Max Lucado Daily: TUNE UP YOUR PRAYER LIFE
I’m a recovering prayer wimp. For years my prayers seemed to zig, then zag, then zig again. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps your prayer life could use a tune up, a reboot?
If that sounds overwhelming, I’m inviting you to a simpler plan. Four minutes, plus four weeks, equals forever change! Every day for four weeks, pray for four minutes, focusing on these core elements of prayer: “Father, You are good. I need help. They need help. Thank you.” It’s that simple. Really! Talking with God doesn’t have to be complicated or complex. The power isn’t in the words we pray—but in the One who hears them!
Here’s my challenge for you: Every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes. Then, get ready to connect with God as never before.
Read more Before Amen
Exodus 6
God said to Moses, “Now you’ll see what I’ll do to Pharaoh: With a strong hand he’ll send them out free; with a strong hand he’ll drive them out of his land.”
2-6 God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, “I am God. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as The Strong God, but by my name God (I-Am-Present) I was not known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the country in which they lived as sojourners. But now I’ve heard the groanings of the Israelites whom the Egyptians continue to enslave and I’ve remembered my covenant. Therefore tell the Israelites:
6-8 “I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. I will redeem you, intervening with great acts of judgment. I’ll take you as my own people and I’ll be God to you. You’ll know that I am God, your God who brings you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give it to you as your own country. I AM God.”
9 But when Moses delivered this message to the Israelites, they didn’t even hear him—they were that beaten down in spirit by the harsh slave conditions.
10-11 Then God said to Moses, “Go and speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he will release the Israelites from his land.”
12 Moses answered God, “Look—the Israelites won’t even listen to me. How do you expect Pharaoh to? And besides, I stutter.”
13 But God again laid out the facts to Moses and Aaron regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he again commanded them to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
The Family Tree of Moses and Aaron
14 These are the heads of the tribes:
The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi—these are the families of Reuben.
15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of a Canaanite woman—these are the families of Simeon.
16 These are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their birth: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.
17 The sons of Gershon by family: Libni and Shimei.
18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived to be 133.
19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.
These are the sons of Levi in the order of their birth.
20 Amram married his aunt Jochebed and she had Aaron and Moses. Amram lived to be 137.
21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zicri.
22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she had Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.
25 Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel and she had Phinehas.
These are the heads of the Levite families, family by family.
26-27 This is the Aaron and Moses whom God ordered: “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt clan by clan.” These are the men, Moses and Aaron, who told Pharaoh king of Egypt to release the Israelites from Egypt.
“I’ll Make You as a God to Pharaoh”
28 And that’s how things stood when God next spoke to Moses in Egypt.
29 God addressed Moses, saying, “I am God. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”
30 And Moses answered, “Look at me. I stutter. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, February 01, 2018
Read: Matthew 21:12–16
Jesus at the Temple
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’[c]?”
Footnotes:
Matthew 21:13 Isaiah 56:7
Matthew 21:13 Jer. 7:11
Matthew 21:16 Psalm 8:2 (see Septuagint)
INSIGHT
Establishing Jesus as the Son of David is critical to Matthew’s gospel account. He begins his gospel by saying, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This description traces Jesus’s lineage through Joseph back to David and beyond. Additionally, in Matthew’s gospel Jesus is called the Son of David by two blind men (9:27), a Canaanite woman (15:22), and two more blind men (20:30–31). Since the theme of Matthew’s gospel is that Jesus is the King of the Jews and Matthew’s primary audience was the Jewish people, it was important for Jesus to be identified as the Son of David and heir to David’s throne. Jesus’s royal identity makes it all the more tragic that the response of the mob at His cross mocked Him as King of the Jews (27:29, 42) instead of placing their trust in Him.
What is your response to Jesus?
For further study, see the Discovery Series booklet Is Jesus God? The Answer Matters at discoveryseries.org/q0205.
National Treasure
By Mart DeHaan
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Matthew 21:9
When an advertiser altered a photo of Michelangelo’s famous marble sculpture of the biblical hero David, Italy’s government and gallery officials objected. Picturing David with a military rifle slung over his shoulder (instead of his slingshot) would be a violation—“like taking a hammer to it or worse,” a cultural official said.
In first-century Jerusalem, David was remembered as the shepherd-songwriter and soldier-king of Israel’s fondest memories and greatest hopes. Prophets foretold that David’s descendant would finally defeat the enemies of Israel. So, centuries later, when crowds welcomed Jesus as the Son of David (Matthew 21:6–9), they were expecting Him to lead the revolt that would overthrow their Roman occupiers. Instead Jesus knocked over the tables of temple money-changers to restore His Father’s house as a house of prayer for all nations. Israel’s leaders were furious. This wasn’t the kind of Messiah and Son of David they were looking for. So without realizing what they were doing, they called for Roman executioners to take a hammer to the hands and feet of the true glory of Israel.
Jesus shows that God is always better than our expectations.
Instead of stopping them, Jesus let Himself be lifted up on a cross of shame—defaced and disgraced. Only by resurrection would it be known that the true Son of David had defeated His enemies with love and enlisted the children of all nations to spread the word.
Father in heaven, it’s hard to admit. But it’s true. We get so confused. We try to protect the images we love more than the love You consider priceless.
Jesus shows that God is always better than our expectations.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 01, 2018
The Call of God
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel… —1 Corinthians 1:17
Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification— we are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (see John 12:32). It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.
The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason— these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 01, 2018
A Gerbil On A Wheel - #8104
Our family of five voted - and the vote was four to one. I lost. The issue was whether or not we would get a pet. See, I grew up in an apartment and the only pet we ever had were like...well, we had some cockroaches. But I went along with the vote. We started down Pet Avenue by getting a gerbil and I took a liking to him. There's something a little strange, though, about those furry little guys. If you could interview a gerbil, let's say, only I would even think of that, and ask what he was anticipating for today, he'd say, "Well, the same as yesterday and same as the day before." "Well, what's that?" "The wheel." And so Mr. Gerbil climbs on his wheel and starts running. Come back later, he's still running on the wheel. I don't think he realizes what's going on. Well, there's a whole lot of activity, but he's not going anywhere.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Gerbil On A Wheel."
My friend Mark has a successful business, he has a great family, and he's very involved in a good church. But the other day, we had a heart-to-heart conversation and he summed up, I guess what you'd call a restlessness in his heart. He said, "Ron, I'm sick and tired of the status quo." I don't think he's alone.
I know more and more people who are tired of their 'gerbil wheel' of status quo living. It's not that the wheel is bad - it just isn't satisfying. It feels too much like a life that is full of activity, oh yeah, the wheel's spinning. But in terms of doing something really eternal, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. This feeling of restlessness about the wheel you're spinning on might be leading you to the same conclusion my friend has reached. Even though there's nothing really wrong in my life, I really want more from it than more of just the same.
Okay, the reason for the restlessness may be traceable to the reality that God shows us in Ecclesiastes 3:11. He says, "He has set eternity in their hearts." You've got this 'hankering', as they say down South, for something that will give your life some eternal significance. You want more than a 'gerbil wheel' of doing your job, making some money, maintaining your Christian activities, and meeting your responsibilities. It's all good stuff, but again it's not enough to satisfy a heart that's restless for something more eternal.
The first step off the "gerbil wheel" of status quo living may be in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 6:32-33. Speaking of the pursuit of earth-stuff, Jesus says, "The pagans run after such things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well."
As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're not created to just spend our life building and maintaining an earth-kingdom. We are eternal beings created to make an eternal difference. The restlessness of our heart is ultimately to make a greater difference with the rest of our lives than we have ever made before. Don't you want that?
If the status quo isn't enough for you anymore, would you ask God for a mission that will affect people's eternity, for a life that's committed to building His Kingdom not yours; carrying out His agenda. Nothing matters more to Jesus than the mission for which He came to earth. In His words, "to seek and save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
My friend Mark, who told me of his discontentment with the status quo, said he wants the rest of his life to really be about sharing Christ, getting out the life-saving Gospel of Jesus, and taking people to heaven with him. He told me he wants his business profits to be about that, his relationships with the people in his world, his influence, the use of more and more of his time. See, that kind of passion to make the maximum possible difference with everything you've got, with the rest of the time you've got is the beginning of the great adventure that your heart has been hungry for.
More of the same running on the same old gerbil wheel will never be enough for a heart that's made for the eternal. Be all about Jesus' Kingdom, and your life will count more than you could have ever dreamed.
