Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 17
The Promise Remains
Joseph was the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus. Jesus is called the Christ.
Matthew 1:16 (NCV)
Seems like the only common bond between [Jesus' not-so-great grandparents] was a promise. A promise from heaven that God would use them to send his son.
Why did God use these people? Didn't have to. Could have just laid the Savior on a doorstep. Would have been simpler that way. And why does God tell us their stories?...
Simple.... He wants us to know that when the world goes wild, he stays calm.
Want proof? Read the last name on the list [of Jesus' lineage]. In spite of crooked halos and tasteless gambols of his people, the last name on the list is the first one promised--Jesus.
No more names are listed. No more names are needed. As if God is announcing to a doubtful world, "See, I did it. Just like I said I would."
From: When God Whispers Your Name
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1994)
Max Lucado
1 Chronicles 21
David Numbers the Fighting Men
1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are."
3 But Joab replied, "May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?"
4 The king's word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.
6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king's command was repulsive to him. 7 This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.
8 Then David said to God, "I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."
9 The LORD said to Gad, David's seer, 10 "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' "
11 So Gad went to David and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Take your choice: 12 three years of famine, three months of being swept away [a] before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD -days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.' Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me."
13 David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."
14 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah [b] the Jebusite.
16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
17 David said to God, "Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O LORD my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people."
18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.
20 While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.
22 David said to him, "Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price."
23 Araunah said to David, "Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this."
24 But King David replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing."
25 So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels [c] of gold for the site. 26 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. [d] He called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. 29 The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Luke 19:12-26 (New International Version)
12He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas.[a]'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.'
14"But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.'
15"He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
16"The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.'
17" 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'
18"The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.'
19"His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.'
20"Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.'
22"His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'
24"Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'
25" 'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!'
26"He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.
December 17, 2009
The King Of Fruits
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READ: Luke 19:12-26
Present your bodies a living sacrifice, . . . which is your reasonable service. —Romans 12:1
The durian, a tropical fruit, is often called The King of Fruits. Either you love it or you hate it. Those who love it will do almost anything to get it. Those who hate it won’t get near it because of its pungent smell. My wife loves it. Recently, a friend, who was grateful for what my wife had done for her, sent her a box of the finest quality durians. She took great pains to ensure that they were the best.
I asked myself, “If we can give the best to a friend, how can we do less for our Lord who gave His very life for us?”
The nobleman in Jesus’ parable in Luke 19 wanted the best from 10 servants to whom he gave money, saying, “Do business till I come” (v.13). When he returned and asked for an account, he gave the same commendation “Well done!” to all those who had done what they could with the money entrusted to them. But he called “wicked” (v.22) the one who did nothing with his money.
The primary meaning of this story is stewardship of what we’ve been given. To be faithful with what God has given to us is to give Him our best in return. As the master gave money to the servants in the parable, so God has given us gifts to serve Him. It is we who will lose out if we fail to give Him our best. — C. P. Hia
Give of your best to the Master,
Give Him first place in your heart;
Give Him first place in your service,
Consecrate every part. —Grose
We are at our best when we serve God by serving others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 17, 2009
Redemption— Creating the Need it Satisfies
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READ:
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him . . . —1 Corinthians 2:14
The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 ). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you . . ." (Matthew 7:7 ). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.
Jesus said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" ( John 12:32 ). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is "lifted up," the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" ( John 6:63 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Hope in Five Words - #5984
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Narnia was a mythical land, created by C. S. Lewis, where the animals talk and where four children experience this series of incredible adventures. The seven-part series, "The Chronicles of Narnia," have long fascinated children and adults alike. And then came Disney's movie version of the first Narnia story, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," and it was a blockbuster. In the story, the wardrobe is the closet through which the children discover Narnia. The witch is the evil ruler of the land. She's creating an endless winter where it is "always winter but never Christmas." And the lion is Aslan, the great son of the Emperor from across the sea. He is, in C. S. Lewis' imagery, the Christ-figure of Narnia. As the children begin to experience the icy and dangerous world that Narnia has become under an evil ruler, one of the animals announces that there is hope on the horizon. Hope turns out to be five words: "Aslan is on the move." Indeed, he was, and Narnia would soon be set free.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hope in Five Words."
Five words may explain the strange stirring that you've been feeling in your heart lately. Five words may mean hope for you. Those five words? "Jesus is on the move." The One of whom the Bible says: "The Lion of the tribe of Judah...has triumphed" (Revelation 5:5). He may very well be on the move in your personal world and in your heart.
What He's moving to do is pictured in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 3, beginning with verse 7. God's speaking to Moses from an amazing burning bush in the wilderness. He says, "I have seen the misery of My people, I have heard them crying out, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them. So now, go. I am sending you."
When Jesus starts moving, He's on a rescue mission. In fact, the name God told Mary and Joseph to give Him that first Christmas, Jesus, literally means "Jehovah rescues." Every time we say "Jesus," we're saying why He came - to rescue. In Moses' day, God was coming down to rescue His people from slavery in Egypt. Today, God comes down to rescue people from the bleakness and the bondages of a life lived outside of His purposes; the kind of "my way" living that the Bible calls sin. Sin robs this life of its meaning and joy, and it condemns us to the death penalty of an awful eternity. Jesus came like the rescuers went into the fallen towers on that dark September 11. He risked His life to save us from a deadly situation from which we could never save ourselves. And He's on the move right now, and He's got rescue on His mind.
If you've given yourself to the Savior who died for you, He's asking you to join Him in His rescue mission. Your heart has been restless to make a greater difference, and that's why. He's moving to rescue people you know from a hopeless, "always winter" life and from an awful, Christless eternity. He's calling your name and saying, as He did to Moses, "So now, go. I am sending you." This is why He put you where you are - to rescue. Don't miss the destiny you were made for.
And if there's never been a time when you grabbed Jesus to be your spiritual Rescuer, He's coming close to you today so you can. Your hope of finding the purpose you were made for, your hope of experiencing God's awesome love, your hope of changing your eternal address to heaven is five words: "Jesus is on the move." That stirring - that tug in your heart you feel - that's Jesus. He's ready for you to come to Him. And you don't come when you're ready; you come when He's ready. When He's moving in your heart, there are, according to the Bible, two choices. Either you open your heart or you harden your heart.
Open your heart to Him. Just tell Him, "Lord Jesus, I know what You did on the cross is my only hope. I'm ready to turn the running of my life over to You as my Rescuer from my sin." Let me encourage you to go to our website where so many people have found a lot of help and encouragement in beginning their relationship with Jesus. The website is www.YoursForLife.net.
Jesus is on the move...in your heart.