Max Lucado Daily: Everyday Blessings
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27
Ever have one of those days when you realize you’re off track?
In one of my not so bright moments, I entered a 1.2 mile ocean swim. Some were hoping to win a medal. I was hoping to finish before dinner!
I’d practiced in the swimming pool. But in a wind-chopped ocean? No problem, just swim from buoy to buoy. In my case, that became, boy oh boy!
Half a dozen swimmers swam by me. So I joined up. How much easier it became. My hand slapped the rescue canoe along with the others.
“Where you folks headed?” asked the guy in the canoe.
I looked around—we were at least a quarter mile off track! So many swimmers couldn’t be wrong, could we?
Jesus, enjoying a clear view of the shoreline says—“Need help getting back on course?”
Wise are the ones who nod and swim in the direction He points!
John 14
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Love the LORD Your God
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Side By Side
February 17, 2012 — by Randy Kilgore
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. —Deuteronomy 6:7
In my family scrapbook is a picture of my daughter at age 4 working next to me, using a toy hammer to repair the siding on the house. Side by side we worked that day; she imitated my every action, absolutely convinced that she too was fixing the house. Rarely have I enjoyed a chore more. In the picture, it’s obvious that she’s enjoying it too.
That photo reminds me that our children mimic most of what they see in us—words and deeds. They also form their images of God from the images they have of us as parents. If we’re stern and unmerciful, they’re likely to see God that way too. If we’re distant and cold, so God will seem to them as well. It is one of our most important duties as parents to help our children see God clearly, especially the unconditional nature of His love.
I can imagine the family scrapbook of my relationship with God having a similar picture. I’m learning from Him how to live life, how to love, and how to make it a permanent part of my being. He then teaches me how to teach others (Deut. 6:1-7).
May the Lord grant us an understanding of Him and the wisdom to pass it on.
We must teach our children clearly
What is right and what is wrong;
Live before them an example—
Godly, righteous, pure, and strong. —Fitzhugh
To teach your children well, let God teach you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 17, 2012
Taking the Initiative Against Depression
Arise and eat—1 Kings 19:5
The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive—only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.
When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Downhill Thrill and the Uphill Bill - #6550
Friday, February 17, 2012
On a family vacation, we had some time to do some extra biking. There was a lake nearby, and it was fun to go around the lake... well, sort of fun. See, there were these long, downhill stretches, "Oh man, just flying down that hill! And it was terrific! Then guess what came right after that. Yeah, the uphill climb, and that was grueling, and sometimes pretty painful. And guess which lasted longer...the downhill thrill or the pain of going uphill?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Downhill Thrill and the Uphill Bill."
It was my son who reminded me as we collapsed at the top of a particularly grueling hill that we had just biked. He said, "Dad, you know, this is a lot like sin." Okay. You know, he's right. He said, "We had a great time sailing down the hill, but the great feeling didn't last long. It felt like it took most of the afternoon to get up those hills."
Well, King David is going to be called right now as a witness in the case of the Downhill Thrill and the Uphill Bill. Oh, he spent his adulterous night with Bathsheba, and it was probably pleasurable. The Bible talks about the pleasures of sin, except it tacks on three words. It says, "...for a season." That's the downhill thrill. Then comes the uphill bill that you pay for that short-lived thrill.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 51:3, King David steps forth after that sin and he says, "I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." Now, the pleasure wasn't always before him. But his sin, his guilt, the consequences, oh they never went away: memories, consequences, and hurting relationships. You might say, "Was it worth it, David - the downhill thrill?" And he'd say, "No way. There's way too much pain for that short-lived pleasure. You pay a lot longer than you play."
It could be right now that you're experiencing the downhill thrill of sin. Oh, feels good; seems like nothing's wrong. Maybe it's a sexual sin, or maybe it's a short-lived satisfaction of getting even with someone, or maybe you've got a good situation that you've come through with a little dishonesty. Maybe you're violating God's boundaries with your body, or you're partying with some friends.
Let me warn you, the uphill grind is coming. In fact the Bible guarantees that "whatever you sow, you will reap." And the harvest will last a whole lot longer than the sowing ever did. You can't stop this! It's a law of the universe: if you sow to your evil nature, the Bible says, you will reap destruction. It is inevitable; it happens every time.
Oh, you have the good feeling right now that sin gives, maybe you don't have the consequences yet, and it's easy just to go with what you can see now. But the thrill is not worth the price tag. This moment won't last. The loss, oh it will last. The pain, the consequences? Just ask King David. They last a lifetime.
There's some good news, though. Because for all of us who have violated God's laws and lived outside of His boundaries in one way or another, we have found that there is a Savior who will forgive and erase every one of those from God's Book and begin to heal the hurt and the damage that sin has done. Only Jesus can do that, because only He paid the price to do it. I mean a price of blood shed on a cross for all of us sinners...for you. And it may be that today, knowing very well what dirty feels like inside, you can feel clean for the first time in your life. All the consequences, all the pain of our sin is a reminder that there is an awful punishment for sin coming, and God doesn't want you to pay that price; His Son already did.
Today, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You're my rescuer!" Go to our website; get more information about this. YoursForLife.Net.
You can take it from an old tired biker, that uphill grind will cancel out any downhill thrill.
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