Max Lucado Daily: AT THE RIGHT MOMENT
Satan tried to write his own story in which he was the hero and God was an afterthought. He admitted as much when he said, “I will ascend to the heavens…I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).
Satan wanted to take God’s place, but God wasn’t and is not moving. Satan wants to win you to his side, but God will never let you go. You have his word! Even more, you have his help! Scripture says, “For our high priest (Jesus) is able to understand our weaknesses…he was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. Let us then, come before God’s throne where there is grace to help us when we need it” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
You don’t have to face Satan alone. We shout, and God runs—at the right moment.
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 3
Descendants of David
These are the sons of David who were born in Hebron:
The oldest was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel.
The second was Daniel, whose mother was Abigail from Carmel.
2 The third was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur.
The fourth was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith.
3 The fifth was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital.
The sixth was Ithream, whose mother was Eglah, David’s wife.
4 These six sons were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven and a half years.
Then David reigned another thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 5 The sons born to David in Jerusalem included Shammua,[ah] Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. Their mother was Bathsheba,[ai] the daughter of Ammiel. 6 David also had nine other sons: Ibhar, Elishua,[aj] Elpelet,[ak] 7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 8 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
9 These were the sons of David, not including his sons born to his concubines. Their sister was named Tamar.
Descendants of Solomon
10 The descendants of Solomon were Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, 11 Jehoram,[al] Ahaziah, Joash, 12 Amaziah, Uzziah,[am] Jotham, 13 Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, 14 Amon, and Josiah.
15 The sons of Josiah were Johanan (the oldest), Jehoiakim (the second), Zedekiah (the third), and Jehoahaz[an] (the fourth).
16 The successors of Jehoiakim were his son Jehoiachin and his brother Zedekiah.[ao]
Descendants of Jehoiachin
17 The sons of Jehoiachin,[ap] who was taken prisoner by the Babylonians, were Shealtiel, 18 Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.
19 The sons of Pedaiah were Zerubbabel and Shimei.
The sons of Zerubbabel were Meshullam and Hananiah. (Their sister was Shelomith.) 20 His five other sons were Hashubah, Ohel, Berekiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed.
21 The sons of Hananiah were Pelatiah and Jeshaiah. Jeshaiah’s son was Rephaiah. Rephaiah’s son was Arnan. Arnan’s son was Obadiah. Obadiah’s son was Shecaniah.
22 The descendants of Shecaniah were Shemaiah and his sons, Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat—six in all.
23 The sons of Neariah were Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam—three in all.
24 The sons of Elioenai were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani—seven in all.
Footnotes:
3:5a As in Syriac version (see also 14:4; 2 Sam 5:14); Hebrew reads Shimea.
3:5b Hebrew Bathshua, a variant spelling of Bathsheba.
3:6a As in some Hebrew and Greek manuscripts (see also 14:5-7 and 2 Sam 5:15); most Hebrew manuscripts read Elishama.
3:6b Hebrew Eliphelet; compare parallel text at 14:5-7.
3:11 Hebrew Joram, a variant spelling of Jehoram.
3:12 Hebrew Azariah, a variant spelling of Uzziah.
3:15 Hebrew Shallum, another name for Jehoahaz.
3:16 Hebrew The sons of Jehoiakim were his son Jeconiah [a variant spelling of Jehoiachin] and his son Zedekiah.
3:17 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Read: Nehemiah 4:7-18
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. 8 They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. 9 But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.
10 Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”
11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”
12 The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!”[b] 13 So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows.
14 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”
15 When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. 16 But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. 18 All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm.
Footnotes:
4:7 Verses 4:7-23 are numbered 4:1-17 in Hebrew text.
4:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Our Divine Defense
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17
Under Nehemiah’s supervision, the Israelite workers were rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. When they were nearly half finished, however, they learned that their enemies were plotting to attack Jerusalem. This news demoralized the already exhausted workers.
Nehemiah had to do something. First, he prayed and posted numerous guards in strategic places. Then, he armed his workers. “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked” (Neh. 4:17-18).
What we do for Jesus will last for eternity.
We who are building God’s kingdom need to arm ourselves against the attack of our spiritual enemy, Satan. Our protection is the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word. Memorizing Scripture and meditating on it enable us to “take [our] stand against the devil’s schemes” (Eph. 6:11). If we think that working for God doesn’t matter, we should turn to the promise that what we do for Jesus will last for eternity (1 Cor. 3:11-15). If we fear we’ve sinned too greatly for God to use us, we must remember we’ve been forgiven by the power of Jesus’ blood (Matt. 26:28). And if we’re worried we might fail if we try to serve God, we can recall that Jesus said we will bear fruit as we abide in Him (John 15:5).
God’s Word is our divine defense!
God, thank You for the Bible. I believe that Your Word is alive and active. Please help me to remember it when I am worried or fearful, when I need encouragement and inspiration.
God’s Word is a divine defense against attacks from the Enemy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Take the Initiative
…add to your faith virtue… —2 Peter 1:5
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter,” or “I will pay that debt”; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
The Chainsaw In Your Mouth - #7652
The man in the Disney movie was an inventor. One of his inventions was a shrinking machine. There's been some suggestions that that's what happened to me–I got into a shrinking machine. Anyway, this actually did happen to his kids' baseball. It crashed through the window of his laboratory. It landed in dad's shrinking machine, turning it on as it landed, and the kids were amazed to see how their ball suddenly shrank. Thinking this machine was really cool, they started playing with it...until the machine suddenly shrank them to an almost invisible size. And the anguished cry of the father is the title of the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Chainsaw in Your Mouth."
Sadly, too many of us have a shrinking machine that is shrinking our kids, maybe our spouse, other people we love. That shrinking machine is in your mouth. It's a tongue that says things that repeatedly diminish some of the very people you love the most: angry things, cutting things, sarcastic or critical things, discouraging things.
It's almost as if we have this verbal chain saw in our mouth that keeps cutting people we care about. It may be that you've been doing this for so long you hardly even notice how destructive some of your words are. But the people who are hearing them are not only noticing your words, it's quite possible they will never forget them. We can still remember the names we were called decades ago, right? Some of us have replayed over and over again something hurtful someone said to us a long time ago that they may have forgotten. Some of us have even defined our self-worth, or our lack of self-worth, based on some of those shrinking things that someone said to us. That's how what you say impacts those you love. There's so much power in your words!
The Bible doesn't talk about a verbal chain saw, but it does talk about a verbal sword. It says, in Proverbs 12:18, "Reckless words pierce like a sword." Proverbs 18:21 raises the stakes even higher: "The tongue has the power of life and death." Your words are either making the people around you feel more alive inside, or it's killing them inside. We replay people's failures over and over, we diminish people by constantly comparing them to someone else, we mark them, maybe for life, with the names we call them. We spew out reckless words to win the moment, but we scar someone for life.
Jesus said, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:35) A runaway mouth comes from something down deep inside; a dark, angry, wounded heart. Until the heart gets fixed, the mouth is just going to keep shrinking and scarring people we care about. It's all part of this sin thing the Bible talks about; our separation from God because we've pushed Him out to do the things we want to do the way we want to do them. The hurt we inflict comes from a sinful heart.
God knows that. That's why He sent His one and only Son to pay the price for our sin, to rise from the dead, to make it possible to be forgiven for every hurting thing, every unholy thing I've ever done or said.
Ezekiel 36:26-27, our word for today from the Word of God, makes this incredible promise: "I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit in you. I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness." A new heart, cleansed by Jesus' forgiveness, and filled with His love. And a new beginning for any man or woman who reaches out to Jesus in total faith, admitting their sin, surrendering their sin, and grabbing Jesus as their personal Rescuer from their personal sin.
If you have never done that, then you've never experienced the difference His love can make. The people you love have never experienced God's love coming through you. But all that could change today if you'll make this the day that you say, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
I want to invite you to as soon as you can today, get over to our website and walk with me into what it takes to actually know that you have begun your personal relationship with the life-changer, the heart-changer, Jesus. Just go to ANewStory.com.
Because of Jesus, it doesn't have to be the way it's always been. He's been loving and changing people for a long, long time, and He's waiting to do that for you today. Letting Jesus into your life is the most loving thing you'll ever do for the people you love.
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