Max Lucado Daily: Such a Friend
In Proverbs 18:24 we read, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” David found such a friend in the son of Saul.
Oh to have a friend like Jonathan. A soul mate who protects you, who seeks nothing but your interests, wants nothing but your happiness. An ally who lets you be you. No need to weigh thoughts or measure words. God gave David such a friend.
And God gave you one as well. David found a companion in a prince of Israel; you can find a friend in the King of Israel, Jesus Christ. He has made a covenant with you. Among His final words were these, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Jesus also said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from Me!”
Do you long for one true friend? You have One!
from Facing Your Giants
Jeremiah 28
The False Prophet Hananiah
28 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: 2 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin[c] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. 6 He said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. 7 Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: 8 From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.”
10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, 11 and he said before all the people, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.
12 After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. 14 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. 16 Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”
17 In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 4:1-6
New International Version (NIV)
On Denying the Incarnation
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
The Standoff
August 6, 2013 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. —1 John 4:4
When a local bookstore rearranged its shelves, I noticed an increase in the number of titles relating to sorcery and witchcraft. In fact, the religion section had become a virtual “standoff” between light and darkness. Christian titles flanked one side of the aisle, while roughly the same number of occult books lined the other side.
Sometimes we may think of God and Satan in the same way I thought of the books in that bookstore. We see them as opposing but equal forces with the same unlimited power. However, God is God and Satan is not. God is stronger than any force of darkness. He does what He pleases (Ps. 135:6), while Satan’s power is limited to what God allows. When Satan supposed that misfortune would make Job curse God, God told Satan, “Behold, all that [Job] has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person” (Job 1:12). Satan had to play by God’s rules.
Because God is in charge over everything, as Christ’s followers we don’t need to be paralyzed by fear of Satan’s power over our lives or the lives of the believers around us. He tempts us and tries to influence us, but the Bible assures us, “He who is in [us] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all! —Perronet
The powers of evil around you are no match for the power of Jesus within you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 6, 2013
The Cross in Prayer
In that day you will ask in My name . . . —John 16:26
We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us— complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ— and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.
“Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.
“. . . I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you . . .” (John 16:26-27). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then “in that day” you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.
When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason— God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Trying to Carry Your Father's Load - #6932
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
I saw this precious sight at the airport. There were a hundred bleary-eyed travelers waiting for luggage at the carousel. Maybe you've been one of those. That wasn't the precious sight I saw; nothing precious about that. But I heard this little exclamation behind me, and it was a little boy barely old enough to be walking. He was standing next to his Daddy. Now, his Dad had apparently just returned from a business trip, and next to him on the floor was this big old briefcase. The little guy, using all his strength, fully extending his body is trying to push this big briefcase. The briefcase was just about bigger than the little boy was. There was no way he could pick it up, but he was trying; pushing and pulling with everything he had. That was something I'm sure his father could handle easily, but the little guy was just too weak to push it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Trying to Carry Your Father's Load."
As David writes to us in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 55, he is pushing or trying to carry a very heavy load. Verse 2, "My thoughts trouble me." Now, you may be able to relate to some of what he says about his load. He says, "I've really got a lot of inner turmoil right now." Now verse 11, "There are destructive forces at work in the city." You may have some of those destructive forces in your life right now. Then in that same verse he says, "Threats and lies never leave its' streets." Maybe you've got a little of that going on in your life.
And in verse 18 of Psalm 55 he talks about "...the battle being waged against me. Many oppose me." That come up on any of your load yet? Then in verse 20 he says, "My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant." Maybe you can share in that part of the load where someone that you've trusted and loved has turned on you and hurt you, and even violated a covenant.
That's a lot to push. That's a lot to carry. You might be doubled over right now with the load. Well, I want you to hear David's bottom line in the midst of all this weighty problem he has. Verse 22, "Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall." Oh, man! This is awesome! What a promise!
What are you doing pushing that load of yours; trying to carry it yourself? "Give it to Me" He says. "Cast your burden on Me." You may be missing the peace that comes from release. And it's said so many times through the Old Testament, like when David was up against Goliath, David said, "The battle is David's?" No, he said, "The battle is the Lord's." You need to remember that in your battle. This isn't your battle. Send your Father to fight it. Let your Father carry it. This is a load you were never meant to carry.
David struggled to keep it released. He says in Psalm 55:17, "Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress and He hears my voice." All day long you've got to have this repeated release of that load; the one you've tried to carry yourself. And your Father is looking at you like that father was looking at his little boy at the airport. Kind of saying, "Why do you insist on collapsing under a burden that I could carry so easily?"
There we are, the little guy trying to lift the load of responsibility that we are just too weak to carry. You can burn out trying to carry it by yourself. Your Father is ready to carry it for you.