Max Lucado Daily: The Cure for Selfishness
Forgive me for being the one to tell you-but you're infected! You are a diseased carrier. You have a case of-brace yourself-selfishness! Don't believe me? When you look at a group photo, where do you look? And if you look good, do you like the picture?
Do you suffer from clutching hands? Do your fingers ever wrap and close around possessions? How about heavy feet? When a car wants to cut in front of you, do you sense a sudden heaviness of foot on the accelerator?
Look in your eyes…into your pupils. Do you see a tiny figure? An image of a person? An image of you? The self-centered see everything through self. Their motto? It's all about me! What is the cure for selfishness? Get your self out of your eye by taking your eye off yourself. Quit staring at the little self, and focus on your great Savior!
From A Love Worth Giving
2 Kings 23
Josiah Renews the Covenant
Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. 6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. 7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court[c] near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.
15 Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. 16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
17 The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”
The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”
18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger. 20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
26 Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. 27 So the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’[d]”
28 As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. 30 Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
Jehoahaz King of Judah
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done. 33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents[e] of silver and a talent[f] of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died. 35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.
Jehoiakim King of Judah
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.
Footnotes:
2 Kings 23:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
2 Kings 23:27 1 Kings 8:29
2 Kings 23:33 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons
2 Kings 23:33 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Read: Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Footnotes:
28:19 Or all peoples.
INSIGHT:
In today’s passage Jesus gives what is known as the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20). We carry out this commission when we testify to the death and resurrection of Jesus, who offers forgiveness of sins, and when we teach Christ-followers to obey God’s Word (v. 20).
Opening Doors
By Bill Crowder
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. Matthew 28:19
Charlie Sifford is an important name in American sports. He became the first African-American playing member of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour, joining a sport that, until 1961, had a “whites only” clause in its by-laws. Enduring racial injustice and harassment, Sifford earned his place at the game’s highest level, won two tournaments, and in 2004 was the first African-American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Charlie Sifford opened the doors of professional golf for players of all ethnicities.
Opening doors is also a theme at the heart of the gospel mission. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).
Jesus' work on the cross opened the way to the Father for everyone.
The word nations (v. 19) is from the Greek word ethnos, which is also the source of the word ethnic. In other words, “Go and make disciples of all ethnicities.” Jesus’ work on the cross opened the way to the Father for everyone.
Now we have the privilege of caring for others as God has cared for us. We can open the door for someone who never dreamed they’d be welcomed personally into the house and family of God.
Lord, help me to be sensitive to others I meet today. Give me the words to tell others about You.
Jesus opened the doors of salvation to all who will believe.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Taking the Initiative Against Depression
Arise and eat. —1 Kings 19:5
The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive— only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.
When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things— things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
You're Nothing Without Your Prayer Cover - #7593
It used to be that two armies would line up, then they would plunge into combat, and the best army would win. It was simpler then. Today it isn't necessarily the fellas with the best army who win; it's the ones with the best air force. It happened in World War II, it happened in certain Vietnam engagements, and it happened dramatically in the Persian Gulf War. I mean, the air force went in, they immobilized Iraq's capacity to respond, and then they kind of softened up the opposing forces, and there was an air war before anybody moved on the ground. And then once the troops started to move, the planes provided that vital air cover for their operations. Saddam Hussein had a big army, but he lost because his air cover just didn't function.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You're Nothing Without Your Prayer Cover."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Colossians 4:2. The great missionary, Paul, says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should." Here's the greatest missionary of all time and he is virtually begging for people to pray for him. "Please pray for us!" And then he gives some specific requests; pray for open doors; pray for clarity as we present it.
In another passage, in Romans 15:30, writing to another group of believers he makes a similar appeal, "I urge you, brothers, by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in all Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there." Here again, specific requests. I think there's a message coming through loud and clear. In the writings of the Apostle Paul, he says to people who care about his ministry, "I'm counting on you, do you know that? And I feel really close to the people I'm counting on. Pray for me, guys."
Somewhere today there is a pastor, a missionary, a Christian leader, a guy you hear on the radio who's counting on you; on your prayer support. Faithful prayer support, fervent prayer support, specific prayer support. It's like that air cover in battle. Prayer is a Christian leader's "air cover." It's a missionary's "air cover." It's what God uses to immobilize the enemy.
As you pray you know you are tying the hands of the enemy and you're fighting his efforts to bring discouragement, to stop the resources from getting through, from attacking that worker's family? And you can bet, if that person's making a difference for the Lord, they are under attack. Your prayers make a difference; probably a decisive difference! And like that air cover, you're softening up the opposition and you're tearing down strongholds so it's easier for the Gospel to win. You're helping the advance of the ground troops with your "prayer cover."
Every summer I go with a Native American team to some of the hardest to reach places in North America on reservations. A team of Native Americans (about 60 of them), and when we go into battle in stronghold places, we say, "Oh, Lord, we just pray that those people who said they would pray for us are doing it now." We have found prayer is the decision maker. It literally is the game-changer.
You remember when Joshua was leading the troops of Israel in the Old Testament and Moses was on the hill praying with his arms uplifted? When he was praying they won, when he stopped praying they lost. The prayer person makes all the difference. Paul once said only Luke is with me. Maybe you're "Luke" for someone. Somewhere there is a Christian worker who says, "Well, I know that he or she is standing by me." When they get into a painful moment they know you're praying that day, 'cause you do every day.
Are you bonded to someone in God's work like that? Their safety, their opportunities, their results, their morale, are directly linked to your "air cover"; your prayer cover. Let God bond you to one of His servants. Be their "air cover" that goes ahead of them into their ministry and accomplishes things for them as they move forward for Christ.
Remember the "prayer cover." Prayer cover literally determines the outcome of the battle.
