Max Lucado Daily: A New Plan
As children, the minute we got home from school we would hit the pavement. The kid across the street had a dad with a great arm and a strong addiction to football. He couldn't resist when we would yell for him to play ball. He'd always ask, "Which team is losing?" Then he'd join that team, which often seemed to be mine. His appearance changed the whole ball game. He was confident, strong, and most of all, had a plan. "Okay boys, here's what we are going to do." You see, we not only had a new plan, we had a new leader. He brought new life to our team.
God does precisely the same. We didn't need a new play; we needed a new plan. We needed a new player, Jesus Christ, God's firstborn Son. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."
From In the Grip of Grace
Leviticus 1
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
3 “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. 4 You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. 5 You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 6 You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. 7 The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. 9 You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
10 “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, you are to offer a male without defect. 11 You are to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. 12 You are to cut it into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. 13 You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
14 “‘If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. 15 The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. 16 He is to remove the crop and the feathers[a] and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. 17 He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Read: Psalm 27:7-14
Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, Lord;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
Insight
Many of the psalms are prayers to God, and many are songs to encourage others concerning the goodness and love of God. Today's psalm contains both elements. While David cries out to God for guidance and protection in verses 7-13, he ends his psalm with a message to the reader (v.14). Taking the lessons and thoughts expressed in his prayer, David encourages the reader to trust the Lord and wait upon Him as he has done.
A Heart For Prayer
By Anne Cetas
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” —Psalm 27:8
While traveling on an airplane with her 4- and 2-year-old daughters, a young mom worked at keeping them busy so they wouldn’t disturb others. When the pilot’s voice came over the intercom for an announcement, Catherine, the younger girl, paused from her activities and put her head down. When the pilot finished, she whispered, “Amen.” Perhaps because there had been a recent natural disaster, she thought the pilot was praying.
Like that little girl, I want a heart that turns my thoughts toward prayer quickly. I think it would be fair to say that the psalmist David had that kind of heart. We get hints of that in Psalm 27 as he speaks of facing difficult foes (v.2). He said, “Your face, Lord, I will seek” (v.8). Some say that David was remembering the time he was fleeing from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10) or from his son Absalom (2 Sam. 15:13-14) when he wrote this psalm. Prayer and dependence on God were in the forefront of David’s thinking, and he found Him to be his sanctuary (Ps. 27:4-5).
We need a sanctuary as well. Perhaps reading or praying this psalm and others could help us to develop that closeness to our Father-God. As God becomes our sanctuary, we’ll more readily turn our hearts toward Him in prayer.
Teach me, Father, what it means to run to
and have You as my sanctuary. Help me not to
worry about the words I say, but just to express my
heart to You and to nestle down close to You.
In prayer, God can still our hearts and quiet our minds.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Praying to God in Secret
When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place . . . —Matthew 6:6
The primary thought in the area of religion is— keep your eyes on God, not on people. Your motivation should not be the desire to be known as a praying person. Find an inner room in which to pray where no one even knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret. Have no motivation other than to know your Father in heaven. It is impossible to carry on your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer.
“When you pray, do not use vain repetitions . . .” (Matthew 6:7). God does not hear us because we pray earnestly— He hears us solely on the basis of redemption. God is never impressed by our earnestness. Prayer is not simply getting things from God— that is only the most elementary kind of prayer. Prayer is coming into perfect fellowship and oneness with God. If the Son of God has been formed in us through regeneration (see Galatians 4:19), then He will continue to press on beyond our common sense and will change our attitude about the things for which we pray.
“Everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). We pray religious nonsense without even involving our will, and then we say that God did not answer— but in reality we have never asked for anything. Jesus said, “. . . you will ask what you desire. . .” (John 15:7). Asking means that our will must be involved. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, He spoke with wonderful childlike simplicity. Then we respond with our critical attitude, saying, “Yes, but even Jesus said that we must ask.” But remember that we have to ask things of God that are in keeping with the God whom Jesus Christ revealed.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Cross on Wheels - #7222
A while back I had the privilege of being in South Florida over Easter weekend. And between the meetings I was speaking for, we took a short drive out on the Florida Keys. It was Good Friday afternoon, and I saw a sight there that really got my attention. We were just cruising along, and all of a sudden we saw this small group of people who were walking along the side of the road. What was unusual was the man in front. He was carrying a large, full-sized cross on his shoulders. Well, not exactly carrying. I actually did a double-take. I might have swerved the car a little bit. The cross was on wheels.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Cross On Wheels."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 6. And we're going to read at verse 14. Jesus has just done this astonishing miracle of feeding 5,000 people from one lunch. It says, "After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, 'Surely this is the prophet who has come into the world.'" Well, they all follow Him when He crosses the lake and they still want to be with Him. Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for Me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill."
These are people who loved following Jesus when it was exciting and when there was something in it for them. But, when Jesus turns to them and begins to talk about His cross, something happens. Verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world." Now He's talking about flesh and blood and dying on a cross.
And by verse 66, here are these poignant words. It says, "From that moment on many of them turned away and walked no more with Him." They abandoned Jesus when the issue of cost came up. In the verses that follow, Jesus turns to His disciples and says, "Will you also go away?" And they answer, "Who will we go to? You're the only one who has anything that lasts."
This scene has actually in a sense been replayed over and over for 2,000 years, very possibly in your own life. When following Jesus gets hard, starts to hurt, to cost, we wander off. Jesus said, "If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." That's Luke 9:23. Jesus asks no more of us than He did of himself. In fact, nowhere near. But He clarifies that this is more than just believing beliefs, and going to the meetings, and giving offerings, and obeying rules, and doing some spiritual things. Following Jesus is about self-abandonment; about forfeiting the self-running of your life; doing what He says no matter what it costs. He offers a cross, not a couch.
We like to be identified with Him without it being too demanding. Like a cross on wheels! You know what? There isn't one available. Maybe you've been trying to take the soft road spiritually. You've been drawing a line with a point where you stop following Christ, where you un-follow. Maybe when you reach the point of losing something you value or when it might mean surrendering a relationship you want to keep for yourself, or changing your plans, or forsaking a favorite sin even though it's a sin that literally killed your Savior.
But haven't you found that discount Christianity is limp and powerless, boring? The real thing is found only in a total surrender to the Lord, Jesus Christ and finally letting the cross of Jesus break your heart, capture your heart, and telling Him, "I don't care what it costs, Jesus. Help yourself to me." The cheap stuff is worth what you pay for it.
Your heart is hungry for the kind of bonding with the Lord Jesus that belongs only to those who abandon safety and who abandon comfort to fully follow Him. You say, "Well, boy, it costs a lot to follow Christ, huh?" Yeah, but it costs a lot more not to follow Him. It's called a waste of life.
Remember, Jesus said, "Take up your cross daily." If you're looking for a cross on wheels, give it up. His cross didn't have any. Neither can yours.