Max Lucado Daily: What Do You Have?
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
Max: I sit a few feet from a man on death row. Jewish by birth. Tentmaker by trade. Apostle by calling. His days are marked.
Do you have family, Paul?
Paul: I have none.
Max: What about your health?
Paul: My body is beaten and tired.
Max: Do you have friends?
Paul: I do, but some have turned back.
Max: What do you have, Paul? No belongings. No family. Criticized by some. Mocked by others. What do you have, Paul?
(I sit back quietly and watch. Paul rolls his hand into a fist. He looks at it. I look at it. What is he holding? What does he have?
Paul: I have my faith. It’s all I have. But it’s all I need. I have kept the faith.
(Paul leans back against the wall of his cell and smiles).
Max: Faith is trusting what the eye can’t see!
Proverbs 13
1 A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,
but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.
2 From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things,
but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.
3 Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.
4 A sluggard’s appetite is never filled,
but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
5 The righteous hate what is false,
but the wicked make themselves a stench
and bring shame on themselves.
6 Righteousness guards the person of integrity,
but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
7 One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
8 A person’s riches may ransom their life,
but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes.
9 The light of the righteous shines brightly,
but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
10 Where there is strife, there is pride,
but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
11 Dishonest money dwindles away,
but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
13 Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it,
but whoever respects a command is rewarded.
14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
turning a person from the snares of death.
15 Good judgment wins favor,
but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.[a]
16 All who are prudent act with[b] knowledge,
but fools expose their folly.
17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
18 Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame,
but whoever heeds correction is honored.
19 A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
but fools detest turning from evil.
20 Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm.
21 Trouble pursues the sinner,
but the righteous are rewarded with good things.
22 A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children,
but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
23 An unplowed field produces food for the poor,
but injustice sweeps it away.
24 Whoever spares the rod hates their children,
but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
25 The righteous eat to their hearts’ content,
but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 2:3-11
Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[b] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
The Real Thing
March 27, 2012 — by Marvin Williams
Whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. —1 John 2:5
A church in Naperville, Illinois, is basking in excitement about its brand-new bells in the belfry above its sanctuary. When the church was built many years ago, they didn’t have the money to purchase bells. However, for its 25th anniversary they were able to raise the funds to hang three bells in the vacant space. Even though they are stunning, there is one problem: the congregation will never hear the bells ring. Although they look real, they are artificial.
The apostle John wrote his first epistle to encourage believers not to just look like real Christians, but to prove they are genuine by how they live. The evidence that a person’s faith is real is not found in some mystical experience with God. The proof that people truly know and love God is found in submitting to His authority and to His Word. John writes, “But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:5-6).
If we claim that we have been transformed by the gospel and intimately know and love God, we should validate it by our obedience to His Word.
Don’t listen to the Word of God
And then ignore what you have heard;
Instead obey God’s will for you—
Be doers of the Word. —Sper
Obedience to God is an expression of our love for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 27, 2012
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (2)
Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place . . . —Revelation 4:1
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ?” (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When You Charge, They Charge - #6577
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I've actually tried to explain American football to people from another country. It's not easy. Sometimes it's not easy to explain it to someone from this country; especially to some women who don't really care much about how it's played.
But I want you to imagine a man trying to explain football to an acquaintance who has never seen it. And his friend says to him, "You know, I'd like to learn to play football. Will you teach me how?" So, the man who knows how says, "Oh sure! It's this little pointy leather ball and there's this long field. There's a hundred yards; it's got some white marks on it. All you have to do is pick up the ball and run from one end of the field to the other. If you do that enough, you win." "Hey, okie dokie!"
So the man takes off; returns a month later. The problem is he's all bandaged up, he's limping, his arm is in a cast, and the man who taught him football says, "What happened!?" His acquaintance says, "Well, you told me about the ball, and you told me about the field, and you told me about running. There's one thing you forgot to tell me: you didn't tell me there would be eleven gorillas trying to stop me."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Charge, They Charge."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 16:9. The Apostle Paul says, "There is a great and effective door open to me, and there are many adversaries." That's actually a law of the kingdom. Spiritual opportunity is always accompanied by opposition: Open door - many adversaries. It just happens like that. They're like Siamese twins; they can't be separated.
Now, it's important for you to realize that, because it would explain some of the storm you're going through right now. See, if God is starting to use you, the devil is starting to fight you. And you're saying, "What's wrong?" Well, nothing may be wrong. It may very well be that you're just about to enter a great open door where you can really make a greater difference than you've ever made before, and the devil knows this is the time he's got to stop you.
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "The greatest sign of God's will and power is the devil's growl." Maybe you're hearing the growl right now. That's a compliment. You're saying, "Why is this all happening now when there's such an open door?" Because there is an open door! Open door - many adversaries. Opportunity - opposition. Satan knows it's going to be hard to stop you once God's plans really start to unfold. He's got to get you at the door.
And it's not always the obvious connection to the open door. He may go after your health, your family, your car, your money. The devil doesn't give up ground easily, but you know what? He's already defeated. If God starts to open doors and give opportunities, you begin to pray more intensely for the protection for you and your family that's available in the Name of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that "He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by His cross." Under the blood of Jesus Christ you cannot be touched. And you come under that protection. You pray against discouragement, and depression, and giving up just because there's some push back from the other side. It actually means something very important is about to happen.
Serving the Lord is much like football. As soon as you start gaining ground spiritually, the other side starts to come after you. When you charge, they charge. That's something to be aware of, but it's not something to be afraid of. Just keep running toward that open door, because you have the Son of God blocking for you.
