Max Lucado Daily: Certain Victory
"It's time to declare war on the pestilence that goes by the name, I can't. It attacks our self-control with I can't keep a job and it attacks our marriages with I can't forgive. It even attacks our faith with I can't believe God cares for me.
Had Joshua mumbled those words, who would've blamed him? Joshua 1:1 begins with bad news, "Moses, my servant, is dead." To lose Moses was to lose the cause. Imagine the dismay, the grief, the fear! And yet, God told Joshua, "Moses is dead. Now therefore, arise." Moses may be dead, but God is alive! Even so, Joshua had reason to say, I can't. Moses was dead. And the Canaanites ate folks like the Israelites for breakfast! But Joshua never declared defeat. God gave him reason for faith. Victory was certain because the victory was God's! The same is true for you.
From Glory Days
Psalm 101
A psalm of David.
1 I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.
I will praise you with songs.
2 I will be careful to live a blameless life—
when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
3 I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
I will have nothing to do with them.
4 I will reject perverse ideas
and stay away from every evil.
5 I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
I will not endure conceit and pride.
6 I will search for faithful people
to be my companions.
Only those who are above reproach
will be allowed to serve me.
7 I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,
and liars will not stay in my presence.
8 My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked
and free the city of the Lord from their grip.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14–3:3
Ministers of the New Covenant
14 But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?
17 You see, we are not like the many hucksters[a] who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.
3 Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! 2 The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our[b] hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. 3 Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
Footnotes:
2:17 Some manuscripts read the rest of the hucksters.
3:2 Some manuscripts read your.
INSIGHT:
Paul had a strained relationship with the church in Corinth. Within this troubled church were those who undermined unity, holy living, and sound doctrine. The Corinthian church was the recipient of three visits and multiple letters from the apostle Paul. Yet despite all the problems the church was facing—doubting Paul’s authority, allowing and perhaps bragging about sin, suggesting there is no resurrection—Paul continually reassured them of both his own affection and God’s affection for them. Paul’s message is clear—for Corinth and for us. Yes, we will experience problems that need to be corrected, but our position in Christ is secure. J.R. Hudberg
A Fragrance and a Letter
By Lawrence Darmani
We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:15
Every time I get close to a rosebush or a bouquet of flowers, I’m unable to resist the temptation to pull a flower toward my nose to savor the fragrance. The sweet aroma lifts up my heart and triggers good feelings within me.
Writing to the Christians in Corinth centuries ago, the apostle Paul says that because we belong to Christ, God “uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor. 2:14). Through His strength we can live a victorious life, exchanging our selfishness for His love and kindness and proclaiming the goodness of His salvation. When we do this, we are indeed a sweet fragrance to God.
Paul then switches to a second image, describing Christians as a “letter from Christ” (3:3). The letter of our lives is not written with ordinary ink, but by the Spirit of God. God changes us by writing His Word on our hearts for others to read.
Both word pictures encourage us to allow the beauty of Christ to be seen in us so we can point people to Him. He is the One who, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:2, “loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Lord, let Your splendor fill my life, that I may draw people to You. Help me walk in the way that spreads the fragrance of Your love to others.
Our actions speak louder than our words.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Do It Yourself (2)
…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ… —2 Corinthians 10:5
Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, “…I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ….” So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord’s life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father’s will— “the Son can do nothing of Himself…” (John 5:19). Then compare this with what we do— we take “every thought” or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.
Practical work for Christians is greatly overemphasized today, and the saints who are “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity” are criticized and told that they are not determined, and that they lack zeal for God or zeal for the souls of others. But true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity,” but are simply doing work for God that has been instigated by their own human nature, and has not been made spiritual through determined discipline.
We have a tendency to forget that a person is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation, but is also committed, responsible, and accountable to Jesus Christ’s view of God, the world, and of sin and the devil. This means that each person must recognize the responsibility to “be transformed by the renewing of [his] mind….” (Romans 12:2).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
What God Looks For In A Person He Can Use - #7478
Well, with a whole lot of people who want to be President of the United States in an upcoming election, I was looking back at something that happened years ago. Actually it was the 1996 election, and a very interesting issue arose. It was called character. At least the Republicans tried to make that the issue of the campaign - the President's character. They thought they had enough troubling questions about the Democratic leadership that character questions could help turn the tide in the race. Well, to the surprise of many commentators, it was not an issue that many Americans consider decisive. In fact, during the campaign, here is what a front page article in a major news paper had to say about the "Character Counts Campaign". They said, "The message voters are sending back is that they don't care." Interesting! I think that's true many times when there's a fall in church leadership, or when there's a problem with a presidential or congressional candidate, or a governor candidate. Voters kind of go, "It's the performance that gets our vote, not character." Well, not everyone votes that way.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What God Looks For In A Person He Can Use."
Actually, the character vote is the one that ultimately is the one that really counts. Do you have God's vote? Do you have His full blessing, His smile, all the wonderful rewards that go with having God's approval for the way you're living? Well, here's what God bases His vote on when it comes to you and me.
King David talks about it in 2 Samuel 22:25. One characteristic: "The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in His sight." See, human supporters want to know you're just doing a good job. If you're delivering, you're performing, that's fine. Character? We're not so concerned about. God's approval is based much more on your character than your performance, than your talent.
David said the good things that God has done in his life were based on one thing; his personal cleanness. David's words remind me of what Paul says qualifies a person to be an instrument of God. He said in 2 Timothy 2, "If a man cleanses himself, he will then be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, (I love these words.) useful to the Master." What an epitaph for your life - useful to the Master.
Now, who does God reward? Who does God use? It's obvious. It's the person who's clean. This is good news really, because God's work in and through your life isn't based on how intelligent you are, how many degrees you have, how good looking you are, how educated, how charismatic your personality is, how impressive your resume is, who you know. Those are things only some people have. But God puts this within the reach of all of us, within your reach. He's looking for someone who's keeping himself or herself clean. That's something anyone can be.
Right now the Lord is surveying the earth. The Bible says, "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth." He's looking for people He can bless, people He can trust, someone He can use. It could be you if you would root out the sin that's holding you back and make your choices based on one thing, "What's the clean thing to do?"
In college, the fellow next door to me always wanted to be like Billy Graham. His method was to take Billy Graham's sermon, analyze it, and he even had down how many words the evangelist averaged a minute. And then he tried to copy his style as closely as he could. Now, what my friend was missing was this, God was using Billy Graham, not because of how he preaches, but because of how he lives.
If you want to copy a great spiritual leader, don't copy what he or she does. Copy their integrity, their purity, their uncompromising biblical principles, their walk with God. When God casts His vote for you, it's not about your performance. It's about your character. Be a candidate for the awesome blessing of Almighty God.