Max Lucado Daily: The Summit
Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened" (Matthew 11:28).
I wish I could say it happens all the time; but it doesn't. Sometimes He asks and I don't listen. Other times He asks and I just don't go. But sometimes I follow. I leave behind the deadlines, the schedule and walk the narrow trail up the mountain with Him.
You've been there. You've turned your back on the noise and sought His voice. You've stepped away from the masses and followed the Master as He led you up the winding path to the summit. The roar of the marketplace is down there, the perspective of the peak is up here.
He gently reminds you, "You'll go nowhere tomorrow that I haven't already been." "The victory is already yours." "My delight is one decision away-seize it!" Ah, the words on the sacred summit. A place of permanence in a world of transition.
From The Applause of Heaven
Revelation 5
New International Version (NIV)
The Scroll and the Lamb
5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign[b] on the earth.”
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Footnotes:
Revelation 5:6 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
Revelation 5:10 Some manuscripts they reign
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 24:44-53
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The Ascension of Jesus
50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Insight
In today’s passage, Jesus teaches that all Scripture—the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms—direct us to Him. Paul underscores this point in his second letter to the young pastor Timothy. He reminds Timothy of the purpose of Scripture: “to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
As Below, So Above
January 9, 2014 — by Philip Yancey
You are witnesses of these things. . . . but tarry in the city . . . until you are endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:48-49
The Roman paganism of Jesus’ day taught that the actions of gods in the heavens above affected the earth below. If Zeus got angry, thunderbolts shot out. “As above, so below,” went the ancient formula.
Jesus, though, sometimes inverted that. He taught: As below, so above. A believer prays, and heaven responds. A sinner repents, and the angels rejoice. A mission succeeds, and God is glorified. A believer rebels, and the Holy Spirit is grieved.
I believe these things, yet somehow I keep forgetting them. I forget that my prayers matter to God. I forget that the choices I make today bring delight or grief to the Lord of the universe. I forget that I am helping my neighbors to their eternal destinations.
The good-news message of God’s love that Jesus brought to this earth we can now bring to others. That was the challenge He gave His disciples before ascending to His Father (see Matt. 28:18-20). We who follow Jesus serve as an extension of His incarnation and ministry. It is why He came to earth. Before He left, He told His disciples that He would send His Spirit from above to them below (Luke 24:48). He did not leave us alone. He fills us with His power that we might touch lives here below to affect eternity.
You ascended before our eyes, and we turned back grieving, only to find You in our hearts. —Augustine
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 9, 2014
Prayerful Inner-Searching
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight.
We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Instant Access To a Bottomless Account - #7044
Thursday, January 9, 2014
I've got this card in my wallet that has bailed me out on several occasions. It has the simple word "Treasurer" on it. No, it has nothing to do with any offices that I hold; it's my bank card. Okay, so I go to the money machine at my bank, the ATM. You can just stick your card in and you get the money you need, provided there are some resources in your account to cover it. I guess the faster paced our lives get the more we need these quick fixes. We need instant access to the resources we need.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Instant Access To a Bottomless Account."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 4, and I'm going to read a verse that might be familiar to you in verse 16. "Let us, then, approach the Throne of Grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." There you go. You just heard about God's treasury account, and this is His instant access plan. You come to His Throne with confidence it says; that's the invitation.
Now, the word confidence, if you look it up in the original Greek that the New Testament was written in, literally means "outspokenness" or "plainness of speech". And it's often used to describe seriousness in the presence of somebody of high rank. So the first invitation, the way that you access God's grace for your particular need-the card you stick in-is to come to the Throne of Grace talking straight, talking frankly, talking seriously; reverently but honestly.
So when you come to pray, don't come with all your religious rhetoric. You come with straight talk just like you really are. You go to the treasury machine in our neighborhood and you don't pretend you're rolling in money. I go there and I know I'm broke. Well, I'm honest about that. It's my broke that brought me to the machine; that's why I'm there. This giving isn't automatic. You do have to go to the machine. You do have to approach the Throne of Grace with confidence. And you come, talking plainly and honestly about your need, about your sin, about your feelings, your doubts, the people in your life and you're honest.
When you do that, you find grace. That word found there means to discover or come upon. Surprise! I didn't expect to find this much grace! When you come and honestly unload your need on the Lord at His Throne of Grace He gives surprising grace. You say, "I didn't know there was grace available like this before." And it says when that happens it will help us in our time of need. And in our time of need, in the Greek language, was one word meaning "well timed." God's grace will come to you in a personal, customized way at just the right time.
The word "help" there is used only one other time in the Bible, in Acts 27, when they had to pull ropes underneath a ship to keep it from coming apart during a storm. And the word rope is that word help. It's what holds you together during your storm-God's grace. So you put it all together, and God invites us to come confidently, seriously talking straight. And we come to His Throne so that we can find surprising grace to hold us together during our storm.
You know, I wonder if you have ever experienced the grace of God for yourself. For it begins-your first approach to the Throne of God-when you come to Him with the sin of a lifetime and say, "Jesus' death on the cross is my only hope of having those sins erased." You don't come to God because you deserve it, because of what you've got in your moral bank. You come bankrupt and He says, "I will pour out My grace." It is amazing grace! If you have never experienced that, I hope today you will say, "God, I want today my record to be clean. I want to go to heaven. I want to be with You forever."
If I can help you begin that relationship with Him, then I invite you to join me at our website ANewStory.com. At the Throne of Grace, you will find powerful grace. But you've got to go for the grace this moment requires. You will find there a bottomless account supplied by the resources of Almighty God. You don't ever have to be emotionally or spiritually broke again.