Max Lucado Daily: The Cure for Ingratitude
First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to “give thanks in everything!” In everything? In trouble, in the hospital, in a fix, in a mess, in distress? Interruptions? Jesus did. When five thousand people interrupted his planned retreat, he took them out to lunch. Matthew 14:19 says, “He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking to heaven, he thanked God for the food.”
Jesus was robustly thankful. He was thankful when Mary interrupted the party with perfume. When he hugged children and blessed babies and watched blind people look at their first sunsets, Jesus was thankful.
The cure for ingratitude? Look up. Look what God has done! Thank you, Jesus, for modeling gratitude. Thank you, King Jesus, for working all things together for your good. Thank you….for letting love happen.
From Before Amen
Numbers 23
Balaam Blesses Israel
Then Balaam said to King Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.” 2 Balak followed his instructions, and the two of them sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offerings, and I will go to see if the Lord will respond to me. Then I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So Balaam went alone to the top of a bare hill, 4 and God met him there. Balaam said to him, “I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.”
5 The Lord gave Balaam a message for King Balak. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”
6 So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. 7 This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Balak summoned me to come from Aram;
the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me!
Come and announce Israel’s doom.’
8 But how can I curse those
whom God has not cursed?
How can I condemn those
whom the Lord has not condemned?
9 I see them from the cliff tops;
I watch them from the hills.
I see a people who live by themselves,
set apart from other nations.
10 Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust?
Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people?
Let me die like the righteous;
let my life end like theirs.”
11 Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!”
12 But Balaam replied, “I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth.”
Balaam’s Second Message
13 Then King Balak told him, “Come with me to another place. There you will see another part of the nation of Israel, but not all of them. Curse at least that many!” 14 So Balak took Balaam to the plateau of Zophim on Pisgah Peak. He built seven altars there and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.
15 Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here by your burnt offerings while I go over there to meet the Lord.”
16 And the Lord met Balaam and gave him a message. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”
17 So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. “What did the Lord say?” Balak asked eagerly.
18 This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Rise up, Balak, and listen!
Hear me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
20 Listen, I received a command to bless;
God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!
21 No misfortune is in his plan for Jacob;
no trouble is in store for Israel.
For the Lord their God is with them;
he has been proclaimed their king.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;
for them he is as strong as a wild ox.
23 No curse can touch Jacob;
no magic has any power against Israel.
For now it will be said of Jacob,
‘What wonders God has done for Israel!’
24 These people rise up like a lioness,
like a majestic lion rousing itself.
They refuse to rest
until they have feasted on prey,
drinking the blood of the slaughtered!”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Fine, but if you won’t curse them, at least don’t bless them!”
26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you that I can do only what the Lord tells me?”
Balaam’s Third Message
27 Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come, I will take you to one more place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them from there.”
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, overlooking the wasteland.[a] 29 Balaam again told Balak, “Build me seven altars, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.” 30 So Balak did as Balaam ordered and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Read: Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works;
praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals;
praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Insight
The focus of this psalm is obvious. The word praise is used 13 times in these 6 short verses. Praise is defined as “expressing approval of or admiration for someone or something.” But this definition seems dry and stiff. In today’s psalm, praise is an occasion for celebration—involving music and dance. Praise of the Lord is a joyous occasion, a celebration of who He is and what He has done. The psalmist simply assumes that joy, excitement, and happiness are all part of our praise to God.
A Lesson In Praise
By Julie Ackerman Link
Praise the Lord! —Psalm 150:1
Psalm 150 is not only a beautiful expression of praise, it’s also a lesson in praising the Lord. It tells us where to praise, why we’re to praise, how we’re to praise, and who should offer praise.
Where do we praise? In God’s “sanctuary” and “mighty firmament” (v.1). Wherever we are in the world is a proper place to praise the One who created all things.
Why do we praise? First, because of what God does. He performs “mighty acts.” Second, because of who God is. The psalmist praised Him for “His excellent greatness” (v.2). The all-powerful Creator is the Sustainer of the universe.
How should we praise? Loudly. Softly. Soothingly. Enthusiastically. Rhythmically. Boldly. Unexpectedly. Fearlessly. In other words, we can praise God in many ways and on many occasions (vv.3-5).
Who should praise? “Everything that has breath” (v.6). Young and old. Rich and poor. Weak and strong. Every living creature. God’s will is for everyone to whom He gave the breath of life to use that breath to acknowledge His power and greatness.
Praise is our enthusiastic expression of gratitude to God for reigning in glory forever.
Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen! —Watts
Praise is the overflow of a joyful heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 27, 2014
The Consecration of Spiritual Power
…by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. —Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (see John 17:16).
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Straight To The Throne - #7274
It's no fun to be sick on Thanksgiving Day. My honey was. Much of the family was together for Thanksgiving, but she was the one person who just felt too sick to join the festivities. I mean after all, she had 101 plus degree fever, swollen glands, a burning sore throat, a full nose and ears, we're talking misery here. Nothing fatal, just really feeling crummy. And she didn't want to give any of us a Thanksgiving gift that we would not be thankful for.
Now, it also happened that our daughter and son-in-law and our two grandsons weren't able to be with the rest of the family, so we connected by phone that day and each of them passed the phone around so we could talk to them. And of course, I asked each one if they would pray for their grandma. And each person said they would. Well except for our little two-year-old treasure. When I asked him if he would pray for Grandma that day, I suddenly heard something like this on his end of the line: "Jesus - pray - Grandma - sick - better - Amen." No, he wasn't going to pray for her, he just jumped right in and started doing it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Straight To The Throne."
Remember that Jesus didn't say little children need to become like us adults to belong to Him. He said we need to become like little children, and that day when my grandson just started in praying - that's a good example of why. Everyone said they would pray for Grandma, and I'm sure they did. Later. Not the little guy. No, he started right in praying as soon as he heard the need. You know what, that's not a bad idea.
How many times have we sincerely promised we'd pray for someone and we forgot? And while someone's promise to pray for us might be an encouragement, I'll tell you what, it's nothing like actually hearing them pray for you right then and there. Don't you think it's time we got over this feeling that some of us have of awkwardness and timidity about praying with each other, about bringing up that possibility? That day when Grandma was sick, I appreciated everyone's promise to pray for her, but I was touched when our grandson just went ahead and did it. I think we all need to be doing more of that. It will exponentially increase your personal ministry, and the impact of your life, and even open doors to talk about Jesus with folks who don't know Him.
This kind of ongoing, immediate, spontaneous prayer must be part of what Paul had in mind in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 6:18. After his classic passage on spiritual warfare, he says, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
Now this prayer is triggered by the occasion. And no prayer ministers like immediate prayer. Going right into God's presence, in the presence of the one you're praying for, and bringing together their need with God's great love and power. And that's what prayer is really about. It's not some religious exercise you force on a person, it's a real-life acknowledgement of God's "always there" presence and power and love.
So, as God provides appropriate opportunities, would you let it become an instinct to respond to people's needs and struggles by asking them if you can start praying for them right then and there. I've asked that even of many people who didn't know Christ, and I've never had anybody say no. In fact, many times when I open my eyes, there are tears in their eyes. It often happens that when they see me initiating a conversation with God, and they see with their own eyes that I have a relationship with Him - it gives me the opportunity to explain that I didn't always have that kind of personal relationship with Him and how that relationship got started.
If you're going to go to God on someone's behalf anyway, why not go there with them? It's one simple, but very meaningful way that you can make an unforgettable difference.
