Max Lucado Daily: STAY IN YOUR OWN LANE
A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like Danny. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam. So Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam! Turns out, all Adam had to do was be himself.
Stay in your own lane. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete. God doesn’t judge you according to the talents of others. He judges you according to yours! His yardstick for measuring faithfulness is how faithful you are with your own gifts.
From God is With You Every Day
Psalm 45
For the choir director: A love song to be sung to the tune “Lilies.” A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
1 Beautiful words stir my heart.
I will recite a lovely poem about the king,
for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.
2 You are the most handsome of all.
Gracious words stream from your lips.
God himself has blessed you forever.
3 Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!
You are so glorious, so majestic!
4 In your majesty, ride out to victory,
defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!
5 Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies’ hearts.
The nations fall beneath your feet.
6 Your throne, O God,[b] endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
7 You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume your robes.
In ivory palaces the music of strings entertains you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble women.
At your right side stands the queen,
wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir!
10 Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say.
Forget your people and your family far away.
11 For your royal husband delights in your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.
12 The princess of Tyre[c] will shower you with gifts.
The wealthy will beg your favor.
13 The bride, a princess, looks glorious
in her golden gown.
14 In her beautiful robes, she is led to the king,
accompanied by her bridesmaids.
15 What a joyful and enthusiastic procession
as they enter the king’s palace!
16 Your sons will become kings like their father.
You will make them rulers over many lands.
17 I will bring honor to your name in every generation.
Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever.
Footnotes:
45:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
45:6 Or Your divine throne.
45:12 Hebrew The daughter of Tyre.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Read: Hebrews 4:14–16
Christ Is Our High Priest
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
INSIGHT:
The writer of Hebrews refers to Jesus as our Great High Priest. This concept can be difficult to understand when we are so distanced from the religion of ancient Israel. The high priest was the single representative who could enter the Holy of Holies and the presence of God to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Even though the Word of God exposes our sin (Heb. 4:12–13), we can still confidently come to God because Jesus, our High Priest, has offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. The mercy and grace we receive (v. 16) is the forgiveness of our sins.
Lord, Help!
By Poh Fang Chia
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
I was so happy for my friend when she told me she was going to be a mum! Together we counted the days until the birth. But when the baby suffered a brain injury during delivery, my heart broke and I didn’t know how to pray. All I knew was who I should pray to—God. He is our Father, and He hears us when we call.
I knew that God was capable of miracles. He brought Jairus’s daughter back to life (Luke 8:49-55) and in so doing also healed the girl of whatever disease had robbed her of life. So I asked Him to bring healing for my friend’s baby too.
God calls us to Him in the details of our lives.
But what if God doesn’t heal? I wondered. Surely He doesn’t lack the power. Could it be He doesn’t care? I thought of Jesus’s suffering on the cross and the explanation that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Then I remembered the questions of Job and how he learned to see the wisdom of God as shown in the creation around him (Job 38–39).
Slowly I saw how God calls us to Him in the details of our lives. In God’s grace, my friend and I learned together what it means to call on the Lord and to trust Him—whatever the outcome.
Lord, to whom can I go but You! I trust You with my life and the lives of my loved ones. I’m grateful You always hear my cry.
When life knocks you down, you’re in the perfect position to pray!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Are You Obsessed by Something?
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
“He himself shall dwell in prosperity…” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge…” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Undervalued Treasure - #7669
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Our son, over the years, was a dedicated baseball card collector. I mean dedicated. He was even dealing for baseball cards on his honeymoon! Hello. But it was worth it. He met a man who was selling his entire collection. So our son bought it for about $300 and when he started going through those cards, he started to get really excited - not that those cards were any match for his beautiful bride, of course. But he began to find single cards that were worth more than the price he had paid for the entire collection! Later, when he needed some money for equipment for a Christian band, he sold a lot of those cards - for 10 times the amount that man had sold it to him for! That man had no idea how much what he had was worth! So he let it go like it wasn't worth, really, much at all!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Undervalued Treasure."
Tragically, a lot of people are like that. They don't realize how much they're worth - including even the beautiful people, people who seem to have it all together. During Princess Diana's funeral service years ago, her brother, Earl Spencer, gave an unforgettable eulogy - one which I have not forgotten. And it was an honest tribute to his sister. I was touched by a glimpse that he offered into the pain of the most famous woman in the world at that time.
He said, "For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness, of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom." Deep feelings of unworthiness, Princess Diana - she wasn't alone. Those might be feelings you know all too well. And no amount of achievement or relationship has really removed that gnawing sense that you're not worth very much.
That man who sold his baseball card collection didn't realize how valuable they were - and he sold them way too cheap. Maybe that's a mistake you've made. Because you don't realize how much you're really worth, you've gone for too cheap - to get a little approval, a little love, a little significance. But today some of those choices may actually be making you feel even more worthless.
Why do we feel so worthless sometimes? It comes from things you've been called ...the things you've done that you're ashamed of...the things that have been done to you...the hugs you've never had. We have accepted the price tag put on us by people who don't know our value.
It's time we got the truth about how much you're worth - from the only One who knows - the Person who created you! How much was He willing to spend on you? Our word for today from the Word of God, Revelation 5:9 – says this about Jesus - "With your blood, You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation" That's it - that's what God thinks you're worth - the life of His one and only Son.
The Bible says you are "God's workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). No one on earth gave you your worth and no one on earth can take it away. But the reason we don't know what we're worth is because we have left the One who gives us our worth. Our sin has taken us away from God. But God loves you so much that He sent His Son to pay with His life for your sin. In the words of the bible, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The day you open your heart to Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin is the day you finally realize how priceless you are.
You come with all those "deep feelings of unworthiness" to the cross where Jesus thought you were worth dying for. And you give yourself to Him.
If you've never done that - and you want to, you want to belong to the One who loves you most - tell Him that right now? "Jesus, I'm yours." And let me invite you to go to our website where, in just a very short time, you can walk through the steps that will help you be sure you have begun your personal relationship with the One who loves you most.
My daughter has a plaque that sums up so well how Jesus feels about you. It says these words, "I asked Jesus, 'How much do You love me?' 'This much,' He said...and He stretched out His arms and He died."