Max Lucado Daily: WHAT HE SAYS HE WILL DO
God will always be the same. No one else will. Companies follow pay raises with pink slips. Friends applaud you when you drive a classic and dismiss you when you drive a dud.
Not God. God is always the same. James 1:17 says, with Him “there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Catch God in a bad mood? Won’t happen. Fear exhausting His grace? A sardine will swallow the Atlantic first. Think He’s given up on you? Wrong. Did He not make a promise to you? God is not a human being, and He will not lie. He is not a human, and He does not change His mind. What He says He will do. What He promises, He will make come true. His strength, truth, ways, and love never change. Hebrews 13:8 declares “He is the same yesterday and today and forever.” What He says, He will do!
Read more Lucado Inspirational Reader
Matthew 12:1-23
In Charge of the Sabbath
1-2 One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: “Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!”
3-5 Jesus said, “Really? Didn’t you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn’t you ever read in God’s Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it’s not held against them?
6-8 “There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—‘I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual’—you wouldn’t be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”
9-10 When Jesus left the field, he entered their meeting place. There was a man there with a crippled hand. They said to Jesus, “Is it legal to heal on the Sabbath?” They were baiting him.
11-14 He replied, “Is there a person here who, finding one of your lambs fallen into a ravine, wouldn’t, even though it was a Sabbath, pull it out? Surely kindness to people is as legal as kindness to animals!” Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out and it was healed. The Pharisees walked out furious, sputtering about how they were going to ruin Jesus.
In Charge of Everything
15-21 Jesus, knowing they were out to get him, moved on. A lot of people followed him, and he healed them all. He also cautioned them to keep it quiet, following guidelines set down by Isaiah:
Look well at my handpicked servant;
I love him so much, take such delight in him.
I’ve placed my Spirit on him;
he’ll decree justice to the nations.
But he won’t yell, won’t raise his voice;
there’ll be no commotion in the streets.
He won’t walk over anyone’s feelings,
won’t push you into a corner.
Before you know it, his justice will triumph;
the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even
among far-off unbelievers.
No Neutral Ground
22-23 Next a poor demon-afflicted wretch, both blind and deaf, was set down before him. Jesus healed him, gave him his sight and hearing. The people who saw it were impressed—“This has to be the Son of David!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 20, 2017
Read: John 14:15–27
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Footnotes:
John 14:17 Some early manuscripts and is
INSIGHT
Thank God that you can take your cares to Him in prayer and ask Him to help you commit your situation to His care.
Take a Number
By David H. Roper
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. John 14:27
We have an ancient cherry tree in our backyard that had seen better days and looked like it was dying, so I called in an arborist. He checked it out and declared that it was “unduly stressed” and needed immediate attention. “Take a number,” my wife, Carolyn, muttered to the tree as she walked away. It had been one of those weeks.
Indeed, we all have anxious weeks—filled with worries over the direction our culture is drifting or concerns for our children, our marriages, our businesses, our finances, our personal health and well-being. Nevertheless, Jesus has assured us that despite disturbing circumstances we can be at peace. He said, “My peace I give to you” (John 14:27).
In the midst of troubles, peace can be found in Jesus.
Jesus’s days were filled with distress and disorder: He was beleaguered by His enemies and misunderstood by His family and friends. He often had no place to lay His head. Yet there was no trace of anxiety or fretfulness in His manner. He possessed an inner calm, a quiet tranquility. This is the peace He has given us—freedom from anxiety concerning the past, present, and future. The peace He exhibited; His peace.
In any circumstances, no matter how dire or trivial, we can turn to Jesus in prayer. There in His presence we can make our worries and fears known to Him. Then, Paul assures us, the peace of God will come to “guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). Even if we’ve had “one of those weeks,” we can have His peace.
Dear Lord, thank You that I can come to You with every care and Your peace will guard my mind.
Are you struggling today? Read Overcoming Worry from Our Daily Bread [5 minute read].
In the midst of troubles, peace can be found in Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 20, 2017
The Forgiveness of God
In Him we have…the forgiveness of sins… —Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 20, 2017
Real You, Real Prayer - #8051
It was one of those real short nights. I had just spoken for a large youth event, and the night went late for the best of reasons: God brought hundreds of young people to faith in Christ that night. The counseling of all those kids took a blessedly long time. Now Jason, who was one of the organizers, took me to my hotel that night and he told me he would be picking me up in a few hours for my very early morning flight. I said, "I'm sorry you have to get me so early when you've been up so late." He said, "Oh, don't worry. I'll just roll out of bed, throw on a baseball cap, and come on over." (Which, by the way, I think is the major reason there are baseball caps.) Well, bless his heart, that's just what he did. When we got to the airport, I asked him if we could pray together before I went on my plane. He respectfully took off his baseball cap, and we had a neat time of prayer. When I opened my eyes at the end, he still had his cap off. And a very creative hair style-I mean, it was all over the place! He even laughed about it. The cap covered what he didn't want anyone to see-except when he was praying.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Real You, Real Prayer."
Actually, prayer should be the time when we are willing to expose what we don't want anyone to see or know otherwise. It's meant to be the place where we can be 100% honest and 100% transparent. And when we are, some amazing things can happen.
Our word for today from the Word of God begins with Hebrews 4:13, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." In other words, there is no point in posing or role-playing when you're with God. He already knows your deepest feelings, your deepest failings, your deepest struggles. Our hat is always off in front of God, whether we take it off or not. He knows everything we cover up for other people. There's no point in trying to put a tie on for God if "everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him." Right?
Now we might worry about how God will respond if we really get real with Him. Well, listen to verse 15. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin." The Savior you're approaching is the one who has been here, who has been, while fully God, fully human. He gets us!
When God the Son was here, He experienced temptation from Satan himself. He experienced loneliness, abandonment, agonizing over God's will, grief, family tensions, homelessness, excruciating pain, even dying. So you come emotionally naked to one who has lived...not necessarily all your exact circumstances, but feelings very much like yours. You'll not shock Him with your struggles-He already knows. You won't be rejected for your feelings-He understands.
And when you come with the cover off, you leave with resources from God that can change everything. Hebrews 4:16: "Let us then (in other words, since we're going to a God who knows all about us, who has walked in our moccasins) approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
God wants to pour out His mercy and His grace on the hardest, hurtingest parts of your heart and life. But the real God will only help the real you. You don't come with your "cap off" to show God what He doesn't know about. You come totally exposed emotionally and spiritually because God will only help you with what you honestly open up to Him.
So when you're praying, don't come to God with the official you, with the image you show everyone else, with the dressed up, touched up, covered up you. Uncover in His presence what you can't uncover to anyone else. And let His grace; let His healing come pouring into the parts of your heart that need it the most.
Come like the old hymn says, "Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me."
