Max Lucado Daily: The Choice is Yours
Then they [those who rejected God] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Matthew 25:46 NIV
It would be nice if God let us order life like we order a meal.
“I’ll take good health and a high IQ, please!”
Would’ve been nice. But it didn’t happen. When it came to your life on earth, you weren’t given a voice or a vote. But when it comes to life after death, you were!
Have you been given any greater privilege than that of choice? You’ve made some bad choices in life, haven’t you? You’ve chosen the wrong friends, maybe the wrong career, even the wrong spouse. You say, “If only… if only I could make up for those bad choices.”
You can! One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth
The choice is yours!
Psalm 16
A miktam[a] of David.
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 33:10-15
10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the LORD looks down
and sees all mankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches
all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.
Bless The Interruptions
January 9, 2012 — by Joe Stowell
The Lord . . . makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. —Psalm 33:10-11
If your life is anything like mine, it’s pretty well planned out. I have a calendar that reminds me of appointments, meetings, and other “to-do” items. Inevitably, interruptions change my day dramatically; and while they can be frustrating, they also can be productive.
Some of the great advances in God’s plans have come through “interruptions” to the normal routine. Take Mary, for example. An angel interrupted her life with the announcement that she would have a son named Jesus. Since she was a virgin and engaged to be married, this news was undoubtedly shocking and deeply troubling (Luke 1:26-31). And Saul, the Jewish zealot who persecuted early Christians, was on his way to Damascus to arrest more followers of “the Way” when he was blinded by Jesus Himself (Acts 9:1-9). This life-changing interruption had huge implications for the future of Christianity.
The psalmist reminds us that the Lord can make “the plans of the peoples of no effect” (Ps. 33:10). Yet all too often we respond to the interruptions of our well-ordered lives with attitudes like frustration, irritation, fear, and doubt. God’s surprises in our day are full of opportunities. Let’s welcome them as a new “to-do list” from Him.
Lord, if I’m feeling rushed today,
I need Your eyes to help me see
That when an interruption comes,
It is an opportunity. —Sper
Look for God’s purpose in your next interruption.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 09, 2012
Prayerful Inner-Searching
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight.
We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Effect Your Name Has - #6521
Monday, January 9, 2012
If you really want to impress somebody, remember their name after you meet them. It's important, you know, to concentrate on somebody's name and then try to repeat it several times in the conversation, "Yes, George. It's nice to meet you, George, and say hi to your family, George." Because, see, there's nothing someone would rather hear than their own name. And they'll just think you're something really special if you can remember that name, because names are really important to people.
In fact, names are so important in our society that they're protected by slander and liable laws. If someone publicly damages your name, and it's something that isn't true and that they can't really defend, well that could be worth millions of dollars in a lawsuit. Your name is really important!
Now, here's something to think about: what kind of reaction does your name bring when it's brought up in a group of people? Maybe a group of people who know who you are, maybe a little, maybe a lot, but you're not in the room when your name comes up. What's the reaction? See, I'm sure that it makes people feel some way!
Maybe there's laughter when they think of your name, or maybe there's respect. Maybe there's like a shrug of the shoulders, "I don't know." Maybe it creates suspicion when they hear you're involved, or maybe there's tension, or maybe there's peace, confidence. Your name gets a reaction.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Effect Your Name Has."
Our word for today from the Word of God is about your name. Proverbs 22:1 says this: "A good name is more desirable than great riches. To be esteemed is better than silver or gold." When the Bible talks about your name, it's really talking about your reputation. What kind of reaction does your name or your reputation bring?
Interesting thing about reputation, a good one takes a long time to get and a very short time to lose. And as you know, a bad reputation is very easy to get, and then later on it can be very hard to lose. In fact, I've known people with a wonderful reputation - years that it took to build - and in a night, or a day, in one incident a reputation is lost. It's worth much sacrifice; it's worth a lot of self-denial; a lot of self-discipline to protect your good name. It's the most valuable thing you have. That's why our society protects it with laws.
I think a good name, like the Bible talks about here, belongs to people that you can always expect certain things from. See how you measure up with this check list. First of all, you can always expect excellence in what they do. You don't have to wonder if it's going to be shoddy work or if they're going to give it a half-hearted effort. Excellence - they're committed to doing it in the big things and the little things. That's a good name.
Secondly, people with a good name cause people to expect consistency from them; they're faithful, they deliver. You know they'll be there, they'll have the same kind of quality, the same kind of commitment whether things are going bad, or whether they're going well, or whether things are hard or easy, or whether there's money or not; there's going to be consistency. That's a good name.
Thirdly, they're known for their judgment. They don't just jump into things; they're not impulsive, they're not glandular people, they ponder, they consider, they get the facts and they make responsible decisions that stand the test of time, not that just look good for a day, a week, or a month. And then a good name, well, I think it belongs to people who are known for the truth, for integrity. You can always believe, you can always trust what they're saying; you don't have to divide it by two and try to get the truth or wonder if it's really the facts. You can trust their word.
Your good name? Man, it's worth everything. Don't compromise it. Don't put a mark on anyone else's name either, because according to the Bible, if you've got a good name, you're a moral millionaire.