to Jerusalem after the exile (Ps. 126). They thought of how joyous and unbelievable it must have been for the children of those who had seen Jerusalem destroyed to one day return and rebuild it.

The returning exiles knew the consequences of turning away from God. They had seen their houses destroyed, and understood the futility of the things accomplished in their own strength. Psalm 127 was the perfect song to sing after Psalm 126. Those who know the futility and destruction of turning away from God can wisely declare: "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain."

Response and Action:
I want to begin today with a Psalm 126 perspective--to look back at the foolish ambitions and efforts of my past, and to rejoice in the ways God faithfully continues to lead me out of those failures into a joyful and hopeful future.

I will give careful consideration to the things I work on today. Am I building something that honors God? Am I giving myself to the work and purpose and direction God is leading me to do? Am I depending upon his guidance, strength, and provision, or am I wearing myself out by doing things for my own reasons, in my own way, and in my own strength?

I want my life to be a house that God is building. I want to find rest and peace and satisfaction in God's will and purpose. God is the builder of the life I want to live.

O God, help me to live for you and through you in thought, word, and deed. Help me to turn away from what is wrong, and to do what is right. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. By the power and grace of your Holy Spirit, lead, build, provide, and sustain my life. Help me to delight in your will, and to walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Through Christ, Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Luke 14:28-30
28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

Recommended Reading:
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
by Eugene Peterson

Written on Their Hearts

 Today's Reading:
Job 28:1-30:31
Hebrews 8:1-13
Psalm 126:1-6 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Hebrews 8:10-12
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Insight:
External laws are not able to transform the heart and mind that opposes and resists them. Because God desires to forgive our sins, make us his people, and be our God, he declares that he will put his laws in our minds and write them on our hearts. Instead of doing good things to become God's people, God will make us his people in order to help us do good things. This is the covenant he makes with all who place faith in Christ Jesus.

Response and Action:
I need to surrender my heart and mind to God. I should expect him to change me and guide me. I must meditate on the Scriptures and prayerfully ask God to help me apply them to my daily life. I can't settle for a "behavior modification" approach to following Christ; I need my heart and mind to be changed so that Christ-like behavior will flow out from what I am in Jesus.

O God, you are my rock and my salvation. Forgive my wickedness and forget my sins. Save me from the inside out. Heal and transform my heart and mind. Be my God, and make me one of your people. Make me new by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Resources:
Renovation of the Heart
by Dallas Willard

READING SCHEDULE: MAY 2-8

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR USEFUL BREATH SUBSCRIBERS:
As of Sunday May 9, the Useful Breath daily blog posts will be coming to an end. You are encouraged to visit https://www.valleycc.org/bible-helps.html to find new resources to help you with reading and understanding scripture. 



I’ve been posting this blog every day since October 2006. I hope it is has been a help and encouragement to the many readers who have joined me over the years. Thanks for your support and participation.



Dave Burkum

PS - I'd like to turn the blog into a two-year daily devotional book. We'll see if that happens. :-)

READING SCHEDULE & HELPS

SUNDAY
Job 28:1-30:31
Hebrews 8:1-13
Psalm 126:1-6

MONDAY
Job 31:1-33:33
Hebrews 9:1-10
Psalm 127:1-5

TUESDAY
Job 34:1-36:33
Hebrews 9:11-28
Psalm 128:1-6

WEDNESDAY
Job 37:1-39:30
Hebrews 10:1-17
Psalm 129:1-8

THURSDAY 
Job 40:1-42:17
Hebrews 10:18-39
Psalm 130:1-8

FRIDAY
Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22
Hebrews 11:1-16
Psalm 131:1-3

SATURDAY
Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 132:1-18

Never Having Enough

 Today's Reading:
Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 132:1-18 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Ecclesiastes 4:10-12
10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

Insight:
One by one, the writer of Ecclesiastes methodically dismantles the idols and false hopes of life. Money and possessions are among the meaningless things to love. Why love something that cannot satisfy? Why accumulate when there is never enough? Why make more to spend more? Don't treasures become junk once you realize they are nothing more than things to store or stare at? Who benefits? Who gets a better night's sleep—the person with nothing to lose or the person with an abundance of things to lose? What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul?

Response and Action:
I want to love and value the things that matter most. I want to put first the things that last. I want to live in a way that all I need is all I want. I will strive to be a good steward, I will not seek fulfillment in possessions. I will strive to be a hard worker, but I will not put my trust in wealth. I will do all I can to be a fruitful servant, but I will not expect things to give me joy. I will endeavor to be responsible in my financial affairs, but I will not waste time worrying about loss. I will give thanks for the many blessings and provision I enjoy, but I will not be deceived into thinking that life is about having an abundance of things.

O God, help me to be a good steward of all you have given me. Grant me the wisdom and the will to guard my heart, to feed my spirit, to stimulate my mind, and care for my body. Help me to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Help me to value and love the things worthy of value and love. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Through Christ, I pray. Amen. 

Spiritual Formation Verses: 1 Timothy 6:9-10
 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Resources:
Breaking the Idols of Your Heart
by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman

Unshakable Trust

 Today's Reading:
Job 23:1-27:23
Hebrews 7:18-28
Psalm 125:1-5 
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses: Psalm 125:1-3 
1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. 3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.

Insight:
The fifteen psalms called the "Psalms of Ascent" (Psalms 120 - 134) were to be sung when the children of Israel traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem (Mount Zion) three times a year to worship and celebrate the feast days prescribed in the Law of Moses. Christians have long considered these ancient pilgrimages to be a useful metaphor of their own spiritual journey and maturity (ascent) as followers of Christ.

As the people climbed the road to Jerusalem, and saw how it was surrounded by rugged and unshakable mountains, they sang praise to their God who surrounded them with his unshakable love and provision. They rejoiced in God's steadfast care, and put their hope in his promises.

Response and Action:
Though my journey to know and follow Jesus has been an uphill climb, I am trusting in God's enduring love. I believe he will keep his promises to those who worship him and seek his righteousness. I am surrounded by the unshakable love and care of my God who never sleeps or slumbers (Ps. 121). He watches over my life—my coming and my going—now and forever. I will celebrate and worship him today. I will live in hope, believing his promises to be faithful and true.

O God, I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of a child look to his mother, as the eyes of a captive look to his deliverer, as the eyes of the hungry look to their provider, and the eyes of a sinner look to the one who forgives, as the eyes of the broken look to the one who restores, as the eyes of the sick look to the one who heals, so my eyes look to Jesus Christ, my Lord and merciful Savior who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: Hebrews 12:1-3
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Resources:
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
by Eugene Peterson
A wonderful book of meditations based on the Psalms of Ascent.