Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
March 19
The Lord Is With Me
You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 (NKJV)
"You are with me."
Yes, you, Lord, are in heaven. Yes, you rule the universe. Yes, you sit upon the stars and make your home in the deep. But yes, yes, yes, you are with me.
The Lord is with me. The Creator is with me. Yahweh is with me.
Moses proclaimed it: "What great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us" (Deut. 4:7 NLT).
Paul announced it: "He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27 NIV).
And David discovered it: "You are with me."
Somewhere in the pasture, wilderness, or palace, David discovered that God meant business when he said: "I will not leave you" (Gen. 28:15).
2 Chronicles 25
Amaziah King of Judah
1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin [d] ; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. 3 After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. 4 Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins." [e]
5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men ready for military service, able to handle the spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents [f] of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."
10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.
11 Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. 12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.
13 Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided Judean towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them. 15 The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, "Why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?"
16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, "Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?"
So the prophet stopped but said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel."
17 After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash [g] son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: "Come, meet me face to face."
18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: "A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. 19 You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and now you are arrogant and proud. But stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?"
20 Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that he might hand them over to Jehoash , because they sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, [h] at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section about six hundred feet [i] long. 24 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 As for the other events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 He was brought back by horse and was buried with his fathers in the City of Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Philippians 2
Imitating Christ's Humility
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
March 19, 2009
A Heart Of Concern
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READ: Philippians 2:1-11
Let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. —Philippians 2:3-4
Jason Ray was a ray of joy on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill. He performed as Rameses (the school mascot) for 3 years, hauling his giant ram’s head costume to sporting events one day and children’s hospitals the next. Then, in March 2007, while with his team for a basketball tournament, Jason was struck by a car. His family watched and waited at the hospital, but the 21-year-old succumbed to his injuries and died.
His story doesn’t end there, however. Jason had filed paperwork two years earlier to donate organs and tissue upon his death—and that act of concern saved the lives of four people and helped dozens of others. A young man in the prime of his life, with everything to live for, was concerned for the well-being of others and acted on that concern. Those individuals who were helped, as well as their families, are deeply grateful for this young man who thought of others.
Jason’s act echoes the heart of Paul’s words in Philippians 2, as he called believers to look beyond themselves and their own interests, and to look to the interests of others. A heart that turns outward to others will be a healthy heart indeed. — Bill Crowder
Love thyself last. Look near, behold thy duty
To those who walk beside thee down life’s road.
Make glad their days by little acts of beauty
And help them bear the burden of earth’s load. —Wilcox
Looking to the needs of others honors Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 19, 2009
Abraham’s Life of Faith
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READ:
He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day—in and day—out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith—a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. "Abraham believed God. . ." (Romans 4:3).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Beauty in Out-of-the-Way Places - #5789
Thursday, March 19, 2009
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I have an inspiring view out of my office window. I look out at a mountain with this rolling field in between me and the mountain. The field dips down into a hollow, or a "holler" as they call it down South. In the spring, some of the trees in the hollow start to bloom in living color. The redbud, the dogwood, they just start setting out their blossoms in all their glory. Last spring, someone walked into my office, glanced out that window, and said, "Well, look at those beautiful trees down there." They are beautiful, but they're in a spot where very few people ever see that beauty.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beauty in Out-of-the-Way Places."
God doesn't reserve His beauty for places where lots of people can appreciate it. He also plants some beautiful things in out-of-the-way places. Maybe you're one of them. Not many see beauty when it's in an unlikely or a little known place, but it's no less beautiful.
As Jesus is evaluating each of the seven churches in Revelation 2and 3, He seems pretty unimpressed with the ones that look beautiful to everyone else. Like the church at Sardis that has "a reputation of being alive" but Jesus says to them, "You are dead" (Revelation 3:1). Or the rich and powerful Christians at Laodicea who Jesus says are actually "pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17).
But then there's this church - this out-of-the-way, little known church that Jesus thinks is beautiful. He says in our word for today from the Word of God in Revelation 3, beginning in verse 8, "I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My word." Then He promises them something that He offers to none of the other, highly visible churches, "I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." He's going to give them special blessings and opportunities because of their quiet faithfulness.
For someone listening today, that's exactly how He feels about you. You've been asked to serve Him, to be faithful to Him in a little place, maybe a hard place, a place where you receive little or no appreciation or affirmation. Maybe you work or live in a situation where no one appreciates the beauty of Christ in you. But God wants you to know today He loves to look at you. He thinks you're beautiful!
Think about Hannah in the Old Testament. She was a childless woman who kept on trusting the Lord. She was beauty that no one saw except God. And He made her the mother of Samuel, the greatest spiritual leader of his time. And then there's Mary, the little known girl from a ridiculed, backwater village called Nazareth, but God knew all about her and He looked to her when it came time to find a mother to carry and to raise His Son. God seems to have special rewards for quiet, unnoticed faithfulness.
It's easy to get discouraged and even down on yourself when you've been asked to bloom for God in a place where few can see you, where few appreciate your service or your sacrifice. But God sees you. You are His "something beautiful" in an out-of-the-way place. And although there aren't many who see you blooming there, like those glorious trees hidden in the hollow outside my window, your life is no less beautiful.
