Max Lucado Daily: Pray About Everything
The moment you sense a problem, however large or small, take it to Christ.
“Max, if I take my problems to Jesus every time I have one, I’m going to be talking to Jesus all day long.”
Now you’re getting the point! An un-prayed for problem is an embedded thorn. It festers and infects the finger, then the hand, then the entire arm. Best to go straight to the person who has the tweezers. We can only wonder how many disasters would be averted if we would go first to Jesus?
Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.”
Sign on at BeforeAmen.com and every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes—simple, powerful prayers. It’ll change your prayer life forever!
Before Amen
Mark 12:1-27
Parable of the Evil Farmers
Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 2 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. 3 But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. 4 The owner then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head. 5 The next servant he sent was killed. Others he sent were either beaten or killed, 6 until there was only one left—his son whom he loved dearly. The owner finally sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’
7 “But the tenant farmers said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 8 So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
9 “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. 10 Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
11 This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is wonderful to see.’[a]”
12 The religious leaders[b] wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
Taxes for Caesar
13 Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”
Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin,[c] and I’ll tell you.” 16 When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
His reply completely amazed them.
Discussion about Resurrection
18 Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: 19 “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.[d] 20 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. 21 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. 22 This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. 23 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. 25 For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
26 “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses,[e] ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[f] 27 So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
Footnotes:
12:10-11 Ps 118:22-23.
12:12 Greek They.
12:15 Greek a denarius.
12:19 See Deut 25:5-6.
12:26a Greek in the story of the bush? God said to him.
12:26b Exod 3:6.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Read: Jeremiah 42:1-12
Warning to Stay in Judah
Then all the guerrilla leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah[a] son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached 2 Jeremiah the prophet. They said, “Please pray to the Lord your God for us. As you can see, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before. 3 Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go.”
4 “All right,” Jeremiah replied. “I will pray to the Lord your God, as you have asked, and I will tell you everything he says. I will hide nothing from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! 6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.”
7 Ten days later the Lord gave his reply to Jeremiah. 8 So he called for Johanan son of Kareah and the other guerrilla leaders, and for all the people, from the least to the greatest. 9 He said to them, “You sent me to the Lord, the God of Israel, with your request, and this is his reply: 10 ‘Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry about all the punishment I have had to bring upon you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore,’ says the Lord. ‘For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power. 12 I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.’
Footnotes:
42:1 Greek version reads Azariah; compare 43:2.
Shadowed
By Mart De Haan
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? —Psalm 27:1
Someone was shadowing me. In a darkened hallway, I turned the corner to go up a flight of stairs and was alarmed by what I saw, stopping dead in my tracks. It happened again a few days later. I came around the back of a favorite coffee shop and saw the large shape of a person coming at me. Both incidents ended with a smile, however. I’d been frightened by my own shadow!
The prophet Jeremiah talked about the difference between real and imagined fears. A group of his Jewish countrymen asked him to find out whether the Lord wanted them to stay in Jerusalem or return to Egypt for safety because they feared the king of Babylon (Jer. 42:1-3). Jeremiah told them that if they stayed and trusted God, they didn’t need to be afraid (vv.10-12). But if they returned to Egypt, the king of Babylon would find them (vv.15-16).
In a world of real dangers, God had given Israel reason to trust Him in Jerusalem. He had already rescued them from Egypt. Centuries later, the long-awaited Messiah died for us to deliver us from our own sin and fear of death. May our Almighty God show us today how to live in the security of His shadow, rather than in shadowy fears of our own making.
Trust when your skies are darkening,
Trust when your light grows dim,
Trust when the shadows gather,
Trust and look up to Him. —Anon.
Under the protecting shadow of God’s wing, the little shadows of life lose their terror.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Substitution
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
The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made. . . to be sin. . . .” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 , where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.
That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Father to the Finish - #7253
Many of the world's greatest dramas are not on a stage or a screen. They're played out in that quadrennial spectacle we call the Olympics. Maybe you remember the year Britain's representative in the 400-meter race, Derrick Redman, began to falter and went down in the back stretch with a torn right hamstring. Now, when I describe the scene, you'll know it's one of the great classic moments in Olympic history. As the medical attendants were approaching, Derrick Redman was fighting his way to his feet and he's limping along in anguish. Hopping, desperately trying to finish the race. He knew he wouldn't win; he was just trying to finish.
If you remember this at all, he reached that final stretch. And as he did, a large man in a tee-shirt forced his way out of the stands, ran up to Derrick and hugged him. That big man was Jim Redman, Derrick's Father. And he said to him, "Son, you don't have to do this." Gritting his teeth and with tears in his eyes, his son said, "Yes, I do." His Father said, "Then we are going to finish this together." And Derrick's head was literally buried in his Father's shoulder, but he stayed in his lane to the end. And when they crossed the finish line, the crowd who had been stunned at first, stood to their feet. They cheered and wept, and watched those two men finish that race together.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Father to the Finish."
Our word for today from the Word of God is a simple statement from Deuteronomy 1:30. It says this: "The Lord your God carried you as a Father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." Maybe today finds you very tired, banged up, stressed out. And like that 400-meter runner in the Olympics you're staggering right now. You're having a hard time finishing your race.
You started well. You've been running real hard, but you're about to go down. Maybe you've been hit by discouragement, or illness, you've got family trouble, a lack of support. It could be that there are obstacles. There's pain. You're just hurting and there's still a lot more race ahead of you.
Well, God wants to give you the good news that someone has left the stands to help you, and He's coming to the track to get you the rest of the way. It is your Father. It's your Heavenly Father. First, God left the stands to come to a cross, and there He rescued us from the sin wound that would have kept us from ever reaching heaven.
There's a rich promise here that when you're in the desert and you can't go on, the resources are dried up, you say, "Daddy, I can't go any farther." He said, "Then I will carry you." Right now, let's be honest. You're not going to make it alone. But today there is an all-powerful Father who's offering to carry you. But you've got to let Him. If you're too proud to collapse in His arms and surrender to His control, then your power is limited. You're not going to make it.
But if you will totally release the control and in the words of the Bible, "humble yourself" you will have all of your Father's power. Even little children know where the power is. They sing it in a little song "Jesus Loves Me". It says, "They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me."
Each of us reaches days when we just don't have any more to give. Maybe you're there right now. It's those moments in the race that can take you deeper into the love and the power of Jesus than you have ever been before. Your Father is not a spectator in the stands today. His arm is around you right now where you are.
And it could be you have never established your own personal relationship with God as your Father made possible by the death of His Son, Jesus, on a cross for the sin that has separated you from God for a lifetime, and will forever unless that wall comes down. And He has come down. He has come down to a cross; all the way down to die and to pay for you. That's how much He loves you. You don't have to do life alone any more – never again.
You have spent your last day alone if you will this day invite this Jesus to be your Savior from your sin, which I would be so privileged to help you do if you would just visit our website and find out there what the Bible says about how to get started with Him. Go to ANewStory.com, because the voice of God is saying to you today, "You're not doing this alone. From now on we will finish this race together."