Max Lucado Daily: Just Believe
Just Believe
Posted: 21 Nov 2010 10:01 PM PST
The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.” John 6:29
“What are the things God wants us to do?” (John 6:28).... What is the work he wants us to do? Pray more? Give more? Study? Travel?...
What is the work he seeks? Just believe. Believe the One he sent.
Matthew 18
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Causing to Stumble
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
The Parable of the Wandering Sheep
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11] 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Dealing With Sin in the Church
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 8:18-30
Romans 8:18-30 (NIV)Ro 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Storm Clouds And Blue Sky
November 22, 2010 — by Anne Cetas
Our light affliction . . . is but for a moment. —2 Corinthians 4:17
I was feeling down about some circumstances the other day and wondering how I might lift my spirits. I pulled from my shelf the book Life Is Like Licking Honey Off a Thorn by Susan Lenzkes, and I read this: “We take the laughter and the tears however they come, and let our God of reality make sense of it all.”
Lenzkes says some people are optimists who “camp in pleasures and good memories,” denying the brokenness. Others are pessimists who “focus on life’s losses, losing joy and victory in the process.” But people of faith are realists who “receive it all—all the good and bad of life—and repeatedly choose to know that God really loves us and is constantly at work for our good and His glory.”
As I read, I looked outside and noticed dark clouds and a steady rain. A little later, a friendly wind came up and blew the clouds away. Suddenly the skies were bright blue. The storms of life blow in and out like that.
By faith we cling to God’s promise of Romans 8:28. And we recall that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). God loves us, and He’s getting us ready for the day when skies will be forever blue.
The purposes of God are right,
Although we may not see
Just how He works all things for good
And transforms tragedy. —Sper
God promises a safe landing— but not necessarily a calm passage.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 22th, 2010
Shallow and Profound
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31
Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher . . .” (Matthew 10:24).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Bigger God Than Ever - #6226
Monday, November 22, 2010
Don't you sometimes wish you could see the world as little kids see it at least for a little while? It's so refreshing to hear their perspectives on things, expressed simply - and usually expressed very directly. I was blessed recently by an observation made by a three-year-old granddaughter. A friend asked her, "What's your granddad up to these days?" To which she simply replied: "Oh, he's getting taller." I am? I'd like to think she's right. I think I'll go measure.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Bigger God Than Ever."
I actually wish my granddaughter was right. Unfortunately, I am, in spite of whatever she meant by that wonderful observation, just as vertically challenged as I've ever been. But her comment brought to mind a memorable conversation from C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Narnia is a magical land where the animals talk and where a majestic lion named Aslan in the ultimate king. Those stories offer some powerful analogies of our experience with Jesus, the One the Bible calls "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah."
In one story, Lucy, one of the children, has not seen Aslan for a long time. When she does, there's a very tender reunion. And Lucy asks, "Aslan, have you gotten bigger?" To which Aslan replies, "Oh, no my child, you have. And the more you grow, the bigger I will seem." That's exactly how God intends for it to be as we grow in our relationship with Him. Our God seems to get bigger and bigger as we grow. My granddaughter may think I'm getting taller. I'm not. And God, of course, doesn't get bigger, but He wants us to see more and more how big He really is. The bigger your God is the bigger things you will believe Him for; the bigger your life can be. We have, for too long, allowed our problems and our pain to loom so large that they have obscured the greatness of our God who is so much bigger than the things that are bigger than we are. They're like my thumb blocking the view of the sun; the small thing blocking my view of something massive.
In fact, God plans our life-journey in such a way that we will see more and more of what an awesome God He is. He sends or allows things in our life that cause us to need Him more than ever, so we'll reach for Him more than ever; so we'll see Him as never before. Let's look at a memorable example in Exodus 14 , beginning with verse 13. It's our word for today from the Word of God. God's people have the Red Sea in front of them and the mightiest army on earth behind them. God announces, "I will gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and all his army." Facing one of history's greatest "Mission Impossible" moments, Moses tells the people: "Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you...the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." God parted the waters, His people walked through on dry land, and waters came together then and drowned the entire Egyptian army.
And the Bible says, "Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: 'The Lord is highly exalted...the Lord is my strength and my song...the Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name...Who among the gods is like You, O Lord?...majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders." How did they discover the majesty of the God they belonged to? Through something so big, so overwhelming, that only God could do it. How will you discover what an awesome God you have? The same way.
And that may explain some of the "why" of what you're facing right now. It's God's plan to grow your view of Him through challenges that are bigger than your resources but not bigger than His. He may be putting you through something that is stretching your faith in Him far beyond anything you've ever trusted Him for, but it's all part of the plan to give you a front row seat on the greatness of your God, to blow the lid off your relationship with Him, and to teach you the unshakeable peace of being able to say, "God's God and I'm not."
You haven't even begun to see the glory and power of the God you belong to. You need some very big mountains to see what a very big God you have. So don't frustrate over the challenge you're facing. Celebrate it as your ticket to that front row seat on the glory of God. Because the more you grow, the bigger He will be.
