Max Lucado Daily: Yesterday’s Gone
In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Psalm 33:21
You no longer have yesterday. It slipped away as you slept.
Sorry, what’s gone is gone. The second hand of the clock refuses to tick backward. You no longer have yesterday.
This is the day the Lord has made! Live in it. You must be present to win!
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Let the words sink in. God made this day, ordained this hour, designed the details of this wrenching moment.
Each day emerges from God’s drawing room. Including this one!
Eighty-four thousand heartbeats. One thousand, four hundred and forty minutes. A complete rotation of the earth. A gift of twenty-four unlived, unexplored hours.
Here’s a day changer for you… If you can stack one good day on another and another, you’ll link together a good life!
Choose to make it a great day—every day!
Psalm 55[a]
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil[b] of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
11 Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.
12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God,
as we walked about
among the worshipers.
15 Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
for evil finds lodging among them.
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
19 God, who is enthroned from of old,
who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
because they have no fear of God.
20 My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
21 His talk is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords.
22 Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
will not live out half their days.
But as for me, I trust in you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
Giving to the Needy
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:16-18
New International Version (NIV)
Fasting
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Great Is Your Reward
Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. —Matthew 6:4
Many businesses have “points programs” that offer rewards to loyal customers. You can stack up these rewards by using their companies’ services, like eating at local restaurants, staying at certain hotels, or flying on particular airlines. Choosing to spend your money this way makes a lot of sense.
God has a rewards program as well. Jesus often spoke of His desire to reward us for loyally serving Him. When we are persecuted for His sake, for example, He says to “rejoice . . . for great is your reward in heaven” (Matt. 5:12). In contrast to the Pharisees’ pious habit of giving, praying, and fasting in public, Jesus instructed us to do these things privately, because “your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (6:4,6,18). When it comes to living for Jesus, faithfulness never ultimately puts your life in a deficit position, regardless of what it costs.
But we don’t serve Jesus for the rewards. When He died for us on the cross, He did far more for us than we deserve. Loyalty to Him is an act of worship that expresses our loving gratitude for His love toward us. In return, He delights to encourage us with the assurance that ultimately His rewards will outweigh whatever we have given up for Him.
Live for Jesus—regardless of the cost.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Spiritual Dejection
We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened —Luke 24:21
Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.
We look for visions from heaven and for earth-shaking events to see God’s power. Even the fact that we are dejected is proof that we do this. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When You Know the Final Score - #6542
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
We're pretty avid New York Giants football fans at our house. Don't hold that against us. You know, you can understand it if you follow football at all. We're eager after a long basketball season and a baseball season to see the first games, even when they're exhibition games. Now, when my children were growing up, there was a particular game on one season that we really wanted to see, because it was against a top NFL team.
There was one problem! That particular exhibition game wasn't aired live in the New York area. It was a home game. However, it was shown twice on tape late that night and then again the next morning. Now, we knew the score; we had heard the score of the game; we knew the outcome. My son was watching it and he said, "Well, Dad, it's sure exciting to watch a game when you already know the outcome." Well actually we did know the ending. We just didn't know how they got to that ending. It was fun to watch how they did it, but there wasn't much suspense.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Know the Final Score."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Daniel 3, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 16. It's the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Now, whether or not you recognize the names, you remember the story of the three men who were commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar to bow down to his 90-foot gold statue of himself. They refused to do it, and he said, "Then I'll have to throw you into this very, very hot fire," an oven prepared just for them. What a way to die, huh? They said to the king, "O, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves... If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king."
Now, I like this. They're saying, "We don't know how God's going to do, but we know He will. We're not sure all the plays He's going to call, we just know He's going to win." Now, you may be in a pretty bleak situation right now. Maybe the fire is heating up for you, and there's no apparent solution; there's no apparent way out.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is in Romans 8, where Paul speaks of some of the greatest stresses in life. And verse 35 talks about "trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, not enough food on the table, nakedness, no clothes, danger, sword, even death." Then right after all that in verse 37 he says this - and this is my life verse: "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Wow! As a soldier of Jesus Christ, you're in the same position I am when I'm watching a Giants victory being replayed. I know the final score; I know we win. I just don't know how.
In Christ, the question is never whether He will win in a situation, the only question is how. Our problem is if we can't see how victory will come, a lot of times we don't believe it will. "There's no money in sight, so I guess we're not going to make it." Or, "There's no person in sight, so I guess I'll be lonely." "There's no change in sight, so well, I guess it will always be this way." "Well, there's no progress I can see and there's no way to make any. I guess we'll always be in this mess." Read the scoreboard again! He wins all His battles. Live expectantly! The battle is not yours; it is God's. You can be more than conqueror, and He says it's in the middle of life's most intense moments.
After all, you're sitting back watching how God is going to win this one, because you know the final score, and your Father will decide the outcome.
