Max Lucado Daily: GOD WORKS
There are so many things we don’t know. We don’t know if the economy will dip or if our team will win. We don’t know what our spouse is thinking or how our kids will turn out. The apostle Paul reminds us we don’t even know what we ought to pray for. But according to Romans 8:28, we can be absolutely certain about four things. We know:
God works. He is busy behind the scenes, above the fray.
God works for the good. Not for our comfort or pleasure, but for the ultimate good of his children.
God works for the good of those who love him. Make his story your story, and your story takes on a happy ending. Guaranteed.
God works in all things. He works not through a few things; or through the good things; or best things; but in all things!
God works— this we know! Let God’s Word be the authoritative word in your world.
From God is With You Every Day
2 Corinthians 11:16-33
Many a Long and Lonely Night
Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.
28-29 And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
30-33 If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, August 15, 2016
Proverbs 22:1-12
The Cure Comes Through Discipline
A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich;
a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank.
2 The rich and the poor shake hands as equals—
God made them both!
3 A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks;
a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
4 The payoff for meekness and Fear-of-God
is plenty and honor and a satisfying life.
5 The perverse travel a dangerous road, potholed and mud-slick;
if you know what’s good for you, stay clear of it.
6 Point your kids in the right direction—
when they’re old they won’t be lost.
7 The poor are always ruled over by the rich,
so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.
8 Whoever sows sin reaps weeds,
and bullying anger sputters into nothing.
9 Generous hands are blessed hands
because they give bread to the poor.
10 Kick out the troublemakers and things will quiet down;
you need a break from bickering and griping!
11 God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken;
good leaders also delight in their friendship.
12 God guards knowledge with a passion,
but he’ll have nothing to do with deception.
INSIGHT:
The Proverbs hold wisdom to help us live for the Lord and leave a legacy. Just the first 8 verses of Proverbs 22 are loaded with wonderful insights about many different aspects of life. Verse 1 tells us of the value of a good name. The Hebrew word for “good name” carries with it the idea of “good repute” (see Eccl. 7:1).
A Legacy Life
By Joe Stowell
A good name is more desirable than great riches. Proverbs 22:1
While staying in a hotel in a small town I noticed that the church across the street was having a service. People were jammed into the church with a standing-room-only crowd of both young and old flowing out onto the sidewalk. When I noticed a hearse by the curb, I realized it was a funeral. And given the crowd, I assumed that it was the celebration of the life of some local hero—perhaps a wealthy businessperson or a famous personality. Curious, I said to the desk clerk, “That’s an amazing turnout for a funeral; it must be for a famous person in town.”
“No,” he replied. “He wasn’t rich or famous but he was a good man.”
Lord, help me to pursue a life that is pleasing to You and honors Your name.
This reminded me of the wisdom of the proverb that says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches” (Prov. 22:1). It’s a good idea to think about what kind of legacy we are leaving for our family, friends, and neighbors. From God’s perspective it’s not our resumé or the amount of money we’ve accumulated that matters but rather the kind of life we have lived.
When a friend of mine passed away, his daughter wrote, “This world has lost a righteous man and in this world that is no small thing!” It’s that kind of legacy that we should be seeking for the glory of God.
Lord, help me to pursue a life that is pleasing to You and honors Your name.
Live to leave a legacy for God’s glory.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 15, 2016
The Evidence of the New Birth
You must be born again. —John 3:7
The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.
“But as many as received Him…” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.
“…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 15, 2016
Painful Times, Beautiful Harvest - #7721
Our friends have a nice vegetable garden and they wanted it to be nicer. So, they decided to try the Squanto method. You might remember from your American history that Squanto was the Native American who helped the Pilgrims survive by teaching them about corn, and especially about how to get it to grow – by burying a dead fish with the seed as fertilizer. Remembering that little secret, our friends brought home a bunch of dead fish from the New Jersey Shore and they buried those fish in their garden with their vegetable seeds. Well, as time wore on, the fish announced their presence to the entire neighborhood – with a horrendous stink! Now, it is possible that no suburban garden has ever smelled so bad. That's the bad news, but the good news is that they were literally overwhelmed with the harvest of vegetables that year! They were hauling it in faster than they could eat it, freeze it, or can it. They called a lot of their friends and begged them to come over and get some vegetables. Yes, the stench was pitiful, but the harvest that came from it was bountiful!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Painful Times, Beautiful Harvest."
Let's face it! There are things that happen in our lives that just plain stink like our friends' fertilized garden, and when everything stinks you usually can't see anything good about it. You might be in one of those painful seasons right now. If so, it's important for you to remember something that is easy to forget. The things in our lives that really stink are used by God to ultimately produce a wonderful harvest.
Maybe we should figure that out just from the way we all entered the world-through this painful process called labor. But the pain of the process – which is very real and very intense–is ultimately overshadowed by the beautiful result of that baby. And take it from our daughter or our two daughters-in-law. They love every day with their children; the beautiful result that lasted a lot longer than their painful process.
This idea of what I'm calling the "beautiful stink" is explained in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 5 beginning at verse 3. Paul, who experienced many of the things in life that stink, says, "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us."
Now, like our friends with the fishy garden, God calls us to endure the stink. That's called perseverance-hanging in there, not giving up, not losing hope, not turning our back on Him, and we'll harvest what the Bible calls character. Right now you might need some encouragement, a reminder of the great harvest that may come through this hard-to-bare season of your life.
For example, it's our hard times that give us a more tender heart so we can help heal other hurting people. God may use this unpleasant season to give you a ministry you have never had before, or to bring you into a new humility, a new closeness to people you love, new priorities that clarify the things that really matter and the things that really don't. Your suffering might be God's means of giving people an opportunity to pour out love on you, or of bringing you closer to Him than you've ever been, or to experience His grace and His power in a measure you have never touched before.
Maybe the harvest of your hard times will be some deep relationships, forged in the crucible, or a firsthand faith in God, rather than one that is just your family's or your church's, or maybe even people going to heaven someday because they saw Jesus in you during your time of great pain.
It's a Law of Life – God brings beautiful results out of painful processes. But you do have to make it through the stink first. Just ask our gardener friends – thinking about the great harvest coming doesn't make the stench go away but it sure helps you endure it. Down the road, when you're hauling in the overwhelming harvest of God's goodness in your life, you know, the stink won't matter much anymore.