Max Lucado Daily: Be Like Jesus
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5, NKJV
What does it mean to be just like Jesus? The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. His spiritual hearing was so keen He never missed a heavenly whisper. His mercy so abundant He never missed a chance to forgive. No lie left His lips, no distraction marred His vision. He touched when others recoiled. He endured when others quit. Jesus is the ultimate model for every person.
1 Samuel 19
Saul Tries to Kill David
1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. 5 He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.
9 But an evil[a] spirit from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?”
Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?’”
18 When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19 Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”; 20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.
23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 103:1-14
Of David.
1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
The Joy Of Remembering
October 10, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. —Psalm 103:2
A long-time friend described the days surrounding his 90th birthday as “a time . . . to do a little reflecting, looking in the rearview mirror of my life, and spending many hours in what I call ‘The Grace of Remembrance.’ It’s so easy to forget all the ways that the Lord has led! ‘Forget not all His benefits’” (Ps. 103:2).
This was typical of the person I’ve known and admired for more than 50 years. Rather than reviewing disappointments, his letter was filled with thankfulness and praise to God.
First, he recalled the Lord’s temporal mercies—his good health, the enjoyment of his wife and children, the joy and success of work, his enriching friendships, and the opportunities he’d had to serve God. He considered them all gifts—none deserved, but all gratefully received.
Next, he reviewed God’s spiritual mercies—the influence of Christian parents and the experience of God’s forgiveness when he accepted Christ as a teenager. He concluded with the encouragement he’d received from churches, schools, and Christian men who cared and prayed for each other.
It’s a model we should follow on a regular basis—the joy of remembering. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” (v.1).
He knoweth best! His will for me
Is better than my plans.
Do not all good and perfect gifts
Come from my Father’s hand? —Doonan
Give loving thanks for the Lord’s lavish gifts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 10th, 2011
How Will I Know?
Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25
We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,” we are cleansed “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.
All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the “wise and prudent.” “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Twister Love - #6456
Monday, October 10, 2011
Man, this last spring was an awful spring for tornadoes, record-setting in many cases. I mean, again and again, our news coverage was filled with those all-too-familiar images of a city or a neighborhood leveled and the death toll rising. One of them hit pretty close to home in Joplin, Missouri.
The image that they keep showing over and over came from a cell phone video that was shot in a convenience store there, literally as the tornado was tearing that store apart. Now, miraculously, everyone survived. But they sure didn't think they would.
Now, as you look at this video, most of it is pitch blackness. You just see an occasional flash of something flying by. But it's the audio that's haunting. Because as the tornado rips that place apart, you hear the screams, you hear the outcries, the terror, and a lady's voice repeatedly saying, "Jesus." And then another voice going, "I love you."
That's the part that stuck out to me. Somewhere in the middle of that mayhem, in the middle of that brush with death, here's a man's voice calling out, "I love you." That got to me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Twister Love."
It's a reminder that today is the only day that we're sure we have to say those words. Our word for today from the Word of God is in Proverbs 27:1, and it warns us, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Boy, is that the truth! How many times have we found that we thought we knew what was going to happen in a day, and something life-changing, game-changing hit us? You just can't count on tomorrow. There's that call from the scene of an accident, an embolism, a knock at the door, a sudden storm. Now, this isn't morbid, it's motivating to remember that every person we love is just one heartbeat away from eternity. That's not to live in fear, it's so we can live without regrets.
The Bible says, "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Smart people make every day count. If you appreciate someone, say it now. If you love someone, tell them now. If things are broken, fix them now. If there have been harsh words, apologize now. If there's anger in your heart, get rid of it now.
Write that letter. Make that call. Go see that person. Give that gift. Say that thank you. Grab that time together. Show them you love them now.
In those desperate, tornado-surrounded voices, there was a reminder, too, that we need to call out to Jesus while there's still time, because God has promised that "whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13). And that means saved from the penalty; the eternal penalty for hijacking our lives from Him. Jesus was doing something incredible in that most awesome act of love in all of human history when He bled and died, and allowed Himself--offered Himself--to be butchered on a cross; to be the One to be separated from God so you and I don't have to be. So we can be ready to live, and ready to die, and guaranteed of an eternity in heaven. And the Bible says this about the rescue that Jesus makes possible, "Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
This is all we know we've got. And if you've known about Jesus; if you've heard about Jesus but you've never given yourself to Jesus, you're not sure there's been a time when you've said, "Jesus, I'm grabbing you like you're my only hope" like a drowning person would grab a rescuer, do it now. You don't know if you'll have another chance. "Seek the Lord while He may be found" (Isaiah 55:6). Let this be the day you know you are ready for eternity.
I hope you'll go to our website, because there's information there that I've put there. You can watch it, you can read it, you can listen to it; any form you want, and hear there exactly how to begin your personal relationship with Christ.
I remember what one man said after a deadly tornado in Oklahoma, "It made us remember that we all have an expiration date, and we don't know when it is." Uh-huh. And now is all we know for sure.
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