Max Lucado Daily: Strength in Prayer
Jesus prayed! He would even disappear for an entire night of prayer. I’m thinking of one night in particular. The day began with the news of the death of John the Baptist. Grief-stricken, Jesus sought to retreat with His disciples, yet spent the day teaching and healing people who followed him. When it was discovered the crowd had no food, Jesus multiplied bread out of a basket and fed the entire multitude. In the span of a few hours, he battled sorrow, stress, demands and needs. He deserved to rest. Yet when evening came, he told the crowd to leave and the disciples to board their boat.
Mark 6:46 tells us, “He went up into the hills by himself to pray.” Lord, teach us to pray like that! To find strength in prayer. Teach us to experience a heart connection with God instead of settling for a prayer wish list for God!
From Before Amen
BeforeAmen_med
Numbers 8
Setting Up the Lamps
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the lamps, see that all seven light up the area in front of the lampstand.’”
3 Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 This is how the lampstand was made: It was made of hammered gold—from its base to its blossoms. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the Lord had shown Moses.
The Setting Apart of the Levites
5 The Lord said to Moses: 6 “Take the Levites from among all the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. 7 To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. And so they will purify themselves. 8 Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.[g] 9 Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting and assemble the whole Israelite community. 10 You are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them. 11 Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the Lord.
12 “Then the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, using one for a sin offering to the Lord and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the Lord. 14 In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.
15 “After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the tent of meeting. 16 They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman. 17 Every firstborn male in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself. 18 And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in Israel. 19 From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”
20 Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses. 21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them. 22 After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses.
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, 25 but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. 26 They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”
Numbers 8:8 Or purification offering; also in verse 12
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, November 06, 2014
Read: Job 39:19-25
“Have you given the horse its strength
or clothed its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrifying!
21 It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength
when it charges out to battle.
22 It laughs at fear and is unafraid.
It does not run from the sword.
23 The arrows rattle against it,
and the spear and javelin flash.
24 It paws the ground fiercely
and rushes forward into battle when the ram’s horn blows.
25 It snorts at the sound of the horn.
It senses the battle in the distance.
It quivers at the captain’s commands and the noise of battle.
Insight
In the midst of his pain (Job 1–3), Job seeks to understand why he has to suffer so much. Instead of explaining why He allowed evil to exist or human beings to suffer (chs. 4–37), God confronted and confounded Job with more questions concerning His creation. Job 38–42 is not an explanation of why man has to suffer, but a revelation of who God is! God reveals Himself as Creator (ch. 38), Sustainer (ch. 39), and Controller of all creation (chs. 40–42). Job didn’t need to fully understand cosmology, meteorology, zoology, hippology, or God’s immutable ways (Isa. 55:8-9). He only needed to trust the omnipotent and transcendent Creator God who is “very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11; see Job 42:2-3).
Horse Power
By Dave Branon
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. —Psalm 139:14
Think for a moment of the power, beauty, and majesty of a galloping horse—his head held high, his mane flying in the wind, and his legs working in unison to provide speed, power, and abandon.
What a wonderful example of God’s magnificent creation is the horse! God created it not just for our amazement and enjoyment but also as a complement to the human race (Job 39). Properly trained, the horse is fearless when we need a courageous companion. The horse was used to carry the soldier faithfully into conflict with speed (v.24) and anticipation (v.25).
Although God was using creation to teach Job about His sovereignty, we can also be reminded through this passage about our own value in God’s world. We are created not simply as a beautiful creature with a job to do but also as a creature made in God’s image. The power of the horse is amazing, but the value of each human transcends all other creatures.
God created us uniquely to have a relationship with Him and to live with Him forever. While we praise God for the magnificence of the creatures of nature, we also stand in awe that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14).
Thank You, our Almighty God and Father, for Your
creation. You have provided so many majestic
creatures for us to enjoy, but help us to recognize
with thankfulness the special place we have in creation.
Of all God’s creation, only humans can experience re-creation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 06, 2014
Intimate Theology
Do you believe this? —John 11:26
Martha believed in the power available to Jesus Christ; she believed that if He had been there He could have healed her brother; she also believed that Jesus had a special intimacy with God, and that whatever He asked of God, God would do. But— she needed a closer personal intimacy with Jesus. Martha’s theology had its fulfillment in the future. But Jesus continued to attract and draw her in until her belief became an intimate possession. It then slowly emerged into a personal inheritance— “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ…” (John 11:27).
Is the Lord dealing with you in the same way? Is Jesus teaching you to have a personal intimacy with Himself? Allow Him to drive His question home to you— “Do you believe this?” Are you facing an area of doubt in your life? Have you come, like Martha, to a crossroads of overwhelming circumstances where your theology is about to become a very personal belief? This happens only when a personal problem brings the awareness of our personal need.
To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone.
Then, when I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and He says to me, “Do you believe this?” I find that faith is as natural as breathing. And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, November 06, 2014
Living Up to Your Name - #7259
One of the good things about our yard was all the trees we had. One of the really bad things about our yard was all the trees we had; in the Fall that is. See, our town required the bagging of leaves, and we had the exciting challenge of raking and bagging over 100 bags every year! And as the kids left home, one by one, guess what...my labor force dwindled to one. Guess who?
Well, one day I was out there raking away-The Lone Raker. And suddenly an angel arrived in the yard. Well no, actually, it was our eight-year-old next door neighbor, Samantha. But she must be an angel. She said she wanted to help, and help she did. She raked, she bagged, she said, "Any time I hear you raking, I'm going to come over and help!" Man, this girl must have specially tailored sweaters to cover her wings. Well as Samantha was going for another bag, she told me why she'd come. She said, "My name means Someone Who Helps, so I'm helping." I love that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Up to Your Name."
Now, the girl next door has been named Helper, and she's living up to her name. People usually do live up to the names they're called...for better or worse. Acts chapter 4, verse 36, the Bible identifies a man who will become a trusted and important leader of the early Christian church. It calls him "Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement." Well later we see Barnabas go into action when the Christians are trying to decide how to handle the most notorious convert they had-Saul of Tarsus; the man who until recently had been the number one persecutor of the followers of Christ. But now he had met Christ.
Okay, our word for today from the Word of God: Acts 9:26, "He tried to join the apostles, but they were all afraid of him; not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles." Barnabas introduces Saul and opens the door for him to the apostles. Here's the Son of Encouragement putting an arm around a new believer and giving him a chance when no one else will.
That's the story of Barnabas's life. In chapter 11 we're told that the believers (who were almost all Jewish at this point) weren't sure how to respond to the news that Gentiles were coming to Christ in Antioch. Guess who they sent to check it out? "They sent Barnabas," it says. "When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord." What did he do? "Encouraged them all," what else would you expect from Mr. Encouragement?
Later, when Barnabas and Paul have a disagreement on a young missionary named Mark, it's Barnabas who takes a chance on this young man who actually flunked out once as a missionary and he disciples him into leadership. The point's obvious. Just like Samantha next door, Barnabas became what he was called; he did what his name indicated he would do.
Do the people around you remember and probably act out the names that they've been called? You know as parents I think we forget the power of our words to make our children feel very big or very small. Call them lazy, or stupid, or rebel, or uncaring. Chances are, that will imprint the tape in their heart and it'll play back their whole life. Think of how that affected you and how even as a grown up, maybe you're still playing back those tapes. They'll become what you call them. That's why it's so important to consistently call them what we want them to become; caring, unselfish, helper, listener, creative. Even when you see just a flash of a great trait, tell them how much that means to you.
Our mate tends to become what we call them; our workers, the people we minister to. And it's important to water what you want to grow with positive strokes and sincere praise. So look for the beauty in each person in your world. Look for the gifts they have; for a spark of what they could be if someone would just fan that spark. What you're really doing is helping a person see the masterpiece God made when He made them; the make-a-difference person that Jesus can make them.
I'm personally very thankful for some parents who called their daughter Helper. She was becoming what she'd been called, and you know what? That could happen to the people around you. So be sure you call them what Jesus would call them.
