Max Lucado: Three Questions
I’ve got three questions for you today!
The next time you’re mired in a bad day, check your outlook with these three questions:
1) What do I feel guilty about?
2) What am I worried about?
3) What am I about?
Reflect on your answers with these reminders!
Yesterday — forgiven.
Tomorrow – surrendered.
Today — clarified.
Here’s my proposal. Consult Jesus! The Ancient of Days has something to say about our days. In Colossians 3:2, the Apostle Paul says, “Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground. Look up, and be alert to what’s going on around Christ–that’s where the action is.” In Matthew 11:30, Jesus says, “The load I give you to carry is light.”
Jesus’ design for a good day makes sense! His grace erases guilt. His oversight removes fear. His direction removes confusion.
Saturate your day in His grace. Entrust your day to His oversight. Give the day a chance!
From: Great Day Every Day
Jonah 4
Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion
4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[c] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 7:18-28
Jesus and John the Baptist
18 John's disciples told him about all these things. So he chose two of them. 19 He sent them to the Lord. They were to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who was supposed to come? Or should we look for someone else?"
20 The men came to Jesus. They said, "John the Baptist sent us to ask you, 'Are you the one who was supposed to come? Or should we look for someone else?' "
21 At that very time Jesus healed many people. They had illnesses, sicknesses and evil spirits. He also gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So Jesus replied to the messengers, "Go back to John. Tell him what you have seen and heard. Blind people receive sight. Disabled people walk. Those who have skin diseases are healed. Deaf people hear. Those who are dead are raised to life. And the good news is preached to those who are poor. 23 Blessed are those who do not give up their faith because of me."
24 So John's messengers left. Then Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John. He said, "What did you go out into the desert to see? Tall grass waving in the wind? 25 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No. Those who wear fine clothes and have many expensive things are in palaces. 26 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
27 "He is the one written about in Scripture. It says,
" 'I will send my messenger ahead of you.
He will prepare your way for you.' —(Malachi 3:1) 28 I tell you, no one more important than John has ever been born. But the least important person in God's kingdom is more important than he is."
It’s Okay To Ask
July 10, 2012 — by Randy Kilgore
have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, . . . the poor have the gospel preached to them. —Luke 7:22
It’s perfectly natural for fear and doubt to creep into our minds at times. “What if heaven isn’t real after all?” “Is Jesus the only way to God?” “Will it matter in the end how I lived my life?” Questions like these should not be given quick or trite responses.
John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest of the prophets (Luke 7:28), had questions shortly before his execution (v.19). He wanted to know for sure that Jesus was the Messiah and that his own ministry had therefore been valid.
Jesus’ response is a comforting model for us to use. Instead of discounting the doubt or criticizing John, Jesus pointed to the miracles He was doing. As eyewitnesses, John’s disciples could return with vivid assurances for their mentor. But He did more—He used words and phrases (v.22) drawn from Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming Messiah (Isa. 35:4-6; 61:1), which were certain to be familiar to John.
Then, turning to the crowd, Jesus praised John (Luke 7:24-28), removing any doubt that He was offended by John’s need for reassurance after all he had seen (Matt. 3:13-17).
Questioning and doubting, both understandable human responses, are opportunities to remind, reassure, and comfort those who are shaken by uncertainty.
When my poor soul in doubt is cast
And darkness hides the Savior’s face,
His love and truth still hold me fast
For He will keep me by His grace. —D. De Haan
Reassurance comes as we doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 10, 2012
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . . —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “. . . to stir you up by reminding you . . .” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren . . .” (Matthew 28:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Braving the Cold, Building a Fire - #6652
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Winter came early to the mountains where we were spending our summer vacation. Of course, that's to be expected if we're on vacation; in the summer, it's probably going to get to be winter. But one night the temperature actually dropped into the 30s and no one was prepared for that. We're in this little cabin, and all of us... suddenly we are snuggling under this warm, Hudson Bay blanket. Therefore, we actually didn't have any awareness of how cold it was outside, because, well, we were warm.
Well, I ventured out of bed first that morning, and I very quickly discovered that we were in a very cold situation. So I wrapped up in everything I could find and I knew what I had to do. I had to get to the only source of heat in that cabin, which was the wood stove, and I had to get a fire going as fast as possible - pioneer Ron. You know if you're warm where you are, it is pretty easy to forget how cold it is all around you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Braving the Cold, Building a Fire."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about braving the cold and building a fire I guess you could say. It's in Romans 15. I'm going to read verses 20 and 21, where Paul talks about the driving ambition of his life. Here's what he says, "It has always been my ambition..." What's that, Paul? "...to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written, those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."
Now, I like that word ambition. I don't know what you think of when you think of ambition, but don't you usually think of somebody driving and pushing for something that they're determined is going to happen in their life; sort of a consuming, obsessing goal?
Paul says here that this magnificent obsession for him is to get to a world out there who has no knowledge about our Jesus. In essence, Paul is saying, "I want to go out into the cold; there's a big, cold world out there, and I want to go out and build a fire where there is no warmth. I can't just keep staying where it's warm." I hope you feel that way; I hope it's a driving ambition of your life, because I know it's how God feels. I know it's what drove Jesus. He said He was here to seek and save the lost.See, we Western Christians live under a pretty warm blanket spiritually, don't we? We're warmed by lots of Bible studies and seminars, concerts, Christian radio, Christian books, our favorite teachers, our heroes. But outside our little blanket, it's a very cold world.
Martin Marty, the church historian was quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal as saying, "If you're part of the evangelical subculture, it's your whole life. You go to church, you buy the religious books, you watch the television programs. But if you're not part of the subculture, you never even know it exists." Yeah, there's a cold world out there where families are collapsing, sex and love are totally devalued, relationships are disappointing, broken. There's an epidemic of loneliness. There's no meaning to stick around for. There is a quiet desperation.
It's time for us to get out from under our blanket and start a fire. You can't be content or comfortable any longer. Let's pray, "Lord, I want to lift up my eyes to the lost people around me. I want to live my life to reach them; to rescue them for You. I want to urge my church to see that it exists for those who aren't in the church yet; not just for those who already are."
Let's actually ask God to break our heart with the things that break His. Take some risks to reach your neighbor, to give, to reach out to other people, to see your time, your money, your influence, your building, and your talent as a resource to take Christ's warmth into a cold, cold world. We've got to get out there and build a fire.
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