Max Lucado Daily: "Oh, Daddy!"
When my eldest daughter was 13, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents' hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. "Oh, Daddy." That was enough for me. At that moment I'd have given her the moon. All she said was, "Oh Daddy!"
Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt, "Oh Daddy!" Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.
Here's my prayer challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com for a simple prayer. Then every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes-it'll change your life forever!
Before Amen
Judges 17
Micah
There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. He said to his mother, “Remember that 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you? I overheard you when you pronounced your curse. Well, I have the money; I stole it. But now I’ve brought it back to you.”
His mother said, “God bless you, my son!”
3-4 As he returned the 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, she said, “I had totally consecrated this money to God for my son to make a statue, a cast god.” Then she took 200 pieces of the silver and gave it to a sculptor and he cast them into the form of a god.
5 This man, Micah, had a private chapel. He had made an ephod and some teraphim-idols and had ordained one of his sons to be his priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.
7-8 Meanwhile there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah and from a family of Judah. He was a Levite but was a stranger there. He left that town, Bethlehem in Judah, seeking his fortune. He got as far as the hill country of Ephraim and showed up at Micah’s house.
9 Micah asked him, “So where are you from?”
He said, “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I’m on the road, looking for a place to settle down.”
10 Micah said, “Stay here with me. Be my father and priest. I’ll pay you ten pieces of silver a year, whatever clothes you need, and your meals.”
11-12 The Levite agreed and moved in with Micah. The young man fit right in and became one of the family. Micah appointed the young Levite as his priest. This all took place in Micah’s home.
13 Micah said, “Now I know that God will make things go well for me—why, I’ve got a Levite for a priest!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7–18
Treasure in Jars of Clay
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[a] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 4:16 Greek man
INSIGHT
As with Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the epistle of James encourages those who are facing trials. “Consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete” (James 1:2–4). Those who persevere will receive strength for today and “the crown of life” (v. 12)—eternal life—tomorrow.
How have you experienced the joy of Christ in the midst of trials? - Alyson Kieda
Treasure in a Pumpkin
By Kirsten Holmberg
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
As a young mother, I was determined to document my daughter’s first year of life. Each month, I took photos of her to illustrate how she had changed and grown. In one of my favorite pictures, she is gleefully sitting in the belly of a hollowed-out pumpkin I purchased from a local farmer. There she sat, the delight of my heart, contained in an overgrown squash. The pumpkin withered in the ensuing weeks, but my daughter continued to grow and thrive.
The way Paul describes knowing the truth of who Jesus is reminds me of that photo. He likens the knowledge of Jesus in our heart to a treasure stored in a clay pot. Remembering what Jesus did for us gives us the courage and strength to persevere through struggles in spite of being “hard pressed on every side” (2 Corinthians 4:8). Because of God’s power in our lives, when we are “struck down, but not destroyed,” we reveal the life of Jesus (v. 9).
Like the pumpkin that withered, we may feel the wear and tear of our trials. But the joy of Jesus in us can continue to grow in spite of those challenges. Our knowledge of Him—His power at work in our lives—is the treasure stored in our frail clay bodies. We can flourish in the face of hardship because of His power at work within us.
Dear Father, thank You for putting Your truth into my heart and life. Help me to bear up under the challenges I face with Your power. May others see Your work in my life and come to know You too.
God’s power is at work within us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 22, 2018
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit… —Romans 8:16
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 22, 2018
The Secret of a Champion - #8291
Connie was in the campus outreach club I ran near her high school. In some ways, she was a typical teenager. In other ways, her life was very different from her peers. Every morning about 5:00 A.M.-while her peers were still sound asleep-Connie was at the local ice skating rink, practicing. And when her friends were all enjoying their summer off, well, she was in Colorado in a rigorous training program for ice skaters. A few years later, my wife and I were in Holland teaching a European youth workers conference. As I was in our bungalow, preparing for the next meeting, I had the TV on in the background, with a telecast of the Winter Olympics going. I wasn't paying much attention because the commentary was in Dutch, and my Dutch isn't what it used to be. But suddenly I heard a name I recognized-Connie's name. I looked up in time to see her on the screen, proudly representing her country in the quest for Olympic glory. You know what? I knew how she got there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Secret of a Champion."
Most people saw Connie at her pinnacle, as the champion she had become. But I knew the secret that made her a champion. It was a thousand invisible mornings, when no one was watching. A thousand invisible mornings when she paid the daily price of what it takes to become a champion.
You can probably think of some people you've met who you consider to be a spiritual champion. There seems to be this power in their life, this radiance that they give off wherever they go. They live and they speak with this authority. What you're seeing is the result of a thousand invisible mornings when they showed up again to meet with the source of all spiritual power, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can be a champion, too, if you'll pay that daily price of what it takes to become a spiritual champion.
As God's great leader, Joshua, stood at the threshold of the greatest challenges of his life, God told him the simple secret of going for the gold spiritually. It's in Joshua 1:7-8, and it's our word for today from the Word of God. God says, "Be strong and very courageous...Do not let this Book of the Law (that's God's Word, the Bible) depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
How can you be guaranteed of winning? By having the Word of God in your mouth all the time. By having the Word of God in your heart all the time. By having the Word of God in your life all the time. Not just verses you know, but truth that you live out every day.
So, if you want to be a spiritual champion, you'll need to make your personal time with Jesus in His Book the singular non-negotiable of your personal schedule. Not something you do if there's time or when you feel like it. No, you show up for training time with Jesus each new day. The purpose of reading His Word is to chew on it (that's meditate) until you're ready to "do everything written" there it says.
My suggestion, which has been tested over many years: start a spiritual journal. Ask God, as the psalmist said, open your eyes "that I may see wonderful things" in Your Book. Then read a few verses, maybe two or three times. Then write two things in your Jesus-journal, "What is God saying here?" Put it in your words, not Bible words, and then "What am I going to do differently today because of what He said?" Connect what God said to something specific in your life that day. And let that light from heaven dominate your heart and your mind all day.
You start doing it for days, which become months of time with God, which in turn become years of sitting at Jesus' feet, being changed and directed by your Lord. And ultimately, you are living a life with that same glow, that same power and authority that you've admired in others. You don't become a champion for God in the spotlight, but in quiet times with Jesus that no one sees but Him. You become a champion for God only one way-by one-on-one time with the one who changes everyday people into spiritual powerhouses. You'll win great victories for your Lord, not because of your talent, not because of your ambition, but because of those thousand invisible mornings spent in His awesome presence.