Max Lucado Daily: A LISTENING HEART
“Let he who has ears to hear, use them.” Eight times in the Gospels and eight times in the Book of Revelation we are reminded that it’s not enough just to have ears—it’s necessary to use them. Jesus spent regular time with God, praying and listening. Luke 5:16 tells us, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” If Jesus, the Son of God and the sinless Savior of humankind, thought it worthwhile to clear his calendar to pray, wouldn’t we be wise to do the same?
Jesus also spent regular time in God’s Word. Three times in the wilderness temptation, he used the Word of God to repel the attack of Satan. If we are to be just like Jesus, then we need to imitate his habits of prayer and Bible reading.
Read more Just Like Jesus
Psalm 6
A David Psalm
6 1-2 Please, God, no more yelling,
no more trips to the woodshed.
Treat me nice for a change;
I’m so starved for affection.
2-3 Can’t you see I’m black-and-blue,
beat up badly in bones and soul?
God, how long will it take
for you to let up?
4-5 Break in, God, and break up this fight;
if you love me at all, get me out of here.
I’m no good to you dead, am I?
I can’t sing in your choir if I’m buried in some tomb!
6-7 I’m tired of all this—so tired. My bed
has been floating forty days and nights
On the flood of my tears.
My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears.
The sockets of my eyes are black holes;
nearly blind, I squint and grope.
8-9 Get out of here, you Devil’s crew:
at last God has heard my sobs.
My requests have all been granted,
my prayers are answered.
10 Cowards, my enemies disappear.
Disgraced, they turn tail and run.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Today's Scripture: Genesis 16:7–14 (NIV)
An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur. He said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?”
She said, “I’m running away from Sarai my mistress.”
9-12 The angel of God said, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse.” He continued, “I’m going to give you a big family, children past counting.
From this pregnancy, you’ll get a son: Name him Ishmael;
for God heard you, God answered you.
He’ll be a bucking bronco of a man,
a real fighter, fighting and being fought,
Always stirring up trouble,
always at odds with his family.”
13 She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!
“Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”
14 That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Insight
The assurance given to Hagar by the angel of the Lord (that is, God Himself; Genesis 16:7, 9) echoes the assurance given by God to Abraham years earlier. The angel told Hagar, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count” (v. 10). The Lord had told Abraham (then known as Abram) that his descendants would be as uncountable as the stars (15:5). Hagar’s descendants too were children of Abraham (21:11–13), and God cared deeply about them. The apostle Paul explains that a true descendant of Abraham is one who has faith in Jesus the Messiah. “The promise (Romans 4:13) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law [Jewish] but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). By: Tim Gustafson
Seen by God
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13
My first pair of eyeglasses opened my eyes to a bold world. I’m nearsighted, meaning objects close up are sharp and defined. Without my glasses, however, items across a room or in the distance are a blur. At age twelve, with my first pair of eyeglasses, I was shocked to see clearer words on blackboards, tiny leaves on trees and, perhaps most important, big smiles on faces.
As friends smiled back when I greeted them, I learned that to be seen was as great a gift as the blessing of seeing.
The slave Hagar realized that as she fled from her mistress Sarai’s unkindness. Hagar was a “nobody” in her culture, pregnant and alone, fleeing to a desert without help or hope. Seen by God, however, she was empowered, in return, to see Him. No longer a vague concept, God became real to her, so real that she gave God a name, El Roi, which means “You are the God who sees me.” She said, “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Genesis 16:13).
Our seeing God sees each of us too. Feeling unseen, alone, or like a nobody? God sees you and your future. In return, may we see in Him our ever-present hope, encouragement, salvation, and joy—both for today and for our future. Praise Him today for this gift of amazing sight, to see the one true and Living God. By Patricia Raybon
Today's Reflection
Lord, I’m just one person in a big world, but I thank You for looking from on high and seeing me—so that I may see You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Are You Listening to God?
They said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." —Exodus 20:19
We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.
“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”
Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Behind the Happy Face - #8372
Every class has its clown, and Johnny was one of them. He was one of the first teenagers I met when we moved to New Jersey years ago, and he was always so much fun to be around. There was always a joke. He was always a clown - always the life of the party. That's why his call late one night came as such a shock to me. I was still a little blurry from being awakened by the phone, and I heard him say, "This is Johnny. I called to say goodbye. You're the only one I thought it was worth saying goodbye to." I didn't like the sound of that goodbye, so I asked him to tell me where he was, and he had actually broken into my office to call me. I asked him to wait there until I could get there. We talked most of the night. No clown, no jokes, no life of the party that night. The life of the party was about to check out of the party for good. Johnny poured out the pain that he was feeling from a messed up family and some disappointing relationships. He'd been on his way to kill himself. Thank God, by dawn, he had decided to live. And I knew there was a darkness now that had been hiding all along behind a mask that said, "Hey, no problems."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Behind the Happy Face."
Johnny isn't unique. Behind many a happy face hides a hurting heart, and maybe you're one of them. The happy face helps you live in a temporary denial of the pain inside, and keeps other people from knowing a you that you're afraid they might not accept. But like the beach ball that you push farther and farther under the water, the deeper you bury it, the higher it's going to go when it finally goes off. And it will. You can't bury the real you forever. As far as everyone knows, maybe you're the happy one, you're the hero. But you know there's a wounded monster inside of you. You're a wounded person, but you've got no place to bleed.
Before the explosion, you've got to find someone whose love you can trust enough that you can finally let it all out; someone who can help heal the hurt that you've been trying to hide. The good news, the hope news, is that there is someone like that. Someone you don't have to hide anything from because He already knows everything about you.
Hebrews 4, beginning with verse 13 is our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." No secrets. No need for the mask. But how will God respond to you if you open the dam and let out all those dark feelings?
Speaking of Jesus, it goes on to say, "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet without sin." You're pouring it out on a God who's been here; who lived our pain. The Bible goes on here to say you may approach God "with confidence" that you will receive His mercy and grace.
Jesus is the one safe place you can let it all out. He knows every dark corner of your heart. He died to pay for; He died to forgive every sin you've ever done, every sin that's ever been done against you. His love isn't based on your performance. He loves you unconditionally. He died for you, knowing all about you. If He was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was nailed to a cross for you. He didn't reject you then. He won't reject you now. He never will.
Once you reach out to Him with all your sin and all your pain, embracing Him in total trust to be your Savior from your sin, He's yours and you're His. This could be your Liberation Day if you're ready to open up to His love and begin your unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ. Say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Tell Him today.
Go to our website please, because it's all there with the information you need to be sure you belong to Him beginning today. That website is ANewStory.com.
Let the healing begin today. Let the greatest love in the world into your life. Then you can show the world the smile, not of a happy front, but of a happy heart.