Max Lucado Daily:Slow Down
“Man . . . heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” Psalm 39:6, NIV
We need one day in which work comes to a screeching halt. We need one twenty-four hour period in which the wheels stop grinding and the motor stops turning. We need to stop . . .
Slow down. If God commanded it, you need it. If Jesus modeled it, you need it . . . Take a day to say no to work and yes to worship.
Jonah 1
Jonah Flees From the LORD
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 43
Israel's Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush [a] and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
8 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
9 All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of them foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, "It is true."
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?"
February 17, 2010
In The Car Wash
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READ: Isaiah 43:1-13
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. —Isaiah 43:2
I’ll never forget my first experience using an automatic car wash. Approaching it with the dread of going to the dentist, I pushed the money into the slot, nervously checked and rechecked my windows, eased the car up to the line, and waited. Powers beyond my control began moving my car forward as if on a conveyor belt. There I was, cocooned inside, when a thunderous rush of water, soap, and brushes hit my car from all directions. What if I get stuck in here or water crashes in? I thought irrationally. Suddenly the waters ceased. After a blow-dry, my car was propelled into the outside world again, clean and polished.
In the midst of all this, I remembered stormy times in my life when it seemed I was on a conveyor belt, a victim of forces beyond my control. “Car-wash experiences,” I now call them. I remembered that whenever I passed through deep waters my Redeemer had been with me, sheltering me against the rising tide (Isa. 43:2). When I came out on the other side, which I always did, I was able to say with joy and confidence, “He is a faithful God!”
Are you in the middle of a car-wash experience? Trust God to bring you through to the other side. You’ll then be a shining testimony of His keeping power. — Joanie Yoder
How wonderful to know that He
Who watches from above
Will always keep us sheltered in
His ever-present love! —King
A tunnel of testing can produce a shining testimony.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 17, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Depression
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READ:
Arise and eat —1 Kings 19:5
The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive— only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.
When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How We Flock to Destruction - #6028
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
No one has ever claimed that sheep were the smartest animals on earth. A few weeks ago, in a village in Turkey, they lived up to their not-so-bright reputation actually. One sheep wandered away from the flock to the edge of a nearby cliff, and he decided it would be fun to jump off. Of course it was the last thing he ever did. Suddenly, all the sheep decided to play "Follow the Leader" and 1,500 sheep leaped off that cliff to the rocks below, creating at the bottom the world's largest sweater. Actually, it was no joking matter. The town lost more than $100,000 in the great sheep massacre.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How We Flock to Destruction."
It's not an accident that over and over the Bible likens us humans to sheep. I'd rather be a lion or a bear or a wise old owl. But the Bible says I'm a sheep. Why? Because we tend to follow where the crowd is going, no matter what that may cost us. Let's face it. There's peer pressure at every age and stage in your life, isn't there? Obviously, young people are pressured to follow where their friends are going, to be what the youth culture tells them they're supposed to be, no matter what heartache that may cause. Everybody's going; I've got to go with them.
But then, there's parent peer pressure too - for you to do and allow what all the other parents are doing and allowing. After all, who wants to be an "un-cool" mom or dad? Right? There's tons of pressure in your business to do things the way that's "smart" even if what "everybody does" is against the ways of Jesus. If you're in the academic world, you face pressure to do what's considered the intelligent thing in your area, even if it contradicts the revealed Word of God in the Bible. But who wants to be ostracized or written off as primitive or simple? There's even religious peer pressure to simply follow what your church or religion says is the way to God and the way to live for God, no matter what the Bible says.
Here's what Jesus said about our decisions to follow what most of the flock is doing. It's in Matthew 7:13-14, our word for today from the Word of God. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is that gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Jesus said that the right way is usually the road not taken, or at least the road not taken by many. The wrong road is easy - at its beginning. But the farther you go on it, the harder it gets...until it takes you right over the cliff. The right road is hard and it's even lonely at first, but it's the one that leads to life. Make a destination choice - not the one that will win you the most friends right now, but the one that will take you where you want to end up.
Jesus' statement suggests that a whole lot of people who think they're going to end up in heaven when they die aren't going there. "Few," He said will find life. That's why it's dangerous just to follow a religious flock and hope that they know what they're doing. Your religion won't take you to heaven. Only Jesus can do that because only Jesus died to remove the sin that will keep you out of heaven. Only Jesus rose from the dead to be a living Savior for you. The question isn't, "What religion are you?" It's "What are you counting on as the reason God will let you into His heaven?" If it's anything other than Jesus, anything in addition to Jesus, it's the wrong road, no matter how many people are on it. The Bible talks about a way "...that seems right to a man but it ends in death."
Even your Christianity won't get you to heaven, because Christianity isn't Christ. It's about Christ, but it's Christ you've got to have to get into heaven. If you're not sure you belong to Him, it's not smart to wait another day to get things settled with Him. You need to tell Him today, "Jesus, I give up my trust in everything but You. You died for my sin, and I give up my sin to turn to you and put all my trust in You."
If you want to know that security, I would suggest you just check out that brief explanation at our website that I've put there to help you know how to begin your relationship with Jesus Christ. The website is YoursForLife.net.
It's time to start following Jesus. Then you can go to sleep tonight knowing your eternal destination - you're going to heaven with the One who died to take you there.
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