Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS STILL SOVEREIGN
Paul urges us to “rejoice in the Lord always!” (Philippians 4:4). Not just on paydays, good days, or birthdays. But rejoice in the Lord always.
Rejoice in the Lord always? “Yeah, right,” mumbles the person from the hospital bed. “How?” sighs the unemployed dad. “Always?” questions the mother of the baby born with a disability.
It’s one thing to rejoice in the Lord when life is good, but when the odds are against you? It’s not easy, but it is possible. Lay claim to the promise of God in Colossians 1:17: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Rejoice in the sovereignty of God. His throne is still occupied. His will is still perfect. Rejoice in the Lord—always. God uses everything to accomplish his will.
Read more Anxious for Nothing
Matthew 1
The family tree of Jesus Christ, David’s son, Abraham’s son:
2-6 Abraham had Isaac,
Isaac had Jacob,
Jacob had Judah and his brothers,
Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar),
Perez had Hezron,
Hezron had Aram,
Aram had Amminadab,
Amminadab had Nahshon,
Nahshon had Salmon,
Salmon had Boaz (his mother was Rahab),
Boaz had Obed (Ruth was the mother),
Obed had Jesse,
Jesse had David,
and David became king.
6-11 David had Solomon (Uriah’s wife was the mother),
Solomon had Rehoboam,
Rehoboam had Abijah,
Abijah had Asa,
Asa had Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat had Joram,
Joram had Uzziah,
Uzziah had Jotham,
Jotham had Ahaz,
Ahaz had Hezekiah,
Hezekiah had Manasseh,
Manasseh had Amon,
Amon had Josiah,
Josiah had Jehoiachin and his brothers,
and then the people were taken into the Babylonian exile.
12-16 When the Babylonian exile ended,
Jeconiah had Shealtiel,
Shealtiel had Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel had Abiud,
Abiud had Eliakim,
Eliakim had Azor,
Azor had Zadok,
Zadok had Achim,
Achim had Eliud,
Eliud had Eleazar,
Eleazar had Matthan,
Matthan had Jacob,
Jacob had Joseph, Mary’s husband,
the Mary who gave birth to Jesus,
the Jesus who was called Christ.
17 There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David,
another fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile,
and yet another fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Christ.
The Birth of Jesus
18-19 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
20-23 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term:
Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).
24-25 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 22, 2017
Read: Job 2:1–10
The Second Test: Health
1-3 One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan, saying, “And what have you been up to?” Satan answered God, “Oh, going here and there, checking things out.” Then God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him, is there—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn’t work.”
4-5 Satan answered, “A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He’d curse you to your face, that’s what.”
6 God said, “All right. Go ahead—you can do what you like with him. But mind you, don’t kill him.”
7-8 Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
9 His wife said, “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!”
10 He told her, “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?”
Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.
INSIGHT
In the ancient story of Job, we see a devout follower of God whose life has been laid bare by financial, family, and physical suffering. The book of Job asks the perennial question, “Why do the righteous suffer?” Job’s ordeals test his devotion to his Redeemer and Provider. Clearly the book shows how God uses suffering to strengthen believers’ faith and refine their character. Job declares, “But [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
Has God used a trial in your life to refine your character and strengthen your faith? -Dennis Fisher
Sweet and Sour
By Xochitl Dixon
Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? Job 2:10
When our toddler first bit into a lemon wedge, he wrinkled his nose, stuck out his tongue, and squeezed his eyes shut. “Sow-wah,” he said (sour).
I chuckled as I reached for the piece of fruit, intending to toss it into the trash.
The Lord uses trials to teach us how to trust Him
“No!” Xavier scampered across the kitchen to get away from me. “Moe-wah!” (more). His lips puckered with every juice-squirting bite. I winced when he finally handed me the rind and walked away.
My taste buds accurately reflect my partiality to the sweet moments in life. My preference for avoiding all things bitter reminds me of Job’s wife, who seems to have shared my aversion to the sourness of suffering.
Job surely didn’t delight in hardship or trouble, yet he honored God through heart-wrenching circumstances (Job 1:1–22). When painful sores afflicted Job’s body, he endured the agony (2:7–8). His wife told him to give up on God (v. 9), but Job responded by trusting the Lord through suffering and afflictions (v. 10).
It’s natural to prefer avoiding the bitter bites in life. We can even be tempted to lash out at God when we’re hurting. But the Lord uses trials, teaching us how to trust Him, depend on Him, and surrender to Him as He enables us to persevere through difficult times. And like Job, we don’t have to enjoy suffering to learn to savor the unexpected sweetness of sour moments—the divine strengthening of our faith.
Thank You for assuring us that suffering is never wasted when we place our confidence in who You are, what You’ve done, and what You’re capable of doing.
God uses suffering to strengthen our faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 22, 2017
The Missionary’s Master and Teacher
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 22, 2017
Tasting That Relationship - #8010
The folks at our local bakery are some of the most effective marketers I know. They don't just give you a sales pitch. No, they don't have highly creative advertising. They just offer samples. For free...one of my favorite words - free. So, I walk in to buy two bagels. There, on a plate on top of the display case, are these little bites of cheesecake, and a little sign that invites me to try one for free. So, I do, and I walk out of that bakery with my two bagels and a cheesecake. I had not planned to get a cheesecake, but they sold it in the best possible way...just by letting me taste it. The taste made me want the whole cheesecake!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tasting That Relationship."
Now how do you get someone to develop an appetite for a closer relationship with God? Maybe by giving them a taste of it. Not a sales pitch, not an advertising campaign, but a taste. Like the Bible says, a chance to "taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) And there are few spiritual treasures more valuable to develop in a person than learning to pray. Now, as simple as prayer might seem in some ways, many people around you-even members of your own family-either don't feel interested or don't feel comfortable when it comes to prayer.
When people spent time with Jesus, they learned to pray. When people spend time with you, do they learn to pray; do they develop an appetite for praying? We get a glimpse at how Jesus went about it in our word for today from the Word of God in John 11:38. The scene is the grave of his friend Lazarus where Jesus is finding great grief and despair. No one suspects that in a matter of moments Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead. But first, prayer.
The Bible says, "Take away the stone, 'He said...So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe You sent Me." So, Jesus is praying in front of these people, but as He said, it's primarily for their benefit. He was letting them watch Him pray in an impossible situation, intending that this taste of praying in faith might make them develop an appetite for the same thing.
He didn't preach a lot of sermons on prayer to His disciples. But they saw Him; they heard Him praying in all kinds of situations. For their Master, prayer was a lifestyle, not just a meeting He went to or a binge in the morning. And sure enough, He gave them enough tastes of it that one day they wanted the cheesecake-they said, "Lord, teach us to pray." And ultimately they became powerful prayer warriors themselves, infecting other people with the contagion.
So, let me encourage you to let people see you and hear you praying for them and for others. Not in a show-off way like the Pharisees. Not to impress people with your spirituality or to have some spiritual edge on other people. But when the Holy Spirit prompts you to pray and you're with someone else in a place where it can be done graciously, why not include them? We often promise someone, "I'll pray for you." Which we sometimes forget to do. Why not ask them, "May I pray with you right now?" It means so much to hear someone actually praying for them. You're encouraging them. But you know what? You're also teaching them how to pray.
Our kids tell us that they've never forgotten walking in on Karen and me, kneeling by our bed, praying for them. Let your kids learn to pray by hearing you pray with and for them. Pray with people over the phone, in your office, in the hospital, even in a text. Pray for all kinds of situations that need the touch of God. Give people a taste of your praising God humbly and then your believing God fervently for things only He could do.
People develop an appetite for prayer when they taste it through an attractive sample in someone's life. May you be that kind of sample of a praying man or a praying woman-living proof of "what a friend we have in Jesus."