Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
September 3
No Price Is Too High
“We had to celebrate and be happy because your brother...was lost, but now he is found.”
Luke 15:32 (NCV)
When our oldest daughter, Jenna, was two, I lost her in a department store. One minute she was at my side and the next she was gone. I panicked. All of a sudden only one thing mattered--I had to find my daughter. Shopping was forgotten. The list of things I came to get was unimportant. I yelled her name. What people thought didn't matter. For a few minutes, every ounce of energy had one goal--to find my lost child. (I did, by the way. She was hiding behind some jackets!)
No price is too high for a parent to pay to redeem his child. No energy is too great. No effort too demanding. A parent will go to any length to find his or her own.
So will God.
Mark it down. God's greatest creation is not the flung stars or the gorged canyons; it's his eternal plan to reach his children.
Hebrews 11
By Faith
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he[h]considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring[i] will be reckoned."[j] 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
23By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea[k] as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[l]
32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[m]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Philippians 1:8-18 (New International Version)
8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Paul's Chains Advance the Gospel
12Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard[a] and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
15It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.[b] 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
September 3, 2009
Journeys
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READ: Philippians 1:8-18
I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. —Philippians 1:12
On a map in the back of my Bible, each of Paul’s missionary journeys is shown by a colored line with arrows indicating his direction of travel. On the first three, the arrows lead away from his place of departure and back to a point of return. On the fourth journey, however, Paul was traveling as a prisoner, bound for trial before Caesar, and the arrows point only one direction, ending in Rome.
We might be tempted to call this an unfortunate time in Paul’s life, if it were not for his view that God was leading and using him just as much on this journey as He did on the previous three.
He wrote: “I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear” (Phil. 1:12-14).
Even when our journey in life is marked by confinement and limitations, we can be sure that the Lord will encourage others through us as we speak His Word and trust in Him. — David C. McCasland
The journeys that we take in life,
Though unexpected they may be,
If we commit to follow Christ,
His work through us the world will see. —Sper
For the Christian, what looks like a detour may actually be a new road to blessing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 3, 2009
Pouring Out the Water of Satisfaction
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READ:
He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord —2 Samuel 23:16
What has been like "water from the well of Bethlehem" to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing ( 2 Samuel 23:16 )? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out "to the Lord." You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.
How can I pour out "to the Lord" natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way— I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out "to the Lord." Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as "rivers of living water" all around me ( John 7:38 ). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out "to the Lord."
If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything "to the Lord," other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.
Power of One Changed Life - #5909
Thursday, September 3, 2009
A young man named Jared became somewhat of an American celebrity, all because of the massive amount of weight he lost. A deli sandwich chain has featured him in a lot of their advertising the last couple of years. He says he lost basically the equivalent of another whole person, largely by eating their low-fat, low-calorie turkey sandwich for months. And as Jared's body has been shrinking, the sandwich chain has been growing!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of One Changed Life."
Advertisers know the best way to sell a product, whether it's a diet plan, exercise equipment, or a medication: have someone who's living proof of their product's effectiveness tell their story. For two thousand years, that's what has motivated people to pursue the most important thing in life - a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It's what will interest the people you know in Jesus, if you will tell them your story.
Some call it their "testimony." I call it your personal hope story - the story only you can tell; the story of what Jesus Christ has done in your life. There's a great template for that story in our word for today from the Word of God in John 9:25. Jesus has healed a man who had been blind from birth. But the enemies of Jesus are trying to get the man to acknowledge that Jesus was a sinner because He had healed on the Sabbath. I love this guy's reply: "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
He refuses to get entangled in their religious questions. He just tells them the difference Jesus has made, and who can argue about that? That's what you need to tell the folks in your world. They're not that interested in all our theology and our beliefs. They want to know, "What difference does Jesus make?" And your life is the answer to that right in front of them if you'll tell your story.
You need to take a little time and think through your Jesus-story; your "once I was (fill in the blanks) _______ but now I _______." There you go! That's your story. Take a piece of paper and make three sections: "B.C." - what I was like before I began my relationship with Jesus; then, "The Turning Point" - how I began my relationship with Jesus; and then "A.D." - the difference Jesus has made and He is making.
Maybe you say, "Oh no. I don't have a testimony. I was pre-natally nice." Well, you don't have a dramatic turn-around to tell about, but does that mean Jesus isn't making any difference in your life? Your assignment is to put these words at the top of a piece of paper, "If it weren't for Jesus..." Start writing the ways that your life would be different if there was no Jesus: how you handle your lonely times, your hurting times, your stressful times. How would you be different as a single person, a married person, a parent, a boss, a friend if there were no Jesus? People don't just want to know about how you got started with Jesus. They want to know what difference does He make in your everyday life?
And that means you don't have just a testimony. You should have many testimonies, describing the difference Jesus makes in the parts of your life that might matter to the person you're with. It's your personal hope story that opens the door for you to then explain the Good News about Jesus, about His death for all the wrong things we've done, the way He's torn down the wall between us and the God that we need so much.
You have a story that's all yours; that only you can tell. It's ultimately not a story about you; it's about the Man who is making your life what it could have never been without Him. It's a story that could help someone you know be in heaven with you!
