Max Lucado Daily: Rely on Him
“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.
1 Samuel 11
Saul Rescues the City of Jabesh
1 Nahash[b] the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”
2 But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”
3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”
4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. 5 Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.
6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. 7 He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out together as one. 8 When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and those of Judah thirty thousand.
9 They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be rescued.’” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated. 10 They said to the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever you like.”
11 The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
Saul Confirmed as King
12 The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Turn these men over to us so that we may put them to death.”
13 But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this day the LORD has rescued Israel.”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 11:33–12:2
Doxology
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[a] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”[b]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”[c]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 12
A Living Sacrifice
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Not At This Time
September 28, 2011 — by Anne Cetas
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. —Romans 12:2
It can be quite discouraging for wanna-be writers to get their work rejected time after time. When they send in a manuscript to a publisher, they’ll often hear back in a letter with these words: “Thank you. But your submission does not meet our needs at this time.” Sometimes this really means “not at this time—or ever.” So they try the next publisher and the next.
I’ve found that the phrase This does not meet our needs at this time—or ever can be a helpful saying in my Christian walk to renew my mind and refocus my thoughts on the Lord.
Here’s what I mean. When starting to worry, we can remind ourselves: “Worry does not meet my needs at this time—or ever. My heart’s need is to trust God. I will ‘be anxious for nothing’ ” (Phil. 4:6).
When we envy what another person has or does, we can reinforce the truth: “Envy does not meet my needs at this time—or ever. My need is to give thanks to God. His Word says, ‘Envy is rottenness to the bones’ (Prov. 14:30), and ‘In everything give thanks’ ” (1 Thess. 5:18).
We can’t renew our minds by ourselves (Rom. 12:2); it’s the transforming work of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Yet speaking the truth in our thoughts can help us to submit to the Spirit’s work within.
For Further Thought
What are some areas you struggle with in your heart?
Ask God to renew your mind that it might think like His.
Then keep reminding yourself of the truth.
The Spirit of God renews our minds
when we review the Word of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 28th, 2011
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
Follow That Voice - #6448
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Now, I've spent a fair amount of my life on airplanes, and so the thought of a fire on a plane is pretty unsettling. So I wasn't too excited about what I heard happened on an Air Canada flight several years ago. The fire actually started in the lavatory and the fire wasn't so big, but the smoke started to billow through the plane and it very quickly reached the cockpit. You can imagine how fearful that was going to be.
Well, it reached the point where the pilot was literally blinded by the smoke; he couldn't see outside of the plane, he couldn't see the instrument panel, and he literally didn't know where he was going to land; he didn't know how he was going to get down. And suddenly in the middle of all that chaos, there comes this calm, measured voice into the cockpit, "Just do what I say, and I'll bring you in." Well, of course, it was that flight controller in the tower at the nearby airport. And he literally talked the pilot in and miraculously after all that, there was a safe landing.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Follow That Voice."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 4:42-44 - "At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place." This, by the way, comes after a day filled with healing people and casting out demons. It says, "The people were looking for Him. And when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them."
"But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea." Well, here is Jesus surrounded by voices, needy voices...people saying, "Jesus, stay here. Wait! We need you over here." And they're vying for His time; they're vying for His attention. And every one of them was asking Him to do a good thing. Does that sound familiar at all--people vying for your attention, for your time? And all your choices are basically good ones.
Well, you notice that Jesus has a very clear "I must. No, I know what I must do. I must preach the good news in the other towns." And this "I must" helps Him stay on course as He's making His daily choices. Now, your life is the sum of hundreds of little choices you make each day isn't it? If you're like me, you have a lot of needs, a lot of possibilities tugging at you daily. And they're mostly good choices, but God has put you on earth for some special missions and you have to be true to those no matter how noble the detours are that are pulling on you.
Now, often we end up running around all stressed out, trying to satisfy everybody. And we often end up satisfying no one. And we lead these fragmented, frustrated lives, because well, we forget our "musts." Those have to come from God. If you ask Him, God will lay on your heart your assignments. He is the calm voice from the tower. He will lay on your heart your mission, your reason for being here. Some of those are going to be needs that only you can meet. There are some things only you could be for your family; that only you could be for lost friends that you're close to. You're the best one to help them get to heaven.
"I must," Jesus said, "That is why I was sent. I know what I have to do, and this doesn't fit even though it's really noble and really good." Now, how do you keep your course in a world that's full of "musts?" It says, "Jesus went to a solitary place at daybreak." And we know that there's where He got in touch with His Father. He got in touch with the tower to sort out His priorities for the day. That's where you have to go daily. You have to go there early, and you have to go there alone and let God lay on your heart His "musts."
You'll always land where you're supposed to if you begin with the voice in the control tower. So let God guide your course. Listen for your Father's instructions, and then follow that voice.