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Max Lucado Daily:Sabbath Rest
When God gave the Ten Commandments, He needed only five English words to condemn adultery; four to denounce thievery and murder. But when he came to the topic of rest? Listen to this: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servants, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day…” (Exodus 20:8-11). Wow! One word after another…
Still we object. We offer up one reason after another. We don’t like to rest. Repeat these words after me, “It is not my job to run the world.” In the long run we’ll do more by doing less!
From Traveling Light
Habakkuk 1
The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 “Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?
2 I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[d]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 4:1-10
Obedience Commanded
4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Every Word Matters
June 18, 2013 — by Marvin Williams
You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God. —Deuteronomy 4:2
Kim Peek was a savant (a person with extraordinary memory) who memorized all of Shakespeare’s plays. During a performance of Twelfth Night, Peek noticed that the actor had skipped a word from one of the lines. Peek suddenly stood up and shouted, “Stop!” The actor apologized and said he didn’t think anyone would mind. Peek replied, “Shakespeare would.”
Words matter. But especially when they are the very words of God. Moses warned Israel, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God” (Deut. 4:2). Moses often reminded Israel of God’s mercy and faithfulness to them in the past. But he also stressed the importance of obedience to God’s commands as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. He told them that obedience would result in blessings of life and a rich inheritance (vv.39-40). Every command and regulation mattered to God. The value His people placed on God’s Word showed their view of Him.
Today, when we value God’s Word, handle it with great care, and obey what it says, we give God the reverence He truly deserves.
The Bible stands, and it will forever
When the world has passed away;
By inspiration it has been given—
All its precepts I will obey. —Lillenas
God’s Word needs no additions or subtractions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 18, 2013
Keep Recognizing Jesus
. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . —Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “. . . why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.
If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Creating the Conditions - #6897
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
God blessed the Hutchcraft home with three very unique children. Anybody who knows them, nod your head now. Good...okay. I realize that's three more than a number of families, some of whom would love to just have one child. We've had some friends tell us, "Ron, we've been trying to have children for three years," or five years, or ten years. And today doctors do all they can to increase those possibilities. They'll suggest times of the month when the baby would be most likely be conceived; sometimes they'll give you fertility drugs. And many a childless couple does all that they can to conceive a new life, and the way that they do that is just to create the conditions in which the miracle could happen. And even though they can't make it happen, they can at least prepare for the life to begin.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Creating the Conditions."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 2:1-2, and it records for us the most dramatic visit - Holy Spirit visit - in history. "When the day of Pentecost came," it says, "they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting." And you know from there it became even more exciting as the Holy Spirit changed the city of Jerusalem and launched a movement that has reached to you and me today.
Maybe today you have a longing deep inside to have a special, personal touch from the Holy Spirit. You know you need one; maybe a touch of what they call revival. You don't even know what the word means, but you'd love to experience some. You know you need a reviving work for the Holy Spirit, something new and fresh and more powerful than you've had before. Maybe it's a supernatural provision for a God-sized need right now. It's a healing touch, or a restoring touch.
Well, if you need a little personal Pentecost right now, you're in the same situation in a way as the couple who wants a child. You can't make the miracle happen; that's up to God. But you can create the conditions that the Holy Spirit can respond to, and that's exactly what these people did when this great Spirit visit happened at Pentecost.
In Acts 1:12 it says, "They returned to Jerusalem from a hill called The Mount of Olives and waited there." And that's exactly what Jesus had commanded them to do - to wait in Jerusalem. Verse 14, "They all joined together constantly in prayer." See, the way you create the conditions for the baby to come, for the baby of revival to come, of healing, of God's restoring touch, is first to obey: to do what the Lord told you to do, to wait patiently, to be in the place God has placed you. Be sure you are where He wants you to be.
Second step, you've got to pray. You obey and then you pray. And you notice it says, "They prayed constantly." That means through the day, dialoging with God, and often saying to Him as you ride, as you walk, and as you're in the middle of your responsibilities, "Lord, please give me that special touch. Give me that special touch." Cry out to Him often, pray constantly for it. "Seek the Lord continually," David said.
And thirdly it says, "They stayed together." You obey, you pray, and you stay together. And you eliminate any walls between you and any other believers. Usually these kinds of Spirit-touches come from praying together. God comes to places where His kids are all together, persistently asking Him to come. It's not a microwave revival. It's from people who will wait, who will pray, who will stick together, who will pursue Him together passionately.
Pentecost doesn't begin at a public meeting; it doesn't begin at a planning meeting. It begins in a prayer meeting. So if you're hungry for new spiritual life to be conceived, create the conditions in which it happens and expect God to respond with the visit you sought.
Only you can create the conditions. Only God can send the revival.