Max Lucado Daily: SURVIVING PROSPERITY
Are you “rich in this present age”? Almost half the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. If your income is higher, then you are rich, and your affluence demands double vigilance.
How can a person survive prosperity? First of all, do not be haughty. Do not think for a moment that you had anything to do with your accumulation of wealth. Money is an untrustworthy foundation. The United States economy endured ten recessions between 1948 and 2001.
Don’t trust money; trust God. He owns everything and gives us all things to enjoy. Move from the fear of scarcity to the comfort of provision. “Do good … be rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18).
Read more Fearless
2 Samuel 16
Shortly after David passed the crest of the hill, Mephibosheth’s steward Ziba met him with a string of pack animals, saddled and loaded with a hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of fresh fruit, and a skin of wine.
2 The king said to Ziba, “What’s all this?”
“The donkeys,” said Ziba, “are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and fruit are for the servants to eat, and the wine is for drinking, especially for those overcome by fatigue in the wilderness.”
3 The king said, “And where is your master’s grandson?”
“He stayed in Jerusalem,” said Ziba. “He said, ‘This is the day Israel is going to restore my grandfather’s kingdom to me.’”
4 “Everything that belonged to Mephibosheth,” said the king, “is now yours.”
Ziba said, “How can I ever thank you? I’ll be forever in your debt, my master and king; may you always look on me with such kindness!”
5-8 When the king got to Bahurim, a man appeared who had connections with Saul’s family. His name was Shimei son of Gera. As he followed along he shouted insults and threw rocks right and left at David and his company, servants and soldiers alike. To the accompaniment of curses he shouted, “Get lost, get lost, you butcher, you hellhound! God has paid you back for all your dirty work in the family of Saul and for stealing his kingdom. God has given the kingdom to your son Absalom. Look at you now—ruined! And good riddance, you pathetic old man!”
9 Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “This mangy dog can’t insult my master the king this way—let me go over and cut off his head!”
10 But the king said, “Why are you sons of Zeruiah always interfering and getting in the way? If he’s cursing, it’s because God told him, ‘Curse David.’ So who dares raise questions?”
11-12 “Besides,” continued David to Abishai and the rest of his servants, “my own son, my flesh and bone, is right now trying to kill me; compared to that this Benjaminite is small potatoes. Don’t bother with him; let him curse; he’s preaching God’s word to me. And who knows, maybe God will see the trouble I’m in today and exchange the curses for something good.”
13 David and his men went on down the road, while Shimei followed along on the ridge of the hill alongside, cursing, throwing stones down on them, and kicking up dirt.
14 By the time they reached the Jordan River, David and all the men of the company were exhausted. There they rested and were revived.
15 By this time Absalom and all his men were in Jerusalem.
And Ahithophel was with them.
16 Soon after, Hushai the Arkite, David’s friend, came and greeted Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this the way you show devotion to your good friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend David?”
18-19 “Because,” said Hushai, “I want to be with the person that God and this people and all Israel have chosen. And I want to stay with him. Besides, who is there to serve other than the son? Just as I served your father, I’m now ready to serve you.”
20 Then Absalom spoke to Ahithophel, “Are you ready to give counsel? What do we do next?”
21-22 Ahithophel told Absalom, “Go and sleep with your father’s concubines, the ones he left to tend to the palace. Everyone will hear that you have openly disgraced your father, and the morale of everyone on your side will be strengthened.” So Absalom pitched a tent up on the roof in public view, and went in and slept with his father’s concubines.
23 The counsel that Ahithophel gave in those days was treated as if God himself had spoken. That was the reputation of Ahithophel’s counsel to David; it was the same with Absalom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 58:6-9
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
Insight
The Israelites at the time of Isaiah were living hypocritical lives. Isaiah warned them that their pretentious religiosity didn’t please God. “They act so pious! They come to the Temple every day . . . pretending they want to be near me. . . . You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance. . . . Do you really think this will please the Lord?” (58:2, 5 nlt). Isaiah contrasts ritualistic religiosity with true spirituality. Being religious is not the same as being right; fervency in activities (fasting) is not spirituality; false piety is hypocrisy. Isaiah called God’s people to please Him by doing what’s right: Act justly and treat people fairly (vv. 3, 6, 9), stop fighting and quarreling (v. 4), help those burdened or imprisoned by life’s circumstances and poverty (v. 6), and be generous to those in need (vv. 7, 10). - By: K. T. Sim
A Big Deal
This is the kind of fasting I want: . . . Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Isaiah 58:6 nlt
A family member needed help with his December rent. To his family, the request felt like a burden—especially with their own unexpected expenses at year’s end. But they dug into their savings, grateful for God’s provision—and blessed by their relative’s gratitude.
He handed them a thank-you card filled with grateful words. “There you go again . . . doing nice things, probably passing it off as no big deal.”
Helping others is a big deal, however, to God. The prophet Isaiah made that point to the nation of Israel. The people were fasting but still quarreling and fighting. Instead, said Isaiah: “Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. . . . Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help” (Isaiah 58:6–7 nlt).
Such a sacrifice, said Isaiah, shares God’s light but also heals our own brokenness (v. 8). As the family helped their relative, they looked hard at their own finances, seeing ways they could manage better all year. This was God’s promise for being generous: “Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind” (v. 8 nlt). In the end, giving to their kin blessed them more. And God? He already gave His all—with love.
By Patricia Raybon
Today's Reflection
Lord, light the path of generosity, helping us to give like You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 24, 2019
God’s Overpowering Purpose
I have appeared to you for this purpose… —Acts 26:16
The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was not a passing emotional experience, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him. And Paul stated, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19). Our Lord said to Paul, in effect, “Your whole life is to be overpowered or subdued by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine.” And the Lord also says to us, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go…” (John 15:16).
When we are born again, if we are spiritual at all, we have visions of what Jesus wants us to be. It is important that I learn not to be “disobedient to the heavenly vision” — not to doubt that it can be attained. It is not enough to give mental assent to the fact that God has redeemed the world, nor even to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did a reality in my life. I must have the foundation of a personal relationship with Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim. He was brought into a vivid, personal, overpowering relationship with Jesus Christ. Acts 26:16 is tremendously compelling “…to make you a minister and a witness….” There would be nothing there without a personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Knowing You're Safe - #8359
When our older son was little, he would sometimes wander into the living room, crawl into my lap, and snuggle up so close I wasn't sure how he could breathe. One night he looked up at me with those big blue eyes of his and he told me something I've never forgotten. He said, "Daddy, when I'm in your arms, I feel so safe."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knowing You're Safe."
No matter how old we get, we're still looking for arms where we can feel totally safe, especially when we think about eternity.
For many years, my wife wanted to find her grandfather's grave. So, recently my work took me near the area where Bill was buried and she checked out all the local cemeteries hoping to find that grave. Well, granddad had been an alcoholic since he was 12, but on the night he was planning to kill himself, he was attracted to a rescue mission by a song his mother used to sing. And that night he committed himself to Jesus Christ, and he never touched alcohol again. He spent the rest of his life traveling the country telling about the power that had changed him.
My wife never got to meet him; he died before she was born. And no one is alive today who could tell her exactly where he was buried. Sadly, she couldn't find a grave with his name on it. But she finally called and she told me a little tearfully, the last grave we looked at had no name on it, but the same words we had inscribed on my mother's grave were on that gravestone, ‘In the arms of Jesus'."
Whatever they put on our tombstone someday, I hope those words will accurately describe where you'll be the moment after you die-safe in Jesus' arms. The Bible lets us know that this hope is more than just a nice epitaph. It says of those who belong to Jesus Christ, that they will be "away from the body and at home with the Lord" (1 Corinthians 5:8). Or, to put it simply, safe forever.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Revelation 21 beginning at verse 3, the Lord gives us a peek at what heaven will be like. It says, "God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain...The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it...there will be no night there." Of course, the most important question for you and me is, "Who will be there in heaven? Who goes to be ‘ in the arms of Jesus' when they die?"
Well, Revelation 21:27 says, "Nothing impure will ever enter it...but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Earlier in the same book, God says, "If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
The Bible makes it clear that God gave His only Son for us that "whoever believes in Him (These are the Bible's words.) will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). That's who's in that Book of Life. Granddad Bill, my wife's mom, you, me, and now even my wife. We end up "in the arms of Jesus" not because God accepts what we have done, but because we accept what God has done when Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins.
Nobody is going to make it to heaven because of the good they've done. The Bible says, "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10). And no one with sin can ever enter heaven. That's why Jesus had to die to pay a death penalty we could never pay; to remove the only thing that will keep you out of heaven when you die-your sin.
To end up in the arms of Jesus the moment you die, you have to put yourself in His arms before you die. And that's what He's inviting you to do right now; to walk into His open arms and let Him rescue you from a sin penalty you could never rescue yourself from. If you do that, you can know from this day on what will happen when you die. You'll be in heaven with your Savior. So, would you tell Him today, "Jesus, you died for the sin I should pay for. You paid for it. You loved me that much. I'm Yours."
You want to make sure that you belong to Him? Would you go to our website. That's what it's for with biblical information there to help you make sure. It's ANewStory.com.
There's one safe place, today and forever. It's in the arms of Jesus.