Max Lucado Daily: Seeing Jesus
In John 14:9 Jesus says, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father."
Should a man see only popularity, he becomes a mirror, reflecting whatever needs to be reflected to gain acceptance.
Should a man see only power, he becomes a wolf-prowling, hunting, stalking elusive game. There's always another world to conquer or another person to control.
Should a man see only pleasure, he becomes a carnival thrill-seeker, alive only in bright lights and titillating entertainment. Driven by passion, willing to sell his soul. Seekers of popularity, power, and pleasure. The end result is the same: painful un-fulfillment.
Only in seeking his Maker does a man truly become a man. For in seeing his Creator man catches a glimpse of what he was intended to be. It is in seeing Jesus that man sees his Source!
From God Came Near
Ezra 3
Rebuilding the Altar
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. 2 Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. 4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. 5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. 6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.
Rebuilding the Temple
7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. 9 Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah[a]) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good;
his love toward Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 55:6-13
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
Hope For Skeptics
December 11, 2013 — by Randy Kilgore
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. —Isaiah 55:11
As a workplace chaplain, I’m privileged to be in conversation with many different people. Some are skeptics of the Christian faith. I’ve discovered three major hurdles that keep them from trusting in Christ for salvation.
The first barrier, surprisingly, isn’t an unwillingness to believe that God exists; instead some doubt that they’re important enough for God’s attention. Second, some believe they are unworthy of His forgiveness. People are often their own harshest judges. The third hurdle? They wonder why God is not communicating with them if He is out there.
Let’s work backward through the hurdles to see what God’s Word says. First, God doesn’t play head games. He promises that if we read His Word, He will make sure it accomplishes His purpose (Isa. 55:11). In other words, if we read it we will discover that God is communicating with us. This is precisely why the Bible speaks so often of His grace and mercy toward all (v.7). His willingness to forgive surpasses our own. Once we learn that we can hear God in the Bible and once we see the emphasis on His mercy, it becomes easier to believe we have His attention when we cry out to Him.
God’s story is amazing. It can give hope for all of us.
There can be times when one’s mind is in doubt,
Times when one asks what the faith is about;
But we can believe Him, we know that He cares—
Our God is real, as the Bible declares. —Fitzhugh
Honest skepticism can be the first step to a strong faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 11, 2013
Individuality
Jesus said to His disciples, ’If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .’ —Matthew 16:24
Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24). It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “. . . let him deny himself . . .”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Good Morning, Soldier - #7023
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
When I was a little guy in Sunday School, we used to sing this song. You might remember it if you've had a few birthdays. "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery. (It's a Sunday School song...come on.) I may never fly o'er the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army." And you had to sing it like that. "I'm in the Lord's army!"
Actually, that song turned out to be somewhat prophetic in my life, because God called me into the ministry, and the government classified me as 4D in terms of draft status in college. That didn't mean I flunked; it just meant I wasn't drafted because of a ministerial deferment. Now, you may or may not have marched in the infantry, ridden in the cavalry, shot the artillery, or flown over the enemy, but you are military.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Good Morning, Soldier."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 1 says, "You, then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Okay, our call to strength. Verse 3 gives us a call to endurance, "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ." And verse 4 is a call to combat. Listen to this, "No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please his commanding officer."
Now, God has no 4D deferments. If you know Christ, you are in His army. It helps you remember why you're here. If you can imagine you're waking up each day and Jesus is standing right there at the door of the bathroom, or right by your bed, and He's saying, "Good morning, soldier!" If you understand that a soldier is what you really are, it will simplify life's choices in three very clear-cut ways.
First of all, you know what your mission is. General McArthur said that a soldier has a special calling, and that is "he exists to win his nation's wars." Well, you and I are called to win our Savior's wars. That's what your major mission is for today, to fight for lives that Jesus is fighting for, to stand against sin and compromise that He stands against, to guard your purity, to attack those sinful strongholds in your life. Soldiers in war time have many different tasks, from cooking, to repairing, to supplying, to fighting. But each soldier knows that his task is part of winning a war. Are you getting up every morning to win your Savior's wars? Well, you should. You know what your mission is.
Secondly, if you're a soldier, you don't have to be trapped by trivia. That's what this verse says. You don't get tangled up in the little affairs of life. A soldier doesn't have to worry about what he's going to wear. That's taken care of. Where he's going to live, what his schedule will be. That's taken care of. His needs are met. He concentrates on the battle. You let your commander know your needs; your commander, Jesus, will meet them and you fight His battles.
Thirdly, you know who you report to. This says he wants to please his commanding officer. You don't have many people to please, you've got one. "How am I doing, Lord?" See, that's the only approval you need. So, would you wear His uniform proudly? These are exciting days. The battle lines are forming for what could be some of the final spiritual battles, and you've been commissioned to help win your Savior's wars before He returns.
You may not wake up to Reveille, but your captain is saying, "Good morning, soldier."