Max Lucado Daily: God’s Thoughts
Lord, you have done such great things! How deep are your thoughts! Psalm 92:5
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts—we aren’t even in the same neighborhood.
Psalm 92:5 sets the standard. “Lord, you have done such great things. How deep are your thoughts.”
When we’re thinking, Preserve the body; God’s thinking, Save the soul. We dream of a pay raise. He dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. “I’m going to live before I die,” we resolve. “Die, so you can live,” he instructs. We love what rusts. He loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes. He rejoices at our confessions. We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like him.” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ.”
Thinking God’s thoughts.
1 Samuel 29
Achish Sends David Back to Ziklag
1 The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel. 2 As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish. 3 The commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?”
Achish replied, “Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.”
4 But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favor than by taking the heads of our own men? 5 Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances:
“‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
6 So Achish called David and said to him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been reliable, and I would be pleased to have you serve with me in the army. From the day you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you, but the rulers don’t approve of you. 7 Now turn back and go in peace; do nothing to displease the Philistine rulers.”
8 “But what have I done?” asked David. “What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why can’t I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
9 Achish answered, “I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God; nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up with us into battle.’ 10 Now get up early, along with your master’s servants who have come with you, and leave in the morning as soon as it is light.”
11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Timothy 3:13-17
13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Lambs May Wade
November 4, 2011 — by David H. Roper
All Scripture . . . is profitable. —2 Timothy 3:16
Author C. S. Lewis says that reli- gious concepts are like soups—some are thick and some are clear. There are indeed “thick” concepts in the Bible: mysteries, subtleties, and complexities that challenge the most accomplished mind. For example, “[God] has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Rom. 9:18). And yet, in the same volume there are thoughts that are crystal “clear”: simple, attainable, and easily grasped. What could ever surpass the simplicity of the clear affirmation in 1 John 4:16, “God is love”?
John Cameron, a 15th-century writer, suggests, “In the same meadow, the ox may lick up grass, . . . the bird may pick up seeds, . . . and a man finds a pearl; so in one and the same Scripture are varieties to be found for all sorts of conditions. In them, the lamb may wade, and the elephant swim, children may be fed with milk, and meat may be had for stronger men.”
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in God’s Book, the Bible—ocean depths that can stir the most sophisticated mind, and shallow areas that can be negotiated by any simple, honest soul.
Why hesitate? “All Scripture . . . is profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16). Jump in!
Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine,
And jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths
For every searcher there. —Hodder
God speaks through His Word—take time to listen.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 04, 2011
The Authority of Truth
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you —James 4:8
It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual— you cannot act for him. It must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message should always lead him to action. Refusing to act leaves a person paralyzed, exactly where he was previously. But once he acts, he is never the same. It is the apparent folly of the truth that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing. The moments I truly live are the moments when I act with my entire will.
When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will, not necessarily externally in your physical life. Record it with ink and with blood— work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, confess we are wrong, but go back again. Then we approach it again and turn back, until we finally learn we have no business going back. When we are confronted with such a word of truth from our redeeming Lord, we must move directly to transact business with Him. “Come to Me . . .” (Matthew 11:28). His word come means “to act.” Yet the last thing we want to do is come. But everyone who does come knows that, at that very moment, the supernatural power of the life of God invades him. The dominating power of the world, the flesh, and the devil is now paralyzed; not by your act, but because your act has joined you to God and tapped you in to His redemptive power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Enemy Tricks - #6475
Friday, November 4, 2011
During two visits to South Africa, I grew to love the people of that troubled country and its history too. It used to be British turf, except for the tribal lands of the great Zulu Warriors. And in 1879 the British army moved in under Lord Chelmsford, invaded Zulu land to claim it as a property for The Crown.
Well, the campaign was expected to be over in about a month or so, but among the Zulu's many military talents was a use of deception. One trick they used was to take what they called an "impy", which was the equivalent of a division, and they condensed it into formations so the enemy could not count how many there were in their regiments. And another technique they used was to have a small diversionary group of soldiers drive herds of cattle around the countryside. Well, that raised a lot of dust and it made the enemy think that that's where the main Zulu force was. See what I mean?
Well, they used those tactics; they misled Lord Chelmsford into splitting his army. He took half of it on a wild goose chase after a herd of cattle, and then the main Zulu force of 20,000 attacked the rest of the English force and massacred them. The surprise was complete. Now, the Zulu's were simply applying a timeless principle of warfare--deception. By the way, that's a major tactic in the war against you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Enemy Tricks."
What's the word struggle mean to you right now? When I say that, what do you think of? Who do you think of? What's the battle for you right now? What would you say is the enemy you're struggling against? Is it discouragement, or depression, or family problems, some impossible people, maybe finances? Well, see, the real enemy disguises his forces; he makes them look like human problems so you'll fight them with human weapons--weapons that he can demolish.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6:11-13. Here's the real story: "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."
Now, remember, deception is a time-honored practice in warfare. God says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God." Now, the devil is the expert in that old tactic of warfare called deception. He's the father of lies Jesus said.
Now, Christians tend to forget what's really going on around their school, their family, where they work, their church. We ought to put up a big sign that says three words: This is war! You are I are in the middle of a supernatural battle, and you know there are supernatural weapons available to beat the enemy. Now, the devil's greatest fear is that you'll realize you're in the middle of that kind of battle and that you will use those weapons.
When you realize this struggle is spiritual war, you pray militantly. You stop depending on your plans, and your schemes, and money, and meetings. You turn the power of Jesus on the enemy. You start using scripture more powerfully. You purify yourself.
I once spoke at a conference for young people, and I said, "If we could only see this place through God's glasses, we would see spiritual forces from both sides massed for battle to get these kids." Well, you know what? That's true wherever God is at work. So, don't fall for the enemy's diversion. He wants you to run off fighting what looks like the problem so you won't fight him.
That darkness you're experiencing now, oh that's more than earth darkness. It is from an enemy who cannot stand resistance, but who is rendered powerless by the blood of Jesus Christ.
So, make sure that you're fighting the right enemy and you're using the right weapons.
