Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
September 23
One Secure Place
I will be with you always.
Matthew 28:20
David, the man after God's own heart, said: "I'm asking Yahweh for one thing, only one thing: to live with him in his house my whole life long" ... (Ps 27:4 MSG).
What is this house of God which David seeks? Is David describing a physical structure? Does he long for a building with four walls and a door through which he can enter but never exit? No. "Our Lord does not live in temples built by human hands" (Acts 17:24). When David says, "I will live in the house of the LORD forever" (Ps. 23:6), he's not saying he wants to get away from people. He's saying that he yearns to be in God's presence, wherever he is.
Genesis 22
Abraham Tested
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring [b] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Nahor's Sons
20 Some time later Abraham was told, "Milcah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel." 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 14:12-14 (New International Version)
12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
September 23, 2009
Julie’s Prayer
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READ: John 14:12-14
Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. —John 14:13
In 2008, the Day of Discovery film crew traveled to China on a special assignment—to retrace the life of missionary Eric Liddell, the 1924 Olympic gold medalist whose story was told in the movie Chariots of Fire. The crew took with them Eric’s three daughters, Patricia, Heather, and Maureen—allowing them to revisit some of the places where the two older sisters had lived in China. Also along on the trip was their elderly Aunt Louise.
On one occasion, after the entourage had arrived in Beijing, they had to walk quite a distance with their luggage. As they did, Aunt Louise grew short of breath. Julie Richardson, a Day of Discovery crew member, sat down beside her, put her hand on her knee, and prayed simply, “Dear Jesus, help Aunt Louise to breathe.” Immediately, she began to catch her breath.
Later, Heather retold the story and shared that Julie’s prayer had rekindled her faith. Julie’s simple act of faith reminded Heather of the continual connection we have with Jesus—a reality she had set aside in her life.
Sometimes we need reminders that God is near. When trials come and God seems far away, remember Julie’s prayer and the truth that we are just one prayer from connecting with the God of the universe (John 14:13). — Dave Branon
God answers prayer, it is His sovereign way
To freely give His blessings day by day;
One earnest plea and lo! from heaven’s throne
The answer comes, for God has heard His own. —Anon.
God delights in the earnest prayers of His people.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 23, 2009
The Missionary’s Goal
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READ:
He . . . said to them, ’Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem . . . ’ —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him?". . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . ." ( Ephesians 4:13 ), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go "up to Jerusalem."
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master" ( Matthew 10:24 ). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our "Jerusalem." There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going "up to [our] Jerusalem."
". . . there they crucified Him . . ." ( Luke 23:33 ). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, "I too go ’up to Jerusalem.’ "
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
One Life-or-Death Moment - #5923
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Our friend Jack was heading out on a recent canoe trip with some friends, undaunted by a river that was rising from recent heavy rains. No sooner had they pushed off into the water but the stronger-than-expected current dumped their canoe. All their supplies for the weekend were suddenly headed downstream. Instinctively, Jack started swimming after the supplies to retrieve them. He, too, was caught up in the current, and he was caught off guard at how cold the water was. In no time, he was beginning to feel the first indications of hypothermia with no way to get out. At that seemingly hopeless moment, a life jacket floated by. Jack knew this was his chance. He grabbed that life jacket in that one moment of hope and it saved his life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Life-or-Death Moment."
That's what my friend had on the river - an opportunity to reach out and grab the only thing that could save him. It's the kind of opportunity talked about in our word for today from the Word of God; a chance to grab what is your only hope of being saved.
Here is God's important statement in Isaiah 55:6, "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." Implication: God will put His spiritual life preserver within your reach, but you need to grab it while the opportunity is there. Because, apparently, there will be a time when the Lord can't be found, and when He's no longer near.
The spiritual rescue that God has sent to us is nothing less than His one and only Son. God explains Jesus' life-saving mission very clearly in 1 John 4:9-10. "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." That's the life-or-death issue - the penalty for a lifetime of living pretty much our way instead of God's way. Our culture may not take sin very seriously, but God has said since the Garden of Eden, that sin would cost us our relationship with Him and our eternity in heaven. It is called spiritual death. There's no way to escape the deadly current of sin and hell in our own strength.
You can be sure if there was any other way that we could be forgiven, any other way we could go to heaven, God would have never had His Son go through what He did on that cross. But all the goodness, all the spirituality, all the religion in the world cannot pay our death penalty. Somebody has to die and somebody did. You and I did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. He is your only hope, and He's offering you a chance to reach out and grab Him as your Savior today. He may be found today. He's near today. Tomorrow, there's no guarantee.
If you've never grabbed Jesus with all the faith you've got, when you've held onto Him as if He's your only hope, it's just not something to put off. Not if He's working in your heart to come to Him right now, because you don't come to Jesus when you're ready. You come when He's ready. And if you feel that tug His direction, He is ready right now. Your eternal rescue happens when you say, "Jesus, I have no other hope of rescue but You and Your death for my sins on that cross. I'm grabbing You today with all the faith I've got."
People have told us that at this moment of reaching for Jesus that our website was a great help to them in understanding how to begin that relationship with Him. I want to urge you to go there. If you feel the tug of Jesus in your heart, would you take a couple of minutes and go to our website and follow there the road, the path, the Scripture that will help you be sure you belong to Him. It's YoursForLife.net. Or if you'd rather get it in booklet form, I'll send that to you if you'll just call for it toll free. The number's 877-741-1200.
Life is within your reach right now. It won't always be. Call on the Lord while He is near.