Max Lucado Daily: Blessed are the Merciful
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7, NIV
The merciful, says Jesus, are shown mercy. They witness grace. They are blessed because they are testimonies to a greater goodness. Forgiving others allows us to see how God has forgiven us. The dynamic of giving grace is the key to understanding grace, for it is when we forgive others that we begin to feel what God feels.
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[a]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[b] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[c]
But we have the mind of Christ.
The Forgotten God
October 11, 2011 — by Marvin Williams
No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. —1 Corinthians 2:11
When we quote The Apostles’ Creed, we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Author J. B. Phillips said, “Every time we say [this] we mean that we believe that [the Spirit] is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.”
Sometimes we forget that the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force. The Bible describes Him as God. He possesses the attributes of God: He is present everywhere (Ps. 139:7-8), He knows all things (1 Cor. 2:10-11), and He has infinite power (Luke 1:35). He also does things that only God can do: create (Gen. 1:2) and give life (Rom. 8:2). He is equal in every way with the other Persons of the Trinity—the Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit is a Person who engages in personal ways with us. He grieves when we sin (Eph. 4:30). He teaches us (1 Cor. 2:13), prays for us (Rom. 8:26), guides us (John 16:13), gives us spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:11), and assures us of salvation (Rom. 8:16).
The Holy Spirit indwells us if we have received forgiveness of sin through Jesus. He desires to transform us so that we become more and more like Jesus. Let’s cooperate with the Spirit by reading God’s Word and relying on His power to obey what we learn.
God’s guidance and help that we need day to day
Is given to all who believe;
The Spirit has sealed us—He’s God’s guarantee
Of power that we can receive. —Branon
The Christian who neglects the Holy Spirit
is like a lamp that’s not plugged in.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 11th, 2011
God’s Silence— Then What?
When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6
Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Most Special People On Earth - #6457
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Special people tend to get special treatment. Did you ever notice that? For example, look at what we serve for dinner when the boss is coming over or some out of town friends. It's kind of interesting when special people come and your kids look at you and say, "Mommy, I like it when guests come." And then you find out the reason why. "We never have this when they're not here." They finally get something other than hotdogs and hamburgers. It's amazing when somebody special is coming. We clean house, we cook new things, we put on our best manners. The problem is we often forget who the most special people on earth are--well according to Jesus, that is. And how you treat them is a revealing measure of how much you think like your master.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Special People On Earth."
Have you guessed who they are? Here we go. Our word for today from the Word of God about special people is found in Matthew 18. In fact, the first several verses of that chapter describe Jesus' value system. For example, He says, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." I like the way He went about this. He took a little child; put him in the middle of all these big disciples. Can't you imagine this little boy or girl looking up with wide eyes at this whole circle of disciples and feeling like, "I'm so little. Look at all these important people!" And Jesus puts this little child in the center and says, "You gotta be like him to get into My kingdom."
Then He says, "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven," and then listen to this, "and whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me." Wow! Do you know who it appears are the most special people on earth to Jesus? The children.
When Jesus was with the important people from Jerusalem, the Pharisees--the leaders, you remember the little kids wanted to see Him, and the disciples who were running the nursery said, "Uh, well, He's really busy with the important people." Remember what Jesus said? It says He was really displeased with the disciples, and He said, "Let the little children come to Me, because of such is the kingdom of heaven."
You know the test of how much you think like your Master, at least one good test, is how you treat children. Yeah, Jesus said how you treat them is how you treat Him. It's interesting because children have no votes, they have very little power, they have very little influence, they have no money to give you; there's really not much in it for you. That's why it's such a good test of your priorities. See, what good do they do you when you want to impress people? They don't help you get ahead, and yet because of that they are a test of the loving, gracious, giving, unselfish nature of your heart.
Do you have time to stop for a child? Do you do it very often? Do you have time to listen to his trivial little conversation which isn't trivial to him? Do you have time to hug him, to compliment him, to make him feel special, to get down on their level and talk to them on their level? Oh, you can always spot the people who have been around Jesus a lot because they have time for children.
See, children do have something to give us actually. They teach us something about openness, simplicity, humility, and faith. They help us unmask and they are soft cement that can still be written on. They're so important! They're a life to be shaped. Take stock of who gets your best attention and remember that Jesus thinks the children are some of the most special people on earth.