Max Lucado Daily: Recovering Prayer Wimp
Yes, I'm a prayer wimp-but a recovering prayer wimp. Not where I long to be, but not where I was. Before amen-comes the power of a simple prayer. This simple, easy to remember, pocket-size prayer has become a cherished friend.
"Father, You are good. I need help. Heal me and forgive me.
They need help. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen."
Jesus' disciples faced angry waves and a watery grave. You face angry clients, a turbulent economy, raging seas of stress and sorrow. As you begin your morning, "Father, you are good." As you commute to work or walk the hallways at school, "I need help." As you wait in the grocery line, "They need help." Keep this prayer in your pocket as you pass through the day. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and His child.
From Before Amen
Leviticus 19
Holiness in Personal Conduct
The Lord also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3 “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God.
4 “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly so you[a] will be accepted by God. 6 The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 7 If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it. 8 Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community.
9 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.
11 “Do not steal.
“Do not deceive or cheat one another.
12 “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.
13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.
“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
14 “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.
15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.
16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.[b]
“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.
17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.[c] Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.
18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 “You must obey all my decrees.
“Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.
20 “If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased but who is committed to become another man’s wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death. 21 The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offering and present it to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[d] 22 The priest will then purify him[e] before the Lord with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man’s sin will be forgiven.
23 “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden.[f] Do not eat it. 24 In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise. 25 Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God.
26 “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood.
“Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.
27 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.
28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.
29 “Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness.
30 “Keep my Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.
32 “Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the Lord.
33 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. 34 Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 “Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or volume. 36 Your scales and weights must be accurate. Your containers for measuring dry materials or liquids must be accurate.[g] I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord.”
19:5 Or it.
19:16 Hebrew Do not act as a merchant toward your own people.
19:17 Hebrew for your brother.
19:21 Hebrew Tent of Meeting.
19:22 Or make atonement for him.
19:23 Hebrew consider it uncircumcised.
19:36 Hebrew Use an honest ephah [a dry measure] and an honest hin [a liquid measure].
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 13, 2014
Read: Proverbs 25:11-15
Timely advice is lovely,
like golden apples in a silver basket.
12 To one who listens, valid criticism
is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry.
13 Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer.
They revive the spirit of their employer.
14 A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it
is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
15 Patience can persuade a prince,
and soft speech can break bones.
Insight
Hebrew poetry (such as psalms and proverbs) differs greatly from Western poetry. Where Western poetry often depends upon rhyme and meter to artistically tell its tale, Hebrew poetry is dependent upon linguistic devices to paint the picture of the ideas it is seeking to convey. One such device, synonymous parallelism, is found in verse 15. Here, the idea of the first half of the verse is reinforced through a reworded repetition of that idea in the second half of the verse. Another common poetic device is found in verses 11-14, where analogies (notice the word like) form the word-pictures that carry the meaning.
Timely Words
By Marvin Williams
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. —Proverbs 25:11
You may have heard the adage, “Timing is everything.” According to the Bible, good timing applies to our words and speech too. Think of a time when God used you to bring a timely word to refresh someone, or when you wanted to speak, but it was wiser for you to remain silent.
The Bible says that there is an appropriate time to speak (Eccl. 3:7). Solomon compared properly timed and well-spoken words with golden apples in a silver setting—beautiful, valuable, and carefully crafted (Prov. 25:11-12). Knowing the right time to speak is beneficial for both the speaker and hearer, whether they are words of love, encouragement, or rebuke. Keeping silent also has its place and time. When tempted to deride, belittle, or slander a neighbor, Solomon said that it is wise to hold our tongue, recognizing the appropriate time for silence (11:12-13). When talkativeness or anger tempts us to sin against God or another human being, resistance comes by being slow to speak (10:19; James 1:19).
It’s often hard to know what to say and when to say it. The Spirit will help us to be discerning. He will help us use the right words at the right time and in the right manner, for the good of others and for His honor.
Heavenly Father, thank You for using others to
speak words of encouragement and challenge to
me. Help me to be wise in how and when my words
or my silence may be helpful to someone else.
Timely words are works of art.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 13, 2014
Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth
. . . when Moses was grown . . . he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens —Exodus 2:11
Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, ” ’. . . bring My people . . . out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ’Who am I that I should go . . . ?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God.
We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, “Who am I that I should go . . . ?” We must learn that God’s great stride is summed up in these words— “I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). We must also learn that our individual effort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 13, 2014
Right Answers Under Pressure - #7241
I've never really been addicted to TV game shows. But years ago, my son got me to kind of be interested in one. It is called Jeopardy. Three contestants, given several categories ranging from U.S. presidents to cat food, and the contestant picks a dollar value question. The host gives the answer to the question in that category. Then the three contestants vie to see who can get the right question, because the right answer is the question. I think you get that. Do you? Some of them do very well and they win lots of money; others just kind of fold up. I said to my son, "Look at those people! They wind up in the hole with their money! How did they get on the show?" He reminded me, "Dad, it's hard to come up with right answers when you have all that pressure on you."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Right Answers Under Pressure."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Nehemiah chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. Now, we all know the feeling of those Jeopardy contestants. The pressure's on, the right answer is needed. Maybe you're in a conversation with your boss, or your parents, or you're dealing with one of your children on an important key issue, or you're trying to speak to a friend about the Lord.
Well, Nehemiah knew that feeling. He is the king's cup bearer as a Jewish exile in Persia. He'd heard of the shape that his city – God's city, Jerusalem – was in, and he had a burden from the Lord to go and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. He knew he would need the king's help to do that. He knew he would need time off from his royal job. And he didn't quite know how he was going to bring all this up with the most powerful man in the world who was his boss-the King of Persia.
He says, "I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This could be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, 'May the king live forever!" Which is a good way to start with kings, by the way. "Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruin and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?'" Drum roll please! Man, everything hinges on this answer "Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king."
From this point on the king becomes his ally in this great, historic cause. Now, this is a conversation you might say changed the course of history, as the walls and gates of Jerusalem do end up getting rebuilt. Maybe your issue isn't quite that cosmic, but you do need God's help for some important conversation.
Here is how he displays his hand in important conversations. First, there's a divine nudge. See, Nehemiah had been praying about this situation for some time. So God said, "There's a need I want to address, and I want to address it through you, Nehemiah." See, God will put this burden on your heart; this divine nudge.
Secondly, there's a natural opportunity. You'll think, "How in the world am I going to get into this conversation? How am I going to bring this up? How am I going to get it started?" Listen, ask God for a natural opportunity. Nehemiah actually was asked the magic question by the king, "What is it you want?" Could you serve it up any better than that? Just ask God for an open door like that and then look for the opening when it comes.
Thirdly, there is an inspired answer. Nehemiah gave a tremendous answer to the king's question, and it launched a whole change of events. After you're done, you're probably going to say, "Who said that? I didn't even know I knew that." Well, God wants to give you the answers. The key is what Nehemiah did. "I prayed to the God of heaven and then I answered." Talk to the God of heaven before you talk to the person on earth, before you answer that call, before you answer that email, before you respond, get all prayed up. And even if you're scared like Nehemiah was, go ahead to the opportunity. God will open the door.
We're all playing Jeopardy and we're coming up with right answers under pressure. But it's because we have a direct pipeline to the One who has all the right answers. Let God come up with your answer.