Max Lucado Daily: Rely on Him
Rely on Him
Posted: 27 Sep 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst.” Luke 6:35, The Message
God has proven himself as a faithful father. Now it falls to us to be trusting children. Let God give you what your family doesn’t. Let him fill the void others have left. Rely upon him for your affirmation and encouragement.
Matthew 8:18-34 (New International Version)
The Cost of Following Jesus
18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
21Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
22But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Jesus Calms the Storm
23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
The Healing of Two Demon-possessed Men
28When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[a] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29"What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"
30Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
32He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 1:3-6
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Creation: NT Style
September 28, 2010 — by Dave Branon
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. —Ephesians 1:4
When we think about the marvel of creation—how God spoke the universe into existence and formed the earth and everything in it—we think most often of Old Testament accounts.
But it is encouraging to examine the New Testament to see how that part of the Bible refers to creation. Here is a look at some key passages:
“I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13:35). God reveals things to us that He had kept secret since before creation.
“Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Before the earth was created, God knew each of us—and He knew our future.
“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Before the work of creation even began, God was aware of each of His eventual children.
These New Testament verses comfort us with the truth that God’s knowledge of us and His eternal mysteries about us point toward His special creation of mankind as described in Genesis. We can do nothing but bow in awe before One whose knowledge and creative ability are eternal in nature and boundless in power. Creation: New Testament style—still another reason to give God praise!
O Lord, how manifold the work
In wisdom wrought by Thee;
The wealth of Thy creative skill
Fills earth and mighty sea. —Anon.
Each person is a unique expression of God’s loving design.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 28th, 2010
The "Go" of Unconditional Identification
Jesus . . . said to him, ’One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor . . . and come, take up the cross, and follow Me’ —Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute “go” of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.
“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him . . .” (Mark 10:21). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.
“One thing you lack . . . .” From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.
“. . . sell whatever you have . . . .” I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. “. . . come. . . and follow Me.” And the road is the way He went.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Disproportionate Power - #6187
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
It's been a fun assignment over the years to speak for some professional football chapels, especially my old hometown team, the New York Giants. Of course it's pretty funny seeing me in a room with them. It looks like the New York Giants with special guest, the New York Midget. But on several occasions I have been able to go to the game that same day with the team chaplain. In one game he leaned over to me and he said, "Now I want you to see one of the most powerful men in this stadium." There were 70,000 people there and I knew how powerful some of the men on the field are. And I wondered maybe if it was an owner or an executive. Nope! The chaplain pointed to this little man with a big bright orange glove on one hand. "Him," I said? He said, "Just watch." And after a play, that man stepped out on the field, put his orange-gloved hand on his chest and the game totally stopped. Now that is power!
Who is that man? He represents the TV producers who are broadcasting this game all over the country. And when it's time to stop everything for the next commercial, He just steps out and shows his magic glove. Nothing resumes until he puts down that glove and steps back off the field. One guy - power over lots of big people!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Disproportionate Power."
That's what you have to call that kind of match up, or the kind talked about in our word for today from the Word of God. Joshua 23:10 , exciting words - "One of you routs a thousand because the Lord your God fights for you" just as He promised.
Let's say you're a battlefield reporter. On one side you have a force of a thousand people. On the other side, one little guy. Who's going to win this? If the Lord God is fighting for that one guy, you will see the thousand running for their lives. That is disproportionate power. A biblical principal that opens up otherwise unthinkable possibilities for you, your family, for your ministry, for your church. The numbers are only slightly less lopsided when God says in Leviticus 26:8 , "Five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and your enemies will fall by the sword before you."
When we were launching much of this ministry that our team is involved with today, we looked at the incredible work God has given us and the comparatively small size of our team and we said, "How?" Then God gave us this verse. To this day it's still five chasing a hundred because of the difference that a mighty God can make when He's fully trusted. In the unforgettable words of the invincible Apostle Paul in Romans 8:31 , "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Right now you may be facing some overwhelming odds, or obstacles, or needs. They look very big and you look very small beside them. But, that's where God's miracle math comes in. You plus God equals a majority, but if you try to anticipate the outcome based on earth math, you'll probably hold back, you'll probably miss the amazing thing God wants to do. His ancient people looked at the walls and the giants in the Promised Land and they said, "We feel like grasshoppers" (Numbers 13:33 ) so they gave up. But, two spies out of all those spies, Joshua and Caleb, looked at those same walls and giants and compared them to the size of their God rather than the size of themselves, and they were ready to go for it. But because earth math and earth odds prevailed, people who could have been thriving in the Promised Land ended up just surviving in the wilderness for 40 years.
Remember this disproportionate power and you'll be more likely to make God's-will choices, the less there's going to be of you, the more there is going to be of God, and the greater the victory is going to be.