Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
August 22
Prayers Are Precious Jewels
The Lord sees the good people and listens to their prayers.
1 Peter 3:12 (NCV)
You and I live in a loud world. To get someone's attention is no easy task. He must be willing to set everything aside to listen: turn down the radio, turn away from the monitor, turn the corner of the page and set down the book. When someone is willing to silence everything else so he can hear us clearly, it is a privilege. A rare privilege, indeed.
[Your] prayers are honored [in heaven] as precious jewels. Purified and empowered, the words rise in a delightful fragrance to our Lord.... Your words do not stop until they reach the very throne of God....
Your prayer on earth activates God's power in heaven, and "God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven."...
Your prayers move God to change the world. You may not understand the mystery of prayer. You don't need to. But this much is clear: Actions in heaven begin when someone prays on earth.
1 Timothy 5
Advice About Widows, Elders and Slaves
1Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
3Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame. 8If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,[a] 10and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
11As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. 14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
16If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.
17The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,"[b] and "The worker deserves his wages."[c] 19Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. 20Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.
21I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
22Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
24The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 13
Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.[a]
2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
August 22, 2008
The Foot-Washing God
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READ: John 13:1-5
[Jesus] poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet. —John 13:5
Questions about God’s existence often troubled H. A. Hodges, a brilliant young professor of philosophy at Oxford University. One day as he strolled down the street, he passed by an art store. His attention was gripped by a simple picture in the window. It showed Jesus kneeling to wash His disciples’ feet.
Hodges knew the story recorded in John 13—God incarnate washing human feet. But suddenly the sheer meaning of that scene gripped the heart of this young philosopher. God—God!—humbling Himself to do that lowliest of tasks! He thought, If God is like that, then that God shall be my God! Seeing that painting was one of the circumstances that caused Hodges to surrender his life to the true God—the foot-washing God.
We Christians sometimes take God’s existence for granted. We believe what the Bible tells us about the eternal Spirit who had no beginning and whose existence will never end. But we may wonder sometimes about His character. If He allows disaster, how could He also be kind and loving?
As we read John 13 thoughtfully, we see that God is the foot-washing God. His unfathomable, sacrificial love for us should cause us to surrender to Him too. — Vernon C. Grounds
All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit—
Truly know that Thou art mine. —Van de Venter
No life is more secure than a life surrendered to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 22, 2008
"I Indeed . . . But He"
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READ:
I indeed baptize you with water . . . but He . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire —Matthew 3:11
Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, "I indeed . . . but He . . ."? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— butHe begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.
Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.
"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. "He will baptize you . . . ." The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.
"I indeed" was this in the past, "but He" came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Only One Hand to Grab - #5640 - August 22, 2008
Category: Your Mission
Friday, August 22, 2008
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A lot of news stories just flash into our lives and then are forgotten almost immediately. Then there are those images that are just embedded in our brains for years to come. Several years ago one of those events happened, and a lot of us can still see the images of that dramatic rescue in our minds. A little toddler named Jessica had been playing in the backyard in Midland, Texas, and she plummeted down this narrow little shaft. She was wedged in there; trapped underground. It seemed as if the whole nation stopped to watch the tense vigil as rescuers tried to find a way to save that little girl. It was a long ordeal, but one rescuer, using a parallel shaft and working in the tightest of quarters, was finally able to get to little Jessica. And in a moment of incredible relief and joy, he brought her out.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Only One Hand to Grab."
Now, only one person came to rescue that little girl and no one had a problem with that. We were all just grateful there was one! So was little Jessica!
Now, when the Bible describes our spiritual condition, it's not unlike that of a little girl, in a desperate condition where her only hope was a rescuer. Because we have all lived our way instead of God's way, the Bible describes us with words like "lost" (Luke 19:10), "perishing" (John 3:16), "without hope, without God" (Ephesians 2:12). We are in a spiritual life-or-death situation from which we cannot extricate ourselves. But God, who loves us too much to lose us, sent His one and only Son "down the shaft" to be our Rescuer.
But He only sent one. Our word for today is in 1 Timothy 2:5. Remember these are God's words, not mine. "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" - one go-between, one Person bringing us together with God - Jesus. Why? Well, the verse goes on to describe Him as "Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men."
Now a ransom is the price you pay to get someone back. The price for getting you and me back to God was a death penalty. God makes it very clear in the Bible that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). The penalty for us running our own lives is eternal death in the form of separation from God. But, in God's own words, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son" (John 3:16). Jesus paid the death penalty for the sinning that you and I do.
And no other religious leader even claimed that he was dying for us; that he was taking our hell. This isn't some intolerant prejudice that the Christian religion is better than other religions. If doing good was the way to get our sins forgiven, well, there are lots of good works we could do. But the Bible bluntly says, "It is by grace you have been saved (or rescued) ... not by works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). We can't pull ourselves out of our own sin-pit any more than little Jessica could have rescued herself. It doesn't matter which religion's good works it is.
Only one Person paid the death penalty that separates you from God. So any other hope of getting to heaven is a false hope. Grabbing Jesus' rescuing hand in total trust is your only hope of being forgiven of your sins - of going to heaven when you die.
The single most important question for your eternity is this: have you ever grabbed Jesus' hand to rescue you from your sin? If you haven't - if you want to, tell Him that right now. And I'd love to help you with what we have provided at our website that really takes you through how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and be sure that you belong to the Rescuer. The website is YoursForLife.net. And I hope you'll go there as soon as you can today. Or if you'd rather, you can all for my little booklet Yours For Life. It's a toll free number. It's 877-741-1200.
Thank God, one Rescuer has come. Without Jesus, we have no hope. Because of Jesus, you can live forever! While He's reaching for you, won't you grab His hand?