Max Lucado Daily: Kindness
They sat on opposite sides of the room, a man and a woman, bidding on an adorable puppy at a school auction. Others dropped off, but not this duo. Back and forth until they'd one-upped the bid to several thousand dollars.
No longer about a puppy, but about victory. This was the Wimbledon finals, and neither player was backing off the net. Finally the fellow gave in and didn't return the bid. Going once, going twice…going three times. Sold!
You know what she did? Amidst the applause, she walked across the room and presented the puppy to the competition. Suppose you did that with your competition. With your enemy. Suppose you surprised them with kindness? Not easy?
No, it's not. But mercy is the deepest gesture of kindness. Paul equates the two in Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."
from Lucado Inspirational Reader
Ezekiel 29
A Prophecy Against Egypt
Judgment on Pharaoh
In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
you great monster lying among your streams.
You say, “The Nile belongs to me;
I made it for myself.”
4 But I will put hooks in your jaws
and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales.
I will pull you out from among your streams,
with all the fish sticking to your scales.
5 I will leave you in the desert,
you and all the fish of your streams.
You will fall on the open field
and not be gathered or picked up.
I will give you as food
to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.
6 Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.
“‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel. 7 When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.[i]
8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring a sword against you and kill both man and beast. 9 Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“‘Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it,” 10 therefore I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush.[j] 11 The foot of neither man nor beast will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years. 12 I will make the land of Egypt desolate among devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries.
13 “‘Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered. 14 I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom. 15 It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations. 16 Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’”
Nebuchadnezzar’s Reward
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land as pay for his army. 20 I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for me, declares the Sovereign Lord.
21 “On that day I will make a horn[k] grow for the Israelites, and I will open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
i.Ezekiel 29:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint and Vulgate); Hebrew and you caused their backs to stand
j.Ezekiel 29:10 That is, the upper Nile region
k.Ezekiel 29:21 Horn here symbolizes strength.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Mark 12:38-44
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
The Widow’s Offering41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
The Blessing Of Giving
November 8, 2013 — by Philip Yancey
It is more blessed to give than to receive. —Acts 20:35
It made no sense for a widow to donate her last few coins to a corrupt institution in Jerusalem, where scribes who were dependent on those gifts “devour[ed] widows’ houses” (Mark 12:40). But in that woman’s act, Jesus saw a moving display of the proper attitude toward money (vv.41-44).
Gordon Cosby, while serving as pastor of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC, tells of a widow whose income was barely adequate to feed and clothe her six children. Yet every week she faithfully placed $4 in the offering plate. A deacon suggested that Cosby go to her and assure her that she could use the money instead for her family’s benefit.
Cosby followed the deacon’s advice—to his regret. “You are trying to take away the last thing that gives me dignity and meaning,” she said. She had learned a key to giving: It can benefit the giver more than the receiver. Yes, those in poverty need financial help. But the need to give may be as important as the need to receive.
The act of giving reminds us that we live by the grace of God—like the birds and the flowers. Those creations don’t worry about their future; neither should we. Giving offers us a way to express our confidence that God will care for us just as He cares for the sparrow and lily (Matt. 6:25-34).
Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee,Repaid a thousand-fold will be;Then gladly will we give to Thee,Who givest all—who givest all. —WordsworthWe disarm the power of money by giving it away.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 8, 2013
The Unrivaled Power of Prayer
We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26
We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.
The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).
Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
No Sweat - #7000
Friday, November 8, 2013
It was one a record-breaking pre-summer day in Denver - 99 degrees. I was there. I know. And after I finished speaking in the afternoon I went out for a vigorous 45-minute walk - Mr. Fitness. After I put a few blocks behind me, I was asking myself one question, "How come I'm not sweating much?" If I was home, man, I'd be wet all over. Denver doesn't have the kind of heat that I'm used to. They don't have the humidity. Oh, but a couple of days later, I was in Chicago. I took three steps and soaked my shirt. It's the same when I went home to New Jersey, where according to a meteorologist a 100-degree day actually felt like 126 degrees because the air was saturated. Isn't it nice to be in a place where it's hot but you don't have to perspire as much?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Sweat."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 5 , and I'm going to read verses 1 and 2 so I can read you verse 3, so you know how hot it is where David is, I mean in terms of the stress temperature. He says, "Give ears to my words, O Lord. Consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King, my God, for to You I pray." Okay, it's hot. He's sighing; he's crying for help.
And then he gives the secret of not sweating as much when it's hot all around you. Verse 3, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." That's beautiful! He lays his day in front of the Lord and leaves the house with a sense of expectancy rather than dread, knowing this is going to be a day the Lord has made.
The difference between a hot place and a hot, sweaty place is whether or not the air is clear; whether there's somewhere for the moisture to go. In a sense, what God through David is recommending here is that you clear out the air before you head into the heat of your day. Empty out those concerns that are just clogging the atmosphere around you and maybe inside you. Do that at the beginning of your day.
Begin your day with praying through that day before you ever enter into it. So reserve some early time to specifically pray through what your morning, your afternoon, your evening are going to hold as far as you know. Put it all in front of God. Walk through the next 16 hours or so with Jesus. Mentally take Him into each part of that day and consciously make it His not yours. Picture the difference He's going to make in the job you've got to finish, the calls you have to make, the assignments you'll be working on. Turn over to Jesus the major conversations, the major people you expect to be around this day.
Give Him the financial challenges of the day; the things you're looking forward to and the things you're dreading. Let Him take away some of that fear and worry, some of the anger, some of the tension. You're releasing the details of your day from your hand and you're putting them into the hands that rule the galaxies; to the One whose hands are nail-scarred because of how much He loves you.
When you bowed your head or got on your knees, you may have been overwhelmed by this day, but when you open your eyes you should be a lot lighter because you've given it to the King of all kings. And you should be expecting God to make a difference in it. And I'll tell you I am very grateful for the people who pray for us regularly; for this ministry regularly. I can't tell you the difference you're making and the power that's providing. We just live the answers to your prayers.
You've probably had enough overheated days, right? And you can't do much to lower the temperature around you, but you can clear the air by anticipating that day with Jesus and then you'll have room for the heat of the day. And when people ask, "How are you doing?", you can say with new enthusiasm, "No sweat!"