Max Lucado Daily: God’s Faithfulness
Life has many unanswered questions, but be settled about God’s faithfulness to you! Romans 8:32 declares, If God “did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all,” will he not also give you all you need for a Promised Land life? God’s Word is sure!
And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the reminder that Scripture is powerful and a useful weapon against any stronghold. “All Scripture is God-breathed…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
I invite you to join me in a Scripture Memory Challenge. Let’s memorize together the verses in 2 Timothy 3:16-17! I’ll show you how easy it is at GloryDaysToday.com.
(watch the video for Max’s tips on scripture memorization :)
Psalm 144
A psalm of David.
1 Praise the Lord, who is my rock.
He trains my hands for war
and gives my fingers skill for battle.
2 He is my loving ally and my fortress,
my tower of safety, my rescuer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him.
He makes the nations[a] submit to me.
3 O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them,
mere mortals that you should think about them?
4 For they are like a breath of air;
their days are like a passing shadow.
5 Open the heavens, Lord, and come down.
Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.
6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
Shoot your arrows and confuse them!
7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
rescue me from deep waters,
from the power of my enemies.
8 Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God!
I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.
10 For you grant victory to kings!
You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.
11 Save me!
Rescue me from the power of my enemies.
Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.
12 May our sons flourish in their youth
like well-nurtured plants.
May our daughters be like graceful pillars,
carved to beautify a palace.
13 May our barns be filled
with crops of every kind.
May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands,
even tens of thousands,
14 and may our oxen be loaded down with produce.
May there be no enemy breaking through our walls,
no going into captivity,
no cries of alarm in our town squares.
15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord.
Footnotes:
144:2 Some manuscripts read my people.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Read: 1 Peter 5:1-9
Advice for Elders and Young Men
5 And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. 4 And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.
5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”[a]
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers[b] all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
Footnotes:
5:5 Prov 3:34 (Greek version).
5:9 Greek your brotherhood.
INSIGHT:
The apostle Peter wrote this letter to a church that was suffering persecution. In today’s passage he addressed the leaders of the church concerning their attitude, their motivation, and their method. He encouraged them to serve from a willing heart and not out of obligation (v. 2). They were to be motivated by the opportunity to serve, not by money (v.2). Finally, they were not to abuse their power, but to use their position as an opportunity to exemplify a life lived in service to Christ (v. 3). J.R. Hudberg
A Fishing Lesson
By David Egner
Resist [the devil], standing firm in the faith. 1 Peter 5:9
I was fishing quietly on the clear, still waters of Piatt Lake, casting next to a lush weedbed. I watched a large smallmouth bass sneak out of the thick vegetation to investigate. He approached the tempting night crawler on the end of my line, stared at it, and backed into the weeds. This happened several times until he spotted the hook. Then he whipped his tail and disappeared into his lair, never to come out again.
Satan dangles temptation, like a fishhook, right in front of us. It looks tasty. It promises gratification. But Satan’s power ends there. He cannot force us to take the hook. His power stops at the edge of our will—at our decision point. When we are warned by the Holy Spirit and decide to say no, Satan can do no more. James says he runs away (4:7).
As believers, we can receive great comfort from the words of the apostle Peter, who himself experienced great temptation (Matt. 26:33-35). In later life he wrote, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion . . . . Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Just as that big old bass ignored my hook, we can in God’s strength successfully resist Satan’s most enticing tactics!
Father in heaven, thank You for the promise of Your help when we are tempted and for the truth that Satan’s power is limited. Give us the wisdom to recognize temptation and the humility to rely on Your Spirit for the strength to resist.
Respond to the lies of Satan with the truth of God’s Word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The Missionary’s Master and Teacher
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
THE LION THAT STALKS US ALL - #7487
Wow, they had my attention when the reporter started talking about a young woman being attacked by a lion in a game park in South Africa. See, I've been to a game park in South Africa where lions roam freely. And the lions were an issue.
My South African friend, Ted, was driving me through this massive game reserve during a break at the conference where I was speaking. It was winter at that time. The grass was tall. He said, "You'll see the big animals - but not the cats. Oh they'll be there - in the grass." I've got to tell you, it was amazing to drive behind two slow-moving giraffes and ostriches. We didn't try to pass. We got behind some zebras.
I'll never forget the once-in-a-lifetime sight of 30 elephants all ages and sizes. They were having a family meeting right next to the road. For the first time since we entered the park, I started to get out of the car to take pictures.
My friend made one comment: "I'll watch your back." When I asked him what he meant, he said, "Well, there have been four tourists mauled to death by lions in the past few months." You know, it's surprising what great pictures you can get through the window of a car!!! I nearly lost my head ducking back into the car!
Sadly, the young woman who was mauled to death hadn't even gotten out of the car. She just had her window rolled down. But a lioness, with her cubs nearby, leaped through the window to attack. I thought about Ted's "watch your back" and how that lion killed that woman and only needed an open window.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Lion That Stalks Us All."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 5:8. Here's a sobering picture from the Bible; a picture of the clear and present danger all of us humans face from the lion from hell. It says, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." And then there's this "watch your back" warning from God in Ephesians 4:26, "Do not give the devil a foothold."
The devil doesn't mind if people don't take him seriously. In fact, he prefers it so he can do deadly damage before we ever realize what's happening. And it only takes one open window for your spiritual enemy to get in, and he pounces on your carelessness.
That one click to check out that website. The one night with friends who bring you down. The extended time alone with that person you have feelings for. That first thought of leaving your marriage. It doesn't take much. One dark secret. One "white lie." Bitterness that you bury. A small compromise. A little gossip. An innocent "flirtation". Those angry, wounding words. Devilish opportunities, that's what they are; open windows to tragedy.
The lion from hell only needs an opening to ultimately destroy a life, a reputation, a marriage, a future. He never tells you where this little detour will take you. If you knew, you would keep the window closed. The Bible says, "Desire, when it has conceived, "gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:15).
The lion is strong but I am not defenseless. My Savior is stronger. The Bible says Jesus is "the someone stronger who attacks and overpowers" the enemy of our soul (Luke 11:22). He did, in fact in the Bible's words, "triumph" over all the forces of darkness "by His cross" (Colossians 1:15).
When He is invited into a life, He brings all the power that raised Him from the dead. He is the death-beater - the "lion tamer" - because He offered up His life to pay for human sin and break its hold.
I don't know if you've ever taken for yourself what He died to give you, and to give you finally power over all the forces of darkness around you and in you. You can do that today. Say, "Jesus, I'm yours." You want to know more about how that happens, go to our website ANewStory.com. Or text us at 442-244-WORD.
See, when the devil comes knocking, you send Jesus to the door and you keep your windows closed.
