Max Lucado Daily: The Economy of Heaven
The Economy of Heaven
Posted: 01 Mar 2010 10:01 PM PST
“A crown is being held for . . . all those who have waited with love for him to come again.” 2 Timothy 4:8
We understand that in the economy of earth, there are a limited number of crowns.
The economy of heaven, however, is refreshingly different. Heavenly rewards are not limited to a chosen few, but “to all those who have waited with love for him to come again.” The three-letter word all is a gem. The winner’s circle isn’t reserved for a handful of the elite but for a heaven full of God’s children.
Today's HomeWord for 3/2/10
The Truth Versus The Lie
By Kelly McFadden
The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
I played competitive volleyball for thirteen years. I was fortunate to play not only in high school and college, but also for the National Team, and professionally, before I finally hung up my sneakers and retired. Most of the time, I was an energetic, passionate and free-spirited player. However, for part of my playing career when I was 18, I was plagued with fear.
If you had seen a match, you might not have noticed. But if you were on my team, you would see that I simply froze during warm-ups. I could not perform and put the ball where I needed to during certain drills. It was humiliating. Somehow, the anxiety, fear, pressure, and desire to perform well all accumulated in those moments and I simply could not perform. All I could hear in my head was the imagined voice of my coach telling me I was weak, horrible, letting the team down.
It was a lie.
The truth is, God had gifted me with the ability to lead teams and play volleyball well. For every truth, though, there is a lie. Satan comes to steal our joy and keep us from believing the truth. These lies made me believe I would never be good enough, never be as good as, or never amount to anything. They were coupled with unrealistic expectations and a voice that simply said over and over, “You’re awful. There is something wrong with you.”
This happens in other areas of life as well. Instead of resting in the fact that God loves us and made us just the way He wanted to, we get caught up in the lies. The lies say we are bad people. The lies say we cannot be forgiven, that we are unlovable, that we deserve pain, and if I don’t read my Bible enough, God will not be near…
Here is the truth: God made each of us purposefully. He uniquely crafted us with the exact right amount of skills, talents and abilities. We are to rejoice and be glad in how the Lord makes us. He is our Father and we are His children. He wants to give us good gifts and He delights in us. He loves us unconditionally.
Don’t let the lies of Satan gain a foothold in your life. Stand firm on the truth—God’s truth.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Think through the lies that Satan has tricked you into believing. What is the truth that God offers?
2. This week, how can you make sure to catch yourself and focus on the truth of who God made you to be?
FURTHER READING:
John 8:32,44; Romans 8:15-17; Ephesians 2:6-7
2 Kings 19
1-3 When Hezekiah heard it all, he too ripped his robes apart and dressed himself in rough burlap. Then he went into The Temple of God. He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them dressed in rough burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They said to him, "A message from Hezekiah: 'This is a black day, a terrible day—doomsday!
Babies poised to be born, No strength to birth them.
4 "'Maybe God, your God, has been listening to the blasphemous speech of the Rabshakeh who was sent by the king of Assyria, his master, to humiliate the living God; maybe God, your God, won't let him get by with such talk; and you, maybe you will lift up prayers for what's left of these people.'"
5 That's the message King Hezekiah's servants delivered to Isaiah.
6-7 Isaiah answered them, "Tell your master, 'God's word: Don't be at all concerned about what you've heard from the king of Assyria's bootlicking errand boys—these outrageous blasphemies. Here's what I'm going to do: Afflict him with self-doubt. He's going to hear a rumor and, frightened for his life, retreat to his own country. Once there, I'll see to it that he gets killed.'"
8-13 The Rabshakeh left and found that the king of Assyria had pulled up stakes from Lachish and was now fighting against Libnah. Then Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Cush was on his way to fight against him. So he sent another envoy with orders to deliver this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: "Don't let that god that you think so much of keep stringing you along with the line, 'Jerusalem will never fall to the king of Assyria.' That's a barefaced lie. You know the track record of the kings of Assyria—country after country laid waste, devastated. And what makes you think you'll be an exception? Take a good look at these wasted nations, destroyed by my ancestors; did their gods do them any good? Look at Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, the people of Eden at Tel Assar. Ruins. And what's left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of Sepharvaim, of Hena, of Ivvah? Bones."
14-15 Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of God and spread it out before God. And Hezekiah prayed—oh, how he prayed!
God, God of Israel, seated
in majesty on the cherubim-throne.
You are the one and only God,
sovereign over all kingdoms on earth,
Maker of heaven,
maker of earth.
16 Open your ears, God, and listen,
open your eyes and look.
Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent,
a brazen insult to the living God!
17 The facts are true, O God: The kings of Assyria
have laid waste countries and kingdoms.
18 Huge bonfires they made of their gods, their
no-gods hand-made from wood and stone.
19 But now O God, our God,
save us from raw Assyrian power;
Make all the kingdoms on earth know
that you are God, the one and only God.
20-21 It wasn't long before Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah:
God's word: You've prayed to me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria; I've heard your prayer. This is my response to him:
The Virgin Daughter of Zion
holds you in utter contempt;
Daughter Jerusalem
thinks you're nothing but scum.
22 Who do you think it is you've insulted?
Who do you think you've been bad-mouthing?
Before whom do you suppose you've been strutting?
The Holy One of Israel, that's who!
23 You dispatched your errand boys
to humiliate the Master.
You bragged, "With my army of chariots
I've climbed the highest mountains,
snow-peaked alpine Lebanon mountains!
I've cut down its giant cedars,
chopped down its prize pine trees.
I've traveled the world,
visited the finest forest retreats.
24 I've dug wells in faraway places
and drunk their exotic waters;
I've waded and splashed barefoot
in the rivers of Egypt."
25 Did it never occur to you
that I'm behind all this?
Long, long ago I drew up the plans,
and now I've gone into action,
Using you as a doomsday weapon,
reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,
26 Leaving their people dispirited,
slumped shoulders, limp souls.
Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,
insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.
27 I know when you sit down, when you come
and when you go;
And, yes, I've marked every one
of your temper tantrums against me.
28 It's because of your temper,
your blasphemous foul temper,
That I'm putting my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth
And turning you back
to where you came from.
29 And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:
This year you'll eat the gleanings, next year
whatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;
But the third year you'll sow and harvest,
plant vineyards and eat grapes.
30 A remnant of the family of Judah yet again
will sink down roots and raise up fruit.
31 The remnant will come from Jerusalem,
the survivors from Mount Zion.
The Zeal of God
will make it happen.
32 To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:
He won't enter this city,
nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;
Won't brandish a shield,
won't even begin to set siege;
33 He'll go home by the same road he came;
he won't enter this city. God's word!
34 I'll shield this city, I'll save this city,
for my sake and for David's sake.
35 And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses!
36-37 Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Luke 4:16-21 (The Message)
16-21He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!"
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
March 2, 2010
God Is Here
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READ: Luke 4:16-21
[The Lord] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. —Psalm 147:3
Leslie and her two daughters were about to be evicted from their home. Although Leslie believed that God could help, so far He hadn’t given a clue as to how. She wondered, Where is God? As she drove to the courthouse, she prayed for God’s intervention. Then she heard a song on the radio proclaiming, “God is here! Let the brokenhearted rejoice.” Could this be the assurance from God that she was longing to hear?
Inside the courtroom, Leslie stood before the judge, heard his decision, and signed the legal documents, but still God had not given her an answer.
As Leslie was walking to her car, a truck pulled up beside her. “Ma’am,” said the driver, “I heard your testimony inside the courtroom, and I believe God wants me to help you.” And he did. Gary helped Leslie get in contact with a woman from a local church who was able to work with the parties involved to reverse the process so that she and her girls could stay in their home.
When people ask, “Where is God?” the answer is, “Right here.” One way God is at work is through Christians like Gary who are continuing the work Jesus started—healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds (Ps. 147:3). — Julie Ackerman Link
God is here; He stands beside you.
God is here; He wants to guide you.
God is here and He will help you,
So do not fear—Your God is near. —D. De Haan
When we love God, we will serve people.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 2, 2010
Have You Felt the Pain Inflicted by the Lord?
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READ:
He said to him the third time, ’. . . do you love Me?’ —John 21:17
Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. "Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ’Do you love Me?’ " Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, "Lord, You know all things . . . ." Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, "Look at this or that as proof of my love." Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.
Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Driving Hard On the Wrong Road - #6037
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Paul was heading from northern Arizona to Phoenix, which is in southern Arizona. He called his wife from Flagstaff, a two-hour, 75-mile-an-hour drive. "See you in a couple of hours," he said. He got on the Interstate and took full advantage of those Western speed limits. He had a lot on his mind that day - apparently not including where he was going. By the time he realized what road he was on, he was almost in California; nowhere near Phoenix! Nowhere near home! He was lost and he didn't even know it!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Driving Hard On the Wrong Road."
Poor guy! He was driving hard on what he was sure was the right road, but there was no way it was going to get him home. It wasn't a fatal mistake, though. When you make that mistake with God, it costs you your eternity. The Bible reveals that many people are driving on a road they think will get them to God and that will get them heaven, but there's no way it's going to get them home. However sincere they may be in believing they're on the right road, they are, in God's eyes, totally lost.
Our word for today from the Word of God is in Proverbs 14:12 - what I'd call a wakeup call from God. It says, in no uncertain terms, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." When it comes to God, seems right won't get you there. It's got to be right according to God; not according to us, or our feelings, or what our religion says. And this is the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about. Eternity is a very long time.
Matthew 7 records that Jesus said many are on the road to destruction, thinking it's the right road (Matthew 7:13-14). A few verses later He describes one of those ways that seemed right to folks but led them to death. He said on Judgment Day, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you'" (Matthew 7:22-23). On Judgment Day there will be people who knew lots of Christian things, did lots of Christian things, who never really knew Jesus. They had the religion, but they missed the relationship. They had Christianity, but they missed Christ.
It doesn't matter how hard you're driving on the wrong road - how dedicated you may be to it - if it isn't God's road, you will be forever lost. And contrary to what so many think, being good is not the way to get to heaven. That's what God says. He says, for example, "No one will be declared righteous in His sight (or fit for heaven) by observing the law." No one, no matter how good. Because goodness can't pay the death penalty we deserve because of our sin.
Then, in Romans 3, God spells out the road that will get us to Him. We "are justified (That means made right with God.) ...through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:20, 24). And that came when Jesus hung on that cross and absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin and mine.
That's why God says this about Jesus in words that are hard to misunderstand: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). It all comes down to what you do with Jesus. Trust Him and Him alone to get you to heaven or put your trust in something else and never get there. It's the choice every one of us must make, and our eternity hangs in the balance.
I believe God's speaking to someone who's listening right now and He's saying, "You're on the wrong road. But today is your day to get on the road that will bring you home. This is your day to finally give yourself to My Son who gave His life for you." And I pray you'll listen to that invitation. Everything depends on it. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours from this day on." He doesn't point the way to heaven; He is the way.
If you want to get this settled once and for all, let me encourage you to visit our website. I've laid out a simple explanation there of how you can be sure you belong to Jesus. The website is YoursForLife.net.
God doesn't want to lose you. That's why He's coming to you today to show you how you can get home to Him. The right road will give you everything. The wrong road will cost you everything.