Max Lucado Daily: COME TO ME
How does a person get relief from shame, embarrassment, anger? In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. . .”
I can see you shaking your head. I’ve tried that. I’ve read the Bible. I’ve sat on the pew—but I’ve never received relief. Could it be you went to religion and you didn’t go to God? Could it be you went to a church, but never saw Christ?
“Come to Me”, the verse reads. Jesus is the solution for weariness of the soul. Go to Him. Admit you have soul secrets you’ve never dealt with. He already knows what they are. Go to Him! He’s just waiting for you to ask Him for help!
From Lucado Inspirational Reader
Job 29
When God Was Still by My Side
1-6 Job now resumed his response:
“Oh, how I long for the good old days,
when God took such very good care of me.
He always held a lamp before me
and I walked through the dark by its light.
Oh, how I miss those golden years
when God’s friendship graced my home,
When the Mighty One was still by my side
and my children were all around me,
When everything was going my way,
and nothing seemed too difficult.
7-20 “When I walked downtown
and sat with my friends in the public square,
Young and old greeted me with respect;
I was honored by everyone in town.
When I spoke, everyone listened;
they hung on my every word.
People who knew me spoke well of me;
my reputation went ahead of me.
I was known for helping people in trouble
and standing up for those who were down on their luck.
The dying blessed me,
and the bereaved were cheered by my visits.
All my dealings with people were good.
I was known for being fair to everyone I met.
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame,
Father to the needy,
and champion of abused aliens.
I grabbed street thieves by the scruff of the neck
and made them give back what they’d stolen.
I thought, ‘I’ll die peacefully in my own bed,
grateful for a long and full life,
A life deep-rooted and well-watered,
a life limber and dew-fresh,
My soul suffused with glory
and my body robust until the day I die.’
21-25 “Men and women listened when I spoke,
hung expectantly on my every word.
After I spoke, they’d be quiet,
taking it all in.
They welcomed my counsel like spring rain,
drinking it all in.
When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
their faces lit up, their troubles took wing!
I was their leader, establishing the mood
and setting the pace by which they lived.
Where I led, they followed.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 27, 2017
Read: 2 Kings 22:1–4, 8–13
The Book of the Law Found
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
3 In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
2 Kings 22:8-13New International Version (NIV)
8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
Knowing Better
By Kirsten Holmberg
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 2 Kings 22:11
When we brought our adoptive son home from overseas, I was eager to shower him with love and provide what he had lacked over the preceding months, especially quality food, since he had a nutritional deficit. But despite our best efforts, including consulting specialists, he grew very little. After nearly three years, we learned he had some severe food intolerances. After removing those items from his diet, he grew five inches in just a few months. While I grieved at how long I’d unwittingly fed him foods that impaired his growth, I rejoiced at this surge in his health!
I suspect Josiah felt similarly when the Book of the Law was discovered after having been lost in the temple for years. Just as I grieved having unintentionally hindered my son’s growth, Josiah grieved having ignorantly missed God’s fullest and best intentions for His people (2 Kings 22:11). Although he is commended for doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord (v. 2), he learned better how to honor God after finding the Law. With his newfound knowledge, he led the people to worship again as God had instructed them (23:22–23).
God gives us a new start.
As we learn through the Bible how to honor Him, we may grieve the ways we’ve fallen short of God’s will for us. Yet we can be comforted that He heals and restores us, and leads us gently into deeper understanding.
Thank You, God, for showing me how to live in a way that pleases You. I’m sorry for the ways I’ve not done that in the past. Help me to honor and obey You now.
God gives us a new start.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 27, 2017
The Consecration of Spiritual Power
…by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. —Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (see John 17:16).
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 27, 2017
The Skunk's Not Worth The Smell - #8056
Skunks are kind of cute; you just don't want to get near them. Humans seem to understand that pretty well. Apparently, some dogs just don't get it. Like the one a pastor friend of mine told me about. The dog belongs to a man in his congregation. Somehow his canine companion got into a tangle with one of those striped kitties. Needless to say, the dog reeked! His owner did his best to bathe him thoroughly. But the smell was still so strong that, before it was over, literally the poor man got so sick in the night he had to go to the hospital!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Skunk's Not Worth The Smell."
I don't care what reason anyone or anything has for getting close to a skunk – it's just not worth the smell. There's this lasting stench of touching what you never should have gotten near in the first place. But for many of us who would never touch a skunk, we're living with the stinking after-effects of touching something we never should have touched. And it could be you're still involved with that person, that activity, that influence, maybe that habit you just don't want to let go of. But it's fouling the air of your life and probably the lives of people close to you. Right?
The Bible commands us to identify the things in our life that are having a contaminating effect, and it tells us what to do with them. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, our word for today from the Word of God, God says, "Since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."
In other words, clean yourself up from the contaminators in your life. The reason God gives us is "since we have these promises". What promises? Well, they immediately precede this verse in 2 Corinthians 6 which tells us that, if we belong to Jesus, we are "the temple of the living God" and we are "sons and daughters" of "the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:16, 18).
In other words, "Do you realize who you are? The most holy God lives in you, man! You are a prince or a princess in the family of the King of all kings! Live like it!" God's conclusion is: "Touch no unclean thing" (2 Corinthians 6:17) ... "purify yourselves from everything that contaminates."
There might be some stuff in your life that a temple, a child of God should not be touching. It may be what you watch, it might be some of the music you listen to, it might be the negative talk or the gossip that just keeps polluting you. The "skunk" could be a person who is contaminating you spiritually, it could be stuff on the Internet, a grudge you won't let go of, a relationship that's gotten way too physical hasn't it? The Holy Spirit of God, who lives in you is probably making you feel uneasy inside right now about the things you're touching that make Him feel uncomfortable.
The stench of handling what stinks spiritually reaches a long way – the guilt, the people who are hurt, the feelings of defeat and unworthiness, the damage to your reputation, the damage to a relationship, the distance between you and your Savior, the powerlessness because God cannot bless His contaminated child.
The things that stink in your life may very well be ultimately because of the sin you've been hanging onto. Would you let this be the day you go to Jesus for His forgiving and for His cleansing. Let this be the day you walk away from these things you just can't afford to touch.
