Max Lucado Daily: Pray!
Anyone who is having troubles
should pray. Anyone who is happy
should sing praises.
James 5:13
When a believing person prays—great things happen.
If you want to deepen your prayer life—pray. Don’t prepare to pray. Just pray. Don’t read about prayer. Just pray. Don’t attend a lecture on prayer or engage in discussion about prayer. Just pray.
James 5:13 says anyone who’s having troubles should pray. Anyone who’s happy should sing praises.
Posture, tone, and place are personal matters. Do what works for you. Just don’t overthink it. In other words, don’t be so concerned about wrapping the gift that you never give it. Better to pray awkwardly than not at all.
And if you feel you should only pray when you’re inspired, that’s okay. Just see to it that you are inspired every day.
2 Samuel 2
David Anointed King Over Judah
1 In the course of time, David inquired of the LORD. “Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” he asked.
The LORD said, “Go up.”
David asked, “Where shall I go?”
“To Hebron,” the LORD answered.
2 So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 3 David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns. 4 Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah.
When David was told that it was the men from Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul, 5 he sent messengers to them to say to them, “The LORD bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. 6 May the LORD now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this. 7 Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me king over them.”
War Between the Houses of David and Saul
8 Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. 9 He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.
10 Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David. 11 The length of time David was king in Hebron over Judah was seven years and six months.
12 Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.
14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.”
“All right, let them do it,” Joab said.
15 So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. 16 Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.[c]
17 The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David’s men.
18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle. 19 He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him. 20 Abner looked behind him and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?”
“It is,” he answered.
21 Then Abner said to him, “Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
22 Again Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me! Why should I strike you down? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?”
23 But Asahel refused to give up the pursuit; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon. 25 Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.
26 Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?”
27 Joab answered, “As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued pursuing them until morning.”
28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight anymore.
29 All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, continued through the morning hours[d] and came to Mahanaim.
30 Then Joab stopped pursuing Abner and assembled the whole army. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were found missing. 31 But David’s men had killed three hundred and sixty Benjamites who were with Abner. 32 They took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron by daybreak.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 3:22-36
John Testifies Again About Jesus
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”[a]
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[b] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
It’s All About Him
November 10, 2011 — by Anne Cetas
He must increase, but I must decrease. —John 3:30
When Sheri got engaged, her single friend Amy celebrated with her. She planned a bridal shower, helped pick out her wedding dress, walked down the aisle just before her, and stood by her side during the ceremony. When Sheri and her husband had children, Amy gave baby showers and rejoiced in her friend’s blessings.
Sheri told Amy later, “You’ve comforted me during hard times, but the way I especially know you love me is that you rejoice with me in my good times. You haven’t let any jealousy hold you back from celebrating with me.”
When John’s disciples heard that a new rabbi named Jesus was gaining followers, they thought John might be jealous (John 3:26). They came to him and said, “He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” But John celebrated Jesus’ ministry. He said, “I have been sent before Him. . . . The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled” (vv.28-29).
An attitude of humility should also characterize us. Rather than desiring attention for ourselves, everything we do should bring glory to our Savior. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (v.30).
Not I but Christ be honored, loved, exalted;
Not I but Christ be seen, be known, be heard;
Not I but Christ in every look and action;
Not I but Christ in every thought and word. —Whiddington
If we want an increase of Christ, there must be a decrease of self.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Fellowship in the Gospel
. . . fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ . . . —1 Thessalonians 3:2
After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world. Your understanding of your ways must also be surrendered, because they are now the ways of the Lord.
I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Who Stole the Cross? - #6479
Thursday, November #10, 2011
Somebody stole the cross! Go figure.
Well, I mean that was a news story that got my attention a while back. The missing cross was a six-foot-tall metal structure that was embedded in rock and concrete, and it was perched high up on Sunrise Rock in the Mojave Desert. Veterans actually placed it there to honor those who've died fighting for their country. And wow! It's been there for 75 years--no problem; suddenly--problem. People who didn't want it there argued against it all the way to the Supreme Court. And for the time being, the Justices said that it could stay. But then somebody just went up there and stole the cross. It's crazy.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Who Stole the Cross."
As soon as I heard the story, something much more troubling hit me. The cross has gone missing a lot of places these days; places that matter a lot more to God than some mountainside in the desert. I've listened to lots of sermons and Christian radio programs, and sometimes I've heard little or nothing about Jesus' cross. I've heard lots of Christian talk about how to have a great marriage, or how to raise your kids, how to manage your money, how to have a good self-image, but somehow they never got to the cross.
I've heard some great Bible teaching that was deep and powerful, but the cross was on the margins or not even on the page. We'll talk a lot about important things like justice for the oppressed, compassion for the poor, and help for families, and God cares about all of them. But we never get to God's game-changer for a sin-broken planet, and that's the cross of Christ.
Sadly, I think of lost people I've known for a long time and talked to about a lot of things, but somehow I've never told them about the cross where Jesus died for them. I suspect I'm not alone. Too often, Christians talk a lot about their church or their faith, but not much about their Savior. Oh, yeah, somebody stole the cross...from our conversations, from our ministries, maybe even from the center of our hearts.
Oh, I know who took it. The one Jesus called "...the thief who comes only to steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10). The devil hates the cross because as the Bible says, "having disarmed the powers and authorities, (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15).
You know, Satan's death warrant is signed in the blood of Jesus. He knows the power of that cross. The oft-quoted Charles Spurgeon called the cross God's "magnificent magnet." And in our word for today from the Word of God in John 12:32, Jesus said this about His cross: "When I am lifted up...I will draw all men to Myself." No wonder Satan says, "Hey, go ahead. Talk about everything you want. Just don't mention that cross." Talk about your church. Talk about your faith. Talk about your family values. Don't mention the cross! The enemy of our souls knows its power and does whatever it takes to erase the cross from our view.
Now, veterans are outraged that the cross was stolen from that hill. We should be outraged! We've allowed Jesus' cross to be stolen from the center of our hearts, and our ministries, and our conversations. "The message of the cross," 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "is...the power of God." I need to be as passionate about elevating that cross as the world and the devil are about eliminating it.
I have the unspeakable privilege of taking a lost friend by the hand and walking with them up a hill the Bible calls Skull Hill, and standing there at the foot of an old rugged cross, and sharing with them the greatest love in the universe. "What He did here, my friend, was for you." Without that cross, there is no hope...no heaven.
