Max Lucado Daily: He Knows
He Knows
Posted: 14 Sep 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1:14 NIV
The one to whom we pray knows our feelings. He knows our temptation. He has felt discouraged. He has been hungry and sleepy and tired . . . He nods in understanding when we pray in anger . . . He smiles when we confess our weariness . . .
He, too, knew the drone of the humdrum and the weariness that comes with long days . . . God became flesh and dwelt among us.
Genesis 20
Abraham and Abimelech
1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."
4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
8 Early the next morning Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done." 10 And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"
11 Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' "
14 Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."
16 To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels [a] of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, 18 for the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Peter 1:3-12
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
It’s The Real Deal
September 15, 2010 — by Dave Branon
I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. —1 Peter 5:12
One of the coolest things hanging on the wall in my home office is a Certificate of Authenticity.
It has on it the logo of US Space Shuttle flight 110, which was launched in April 2002. Aboard the Atlantis on that flight was Mission Specialist Rex Walheim, who took into outer space an article from Our Daily Bread titled “Seeing God’s Glory.” Lt. Col. Walheim sent me the certificate to prove that this devotional page actually left earth’s atmosphere.
Sometimes we need these kinds of things—documents that verify truth. If I were to show that article to someone and say, “This flew on the Space Shuttle,” I could be doubted because I would have no proof. But when Walheim sent me the Certificate of Authenticity, he gave me verification.
In 1 Peter, Simon Peter created a Certificate of Authenticity for his message about the grace of God. In chapter 5, he wrote, “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this [letter] is the true grace of God” (v.12). Peter was assuring his readers that the many messages of 1 Peter—themes of hope and courage and even suffering—were all authentic and demonstrate the grace of God.
Looking for evidence of God’s grace? Read 1 Peter, and be confident that its teaching is the real deal.
The Bible stands like a mountain towering
Far above the works of men;
Its truth by none ever was refuted,
And destroy it they never can. —Lillenas
To trust God is to trust in His holy Word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 15th, 2010
What To Renounce
We have renounced the hidden things of shame . . . —2 Corinthians 4:2
Have you “renounced the hidden things of shame” in your life—the things that your sense of honor or pride will not allow to come into the light? You can easily hide them. Is there a thought in your heart about anyone that you would not like to be brought into the light? Then renounce it as soon as it comes to mind—renounce everything in its entirety until there is no hidden dishonesty or craftiness about you at all. Envy, jealousy, and strife don’t necessarily arise from your old nature of sin, but from the flesh which was used for these kinds of things in the past (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-3). You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame.
“. . . not walking in craftiness. . .” (2 Corinthians 4:2). This means not resorting to something simply to make your own point. This is a terrible trap. You know that God will allow you to work in only one way—the way of truth. Then be careful never to catch people through the other way—the way of deceit. If you act deceitfully, God’s blight and ruin will be upon you. What may be craftiness for you, may not be for others—God has called you to a higher standard. Never dull your sense of being your utmost for His highest—your best for His glory. For you, doing certain things would mean craftiness coming into your life for a purpose other than what is the highest and best, and it would dull the motivation that God has given you. Many people have turned back because they are afraid to look at things from God’s perspective. The greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Peace of Releasing the Wheel - #6178
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Ah, give me a break. It's not like I'm the only man in the world with this control thing. It must be part of our wiring to be in control, huh? Like driving for example. If you've got four guys traveling together, you usually have four people who want to drive, but that makes the front seat awfully crowded. When a family's going on a long trip, many men make it very clear, "I'll drive." I'm one of those guys who really doesn't like to ride. I like to drive. But a while back, I learned a valuable lesson about this "must drive" neurosis. We had an all-day trip ahead of us and I had a full day of preparation for speaking and radio programs. I find that's hard to do with a steering wheel in your hand, which is a habit the the National Safety Council recommends. So my wife drove the whole trip while I buried myself in my work. Man, did I get a lot done!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Peace of Releasing the Wheel."
I learned a lesson that day that I've applied to a number of other trips. You get so much more done when someone else is driving. Great things happen when you finally let go of the wheel and let someone else take it. Especially if the someone else is the One who was supposed to be driving all along. The God who gave you your life is supposed to be driving your life.
But we'd rather do the driving ourselves. Oh, sure, we don't mind having God as a passenger in our life. It's nice to have Him along. Just so long as He doesn't have the wheel. And me driving the life that God gave me is exactly what the Bible means when it talks about our "sin" - me driving when God was supposed to be. Taking my life where I want it to go instead of where He created it to go. Doing what I feel like doing with my life instead of living as I was made to live. If you're wondering why you never seem to get to the destination you've been looking for, if you're wondering why you feel lost, why there have been costly crashes, it's because the wrong person is driving.
Here's how the Bible describes how we get lost and then stuck on a road that's going nowhere. It's in Isaiah 53:6 , our word for today from the Word of God. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way." Turning to our own way means we are literally turning our back to God, the author of our life. The issue of control now becomes a life-or-death issue. Because if we insist on driving, our life will inevitably go over the cliff into an awful eternity without God, all because we had to be in control - because we had to drive.
Thank God, He did what it took to make it possible for us to turn around. To be forgiven instead of condemned. To go to heaven instead of hell. That Bible verse about us going our own way concludes with God's loving answer: "The Lord has laid on Him (that's Jesus) the iniquity (or wrongdoing) of us all." The verse before it tells what it took for us to have a chance to live instead of die: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." That day Jesus allowed them to hang Him on a cross, He was absorbing all the punishment for all the sinning that you've ever done. That's how much He loves you.
And now you have an opportunity to have every sin of your life erased from God's book, and trade hell for heaven. Jesus comes into your life when you tell Him, as a recent hit song says, "Jesus, take the wheel." You put your trust in Him because He gave His life for you. And He doesn't ride - He drives. It's time to give Him the wheel.
I would love to have the opportunity to help you begin this life-changing relationship with Jesus. If you'll just come by our website where I've laid out a brief, non-religious explanation of how you can belong to Him. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Or call - for my little booklet, "Yours For Life." It's a toll free call - it's 877-741-1200.
You've been driving long enough. Will you let Jesus drive from here on. You'll have this wonderful peace, you'll go where you were created to go, and your final destination - it will be awesome.