Max Lucado Daily: A Word
A Word
Posted: 12 Aug 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1
I’ve always perceived [the apostle] John as a fellow who viewed life simply . . .
For example, defining Jesus would be a challenge to the best of writers, but John handles the task with casual analogy. The Messiah, in a word, was “the Word.” A walking message. A love letter. Be he a fiery verb or a tender adjective, he was, quite simply, a word.
Revelation 2
To Ephesus
1 Write this to Ephesus, to the Angel of the church. The One with Seven Stars in his right-fist grip, striding through the golden seven-lights' circle, speaks: 2-3"I see what you've done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can't stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.
4-5"But you walked away from your first love—why? What's going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you've fallen? A Lucifer fall!
"Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I'm well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.
6"You do have this to your credit: You hate the Nicolaitan business. I hate it, too.
7"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'm about to call each conqueror to dinner. I'm spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God's orchard."
To Smyrna
8Write this to Smyrna, to the Angel of the church. The Beginning and Ending, the First and Final One, the Once Dead and Then Come Alive, speaks:
9"I can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also see your wealth. And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews, who in fact belong to Satan's crowd.
10"Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won't last forever.
"Don't quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you.
11"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death."
To Pergamum
12Write this to Pergamum, to the Angel of the church. The One with the sharp-biting sword draws from the sheath of his mouth—out come the sword words:
13"I see where you live, right under the shadow of Satan's throne. But you continue boldly in my Name; you never once denied my Name, even when the pressure was worst, when they martyred Antipas, my witness who stayed faithful to me on Satan's turf.
14-15"But why do you indulge that Balaam crowd? Don't you remember that Balaam was an enemy agent, seducing Balak and sabotaging Israel's holy pilgrimage by throwing unholy parties? And why do you put up with the Nicolaitans, who do the same thing?
16"Enough! Don't give in to them; I'll be with you soon. I'm fed up and about to cut them to pieces with my sword-sharp words.
17"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'll give the sacred manna to every conqueror; I'll also give a clear, smooth stone inscribed with your new name, your secret new name."
To Thyatira
18Write this to Thyatira, to the Angel of the church. God's Son, eyes pouring fire-blaze, standing on feet of furnace-fired bronze, says this:
19"I see everything you're doing for me. Impressive! The love and the faith, the service and persistence. Yes, very impressive! You get better at it every day.
20-23"But why do you let that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet mislead my dear servants into Cross-denying, self-indulging religion? I gave her a chance to change her ways, but she has no intention of giving up a career in the god-business. I'm about to lay her low, along with her partners, as they play their sex-and-religion games. The bastard offspring of their idol-whoring I'll kill. Then every church will know that appearances don't impress me. I x-ray every motive and make sure you get what's coming to you.
24-25"The rest of you Thyatirans, who have nothing to do with this outrage, who scorn this playing around with the Devil that gets paraded as profundity, be assured I'll not make life any harder for you than it already is. Hold on to the truth you have until I get there.
26-28"Here's the reward I have for every conqueror, everyone who keeps at it, refusing to give up: You'll rule the nations, your Shepherd-King rule as firm as an iron staff, their resistance fragile as clay pots. This was the gift my Father gave me; I pass it along to you—and with it, the Morning Star!
29"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 13:1-10
1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.
4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.
7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Love, for the Day Is Near
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Freedom
August 13, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. —Romans 13:8
Long ago my wife decided that driving within the speed limit gives her a wonderful sense of freedom. She tells me, “I don’t ever need a radar detector. And I never have to slow down when I see a state patrol car or worry about paying a fine for speeding.” Even on long trips when the miles seem to grind slowly along, she sets the cruise control at the posted speed limit and enjoys the journey. “Besides,” she reminds me, “it is the law.”
Romans 13:1-10 addresses our responsibility to the authority of human government and to the law of God. When we obey the governing authorities, we don’t have to fear punishment, and we gain a clear conscience by doing what is right (vv.3,5).
Paul urged the followers of Christ in Rome to give the governing authorities what was owed them, whether taxes, revenue, respect, or honor (v.7). But he went beyond human regulations when he wrote: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (v.8).
It is our duty to obey man’s law and our privilege to fulfill God’s law by loving others. And His law is “the perfect law that gives freedom” (James 1:25 NIV).
God wants us to obey the laws
That govern our society;
But loving one another is
God’s perfect law that sets us free. —Sper
We keep man’s law by obedience; we fulfill God’s law by love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 13th , 2010
Do not quench the Spirit —1 Thessalonians 5:19
The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” ( 1 Kings 19:12 ), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God ( Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7 ). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” ( 1 John 1:7 ). When-ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Your Stabilizer When You're Crashing - #6155
Friday, August 13, 2010
There have been a number of airplane crashes over the years. A few of them are the kind you just don't forget. One was the crash of United Flight 232. Captain Al Haynes and his crew were desperately trying to control a plane that was almost out of control due to an equipment failure. They were diverted from Chicago to Sioux City, Iowa. There was no way they were able to maneuver that plane to the airport. Their best hope of saving at least some lives was to try to bring it down in a nearby cornfield. Captain Haynes became a national hero when he somehow managed to do just that. Tragically, some lives were lost in the crash landing and the subsequent fire, but there were many survivors from a crash that could have easily killed all aboard. Captain Haynes said he had a hero that day. His crew had checked every procedure book to see what to do in an emergency like they were facing. They found no procedure. So Captain Haynes' hero was the flight controller that talked him through that terrifying crisis. Here's what the captain said: "There's nothing like a calm, soothing voice talking to you, telling you everything you need to know."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Stabilizer When You're Crashing."
That's part of what saved lives that day of the crash - one voice, one person who was outside the situation, who had the big picture, who gave them guidance no one else could give them. The "calm, soothing voice, telling you everything you need to know" - the flight controller.
Every one of us needs a flight controller to help us know what to do when all the usual procedures aren't enough for what we're facing. To give us guidance in a world that has more unpredictables and more uncertainties than ever. Actually, much like a jetliner, we were designed for a flight controller. We were designed by a flight controller; by the Flight Controller of a hundred billion galaxies. He runs the universe. God's supposed to be the One who's running us. He's not. In the Bible's words, "We all...have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6).
So we're confused about our direction, we're unsure of the flight plan that will give our life some meaning, and we're missing the One who can help us avoid our crashes or survive life's crashes. So many people have discovered, in Jesus Christ, the flight plan they were made for and the Flight Controller who made the rest of their life secure.
It doesn't get any more secure than this promise from Jesus, recorded in Hebrews 13:5, 8. It's our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus says: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Others could make that promise; but only the Son of God can keep that promise. So you never need to face another life situation, another storm without the personal love and power of Jesus Christ Himself. He is, the Bible continues, "the same yesterday and today and forever" - your one fixed point in a world that's always changing. He'll never leave you because He loves you beyond words. And He loves you so much that He died for you to pay for the sin that would otherwise keep you from Him and from heaven forever.
Jesus has been the Flight Controller for my wife and me through our most painful times. When we lost a baby, Jesus was the difference. When the finances were caving in, Jesus was the difference. When the accident was nearly fatal, when the loss of a loved one was very sudden and very painful, when they said my wife might not make it, when the doctor's news was awful; always, Jesus was the difference. He wants to be that for you. If you'll acknowledge Him as your only hope of having a personal relationship with the God who made you, of having your sins forgiven so you can belong to Him, and of being sure that your life-flight lands in His heaven.
We'd love to help you be sure that you belong to Him. That's really what our website is for. I invite you to check it out today. It's yoursforlife.net.
I know you'll find Him to be what so many have found Him to be - that calm, soothing voice in your soul, talking to you, telling you everything you need to know.
