Max Lucado Daily: God is at Work in Us
Howard Rutledge came to appreciate his time as a POW in Vietnam. He wrote: “After twenty-eight days of torture, I could remember I had children but not how many. I prayed for strength. During long periods of enforced reflection, it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial. My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for steak. It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.”
God is at work in each of us, whether we want it or not. He takes no pleasure in making life hard. Philippians 1:6 says, “He does not relish in our sufferings, but He delights in our development.” No one said the road would be painless or easy. But God will use this mess for something good. God is doing what is best for us, training us to live His holy best. Rest in this assurance…you will get through this!
From You’ll Get Through This
Daniel 12
The End Times
12 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise[g] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”
7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time.[h] When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”
8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”
9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
11 “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
13 “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”
Footnotes:
Daniel 12:3 Or who impart wisdom
Daniel 12:7 Or a year, two years and half a year
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 3:2-6,15-18
New International Version (NIV)
2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”[a]
Footnotes:
Luke 3:6 Isaiah 40:3-5
Luke 3:15-18
New International Version (NIV)
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with[a] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
Footnotes:
Luke 3:16 Or in
Luke 3:16 Or in
Insignificant
September 25, 2013 — by David C. McCasland
The Word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. —Luke 3:2
“Movers and shakers” are people climbing the ladder of influence and success. Luke 3 mentions seven prominent leaders who exercised control in the society of their time. Roman Emperor Tiberias Caesar held the power of life and death over people in his far-flung empire. Pontius Pilate represented Rome as governor of Judea; while Herod, Philip, and Lysanias kept people in line at the regional level. Annas and Caiaphas served as high priests, taking their religious authority seriously.
While these power brokers flexed their political muscles, “the Word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness” (v.2). Who could seem less important than this obscure man living in the desert and listening for God’s voice? What could John the Baptist possibly accomplish by “preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins”? (v.3). Yet multitudes came to John seeking truth, turning from their wrongs, and wondering if he could be the Messiah (vv.7,15). John told them, “One mightier than I is coming . . . . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (v.16).
John’s life helps us understand what it means to be significant in God’s eyes. Like John, may everything we say and do point others to Jesus.
Lord, help us to surrender our desire for influence
and success to You. May our heart’s desire ever be to be
used by You to further Your kingdom.
Make our lives a living testimony of You.
Our surrender to God precedes His significant work in our life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 25, 2013
The “Go” of Relationship
Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two—Matthew 5:41
Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, “I am here for God to send me where He will.” Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.
The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.
If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. . .” (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lord’s making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us— He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Boss Is the Glue - #6968
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
I remember when our local pizza joint got new owners. We were living on the East Coast then and the new owners really turned that place into something pretty impressive. It was a fairly large restaurant. And their menu had more than just pizza on it, although pizza was fine with me.
Suddenly they had good service. It was run very well. It seemed like the owner was always there no matter what time day or night we ate there. He was hands on. So it surprised me one Sunday when I walked in there after church to have dinner with my family. It was 45 minutes after opening and most of the lights were still out! There were no customers and there were just three employees sitting at the counter.
A waitress came up to us and said, "Oh, sorry. Only pizza today and we didn't make it yet." I said, "You just opened! What happened?" He said, "The boss decided not to come in today." It's Sunday! The boss decided not to come in on their maybe busiest day of the week? I said, "Hey, it's a good thing the boss isn't here." And he told the whole story in a few words. He said, "The boss is on vacation." Well, I can tell you this: the boss is definitely important. When the boss is not there, everything falls apart.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Boss Is the Glue."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Colossians 1:16-17 . It stems from the feeling that there's something very important coming. Maybe there's a family situation, or maybe your job is suddenly out-of-control; a physical problem has suddenly shown up and darkened your life. Maybe there's a relationship that's suddenly not there to count on any more. And that part of your life looks like our local restaurant. It's chaotic, dysfunctional; something's suddenly not working like it was.
Verse 16 steps into that situation. "For in Him (that's Jesus Christ) all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, (now listen to this) and in Him all things hold together."
When the boss is there, everything is fine. When the boss is there, things are together. You need the boss to step in when things are out-of-control and maybe they are in your life right now. He steps in and His presence restores order. He is the boss of the universe! So with Him in charge; with Him running things, you can handle the problem no matter how large it is. You can take on the challenge no matter how daunting it is. You can handle every earthly ruler there is.
Colossians 3:15 says what happens when you crown Christ as the Lord of this new chaotic corner of your life. It says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." What happens when the boss, the Lord, steps in - peace.
See, it isn't what's going on around you; it's what's going on inside you. And as soon as things are together inside you, it's as if Christ is now in control of that part of your life. You are exercising, you are acknowledging His control. If things begin to fall apart, well sometimes you grab the situation. You've got to take charge again. You worry, you work, you plan, and you scheme. That doesn't solve anything. Maybe God brought us together today to remind you to stop and crown Jesus as Lord of that illness, that crisis, that relationship, that need.
Just tell Him, "Lord, anything goes." See, He knows the next step, He knows the results, and it is the One and it is Jesus who brings all things together. What did it say here, "In Him all things hold together." You give that out-of-control part of your life to the Master, and give Him total control.
In a business, in real life, the presence of the boss is always the glue.