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Max Lucado Daily: His Finished Work
When God gave the Ten Commandments, and it came to Sabbath rest, His message was clear, “If creation didn’t crash when I rested, it won’t crash when you do!” You know we need to rest. For a field to bear fruit, it must occasionally lie fallow. And for you to be healthy, you must rest.
When David says in the 23rd Psalm, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures,” he’s saying, “My shepherd makes me lie down in his finished work.”
With His own pierced hands, Jesus created a pasture for the soul. He pried loose the huge boulders of sin. In their place He planted seeds of grace and dug ponds of mercy. Can you imagine the satisfaction in the heart of the shepherd when the work is completed and he sees his sheep rest in the tender grass? Can you imagine the satisfaction in the heart of God when we do the same?
From Traveling Light
2 Chronicles 35
New International Version (NIV)
Josiah Celebrates the Passover
35 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. 3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.
5 “Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people. 6 Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”
7 Josiah provided for all the lay people who were there a total of thirty thousand lambs and goats for the Passover offerings, and also three thousand cattle—all from the king’s own possessions.
8 His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle. 9 Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for the Levites.
10 The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions as the king had ordered. 11 The Passover lambs were slaughtered, and the priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. 13 They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans and served them quickly to all the people. 14 After this, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic priests.
15 The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, were in the places prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them.
16 So at that time the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered. 17 The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. 19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
The Death of Josiah
20 After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. 21 But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”
22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.
23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.” 24 So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.
25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.
26 The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion in accordance with what is written in the Law of the Lord— 27 all the events, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive in Christ
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
No Risk
June 17, 2013 — by Bill Crowder
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. —Ephesians 2:8
A colleague recently shared an experience I don’t intend to try personally—bungee jumping. I found his description of the event both fascinating and terrifying. To think of jumping headfirst from a bridge hundreds of feet in the air suspended only by a giant rubber band is not my idea of a good time. But his leap was not without support. He described not one, but two heavy-duty harnesses that secured him to his lifeline—and to safety. The careful design and proven testing of those harnesses gave him great confidence as he jumped into the air.
As I listened, it occurred to me that for the follower of Christ, living in a sinful world is not a blind “leap of faith.” We too have a pair of protections that can secure us in even the darkest times of life. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul wrote these words, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
It’s in these twin harnesses—God’s grace and faith in the finished work of Jesus—that our relationship with God safely rests. In the strength of these provisions, salvation is not a risky leap into the void. It’s an exercise of confidence in God’s Word and His unfailing love and protection.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed! —Newton
We can expect God’s peace when we accept God’s grace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 17, 2013
Beware of Criticizing Others
Judge not, that you be not judged —Matthew 7:1
Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.
There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Storming Home - #6896
Monday, June 17, 2013
I'll always remember, it was Friday in August. All of us who were landing at O'Hare Airport in Chicago that day had plans, and schedules, and things we had to do, and places we had to be. But as far as I know, none of us made it. That day Chicago had a record-breaking rain storm followed by massive flooding. And since there's only one viaduct that goes into O'Hare Airport and out, it had four feet of water. O'Hare became an island. Welcome to Camp O'Hare! It was flooded closed.
Well, many people spent the day trying to find either a way out, which didn't work very well, or a place to spend the night, but virtually no one did what they'd planned to do that day, including me, all because of one storm. No matter how rich you were or how poor, or how powerful or insignificant, how young, how old, suddenly your destiny was out of your control. You know, storms always have that affect.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Storming Home."
Our word for today from the Word of God is going to come from the sometimes obscure book of Nahum, one of those Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. Minor because the book is short, not because what they have to say is minor. Remember as we look at this verse that life's hard times are often portrayed in scripture as storms, and that's appropriate because it speaks of situations where you can no longer control your outcome.
That's what storms in our life - what they do to us. Medical storms, financial storms, family storms; maybe that's the kind of situation you're in right now. Maybe in your business, it's an out-of-control time. Maybe your marriage, maybe it's one of your children, maybe medically. Well, listen to our word for today from the Word of God. Nahum 1:3, "The Lord is great in power. He has His way in the whirlwind and the storm."
Wow! It seems like the storm is having its way. It seems like everything's out-of-control. But God reassures us here that even when it appears that things are out-of-control, God is having His way. Paul experienced that in the incident recorded in Acts 27. As a prisoner on a ship that was taking him to Rome where he was to witness for Christ, for two weeks they sailed from Israel and they were in this violent storm, they couldn't see the sun, the moon, the stars. They didn't know where they were. They were blown way off course, they thought, and finally they went aground two weeks later. And much to their surprise, they landed on the Island of Malta, very close to Italy - their destination.
In other words, all the time they had apparently been out-of-control, they were actually right on course. So are you. See, that's what the Old Testament prophet meant. The storm may have made things out of your control, but they're in God's control. He often teaches us through those storms how much we need Him; how much we can rely on Him.
Maybe right now the winds in your life are intensifying, storm warnings are up, the flood of your frustration is rising. You're powerless to do anything about it. Let me assure you because of what God has said about storms, everything is under control. "The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and the storm." And it is often the storm that He uses to blow us home to the harbor we were made for.
The Bible says in Hebrews 6:19, speaking of Jesus, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure." And it often is not until things are out of our control that we understand we were never meant to run our lives. We were created by Jesus, for Jesus. He died to bring us back to Him, and maybe He is right now using your storm to blow you right into His loving arms.
If you want to begin a relationship with Him, if you never have, and find the one safe place there really is, will you go to our website and meet me there and let's find out together how you can begin your relationship with Him. YoursForLife.net.
See, if you let God navigate, you'll find that all the time you've been blown around, you were actually storming home.