Max Lucado Daily: Watch and Pray
Watch and Pray
Posted: 02 Jun 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Mark 14:38, NIV
“Watch.” . . . Keep your eyes open. When you see sin coming, duck . . . When you sense temptation, go the other way . . .
“Pray.” . . . What prayer does is invite God to walk the shadowy pathways of life with us . . . guarding our backside from the poison darts of the devil.
“Watch and pray.” Good advice. Let’s take it.
Mark 16
The Resurrection
1-3 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, "Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?"
4-5Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.
6-7He said, "Don't be afraid. I know you're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He's been raised up; he's here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You'll see him there, exactly as he said."
8They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.
9-11[After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, whom he had delivered from seven demons. She went to his former companions, now weeping and carrying on, and told them. When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn't believe her.
12-13Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them out walking in the countryside. They went back and told the rest, but they weren't believed either.
14-16Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, "Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.
17-18"These are some of the signs that will accompany believers: They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well."
19-20Then the Master Jesus, after briefing them, was taken up to heaven, and he sat down beside God in the place of honor. And the disciples went everywhere preaching, the Master working right with them, validating the Message with indisputable evidence.] [a]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 3:7-14
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing on Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Champion Marksman
June 3, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:14
Matt Emmons, Olympic gold medalist in rifle shooting in 2004, was set to win another event at Athens. He had a commanding lead and hoped to make a direct bull’s-eye on his last shot. But something went wrong—he hit the target, but he was aiming at the wrong one! That wrong focus dropped him to eighth place and cost him a medal.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he expressed the importance of focusing on the right target in our Christian life. “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” he said (3:14).
Paul used the term “goal” in an illustration of an athlete running a race. Interestingly, the same word was also used of a target for shooting arrows. In both cases, the prospect of winning depends on being focused. For the believer that focus should be a lifetime pursuit of becoming more like our Savior Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:28-29; Gal. 5:22-23).
What is your focus today? Are you preoccupied with getting ahead and making life more comfortable? If you’re a believer, the right target to shoot for is to become more like the Son of God (2 Cor. 3:18). Today make sure you are aiming at the right target!
I have one deep supreme desire,
That I may be like Jesus.
To this I fervently aspire,
That I may be like Jesus. —Chisholm
To make the most of your life, make God’s goals your goals.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 3, 2010
"The Secret of the Lord"
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him . . . —Psalm 25:14
What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” ( Matthew 6:10 )— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.
“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” ( Psalm 25:12 ). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How to Have Everything You Need When You Need It - #6104
Thursday, June 3, 2010
When you've passed thousands of cars on the Interstate, you've seen a whole lot of bumper stickers - most of which you've forgotten. But there's one I saw I've never forgotten. It was just five little words - words which weren't even that original. But as I passed that particular car, I glanced inside at the passengers, and suddenly the bumper sticker took on great meaning. A mother was driving and she had her child in the back seat. It was a little boy, who even with a quick glance, I could see had some severe mental handicaps. You know, this lady had a very challenging life, and I knew how she was handling it because the bumper sticker told me. It simply said, "One day at a time."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Have Everything You Need When You Need It."
God has made His plan for meeting your needs very simple and very clear. One five-letter word sums it up. And one Bible story wonderfully illustrates it. It's in 1 Kings 17, beginning with verse 2. It's our word for today from the Word of God. God's prophet, Elijah, has just delivered an unsettling message from God to Israel's King Ahab - that it will not rain for the next few years. Well, that didn't make Elijah a finalist for "Man of the Year" in the king's book.
So the Bible says, "The word of the Lord came to Elijah: 'Leave here...and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.' So he did what the Lord had told him...The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook." So, here sits Elijah in the wilderness, totally dependent on God for his next meal. Those ravens didn't bring a month's groceries or even a week's groceries. In fact, they don't even bring enough for a whole day. Okay, breakfast was there. Sure hope they show up again tonight for dinner, or I'll have nothing to eat. But with all normal sources unavailable to God's man, God has this surprising and creative method of meeting his needs. He "orders the ravens" in twice a day.
Now, if you belong to Jesus Christ, Elijah's God is your God; always making sure your needs are supplied, usually, like that bumper sticker said, one day at a time. Why only a day at a time? Well, to keep you close to Him...to keep you faithful, always asking, "Am I doing what I should be doing with what He's already given me?" And to keep you pure - asking, while you're waiting for the ravens, "Is there anything in my life that might be holding back God's blessing?"
God wants you to live His plan for your life in these little 24-hour, bite-size chunks called days. The Bible says, "This is the day the Lord has made" (Psalm 118:24)..."His mercies are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23)..."Daily He bears our burdens" (Psalm 68:19). We're to live out our commitment to Christ by taking up our cross "daily" (Luke 9:23), and our "strength will equal" our "days." The strength you need, the provision you need, the grace you need, the answers you need, the help you need, and the encouragement you need - He's going to send you what you need on the day you need it and not a day earlier. So when you get all worried and fearful about what's beyond today, you're running ahead of your supply lines. Because you don't have tomorrow's "bread," tomorrow's strength, or tomorrow's grace until that day comes. So you're trying to carry tomorrow's burden with today's grace, and you're going to stumble.
So, where is what you need going to come from? From your Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. How will He supply what you need? Oh, He has so many ways, but you can be sure that, as in Elijah's time of need, God has "ordered His ravens" to deliver it. And when will you have it? You can be sure you'll have everything you need on the day you need it. Until then, your assignment is clear - be where God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do that day. Oh, and you might want to go open that window. His ravens are on the way.
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