Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
April 28
What Will You Bring
If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right.
1 John 1:9 (NCV)
In order for the cross of Christ to be the cross of your life, you and I need to bring something to the hill.
We have seen what Jesus brought. With scarred hands he offered forgiveness. Through torn skin he promised acceptance. He took the path to take us home. He wore our garment to give us his own. We have seen the gifts he brought.
Now we ask, what will we bring?…
Those bad habits? Leave them at the cross. Your selfish moods and white lies? Give them to God. Your binges and bigotries? God wants them all. Every flop, every failure. He wants every single one. Why? Because he knows we can’t live with them.
Habakkuk 1
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk's Complaint
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, "Violence!"
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
The Lord 's Answer
5 "Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians, [a]
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwelling places not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;
9 they all come bent on violence.
Their hordes [b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They deride kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
they build earthen ramps and capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
Habakkuk's Second Complaint
12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting?
My God, my Holy One, we will not die.
O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment;
O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrong.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made men like fish in the sea,
like sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Peter 5
To Elders and Young Men
1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
5Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."[a] 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
April 28, 2009
Slapton Sands
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READ: 1 Peter 5:1-11
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. —1 Peter 5:8
On the southern shores of England is Slapton Sands. This beautiful beach area carries a tragic memory from its past.
On April 28, 1944, during World War II, Allied soldiers were engaged in Operation Tiger, a training exercise in amphibious beach landings in preparation for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Suddenly, enemy gunboats appeared and killed over 700 American servicemen in a surprise attack. Today, a monument stands on Slapton Sands to commemorate the sacrifice of those young men who died while training for battle but were never able to enter the conflict.
This tragedy is a metaphor that warns the believer in Christ. We too are involved in combat with an enemy who is powerful and deceptive. That is why the apostle Peter warned: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Like the soldiers on Slapton Sands, we face an enemy who desires our undoing. In the service of our King, we must be on the alert. The call to be effective in battle (2 Tim. 2:3-4) challenges us to be ready for the surprise attacks of our spiritual enemy—so that we can endure to serve another day. — Bill Crowder
The devil’s tactic is surprise
To stop you in your tracks,
So keep on guard and trust God’s Word;
Resist his strong attacks. —Branon
Satan’s ploys are no match for the Savior’s power.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 28, 2009
What You Will Get
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READ:
I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go —Jeremiah 45:5
This is the firm and immovable secret of the Lord to those who trust Him— "I will give your life to you . . . ." What more does a man want than his life? It is the essential thing. ". . . your life . . . as a prize . . ." means that wherever you may go, even if it is into hell, you will come out with your life and nothing can harm it. So many of us are caught up in exhibiting things for others to see, not showing off property and possessions, but our blessings. All these things that we so proudly show have to go. But there is something greater that can never go— the life that "is hidden with Christ in God" ( Colossians 3:3 ).
Are you prepared to let God take you into total oneness with Himself, paying no more attention to what you call the great things of life? Are you prepared to surrender totally and let go? The true test of abandonment or surrender is in refusing to say, "Well, what about this?" Beware of your own ideas and speculations. The moment you allow yourself to think, "What about this?" you show that you have not surrendered and that you do not really trust God. But once you do surrender, you will no longer think about what God is going to do. Abandonment means to refuse yourself the luxury of asking any questions. If you totally abandon yourself to God, He immediately says to you, "I will give your life to you as a prize . . . ." The reason people are tired of life is that God has not given them anything— they have not been given their life "as a prize." The way to get out of that condition is to abandon yourself to God. And once you do get to the point of total surrender to Him, you will be the most surprised and delighted person on earth. God will have you absolutely, without any limitations, and He will have given you your life. If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience in your life or your refusal to be simple enough.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Stopping the Fire - #5817
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
We were driving across the state of Kansas, and I was reminded again of what a panoramic view you have there no matter which way you look. Those plains just seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, and your eye can see just about everything - not many hills or mountains to hide in. If you know that terrain, you can understand how quickly an unobstructed wind can carry a fire across that prairie, destroying everything in its path. A Kansas farmer told us that at the first sight of smoke, every farmer and rancher who can see it leaps into action; some in pickup trucks that are loaded with tanks of water, others with tractors and farm equipment. They're all determined to stop that fire before it really gets started.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stopping the Fire."
When you're dealing with fire that could do a lot of damage, it's smart to attack that fire while it's small, before it blazes out of control. That's not just a good strategy for prairie farmers. It's a way for all of us to keep from getting burned, along with people we love and things we care about.
God provides a clear example of that in Ephesians 4:26-27, our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." In short, stop the fire of your anger before it spreads and consumes any more ground. Don't ever let your anger, your resentment, or your hard feelings last longer than a day. When you bury them and when you harbor them, they grow and you might as well fling open the front door on that relationship and say, "Devil, come on in and burn up whatever you want."
But this "fight the fire when it's small" principle applies to many potentially combustible areas of your life. Like potentially divisive feelings or attitudes that might be coming up among people you know or live with, or work with, or worship with. Just don't wait for that smoke to become a fire before you jump into action as a peacemaker. Bitterness, misunderstandings, miscommunications, wounds, they can't just be left there to smolder. You may not like confronting them. Very few of us do, but you're really not going to like what happens if you don't confront them.
You need to quickly go after moral fires, too. Satan is more likely to bring you down through small compromises than major collapses. That's why all of us have to be alert for the little cracks in our convictions, our integrity - the smoke of that first flirtation, that first wandering thought, that first experimentation, that first lie. By the time you've made a few more compromises, well, that fire could well be out of control and hurting things you don't want hurt.
Those prairie farmers actually have a lot to teach us about containing all those kinds of fires in our lives. See, fires just seldom burn out on their own; you have to attack them. And you can't wait to fight fires until they're raging out of control. It's too late then. You have to mobilize immediately to fight the fire with everything you've got, and you have to do it at the first signs of smoke. The alternative, well, you're going to see a lot you care about go up in smoke.