Max Lucado Daily: Salvation in No One Else
Some historians clump Christ with Muhammad, Moses, Confucius, and other spiritual leaders. But Jesus refuses to share the page. In John 14:6 Jesus declares, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." He could have scored more points in political correctness had he said, "I know the way," or "I show the way." Yet he speaks not of what he does but of who he is- "I am the way!"
His disciple Peter announced, "There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Believe in yourself? No. Believe in him. Believe in them? No. Believe in him. And John 3:16 promises to those who believe in him that they shall not perish but have eternal life. Believe in him. Believe in the One he sent!
From 3:16
Psalm 130
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
From the depths of despair, O Lord,
I call for your help.
2 Hear my cry, O Lord.
Pay attention to my prayer.
3 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
who, O Lord, could ever survive?
4 But you offer forgiveness,
that we might learn to fear you.
5 I am counting on the Lord;
yes, I am counting on him.
I have put my hope in his word.
6 I long for the Lord
more than sentries long for the dawn,
yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
His redemption overflows.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from every kind of sin.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
4/22/2016
Read: Romans 8:19-27
For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[a] including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[b] for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[c] in harmony with God’s own will.
Footnotes:
8:23 Greek wait anxiously for sonship.
8:24 Some manuscripts read wait.
8:27 Greek for God’s holy people.
INSIGHT:
Teaching on the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit is scattered throughout the New Testament, but much of it comes from two places: Romans 8 and Jesus’s Upper Room Discourse in John 14–16. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is a Helper like Himself (14:16) who will never leave us. This Helper is the Spirit of truth and has a special relationship with the follower of Christ (v. 17). In John 16 Jesus returns to the subject of the Spirit saying that He will convict the world of our need for Christ (vv. 8–11), guide us into all truth (v. 13), and glorify Jesus (v. 14). Bill Crowder
The Spirit Delivers
By Marvin Williams
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26
Until recently, many towns in rural Ireland didn’t use house numbers or postal codes. So if there were three Patrick Murphys in town, the newest resident with that name would not get his mail until it was first delivered to the other two Patrick Murphys who had lived there longer. “My neighbors would get it first,” said Patrick Murphy (the newest resident). “They’d have a good read, and they’d go, ‘No, it’s probably not us.’ ” To end all this mail-delivery confusion, the Irish government recently instituted its first postal-code system which will ensure the proper delivery of the mail.
Sometimes when we pray we feel like we need help delivering to God what is on our heart. We may not know the right words to say or how to express our deep longings. The apostle Paul says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit helps us and intercedes for us by taking our unspeakable “groanings” and presenting them to the Father. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (v. 26). The Spirit always prays according to God’s will, and the Father knows the mind of the Spirit.
God hears us when we pray and He knows our deepest needs.
Be encouraged that God hears us when we pray and He knows our deepest needs.
Thank You, Father, for giving me Your Spirit to help me when I pray. Thank You for hearing my prayers and for loving me.
What are you praying for today? Share it with us at Facebook.com
When you can’t put your prayers into words, God hears your heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
4/22/2016
The Light That Never Fails
We all, with unveiled face, beholding…the glory of the Lord… —2 Corinthians 3:18
A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, “…no one stood with me, but all forsook me….But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me…” (2 Timothy 4:16-17). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When “important” individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do— to look into the face of God for ourselves.
Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware— “…Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” (Exodus 34:29).
We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant’s life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
4/22/2016
The Power of Your Influence - #7640
It was always nice when we got to spend a little time at the little country place we inherited from my wife's grandparents. It's a pretty big treat for a city boy like me, and a real education. Now we don't have any cows ourselves, but that place is surrounded by cows on all sides. It made me feel all peaceful when I could sit on the porch and see the cows inside the fence across the road, just quietly grazing or sitting in the shade. It didn't make me feel peaceful when I got up one morning and saw one of our neighbor's cows in our front yard grazing and leaving like souvenirs of her visit.
Our neighbor left his pasture gate wide open, but that's OK. The cattle guard's there in the ground; you know, that little grate that cows are afraid to cross for fear of getting a hoof stuck. Well, they're supposed to be afraid. But this cow had somehow found her way to pick her way across the cattle guard, which left her free to wander all over the countryside. I even named her – Gretchen. And pretty soon, Brownie saw what Gretchen did and managed to navigate that cattle guard, too; eventually followed by Wanda. That's my name, short for Wanda-rer. This little black calf followed Gretchen out. They ended up wandering everywhere, even up toward the main highway, which is dangerous. As soon as one cow ignored the boundaries, others just followed her where they were never meant to go.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of Your Influence."
It isn't just cows that follow cows out of bounds. That's why Paul issues this warning in our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Corinthians 8 beginning with verse 9. "Be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak." Then he moves to a lifestyle choice he has made, simply based on how a certain behavior would affect other believers.
The issue back then had to do with whether or not Christians should eat meat that had been offered to idols in pagan ceremonies. Apparently, some felt they could eat that meat in good conscience – it was just a piece of meat. But for others, it might be the first step backwards toward the darkness that Christ had delivered them from. So Paul says, "If what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." Paul says, "I can't make my choices based only on how it will affect me. If I go there, someone else may follow me."
Now back to our wandering bovine neighbor, Gretchen. I don't think she ever thought about a calf or any other cows following her outside the fence. All she knew was there was something she wanted that was beyond the boundaries. Actually, she should never have crossed the cattle guard herself. But what made it worse was that her example emboldened other cows to go where they shouldn't go; to go where they could get hurt.
Now hopefully, you and I are a little smarter than cows. We have to remember that when we do things, people are watching and even following us because of that invisible power called influence. Because we can't see it, we forget we have it and that it's affecting people around us. Your behavior? Your choices? You're giving permission to someone who's watching you to do the same thing. A child is watching, a younger Christian, a coworker, a friend. You step outside the boundaries a little, and they might follow you and end up where they never would have gone otherwise; going farther than you would ever go.
Don't be someone else's excuse to watch or listen to something questionable. You don't know where it might take them. Don't be someone else's excuse to swear, or to cheat a little, to act selfish, to be disrespectful, maybe to flirt with sexual sin or a moral compromise, or just to shade the truth.
Could it be that you've gotten a little careless, thinking you can wander just a little out of bounds, and you think you've found a way to do it where you won't get hurt, you won't get stuck. Even if that's true, please look at what you're doing to those who are watching you, who may follow you. Like Gretchen's gang, you may inadvertently be leading someone down a road they should never be on.
Your exercise of freedom could lead someone else into bondage or hurt. If it might cause a brother or sister to fall, don't even go there!