Max Lucado Daily: EXPECT TO BE TEMPTED
When General George Patton counter-attacked Field Marshal Rommel in World War II, Patton is reported to have shouted in the thick of battle, “I read your book, Rommel! I read your book!” He knew the German leader’s strategy and planned his moves accordingly.
We can know the same about the Devil. The Apostle Paul says, “We are not
ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). We know Satan will attack weak spots first. Watch for his tricks. You can know what to expect. Expect to be tempted by the Devil. Forty days of fasting left Jesus famished, so Satan began with the topic of bread. Jesus’ stomach was empty, so to the stomach Satan turned. Where are you empty? Are you hungry for attention, craving success, longing for intimacy? Be aware of your weaknesses. Bring them to God before Satan brings them to you!
From God is With You Every Day
2 Chronicles 8
More on Solomon
8 1-6 At the end of twenty years, Solomon had quite a list of accomplishments. He had:
built The Temple of God and his own palace;
rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given him and colonized them with Israelites;
marched on Hamath Zobah and took it;
fortified Tadmor in the desert and all the store-cities he had founded in Hamath;
built the fortress cities Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, complete with walls, gates, and bars;
built Baalath and store-cities;
built chariot-cities for his horses.
Solomon built impulsively and extravagantly—whenever a whim took him. And in Jerusalem, in Lebanon—wherever he fancied.
7-10 The remnants from the original inhabitants of the land (Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites—all non-Israelites), survivors of the holy wars, were rounded up by Solomon for his gangs of slave labor. The policy is in effect today. But true Israelites were not treated this way; they were used in his army and administration—government leaders and commanders of his chariots and charioteers. They were also the project managers responsible for Solomon’s building operations—250 in all in charge of the workforce.
11 Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David to a house built especially for her, “Because,” he said, “my wife cannot live in the house of David king of Israel, for the areas in which the Chest of God has entered are sacred.”
12-13 Then Solomon offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings to God on the Altar of God that he had built in front of The Temple porch. He kept to the regular schedule of worship set down by Moses: Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual feasts of Unraised Bread (Passover), Weeks (Pentecost), and Booths.
14-15 He followed the practice of his father David in setting up groups of priests carrying out the work of worship, with the Levites assigned to lead the sacred music for praising God and to assist the priests in the daily worship; he assigned security guards to be on duty at each gate—that’s what David the man of God had ordered. The king’s directions to the priests and Levites and financial stewards were kept right down to the fine print—no innovations—including the treasuries.
16 All that Solomon set out to do, from the groundbreaking of The Temple of God to its finish, was now complete.
17-18 Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath on the coast of Edom. Hiram sent him ships and with them veteran sailors. Joined by Solomon’s men they sailed to Ophir (in east Africa), loaded on fifteen tons of gold, and brought it back to King Solomon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, July 11, 2016
Read: Philippians 4:10–19
Content Whatever the Circumstances
10-14 I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.
15-17 You Philippians well know, and you can be sure I’ll never forget it, that when I first left Macedonia province, venturing out with the Message, not one church helped out in the give-and-take of this work except you. You were the only one. Even while I was in Thessalonica, you helped out—and not only once, but twice. Not that I’m looking for handouts, but I do want you to experience the blessing that issues from generosity.
18-20 And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.
INSIGHT:
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are generally known as the Prison Epistles. Philippians was likely written during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment in ad 59–61. This context makes Paul’s declaration of contentment all the more striking.
A Lesson Learned
By Marion Stroud
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Philippians 4:11
Mary was widowed and facing serious health challenges when her daughter invited her to move into the new “granny apartment” attached to her home. Although it would involve leaving friends and the rest of her family many miles away, Mary rejoiced in God’s provision.
Six months into her new life, the initial joy and contentment threatened to slip away as she was tempted to grumble inwardly and doubt whether the move was really God’s perfect plan. She missed her Christian friends, and her new church was too far away to get to independently.
Are there areas of life where you need to learn contentment? Ask God to help you now.
Then she read something that the great 19th-century preacher Charles Spurgeon had written. “Now contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and it must be cultivated,” he pointed out. “Paul says . . . ‘I have learned to be content,’ as if he didn't know how at one time.”
Mary concluded that if an ardent evangelist like Paul, confined to prison, abandoned by friends, and facing execution could learn contentment, then so could she.
“I realized that until I could learn this lesson, I wouldn’t enjoy those things God had planned,” she said. “So I confessed my inward grumbling and asked for His forgiveness. Soon after that a newly retired lady asked if I would be her prayer partner, and others offered me a ride to church. My needs for a ‘soul friend’ and greater mobility were wonderfully met.”
Are there areas of life where you need to learn contentment? Ask God to help you now.
God doesn’t always change our circumstances, but He will change us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 11, 2016
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
…that I may know Him… —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing…that He had come from God and was going to God,…took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet…” (John 13:3-5).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him…” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 11, 2016
The Excitement of Being a Builder - #7696
When you've got young grandchildren, over the years you keep learning about these "heroes" they have from children's videos and television programs. Now, we had grandchildren who got very well acquainted with characters like Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber from "Veggie Tales". Back in their day it was "Blue's Clues", "Bob the Builder", and so we had to learn about those. Bob the Builder, now he was the cause of some major excitement one Christmas. An aunt and uncle gave our 3-year-old grandson Bob the Builder coveralls. See, Bob would wear this yellow hardhat and blue coveralls, with yellow tools hanging from a tool belt. The coveralls even have the belt, with a yellow plastic hammer, a plastic screwdriver, a plastic wrench. When our grandson emerged from the bedroom as Bob the Builder, man, he just lit up with excitement.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Excitement of Being a Builder."
Yes, our grandson was really excited about being a builder. It's supposed to be an exciting role for all of us. No, you don't have to wear the coveralls and the belt with plastic tools. No. But God would love to have you think of yourself this way: "I'm ___________ (put your name in here) the Builder!" Not the kind who builds things; the kind who builds people like your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter, your fellow workers, or your fellow students. You build up your friends, your employees, and the people you serve the Lord with.
God describes the construction project that He wants you to help on in our word for today from the Word of God. In Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 15, here's what He says, "Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body (that's all the people who belong to Him), joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Jesus is building every person who belongs to Him and He wants us to help Him with that building – all of us, including you. God wants you to be a part of His program of building the lives of the people you know.
Ephesians 4:29 calls us out of the business of demolishing people and into the business of constructing people. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths (By the way, I wonder how a recording of your last week's conversations would sound in light of this command?), but only what is helpful for building others up..." Only what builds them up; that ought to be our goal for the things we say to people and about people.
You build up people in your world when you make them feel valuable when they're with you, when you compliment them, when you take interest in what matters to them, when you pray with them, when you tell them what you appreciate about them. How are you doing on using those building tools in the lives that are closest to you? By the way, the people who are most difficult in your life are probably the people who need your building the most. They may very well be acting the way they do because they've been torn down so much.
Building has another dimension; holding up a mirror to someone you care about, and showing them things about them that might be hurting them and hurting others. See, you win the right to "speak the truth in love" – positive or negative – when you consistently let them know how much you value them.
It's no accident you're with the people you're with. God placed you in their life to help Him build them, encourage them, and grow them. Don't miss one of the big reasons you are where you are. My grandson, he thought being a builder was really exciting. I hope you do, too. On Bob the Builder they used to say, "Can we build it?" And the answer would be, "Yes, we can!"
Look around at the people in your world. Can you build them? Yes, you can!