Max Lucado Daily: Conversation With God
Mark 1:35 says, "Jesus went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed."
This dialogue must have been common among His friends:
"Has anyone seen Jesus?"
"Oh, you know. He's up to the same thing."
"Praying again?"
"Yep. He's been gone since sunrise."
Jesus would even disappear for an entire night of prayer. Prayer for most of us, isn't a matter of a month-long retreat or even an hour of meditation. It's a conversation with God while driving to work or waiting for an appointment.
God will teach you to pray. We speak, He listens. He speaks, we listen. This is prayer in its purest form. God changes His people through such moments.
Sign on at BeforeAmen.com-take the Prayer Strengths Assessment-then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Leviticus 15
Discharges Causing Uncleanness
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. 3 Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:
4 “‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. 5 Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 6 Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
7 “‘Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
8 “‘If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
9 “‘Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean, 10 and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
11 “‘Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
12 “‘A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water.
13 “‘When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean. 14 On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance to the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15 The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering[a] and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.
16 “‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 17 Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. 18 When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
19 “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
20 “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 22 Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.
24 “‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
25 “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. 26 Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. 27 Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
28 “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. 29 On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 30 The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.
31 “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,[b] which is among them.’”
32 These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, 33 for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Read: Ephesians 5:1-13
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.[a] 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
Footnotes:
Ephesians 5:5 Or kingdom of the Messiah and God
Insight
The church at Ephesus faced strong challenges to their faith, unity, and lifestyle. In his letter to them, Paul clearly stated what their response should be in verse 2 of today’s text. They were to imitate the heart of self-sacrificial love that Christ Jesus displayed on the cross.
Fly The Flag
By Joe Stowell
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. —Ephesians 5:1
Queen Elizabeth II has reigned over the British Empire for more than 60 years. Her monarchy has been characterized by grace and class. She has diligently given her life to serve her people well, and as a result she is deeply loved and highly revered. So, you can understand the importance of the flag flying above Buckingham Palace. When the flag is flying, it means that she is in residence in the heart of London. The flag is a public statement that the queen is present with her people.
As I was thinking about that, it occurred to me that our King Jesus is in residence in our hearts as our “never leave you nor forsake you” Monarch (Heb. 13:5). As wonderful as that is to us personally, I wonder if those around us would recognize that He is in residence based on the way we live? If He is within us, that will show on the outside. As Paul says, we are to be “imitators of God” and to “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us” (Eph. 5:1-2). As we do so, we will display joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
So let’s fly the flag of His presence—the flag of His grace, righteousness, and love—so that others may see Him through us.
Lord, remind me that Your presence in my heart
is intended to be a public reality. May I so value
all the blessings of Your presence that I am
willing to share them generously with others.
Fly the flag of Christ’s presence to show that the King is in residence in your life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . .” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Changing Hands, Changing Value - #7237
"I want to give you a boat!" Well, that's what Carl announced to me actually. See, he wanted to give it to the youth ministry I was working with at the time. And I was grateful, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with a boat. Carl had this little fishing boat, and honestly it was pretty run down. He couldn't use it because he had had a heart attack. And now he gave it to us to sell and get what we could for it. Well, we were really in a tight time financially, and so I accepted the boat. I asked a boating friend of mine how much it was worth. He said, "Boy, I think you might get $1,000 for it." And that's exactly what Carl said he would have sold it for.
We needed the money, so I recruited this work crew of 20 people, who went down to the Jersey Shore, we scraped off barnacles, we got new bottom paint on it, we scrubbed it, disinfected it, put up new curtains, serviced the engine, did the total makeover on that boat. Look what God did. We sold it for $4,200! Man, did the value of that vessel change when it changed hands!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Changing Hands, Changing Value."
Our word for today from the Word of God is in Luke 5, and I'm going to begin at verse 1. We're reading from an incident from the life of Simon Peter. "One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the people crowding around Him and listening to the Word of God, He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats; the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat." Now, later we are told that as Simon went out that he caught the greatest catch of fish he'd ever seen in his life. It was miracle day on Simon's boat.
Now, Simon didn't know this, but this is about to be a crossroads day in his life. Later he's going to know it. In fact it would re-chart the course of the rest of his life. He woke up a fisherman that day; he went to bed a disciple of Jesus. And it all started when his boat changed hands. His vessel was officially out of service that day, not doing much. He'd been out all night, hadn't caught anything, mending his nets, washing his nets, ready to go to bed. It's just another fishing boat as long as it's under Peter's command.
And then Jesus came. What was just a fishing boat suddenly becomes a pulpit for the Son of God. An ordinary vessel becomes a vehicle for God to do His work; to carry His message. You may not have a boat, but you probably have something that Jesus would like to put to work for Him.
I remember when my wife said, "I'm going to offer my camera to the Lord. I don't know what you can do with this, Lord, but you know I'm pretty good with a camera." And she's very gifted. Well, she ended up taking that camera on two mission trips and doing some wonderful media presentations for missions. She did many presentations for our ministry, showing what it meant to be a lost young person, and recruiting a lot of people to help with that. All because one day she said, "It's not my camera. Lord, I don't know what you can do with it, but it's Yours to do what you want." And the Lord did a lot with it!
It's just like that boat we were given. That camera really became more valuable when it changed hands, when it was taken out of her hands and put into the hands of Jesus. What do you have like that? You got a car, or computer, or some skill that you could teach people, maybe a house God could use, an apartment, maybe some recreational equipment? I don't know what it is. Maybe you can't even see how the Lord would ever use it.
I'm pretty sure Peter could never dream how the Lord would use a fishing boat. But the Son of God did wonderful things with that fishing boat, and as a result, even more with Peter's life. Look around you. What is there that you could surrender to Jesus for His use? He wants to make something you have, something you do, a vehicle for His work.
Turn it over to Him. Put it in better hands than yours, and you're going to be amazed at how much it can be worth in the miracle-working hands of Jesus Christ.
