Max Lucado Daily: Give the Day a Shot
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Psalm 84:5
“This is the day the Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!”
This one, Lord? This surgery day? This exam day? This sending my firstborn off to college day?
That last one took the starch out of my shirt! We packed Jenna’s stuff, loaded up the car, and left life as we’d known it for eighteen years.
The day was necessary. The day was planned. But the day undid me! I was a mess.
But God made this day. So I decided to give the day a chance, change my view and imitate the Psalmist, “I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
Give the day a shot. An audition. A swing at the plate.
An hour is too short, a year too long. Days are the bite-sized portions of life, the God-designed segments of life management.
A day changer! Choose to make it a great day—every day!
Psalm 53[a]
For the director of music. According to mahalath.[b] A maskil[c] of David.
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on God.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.
6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 1:12-18
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Consider The Source
February 6, 2012 — by Bill Crowder
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights. —James 1:17
I love cinnamon. I love cinnamon rolls, cinnamon graham crackers, cinnamon candies, cinnamon toast, cinnamon apples, and cinnamon pretzels. Cinnamon is one of those spices that makes other things taste better. However, it never crossed my mind to think about where cinnamon comes from. Then, on a recent trip to Sri Lanka, I learned that 90 percent of all the cinnamon in the world comes from that island nation located in the Indian Ocean. For all of the cinnamon I’ve enjoyed over the years, I never stopped to consider its source.
Sadly, my walk with Christ is sometimes like that. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, five children, and grandchildren who are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. In the midst of my enjoyment of them, however, I sometimes fail to consider the source of those blessings—what the hymnwriter called the “fount of every blessing.” James put it like this: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (1:17).
How ungrateful we would be to enjoy the rich blessings of life without thanking the Father who is the source of all of creation.
Dear Lord, from whom all blessings flow,
Most precious gifts dost Thou bestow;
So truly faithful may I be
As Thou art gracious unto me. —Roworth
Gratitude is a God-honoring attitude.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 06, 2012
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)
I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . —2 Timothy 4:6
Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.
“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
First Snow Faith - #6541
Monday, February 6, 2012
Our pre-school grandson? I think he overheard the weather forecast recently before his bedtime. It went something like this, "Chance of rain, maybe a few snow flurries." I guess that's all he needed to hear, because he began to pray fervently that night, "Jesus, please make it snow tomorrow." Now, flurries are barely snow, but apparently the mention of them is enough for fuel for hope, you know, and for faith...especially faith. And when he went to bed that night, his mom and dad...they prayed too. They said, "Dear Jesus, would you please answer a little boy's prayer?"
Well, the next morning, this great scene: the little guy is standing in his jammies, in front of the big window in the living room, staring out at a day that was not white. It was just plain old gray. And then suddenly, there they were. The first flurries. Well actually, flakes. He started running around the living room shouting, "Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus! You made it snow!" And it kept snowing, by the way, appreciably more than the weatherman had forecast.
Not only did Jesus answer a little boy's prayer, but a little boy showed us what faith looks like, asking God for what only He can do, then expecting Him to do it. Actually watching for the answer to come.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "First Snow Faith."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is Psalm 5:3. It's a verse we've had up in our prayer chapel for years. David says, "O Lord, You hear my voice...I lay my requests before You,..." Well, that's not the end of it. Here comes the faith part, "...and wait in expectation."
Oh, you know, I regularly "lay my request before" Him. But how often do I "go to the window," looking out for that answer; expecting Him to answer? You know, you can come to Jesus and you can talk to Him about something, but you can walk away and you've still got it. You haven't left it with Him. You haven't trusted it to Him. I've done that way too many times.
See, faith works this way. It walks into the Throne Room of Almighty God, who we know now created and controls a hundred billion galaxies. That's your Heavenly Father. But you walk into that Throne Room and you're all bent over. You're carrying the heavy burden that you've been carrying, but faith walks out standing tall. The burden isn't there any more. You know why? You left it at His Throne. Now, if I'm all bent over when I walk out of the Throne Room; if I'm still carrying that heavy backpack after I've prayed about it, then I talked to Him about it but I didn't trust Him with it. And that's where faith comes in.
You know, Jesus made this incredible promise. He said, "If you ask anything in prayer, believe that you have received it..." Now, that's past tense. You haven't got it yet, but "...believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Sure, the "snow" doesn't always come, and it doesn't always come on my schedule. But I have got a Father who loves me and Who only says no if He's working on something that's for my good and better than I have asked for.
I wonder how many times the answer didn't come because I didn't really believe Him for it? After all, the Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
I know who I want to be. I want to be the little boy at the window.
