Max Lucado Daily: HE UNDERSTANDS
You need not be afraid. The Lord understands and even knows the numbers of hairs on your head. Why did Jesus grow weary in Samaria, disturbed in Nazareth, and angry in the Temple? Why was he sleepy in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, sad at the tomb of Lazarus, and hungry in the wilderness? Why? Why did he endure all these feelings? Because he knew you’d feel them too.
He knew you’d be weary, disturbed, and angry. He knew you’d be sleepy, grief-stricken, and hungry. He knew you’d face pain. If not the pain of the body, the pain of the soul—pain too sharp for any drug. He knew you’d face thirst. If not a thirst for water, at least a thirst for truth. And the truth we glean from the image of a thirsty Christ is this— he understands. And because he understands, we can come to him!
Read more Grace for the Moment II
Luke 18:1-23
The Story of the Persistent Widow
18 1-3 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
4-5 “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’”
6-8 Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”
The Story of the Tax Man and the Pharisee
9-12 He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
13 “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
14 Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
15-17 People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”
The Rich Official
18 One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?”
19-20 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.”
21 He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.”
22 When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Read: Colossians 3:12–17
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
INSIGHT
Many of the themes in Colossians 3:12–17 are repeated in Ephesians 4–5. Paul challenges followers of Christ at Colossae and Ephesus to have a forgiving spirit (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13), to love one another (Ephesians 5:2; Colossians 3:14), to live in the peace of Christ (Ephesians 4:3; Colossians 3:15), to allow the message of Christ or the Holy Spirit to dwell within them and fill them (Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16), and to worship God with singing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). And everything is to be saturated with a thankful spirit (Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15).
The common denominator is that we’re incapable of doing any of it in our own strength. It’s only as the Spirit fills us and the gospel changes our hearts that the higher ground of the Christ-life will be expressed in us.
For further study on forgiveness, see When Forgiveness Seems Impossible at discoveryseries.org/cb941. - Bill Crowder
I’m Sorry
By Alyson Kieda
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13
In 2005, Collins falsified a report that resulted in McGee being thrown in prison for four years, and McGee vowed to find Collins when he got out and “hurt him.” McGee was eventually exonerated, but not before he lost everything. Meanwhile, Collins’s many falsified reports were uncovered, he lost his job, and he too spent time behind bars. But both men came to faith in Christ while in prison.
In 2015, the two discovered they were working together in the same faith-based company. Collins recalls, “I [told McGee], ‘Honestly, I have no explanation, all I can do is say I’m sorry.’” It was “pretty much what I needed to hear,” said McGee, who graciously forgave him. The men were able to reconcile because both had experienced the incomparable love and forgiveness of God, who empowers us to “forgive as the Lord forgave [us]” (Colossians 3:13).
Now the two are great friends. “We have this joint mission . . . of letting the world know that if you owe an apology to somebody, put your pride down and go apologize,” said Collins. “And if you’re holding something against somebody, let go of the bitterness because it’s like drinking poison and hoping it’s hurting them.”
God calls believers to live in peace and unity. If we have “a grievance against someone,” we can bring it to Him. He will help us to reconcile (vv. 13–15; Philippians 4:6–7).
Dear Father, thank You for forgiving us when we come to You in sorrow over our sins. Help us to receive Your forgiveness and to extend it to others.
Christ sets us free to forgive.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “…but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. The Place of Help, 1051 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Fruit With Seeds - #8303
O.K., let's put away all the junk food snacks for a minute and reach for a healthy snack today. Yes, it's time for some fresh fruit. It could be an apple, an orange, a pear, but the next time you eat one, would you look for the example on the inside? There is one. Oh, I wouldn't recommend you eat that entire apple; you'll probably want to stop when you get to the core. But notice what's there in the middle of that apple. Yep, seeds that can make another apple!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fruit With Seeds."
That little encounter with the inside of a piece of fruit can actually take us all the way back to the first fruit that God ever made, and a powerful example of some of what gives our lives real meaning.
Genesis 1:29, it's our word for today from the Word of God. The Lord told Adam and Eve, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it." As I was reading that, it really struck me that God has created things with the seeds of reproducing themselves built right in. When God created man and woman, He told them to "be fruitful and increase in number" (Genesis 1:28).
But that principle of fruit carrying the seeds of the next generation goes beyond just physical reproducing. Jesus said to His followers, "I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last." And certainly that includes people who will come to Jesus because of you. They are fruit that your life is supposed to be producing. So, how are you doing?
The great creative plan of God is that when He creates a life, He creates it with the potential of reproducing life like itself-"Fruit with seed in it." The moment you gave your heart to Jesus Christ, God made you fruit with seeds, with the capability and the purpose of making some more like you! Apples generate apples, oranges generate oranges, and followers of Jesus generate followers of Jesus. Or at least they're supposed to.
But you know what? There's research that shows that maybe even just 10% of believers ever tell someone about their relationship with Jesus Christ, which in that case would mean 9 out of 10 believers are missing their destiny. They have the seeds of life to plant in another heart, but they're doing nothing with those seeds. And people around us go on dying without Christ, and without any hope of heaven.
Isn't it time you start bearing some fruit, like people who will be in heaven with you because you helped them know how? And God's plan is that we reproduce our own kind. Moms introducing other moms to Jesus, and students introducing other students to Jesus, and golfers pointing golfers to Christ, and business people reaching business people, and wounded people reaching wounded people. God has made you who you are; He's placed you where you are so you can take people like you to heaven with you! How are you doing with your divine assignment?
We're not talking here about you adding some new activities to your already overstuffed life. This is just using things you already do to bring other people who do them to Jesus. You already live where you live, you go to school where you go to school, you work where you work, and you play where you play. Just go there with the conscious mission of helping some of those people go to heaven with you!
There are seeds of spiritual life that God planted in you the day you met Jesus. And He's counting on you now to plant those seeds in the people like you. In fact, their eternity may depend on it.
