Max Lucado Daily: Rest in His Finished Work
In Psalm 23:2 when David says, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures"-he's saying, "My shepherd makes me lie down in His finished work." With His own pierced hands, Jesus created a pasture for the soul. Can you imagine the satisfaction in the heart of the shepherd when, with work completed, he sees his sheep rest in the tender grass? Can you imagine the satisfaction in the heart of God when we do the same?
His pasture is His gift to us. This is not a pasture you have made. Nor is it one you deserve. It is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."
Your Shepherd invites you to nestle deeply hidden, buried, in the tall shoots of His love-and there you will find rest.
From Traveling Light
Job 25
Bildad
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 “Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
3 Can his forces be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,
6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—
a human being, who is only a worm!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Obedience Commanded
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.
Insight
Far from being a burden, the commands God gave to the Israelites were life-giving. They outlined a life lived in response to His love. In today’s text, Moses reminded the Israelites that the commands were for their wisdom and understanding (v.6). The result of living by the words of the Lord would be that the nations around them would recognize the one true God (vv.7-8).
Words To Live By
By David C. McCasland
Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments . . . that you should act according to them. —Deuteronomy 4:5
For many years I’ve maintained a file folder labeled “Speaking.” It has become thick with articles, quotations, and illustrations that might be useful. Recently I went through it to discard things that are out of date. I found it difficult to throw away many of the items, not because I haven’t used them in a talk but because I haven’t put them into practice. I closed the folder thinking, “These aren’t words to talk about; these are words to live by.”
After 40 years in the desert, Moses addressed the people poised to enter the Promised Land: “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you” (Deut. 4:1). Moses’ repeated theme (vv.1,2,5,6,9) is that God’s commandments are to be kept. He said it well, “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments . . . that you should act according to them” (v.5).
It is so easy to talk about doing more than we actually do and to speak about truth we’re not living by. We can become bloated with words, yet starved for reality, forgetting that all of God’s commands flow from His heart of love for us.
Help us, Lord, not to be just hearers of the Word;
help us to be doers as well. Teach us to be honest
with ourselves about who we really are. We want
to walk in Your ways and to guide others to You.
The strength of our actions should match the strength of our words.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 12, 2014
The Habit of Having No Habits
If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, “I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God.” No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Wrong Builder - #7131
Monday, May 12, 2014
My son is old enough to have kids of his own now, but we were looking at pictures of him when he was about three. We were in our back yard and we had just set up our tent. We were going to camp out in it that tent that night. Here was a little guy wanting to help his Daddy, so he played with the poles, held the flaps open on the tent door, he was so excited.
I had to go in the house and so he was alone with the tent that was all... Did I mention to you it was all nicely set up for the night? Then he decided to go inside and run around. He was so excited! I guess he decided that one of the poles wasn't quite where he thought it ought to be. So, he grabbed the pole to hold up the rest of the structure of the tent. The entire tent came crashing down around this little guy. The photo, oh I just wish you could see it. It shows him with that one pole in his hand, the tent totally collapsed next to him. He's got the other hand holding his forehead with this look of sheer bewilderment on his face. He tried to build it, but it just collapsed around him. I know the feeling.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want A Word With You today about "The Wrong Builder."
Our word for today from the Word of God is about some suffering. It's in Psalm 127. I'll be reading verses 1-2. "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand by it in vain. In vain you rise up early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat." I guess at a time you build in vain it's safe to say that you're wasting your time. Why bother wasting your time? I would call this a psalm for men and women who work real hard and are make-it-happen people.
See, these are people who feel like, "Yes, I will pray about it. I will ask for God's help. But it's all up to me ultimately." Well, the problem isn't solved if you just work longer or work harder, or follow your own plan. See, we're like, "I've got to work on an answer for myself." They are sort of control freaks. In the process, I can totally throw my life out-of-balance. Man, it's not working, so I've got to do more, work more, make it happen, get up early, stay up late. You often end up neglecting the things that really matter: your family, your other important relationships, your health, your time with God. Work, work, work, work, that's what I think the solution is. Guess what? My tent is falling down.
The Lord isn't saying to you right now, "Work more." He may be saying, "trust more." So often I'm acting as if I'm the builder. The Lord uses my efforts, sure. But success doesn't depend on my efforts. So often my frantic work is really the story of the old sinful, self-reliant, Ron. "I've got to do it. I've got to be in control." But I need help from God. I need God to be overseeing and actually doing it through me. Unless the Lord builds the house, you're wasting your time.
Maybe God wanted you to hear this today because you've kind of been depending on your own efforts to build something that isn't working. The "hurrieder" you go, the "behinder" you get. So quit acting as if it's all up to you. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure." If the Lord builds it, it won't fall down, and you won't be left holding a pole; holding your head with a bewildered look on your face.
Maybe the project isn't working simply because you are depending on the wrong builder. You know, that's why life doesn't work. That's why we end up watching a life falling down around us that we have tried to build, because we were never meant to build it. We were never meant to be the architect. The Bible says, "We were created by Christ and for Christ." And we've ended up living it for ourselves. That's why He died. That's why He went to a cross. That's why He walked out of His grace so He could rescue us from what our self-effort could never do. I could never get into heaven on my own. All the religion in the world will not get me there. It takes the Man who died for it.
Today, if life's been falling apart, it's time for you to grab the hand of Jesus extended to you today. I would love to help you begin your relationship with Him. Would you just go to our website ANewStory.com and let your new story begin today.
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