Max Lucado Daily: Dive In
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Dive In
Posted: 19 Mar 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The person who is forgiven only a little will forgive only a little.” Luke 7:47
To believe we are totally and eternally debt free is seldom easy. Even if we’ve stood before the throne and heard it from the king himself, we still doubt. As a result, many are forgiven only a little, not because the grace of the king is limited, but because the faith of the sinner is small. God is willing to forgive all. He’s willing to wipe the slate completely clean. He guides us to a pool of mercy and invites us to bathe. Some plunge in, but others just touch the surface.
Zephaniah 3
Sewer City
1-5 Doom to the rebellious city, the home of oppressors—Sewer City!
The city that wouldn't take advice,
wouldn't accept correction,
Wouldn't trust God,
wouldn't even get close to her own god!
Her very own leaders
are rapacious lions,
Her judges are rapacious timber wolves
out every morning prowling for a fresh kill.
Her prophets are out for what they can get.
They're opportunists—you can't trust them.
Her priests desecrate the Sanctuary.
They use God's law as a weapon to maim and kill souls.
Yet God remains righteous in her midst,
untouched by the evil.
He stays at it, day after day, meting out justice.
At evening he's still at it, strong as ever.
But evil men and women, without conscience
and without shame, persist in evil.
6"So I cut off the godless nations.
I knocked down their defense posts,
Filled her roads with rubble
so no one could get through.
Her cities were bombed-out ruins,
unlivable and unlived in.
7"I thought, 'Surely she'll honor me now,
accept my discipline and correction,
Find a way of escape from the trouble she's in,
find relief from the punishment I'm bringing.'
But it didn't faze her. Bright and early
she was up at it again, doing the same old things.
8"Well, if that's what you want, stick around."
God's Decree.
"Your day in court is coming,
but remember I'll be there to bring evidence.
I'll bring all the nations to the courtroom,
round up all the kingdoms,
And let them feel the brunt of my anger,
my raging wrath.
My zeal is a fire
that will purge and purify the earth.
God Is in Charge at the Center
9-13"In the end I will turn things around for the people.
I'll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted,
Words to address God in worship
and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.
They'll come from beyond the Ethiopian rivers,
they'll come praying—
All my scattered, exiled people
will come home with offerings for worship.
You'll no longer have to be ashamed
of all those acts of rebellion.
I'll have gotten rid of your arrogant leaders.
No more pious strutting on my holy hill!
I'll leave a core of people among you
who are poor in spirit—
What's left of Israel that's really Israel.
They'll make their home in God.
This core holy people
will not do wrong.
They won't lie,
won't use words to flatter or seduce.
Content with who they are and where they are,
unanxious, they'll live at peace."
14-15So sing, Daughter Zion!
Raise the rafters, Israel!
Daughter Jerusalem,
be happy! celebrate!
God has reversed his judgments against you
and sent your enemies off chasing their tails.
From now on, God is Israel's king,
in charge at the center.
There's nothing to fear from evil
ever again!
God Is Present Among You
16-17Jerusalem will be told:
"Don't be afraid.
Dear Zion,
don't despair.
Your God is present among you,
a strong Warrior there to save you.
Happy to have you back, he'll calm you with his love
and delight you with his songs.
18-20"The accumulated sorrows of your exile
will dissipate.
I, your God, will get rid of them for you.
You've carried those burdens long enough.
At the same time, I'll get rid of all those
who've made your life miserable.
I'll heal the maimed;
I'll bring home the homeless.
In the very countries where they were hated
they will be venerated.
On Judgment Day
I'll bring you back home—a great family gathering!
You'll be famous and honored
all over the world.
You'll see it with your own eyes—
all those painful partings turned into reunions!"
God's Promise.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Genesis 2:18-25 (The Message)
18-20 God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.
21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.
23-25 The Man said,
"Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man."
Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.
March 20, 2010
Marriage God’s Way
Listen Now | Play MP3 (Mobile)
READ: Genesis 2:18-25
A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. —Genesis 2:24
The movie The Princess Bride has a wedding scene in which the marrying minister says, “Marriage . . . is what brings us together today.”
Sometimes it is good to remind ourselves of the grand plan for marriage spelled out in Scripture.
Marriage creates one new family out of two: Adam said, “ ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh . . . .’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife” (Gen. 2:23-24).
It provides a pure outlet for a divinely designed desire: “Because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband” (1 Cor. 7:2).
It forms a mutually helpful team: “The heart of her husband safely trusts her . . . . She does him good and not evil all the days of her life” (Prov. 31:11-12).
Marriage God’s way brings a man and a woman together to honor Him and help society. Celebrate marriage for the ways it brings us together in God’s name. — Dave Branon
If men and women yield to God
And of His love partake,
The marriage bond that joins two hearts
No power on earth can break. —D. De Haan
God created husband and wife to complement each other.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 20, 2010
Friendship with God
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READ:
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, "Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will," then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— ". . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ." ( John 17:22 ). Think of the last thing you prayed about-were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? "For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" ( Matthew 6:8 ). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" ( Psalm 37:4 ). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
