Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS AT WORK IN US
Howard Rutledge came to appreciate his time as a POW in Vietnam. He wrote, “After twenty-eight days of torture, I could remember I had children but not how many. I prayed for strength. During long periods of enforced reflection, it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial. My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for steak. It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.
God is at work in each of us, whether we want it or not. He takes no pleasure in making life hard. Lamentations 3:33 says, “He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way.” (MSG) He does not relish in our sufferings, but He delights in our development. No one said the road would be easy or painless. But God will use this mess for something good. God is doing what is best for us, training us to live His holy best. You have His assurance…you will get through this.
From You’ll Get Through This
Isaiah 27
Selected Grain by Grain
At that time God will unsheathe his sword,
his merciless, massive, mighty sword.
He’ll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees,
the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight.
He’ll kill that old dragon
that lives in the sea.
2-5 “At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear.
There’s something to sing about!
I, God, tend it.
I keep it well-watered.
I keep careful watch over it
so that no one can damage it.
I’m not angry. I care.
Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes,
I’ll just pull them out
and burn them up.
Let that vine cling to me for safety,
let it find a good and whole life with me,
let it hold on for a good and whole life.”
6 The days are coming when Jacob
shall put down roots,
Israel blossom and grow fresh branches,
and fill the world with its fruit.
7-11 Has God knocked them to the ground
as he knocked down those who hit them? Oh, no.
Were they killed
as their killers were killed? Again, no.
He was hard on them all right. The exile was a harsh sentence.
He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.
But the good news is that through this experience
Jacob’s guilt was taken away.
The evidence that his sin is removed will be this:
He will tear down the alien altars,
take them apart stone by stone,
And then crush the stones into gravel
and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.
For there’s nothing left of that pretentious grandeur.
Nobody lives there anymore. It’s unlivable.
But animals do just fine,
browsing and bedding down.
And it’s not a bad place to get firewood.
Dry twigs and dead branches are plentiful.
It’s the leavings of a people with no sense of God.
So, the God who made them
Will have nothing to do with them.
He who formed them will turn his back on them.
12-13 At that time God will thresh
from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt,
And you, people of Israel,
will be selected grain by grain.
At that same time a great trumpet will be blown,
calling home the exiles from Assyria,
Welcoming home the refugees from Egypt
to come and worship God on the holy mountain, Jerusalem.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 26, 2016
Read: Matthew 11:25–30
Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”
27 Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
INSIGHT:
Our passage today comes on the heels of Jesus denouncing the cities where most of His miracles were performed (Matt. 11:20–24). Bethsaida, one of the denounced cities, literally means “fisherman’s house.” It was a village on the north side of the Sea of Galilee and could have been the birthplace of three of the disciples: Andrew, Peter, and Philip.
Calming Your Soul
By Joe Stowel
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
While attending a concert, my mind detoured to a troublesome issue that insisted on my attention. Thankfully, the distraction was short-lived as the words of a beautiful hymn began to reach deep into my being. A men’s a capella group was singing “Be Still, My Soul.” Tears welled up as I listened to the words and contemplated the restful peace that only God can give:
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side! Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; leave to thy God to order and provide; in every change He faithful will remain.
When we keep our minds on Jesus, He keeps our minds at peace.
When Jesus was denouncing the unrepentant towns where He had done most of His miracles (Matt. 11:20–24), He still had words of comfort for those who would come to Him. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened . . . . learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (vv. 28–29).
This statement is striking! Immediately following His strong words for those who were rejecting Him, Jesus extended an invitation to all to draw near to Him to find the peace we all yearn for. Jesus is the only one who can calm our restless, weary souls.
I come to You now, Lord, in need of rest for my heart. Help me to trust You and be confident in Your love.
For further study, read The Lord Is My Shepherd at discoveryseries.org/hp952.
When we keep our minds on Jesus, He keeps our minds at peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 26, 2016
The “Go” of Reconciliation
If you…remember that your brother has something against you… —Matthew 5:23
This verse says, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you….” It is not saying, “If you search and find something because of your unbalanced sensitivity,” but, “If you…remember….” In other words, if something is brought to your conscious mind by the Spirit of God— “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24). Never object to the intense sensitivity of the Spirit of God in you when He is instructing you down to the smallest detail.
“First be reconciled to your brother….” Our Lord’s directive is simple— “First be reconciled….” He says, in effect, “Go back the way you came— the way indicated to you by the conviction given to you at the altar; have an attitude in your mind and soul toward the person who has something against you that makes reconciliation as natural as breathing.” Jesus does not mention the other person— He says for you to go. It is not a matter of your rights. The true mark of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.
“…and then come and offer your gift.” The process of reconciliation is clearly marked. First we have the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, then the sudden restraint by the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, and then we are stopped at the point of our conviction. This is followed by obedience to the Word of God, which builds an attitude or state of mind that places no blame on the one with whom you have been in the wrong. And finally there is the glad, simple, unhindered offering of your gift to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 26, 2016
A Cinch by the Inch - #7751
I don't know if you've ever driven across the United States, but it's something you want to think twice about. I mean, it's a long haul. How about riding a bicycle across the United States? That's what my friend Scott did when he was a college student with a group called Wandering Wheels. That's a lot of wandering! Scott said he was excited about the idea until the day the leaders displayed a map of the whole country on the side of their chuck wagon. It looked, in a word, impossible. But they started on Mission Impossible anyway. Each day, they'd get up and just start riding again. "So he took it a day at a time, then?" No. Scott said when the riding really got tough and his legs were just about to go on strike, he would just aim for that next telephone pole. And pretty soon, he said, that huge map got conquered, one telephone pole at a time.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Cinch by the Inch."
Maybe right now you're looking at a challenge that looks nothing less than overwhelming; raising that child, getting through this dark valley, tackling this massive project, this overwhelming load, conquering this deeply entrenched sin of yours. I don't know what it is, but I think I know the feeling that goes with it. It's not unlike my friend looking at the map of a huge piece of ground and wondering how he would ever get through it and fighting discouragement, even feeling like giving up sometimes.
It's also not unlike the challenge that faced God's ancient people when they looked at the map of the Promised Land. God said He was going to give it to them, if they went in and took possession of it. In Deuteronomy 7:17, God says, "You may say to yourselves, 'These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?'" That "how can I?" question looms large when we're looking at the whole big challenge.
Our word for today from the Word of God is in that same chapter, Deuteronomy 7:22. God in no way denies the size of the challenge, barbarian tribes, walled cities, overwhelming odds, but here's what He says, "The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little." How? One little victory at a time. Or one telephone pole at a time!
Remember, this is the same Lord who tells us in Deuteronomy 33:25 that "your strength will equal your days." No strength for tomorrow, but all the strength you need for today. He guaranteed it! Start running ahead emotionally to tomorrow and you're running ahead of your supply line. You're on your own without His grace for that day, because it will come that day; not before. And you know what? You may just stop riding.
You might remember, it says, "Great is your faithfulness. Your mercies are new every morning." This is the God who told the ancient Israelites that they needed to go out and get enough manna for each new day. They couldn't collect it for tomorrow. They got enough for today.
This is the Jesus who said, "Take up your cross" once a month, once a week. No, He said, "Take up your cross daily." This is Jesus who says, "Break your big life into 24-hour chunks (bite sized chunks). Take one day at a time with the strength and grace I give you one day at a time."
2 Corinthians 4:16 tells us He renews us day by day, and He supplies our needs with what that day requires. One of my wife's favorite quotes, this little management slogan, "It's hard by the yard. It's a chinch by the inch." Then she would tack on her original P.S., "And it's a trial by the mile."
My cross country bike rider would agree with that. So, if you're looking at the whole trip and feeling overwhelmed, intimidated, paralyzed, afraid, don't look at the whole trip. The trip is God's problem. The big map is His concern. Your job is to get to, well, that next telephone pole.