Max Lucado Daily: STANDING ON GOD’S PROMISES
The promises of God work. They work! Search until you find covenants that address your needs. Clutch them as the precious pearls they are. And when the enemy comes with his lies of doubt and fear, produce the pearl. Satan will be quickly silenced. He has no reply for truth.
Russell Kelso Carter committed himself to believe the promises of God in the Bible. His decision to trust God in the midst of great difficulty gave birth to a hymn that’s still sung today. My favorite stanza says:
“Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God!”
Will you do the same? Build your life on the promises of God. Because God’s promises are unbreakable your hope will be unshakable!
Read more Unshakable Hope
Judges 8
Then the Ephraimites said to Gideon, “Why did you leave us out of this, not calling us when you went to fight Midian?” They were indignant and let him know it.
2-3 But Gideon replied, “What have I done compared to you? Why, even the gleanings of Ephraim are superior to the vintage of Abiezer. God gave you Midian’s commanders, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done compared with you?”
When they heard this, they calmed down and cooled off.
4-5 Gideon and his three hundred arrived at the Jordan and crossed over. They were bone-tired but still pressing the pursuit. He asked the men of Succoth, “Please, give me some loaves of bread for my troops I have with me. They’re worn out, and I’m hot on the trail of Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”
6 But the leaders in Succoth said, “You’re on a wild goose chase; why should we help you on a fool’s errand?”
7 Gideon said, “If you say so. But when God gives me Zebah and Zalmunna, I’ll give you a thrashing, whip your bare flesh with desert thorns and thistles!”
8-9 He went from there to Peniel and made the same request. The men of Peniel, like the men of Succoth, also refused. Gideon told them, “When I return safe and sound, I’ll demolish this tower.”
10 Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with an army of about fifteen companies, all that was left of the fighting force of the easterners—they had lost 120 companies of soldiers.
11-12 Gideon went up the caravan trail east of Nobah and Jogbehah, found and attacked the undefended camp. Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he chased and captured the two kings of Midian. The whole camp had panicked.
13-15 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by way of the Heres Pass. He captured a young man from Succoth and asked some questions. The young man wrote down the names of the officials and leaders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. Then Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are the wild geese, Zebah and Zalmunna, you said I’d never catch. You wouldn’t give so much as a scrap of bread to my worn-out men; you taunted us, saying that we were on a fool’s errand.”
16-17 Then he took the seventy-seven leaders of Succoth and thrashed them with desert thorns and thistles. And he demolished the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the city.
18 He then addressed Zebah and Zalmunna: “Tell me about the men you killed at Tabor.”
“They were men much like you,” they said, “each one like a king’s son.”
19 Gideon said, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As God lives, if you had let them live, I would let you live.”
20 Then he spoke to Jether, his firstborn: “Get up and kill them.” But he couldn’t do it, couldn’t draw his sword. He was afraid—he was still just a boy.
21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Do it yourself—if you’re man enough!” And Gideon did it. He stepped up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. Then he took the crescents that hung on the necks of their camels.
22 The Israelites said, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson. You have saved us from Midian’s tyranny.”
23 Gideon said, “I most certainly will not rule over you, nor will my son. God will reign over you.”
24 Then Gideon said, “But I do have one request. Give me, each of you, an earring that you took as plunder.” Ishmaelites wore gold earrings, and the men all had their pockets full of them.
25-26 They said, “Of course. They’re yours!”
They spread out a blanket and each man threw his plundered earrings on it. The gold earrings that Gideon had asked for weighed about forty-three pounds—and that didn’t include the crescents and pendants, the purple robes worn by the Midianite kings, and the ornaments hung around the necks of their camels.
27 Gideon made the gold into a sacred ephod and put it on display in his hometown, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted itself there. Gideon and his family, too, were seduced by it.
28 Midian’s tyranny was broken by the Israelites; nothing more was heard from them. The land was quiet for forty years in Gideon’s time.
29-31 Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and lived in his house. Gideon had seventy sons. He fathered them all—he had a lot of wives! His concubine, the one at Shechem, also bore him a son. He named him Abimelech.
32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age. He was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Abimelech
33-35 Gideon was hardly cool in the tomb when the People of Israel had gotten off track and were prostituting themselves to Baal—they made Baal-of-the-Covenant their god. The People of Israel forgot all about God, their God, who had saved them from all their enemies who had hemmed them in. And they didn’t keep faith with the family of Jerub-Baal (Gideon), honoring all the good he had done for Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
Read: Romans 8:22–30
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[b] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Footnotes:
Romans 8:27 Or that
Romans 8:28 Some manuscripts God works all things together for good, or God works in all things for the good
INSIGHT
Our inability to know what to ask for when we pray is part of a bigger story. According to Paul’s letter to the Romans, there’s a lot more we can’t do for ourselves. We also can’t avoid the consequences of our own choices, change our own hearts, make ourselves right with God, or even live up to our own expectations (Romans 4:5; 6:23; 7:18–21). Yet Paul doesn’t leave us helpless and hopeless. He begins and ends chapter 8 showing us how to rise on wings of wonder. Could anything lift us higher than to know that we also can’t do anything that would cause the God who is for us to stop helping and loving us? (vv. 11, 31–39). - Mart DeHaan
Much More Than Words
By Lawrence Darmani
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Romans 8:26
At a dedication ceremony during which a Bible translated into a local African language was presented, the area chief was presented with his own copy. In appreciation, he lifted the Bible to the skies and exclaimed, “Now we know God understands our language! We can read the Bible in our own native mother-tongue.”
No matter our language, our heavenly Father understands it. But often we feel unable to express our deepest longings to Him. The apostle Paul encourages us to pray regardless of how we feel. Paul speaks of our suffering world and our own pain: “The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22), and he compares that to the Holy Spirit’s work on our behalf. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness,” he writes. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (v. 26).
God’s Holy Spirit knows us intimately. He knows our longings, our heart-language, and our unspoken words, and He helps us in our communication with God. His Spirit draws us to be transformed into the image of God the Son (v. 29).
Our heavenly Father understands our language and speaks to us through His Word. When we think our prayers are weak or too short, His Holy Spirit helps us by speaking through us to the Father. He yearns for us to talk with Him in prayer.
Thank You, Lord, for understanding my language and innermost longings. When my prayers are weak and dry, bear me up through Your Spirit.
When we feel weak in our prayers, God’s Spirit helps us in ways we can’t imagine.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
Building on the Atonement
…present…your members as instruments of righteousness to God. —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
The Scary Picture Of the Real You - #8282
It really wasn't fair. But some friends of mine in youth ministry used to carry out these dreaded Saturday morning raids on teenagers from the local high school. By the way, those raids got those kids to an event that they eventually ended up enjoying, but they didn't enjoy how it started. A few leaders would show up early on Saturday morning at the house of one of their student leaders. When a parent came to the door, they would tell them what church group they were from and asked the parents' permission to "kidnap" their son or daughter to a "come as you are" breakfast they were having with student leaders. Most of the parents actually went along with it with a bit of amusement. The invaders went to the door of that teenager's room and gave them one minute to throw something on before they came in for them. Sixty seconds later, people of the same sex went in to that room and snapped a picture of the Saturday morning self. This was back in the days with those Polaroid cameras before digital. Those pictures were of course posted at the breakfast to the horror of those kids, especially the girls. No makeup, bad hair, real skin, they didn't seem to be too excited about everyone seeing what they really were like.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Scary Picture Of the Real You."
There's the dressed up, fixed up version of ourselves that everyone sees. And then there's that not-so-beautiful picture of what we really look like. A lot of us struggle with that one. One of the writers of the Bible, actually a man named Paul sure did. But as you hear his description of the gap between the person he wants to be and the person he is, he seems to speak for all of us.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 7:18, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing." There's the picture of how I want to look and then this candid picture of what we really are. There's this dark side, I guess. Maybe it's anger, or selfishness, or bitterness, or prejudice. The ugly picture may be something sexual, or an addiction, a past that continues to haunt our present. You know, that dark secret. God calls it by that one ultimately ugly word-sin: rebellion against our Creator's ways, and against our Creator himself.
And these sentences from the Bible capture how powerless we are to change the picture. Here the Bible says, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" He's just sick of being this person he hates. One mother I know, who has been agonizing over her teenage daughter, recently confronted her with the ugly things that she knew her daughter had been doing. The daughter said, "Mother, I'm not like that!" Oh, she sure didn't want to be like that, but she was like that! We're all caught in between the person we want to be, we need to be and the person we really are.
But then comes the hope in this same statement in the Bible, "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" There is hope of changing the picture, but only one. We don't need a religion, we don't need some self-improvement program, we need a Savior. We need a rescuer who will do for us what a lifeguard does for a drowning person, deliver us from the thing we can't deliver ourselves from.
That is what the cross of Jesus Christ is all about. God's one and only Son loving you so much He absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin so you can finally go free if you grab the lifeguard with all the faith you've got.
Maybe you've never made this awesome Savior your Savior and you're ready to be rescued. I hope you are. Would you tell Him that right now? He's alive; He came back from the dead. He's walked out of His grave. He's ready to walk into your life and change it. He's where you are now waiting for you to put all your trust in Him.
I'd love to help you cross over and make this important choice. Our website is all about helping you do that. It's ANewStory.com. I hope you won't waste any time before you get there today.
The Bible promises that, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone; a new life has begun." That miracle for you may be one prayer away.