Max Lucado Daily: EXAMINE YOUR GIFTS - June 18, 2018
Be careful! In a desire to be great, one might cease being any good. Not every teacher is equipped to be a principal. Not every carpenter has the skill to head a crew. Not every musician should conduct an orchestra. A promotion might promote a person right out of their sweet spot. For the love of more, a person might lose their purpose. Greed makes a poor job counselor.
Examine your gifts; know your strengths. Romans 12:3 says, “Have a sane estimate of your capabilities.” Proverbs 15:16 says, “It is better to have little with fear for the LORD than to have great treasure with turmoil.” So, don’t let the itch for things or the ear for applause derail you from your God-intended design!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Numbers 31
The Midianite War
half-share for those who had fought in the war:
337,500 sheep, with a tax of 675 for God
36,000 cattle, with a tax of 72 for God
30,500 donkeys, with a tax of 61 for God
16,000 people, with a tax of 32 for God
41 Moses turned the tax over to Eleazar the priest as God’s part, following God’s instructions to Moses.
42-46 The other half-share for the Israelite community that Moses set apart from what was given to the men who fought the war was:
337,500 sheep
36,000 cattle
30,500 donkeys
16,000 people
47 From the half-share going to the People of Israel, Moses, just as God had instructed him, picked one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites, who were in charge of maintaining God’s Dwelling.
48-50 The military officers—commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—came to Moses and said, “We have counted the soldiers under our command and not a man is missing. We’ve brought offerings to God from the gold jewelry we got—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, ornaments—to make atonement for our lives before God.”
51-54 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all that fine-crafted jewelry. In total, the gold from the commanders of thousands and hundreds that Moses and Eleazar offered as a gift to God weighed about six hundred pounds, all donated by the soldiers who had taken the booty. Moses and Eleazar took the gold from the commanders of thousands and hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, to serve as a reminder for the People of Israel before God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 18, 2018
Read: Genesis 28:10–22
Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.
13-15 Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.”
16-17 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “God is in this place—truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”
18-19 Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He christened the place Bethel (God’s House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.
20-22 Jacob vowed a vow: “If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this God will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a memorial pillar will mark this as a place where God lives. And everything you give me, I’ll return a tenth to you.”
Blessing in the Mess
By Monica Brands
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
I got myself into this mess, so I’d better get myself out, I sometimes find myself thinking. Although I believe in a God of grace, I’m still prone to act as if His help is available only when I deserve it.
God’s first encounter with Jacob is a beautiful illustration of how untrue this is.
Jacob had spent a lifetime trying to alter his destiny. He’d been born second at a time when firstborn sons typically received their father’s blessing—believed to guarantee future prosperity.
So Jacob decided to do whatever it would take to get his father’s blessing anyway. Eventually, he succeeded—through deceit—obtaining the blessing intended for his brother (Genesis 27:19–29).
But the price was a divided family, as Jacob fled from his furious brother (vv. 41–43). As night descended (28:11), Jacob must have felt as far from a life of blessing as ever.
But it was there, leaving behind a trail of deception, that Jacob met God. God showed him he didn’t need desperate schemes to be blessed; he already was. His destiny—a purpose far greater than material prosperity (v. 14)—was held securely by the One who would never leave him (v. 15).
It was a lesson Jacob would spend his whole life learning.
And so will we. No matter how many regrets we carry or how distant God seems, He is still there—gently guiding us out of our mess into His blessing.
Lord, so often we feel trapped by our mistakes, thinking there’s no future left for us. Remind us that you are the God of Jacob, the God who will never give up on Your purposes for us.
God never gives up on His love and purposes for our lives.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 18, 2018
Keep Recognizing Jesus
…Peter…walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid… —Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “…why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.
If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 18, 2018
Your Welcome Home - #8201
When I'm on the road-which is quite a bit of the time-I really need my cell phone. For all the dropped calls and dead spots and interruptions, a cell phone really is a tool to keep vital communication going. So every night, you know, going to the motel, faithfully take out your cell phone and the power cord to recharge it from an AC outlet. Most days that little guy gets a workout and, just like the guy who uses him, he's pretty exhausted by the end of the day (except I can't plug me in). Wouldn't it be interesting, though, if people had bars that registered how much power they have left like a cell phone does? Not long ago, I got up and turned on my phone, anticipating another day of needing it a lot, and it was virtually dead. "Hey, what's the deal here? A power outage in the night?" Nope. An owner who's a "dufus." Yeah, I had the cord plugged into my phone, but yeah, you've got to plug it into the wall too apparently!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason It's Not Working."
There was a simple reason my phone wasn't working. It wasn't attached to the source of power that it needed. There's a simple reason life isn't working for so many people. They're not attached to the source of power that they need. They're missing the God we were created to belong to; the God we're created to depend on. And it could explain why, even though your life may be pretty full, it's not really fulfilling. It could explain why the dark side of you, the side of you that keeps hurting people you care about, why it keeps winning. It could explain why God seems strangely far instead of near. You're not plugged into where the power comes from, because it comes from Him!
If anybody should have been plugged into Jesus, you'd think His disciple, Thomas, would have been. After all, Thomas had heard all of Jesus' teachings, he'd walked with Him every day, he'd seen His miracles, and He'd seen His love in action. Here's a man who knew just about all you could know about Jesus, who lived with Jesus. But something very revealing and very powerful happened to Thomas one day, and it wasn't until after Jesus had died on the cross and then risen from the dead. The Bible says he wasn't there when Jesus appeared personally to the disciples after His resurrection.
So, the disciples excitedly told Thomas, "We have seen the Lord!" And Thomas said, "I don't believe it." The story picks up in John 20:27-28, which is our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus has appeared to His team asecond time, only this time Thomas is in the room. "Then He said to Thomas, (the Bible says) Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" Key word here "my." For the first time, Thomas made the Lord his Lord. He'd been around Jesus for a long time, but apparently he'd missed ever making Jesus His personal Savior. And things weren't working because, even though he knew all about the source of power, he had never plugged into that source for himself.
There are a lot of Thomases today. Maybe you're one of them. You're a great church person, you're a good person, but it's not enough to satisfy your soul. It's not enough to really change your life. It's just not powerful enough. Thomas had it all except Jesus. Maybe that's you. You have Christianity, you have Christian belief, you do Christian things, but somehow there's never been that "My Lord and my God moment." And Jesus loves you too much to let you miss Him. That's why He's come to you today to show you that you are missing Him.
But you don't have to miss Him one more day. Like Thomas, look at the scars that show how much He loves you. He died for you. Look at this Savior who has conquered death so He could give you heaven. And join Thomas at Jesus' feet giving yourself to Him. That's what's been missing. Talk to Him. Tell Him you want to belong to Him. "Jesus, I know you're the Savior. I want to make You my Savior from my sin. What You did on that cross was for me. And I turn from my sin today, Jesus. I am yours."
Look, if you want to get this done, I want to urge you to get to our website ANewStory.com. It is set there just for you at a moment like this to secure your relationship with Jesus.
Knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus-it's all the difference in the world. In fact, it's all the difference in where you'll spend eternity.