Max Lucado Daily: He Is Our Peace
He Is Our Peace
“He himself is our peace . . . and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians 2:14, NIV
We are guilty and He is innocent.
We are filthy and He is pure.
We are wrong and He is right.
He is not on that cross for His sins. He is there for ours.
Leviticus 24
Olive Oil and Bread Set Before the LORD
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. 3 Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 4 The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD must be tended continually.
5 “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah[f] for each loaf. 6 Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. 7 By each stack put some pure incense as a memorial[g] portion to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the LORD. 8 This bread is to be set out before the LORD regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is a most holy part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the LORD.”
A Blasphemer Put to Death
10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) 12 They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.
13 Then the LORD said to Moses: 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. 15 Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; 16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.
17 “‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. 22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.’”
23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Samuel 12:19-25
19 The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own. 23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. 24 But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25 Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
Serve Him Today
March 30, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. —1 Samuel 12:20
Most of us have wanted something so badly that even though we knew it was wrong, we plunged after it anyway. Later we have felt sorrow for our spiritual stubbornness and stupidity. In the aftermath of willfully disobeying God, we may become angry with ourselves, numbed by regret, or resigned to the consequences of our foolish mistake. But there is another choice.
When the people of Israel insisted on having a king despite the warnings of Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. 8:4-9), God allowed them to have their way. But when they realized the tragic results of their choice, they asked for Samuel’s help and prayers (12:19). Samuel told the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart” (12:20).
We can’t undo yesterday, but we can act today to influence tomorrow. Samuel promised to pray for them and teach them the right way. He urged them, “Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you” (v.24).
God invites us to serve Him today, humbly acknowledging His forgiveness and His faithfulness.
Sins confessed you must forget;
Look not back to yesterday—
Full of failure and regret;
Look ahead and seek God’s way. —D. De Haan
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 30th, 2011
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He . . . wondered that there was no intercessor . . . —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work-work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Losing Over Turf - #6318
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Every once in a while another turf fight breaks out in places like New York City, and it's not between rival youth gangs. It can be between, well say, the police department and the fire department. They'll clash over whose job is whose.
A while back there was a commuter helicopter that crashed in the East River. I've never forgotten this incident, it was haunting. The passengers were trapped in that helicopter under water. And here's what the news reported, "Some police divers arrived on the scene first, and they went right to work. Minutes later, nine divers arrived from the fire department all suited up ready to go, and the police supervisor said, 'We got it covered. It's our territory; don't worry about it.'" You know, five passengers were rescued that day, but one man died. He was strapped in under water for an hour and a half while nine possible rescuers stood on the dock and watched, apparently because of a turf battle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Losing Over Turf."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul says, "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no division among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul.' Another, 'I follow Apollos.' Another, 'I follow Cephas.' Still another, 'I follow Christ.'"
Sound like turf? The church was divided into turf and well, I'm afraid nothing has changed. Today our turf is denomination, or our organization, or my church. "We're charismatic." "We're not. We're against that." Or even a personal empire that someone is building in Jesus' name. Or, "Who will get the credit?" "Is my name next to that in the bulletin?" "Are you going to announce who did this?"
Paul brings them back to the real issue in verses 17 and 18, "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. Not with words of human wisdom, less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God." Paul says, "Guys, people are dying because they don't understand what happened on the cross. How can you waste time arguing among yourselves?"
A man died there in New York in the East River while the rescuers argued over territory. But don't we do that? We're so concerned about losing our members, or our contributions, or our credit. And all that really matters is that we're losing the people around us to a Christ-less eternity. The two factors that really matter are number one, the lostness of our neighbors, and number two, the message of the cross. Those two essentials are bigger than any of our differences, or any of our labels, or any of our empires or egos.
Maybe you and I have cared too much about our group, or our glory. And while we're building our little kingdoms and our walls, people are dying. We need to get together to make a greater difference. Are we standing on the dock arguing? Or are we all in the river together, rescuing every person we can find? Time's running out!
Turf is for now; lost is forever. Dear Lord, may we never let the people around us be lost over turf.