Max Lucado Daily: OPEN MANHOLES
It happens in an instant. One minute you’re walking and whistling, the next you’re wide-eyed and falling. Satan yanks back the manhole cover, and an innocent afternoon stroll becomes a horror story. Such is the pattern of sudden sin. This demon of hell can penetrate the deepest faith, and desecrate the purest home.
Want to sharpen your defenses a bit? Recognize Satan. Rip off his mask. Look him squarely in the eye and call his bluff. “Get behind me, Satan!” And…accept God’s forgiveness. Romans chapters 7-8 declare the Emancipation Proclamation for those of us who have a tendency to tumble. “Thanks be to God, who delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord!. . .therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:25-8:1 NIV).
Claim the promise. Praise the Lord. And…watch out for open manholes!
From God is With You Every Day
Isaiah 66
Living Worship to God
God’s Message:
“Heaven’s my throne,
earth is my footstool.
What sort of house could you build for me?
What holiday spot reserve for me?
I made all this! I own all this!”
God’s Decree.
“But there is something I’m looking for:
a person simple and plain,
reverently responsive to what I say.
3-4 “Your acts of worship
are acts of sin:
Your sacrificial slaughter of the ox
is no different from murdering the neighbor;
Your offerings for worship,
no different from dumping pig’s blood on the altar;
Your presentation of memorial gifts,
no different from honoring a no-god idol.
You choose self-serving worship,
you delight in self-centered worship—disgusting!
Well, I choose to expose your nonsense
and let you realize your worst fears,
Because when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil,
you chose what I hate.”
5 But listen to what God has to say
to you who reverently respond to his Word:
“Your own families hate you
and turn you out because of me.
They taunt you, ‘Let us see God’s glory!
If God’s so great, why aren’t you happy?’
But they’re the ones
who are going to end up shamed.”
6 Rumbles of thunder from the city!
A voice out of the Temple!
God’s voice,
handing out judgment to his enemies:
7-9 “Before she went into labor,
she had the baby.
Before the birth pangs hit,
she delivered a son.
Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
Has anyone seen anything like this?
A country born in a day?
A nation born in a flash?
But Zion was barely in labor
when she had her babies!
Do I open the womb
and not deliver the baby?
Do I, the One who delivers babies,
shut the womb?
10-11 “Rejoice, Jerusalem,
and all who love her, celebrate!
And all you who have shed tears over her,
join in the happy singing.
You newborns can satisfy yourselves
at her nurturing breasts.
Yes, delight yourselves and drink your fill
at her ample bosom.”
12-13 God’s Message:
“I’ll pour robust well-being into her like a river,
the glory of nations like a river in flood.
You’ll nurse at her breasts,
nestle in her bosom,
and be bounced on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so I’ll comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14-16 You’ll see all this and burst with joy
—you’ll feel ten feet tall—
As it becomes apparent that God is on your side
and against his enemies.
For God arrives like wildfire
and his chariots like a tornado,
A furious outburst of anger,
a rebuke fierce and fiery.
For it’s by fire that God brings judgment,
a death sentence on the human race.
Many, oh so many,
are under God’s sentence of death:
17 “All who enter the sacred groves for initiation in those unholy rituals that climaxed in that foul and obscene meal of pigs and mice will eat together and then die together.” God’s Decree.
18-21 “I know everything they’ve ever done or thought. I’m going to come and then gather everyone—all nations, all languages. They’ll come and see my glory. I’ll set up a station at the center. I’ll send the survivors of judgment all over the world: Spain and Africa, Turkey and Greece, and the far-off islands that have never heard of me, who know nothing of what I’ve done nor who I am. I’ll send them out as missionaries to preach my glory among the nations. They’ll return with all your long-lost brothers and sisters from all over the world. They’ll bring them back and offer them in living worship to God. They’ll bring them on horses and wagons and carts, on mules and camels, straight to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says God. “They’ll present them just as Israelites present their offerings in a ceremonial vessel in the Temple of God. I’ll even take some of them and make them priests and Levites,” says God.
22-23 “For just as the new heavens and new earth
that I am making will stand firm before me”
—God’s Decree—
“So will your children
and your reputation stand firm.
Month after month and week by week,
everyone will come to worship me,” God says.
24 “And then they’ll go out and look at what happened
to those who rebelled against me. Corpses!
Maggots endlessly eating away on them,
an endless supply of fuel for fires.
Everyone who sees what’s happened
and smells the stench retches.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 21, 2016
Read: Ephesians 4:25–32
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
26-27 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
28 Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.
29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
INSIGHT:
At first glance, today’s Scripture can look like a list of rules. Stop telling lies, quit stealing, don’t use abusive language, stop being bitter or angry. But it’s important to remember that these instructions aren’t just about changing behavior. They are about a change in identity. This list flows out of Paul’s earlier exhortation for the Christians in Ephesus to live according to their new identity as children of light (4:17–21). They used to participate in all kinds of sinful behavior. But when the Spirit opened their minds and softened their hearts (v. 18) to the truth of Christ, they were no longer dead but became alive in Christ. The Spirit renews our thoughts and attitudes, making an inward change that has outward effects.
What About You?
By Anne Cetas
The tongue has the power of life and death. Proverbs 18:21
Emily listened as a group of friends talked about their Thanksgiving traditions with family. “We go around the room and each one tells what he or she is thankful to God for,” Gary said.
Another friend mentioned his family's Thanksgiving meal and prayertime. He recalled time with his dad before he had died: “Even though Dad had dementia, his prayer of thanks to the Lord was clear.” Randy shared, “My family has a special time of singing together on the holiday. My grandma goes on and on and on!” Emily’s sadness and jealousy grew as she thought of her own family, and she complained: “Our traditions are to eat turkey, watch television, and never mention anything about God or giving thanks.”
The tongue has the power of life and death. Proverbs 18:21
Right away Emily felt uneasy with her attitude. You are part of that family. What would you like to do differently to change the day? she asked herself. She decided she wanted to privately tell each person she was thankful to the Lord that they were her sister, niece, brother, or great-niece. When the day arrived, she expressed her thankfulness for them one by one, and they all felt loved. It wasn’t easy because it wasn’t normal conversation in her family, but she experienced joy as she shared her love for each of them.
“Let everything you say be good and helpful,” wrote the apostle Paul, “so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Eph. 4:29 nlt). Our words of thanks can remind others of their value to us and to God.
Dear Lord, show me how I can be an encouragement to others with my words.
The human spirit fills with hope at the sound of an encouraging word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 21, 2016
"It is Finished!"
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. -John 17:4
The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of God. There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him- something that might have been prevented. His death was the very reason He came.
Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption "much ado about nothing." God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. "We see Jesus…for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor…" (Hebrews 2:9). The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ- "It is finished!" (John 19:30). That is the final word in the redemption of humankind.
Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 21, 2016
How to Survive When Everything's Coming Down - #7791
I was watching on TV an anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, and my mind raced back to this unforgettable personal visit I had to the site of what was a very deadly tragedy. In a pre-September 11th America, that terrorist bombing of a Federal Office Building left most Americans in like stunned disbelief; at least it did me. My guide for my visit to the memorial made it really special and very moving, because he's a state trooper. He was one of the rescuers that day. His recollections of the joy of rescues and the heartbreak of lives lost I'm not going to ever forget.
Of course, all the traces of that bombed-out building are gone now. The site is now a beautiful lawn with a stone chair for each of the victims. What was the street that day is now a reflection pond. Nothing remains there from the day the world stopped at 9:02 A. M. – nothing, that is, except the tree. On an embankment across from what was the building site stands a big old tree, still partially blackened by the bomb blast. We stood there, my rescuer friend and I, and we prayed beneath those branches that somehow had endured the blast. They call it The Survivor Tree.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Survive When Everything's Coming Down."
One indestructible tree – that's all that survived the most powerful blast that city had ever known.
For 2000 years, men and women who are reeling from blasts that seem to have blown apart everything in their lives, have made it – because of one indestructible tree. The Survivor Tree; the one the Bible talks about when it says that Jesus Christ "bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). That tree is, of course, the cross where the greatest act of love in human history took place – the one and only Son of God dying in our place, paying for our sins so we would never have to. In that cross – in the unspeakable love that it makes available – so many have found the one life-anchor that nothing can take from them.
Every one of us has seasons in our life when a massive blast suddenly rips through everything around us. You could be in one of those seasons right now. Maybe you've been betrayed by a love you thought would always be there, your parent's marriage is coming apart, or you've lost someone who has been an anchor in your life. Sometimes we are victims of the destruction that comes from our own bad choices, which leaves you devastated by the shame of what you've done. Or it may not be what you've done. It may be the wrongs that have been done against you. The blast that changes everything can be a financial one or a medical one when a doctor's diagnosis hits like a bomb.
It is in those moments that we look for something to hold onto, something that can withstand what has rocked our life. And it is in moments like these that many of us have finally run to The Survivor Tree – the cross where Jesus died for us, where we can experience the "never leave you" love of Almighty God. That's the day you discover the miracle that's described in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 2:13-14, "You who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace."
That peace is within your reach this very day; maybe at a time when peace seems so impossible because of what you've lost. It may be that very loss will finally bring you to the one love you'll never lose. Jesus stands right now with arms wide open, waiting to forgive every sin of your life, to transform your dark side, and to heal what's broken inside you as only He can. He's waiting only for you to tell Him that you're turning from the sin that put Him on that cross and that you're putting all your trust in Him.
Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." I would love to give you information that will help you secure your new beginning with Jesus Christ. And it's at our website ANewStory.com where your new story could begin today. Would you go there?
Take your stand by the tree – by the cross – that nothing has ever blown away. You are one heartfelt prayer away from having in your heart the indestructible love of Almighty God.
