Max Lucado Daily: A SATISFIED THIRST
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,” Jesus explained, holding up the wine. These words recorded in Luke 22:20 must have puzzled the disciples. For generations, the Jews had observed the Passover by sacrificing lambs. It was enough to fulfill the law. But it was not enough to take away sins. Only God could offer an eternal solution.
Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” So the thirsty come. A ragged lot we are, bound together by broken dreams and collapsed promises. We thirst for righteousness…a clean conscience, a fresh start, and a clean slate. We pray for a hand which will enter the dark cavern of our soul and do for us the one thing we can’t do for ourselves—make us right again.
Read more Applause of Heaven
Acts 2:1-21
When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!
“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
13 Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”
14-21 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:
“In the Last Days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
I’ll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they’ll prophesy.
I’ll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 John 4:13-19
6 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
Insight
Apart from being known in Scripture as the son of Zebedee and the brother of James (Matthew 4:21), as well as one of the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17), John has also been dubbed “the apostle of love.” Why this title? Several things could factor into this. In the gospel that bears his name, John describes himself as the disciple “Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20). Furthermore, it doesn’t take long to see that love is a major theme of his writing. The noun and verb forms of agape (love) appear numerous times, the first time in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” The apostle who received love came to understand love as the defining characteristic of those in the family of God.
Bear Hug
God is love. 1 John 4:16
“Bear” was a gift for my grandchild—a heaping helping of love contained in a giant stuffed animal frame. Baby D’s response? First, wonder. Next, an amazed awe. Then, a curiosity that nudged a daring exploration. He poked his pudgy finger at Bear’s nose, and when the Bear tumbled forward into his arms he responded with joy joy JOY! Baby D laid his toddler head down on Bear’s fluffy chest and hugged him tightly. A dimpled smile spread across his cheeks as he burrowed deeply into Bear’s cushiony softness. The child had no idea of Bear’s inability to truly love him. Innocently and naturally, he felt love from Bear and returned it with all his heart.
In his first of three letters to early Christians, the apostle John boldly states that God Himself is love. “We know and rely on the love God has for us,” he writes. “God is love” (1 John 4:16).
God loves. Not in the pillow of a pretend animal but rather with the outstretched arms of a real human body encasing a beating but breaking heart (John 3:16). Through Jesus, God communicated His extravagant and sacrificial love for us.
John goes on, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). When we believe we’re loved, we love back. God’s real love makes it possible for us to love God and others—with all our hearts. By Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What do you find is most amazing about God’s love for you? How will you reveal His love to others today?
Dear God, help me to let You love me and then help me to love You back—with all my heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 16, 2019
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
…you may be partakers of the divine nature… —2 Peter 1:4
We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.” One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, “Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.” And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance…” (2 Corinthians 9:8)— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Why Your Big Bowl Suddenly Got Small - #8439
Once upon a time, the Hutchcraft family had a very little fantail goldfish, and what did our daughter name him? Well, of course, Fanny. And the time came for Fanny's murky old fishbowl water to get changed. Of course, he had to be in water while that was happening or he would have developed, shall we say, severe respiratory difficulties. So, we put Fanny into this cramped, tiny little bowl and we put it in the kitchen sink...poor little fish. He would try to swim as usual, and he just kept bumping into the sides of the bowl because the sides of the bowl came a lot sooner than usual! It really, obviously, was not fun being in that shrunken little environment, but hey, the purpose was to improve his world...right!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your Big Bowl Suddenly Got Small."
If you think about the goldfish, frustrated in a world that suddenly got smaller, you might be able to see a picture of yourself and what God is doing all of this for.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Psalm 23:1, familiar words, describes some of the wonderful ways that God provides for us, and leads us, and restores us. You know these words, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." In Jesus, you have a Shepherd who knows exactly what you need and when you need it. Now here comes one of His methods for meeting your needs, "He makes me lie down in green pastures." That part - that's got a little sting in it, those words, "He makes me lie down." Like I hadn't planned to stop. I may not want to stop. "Hey, someone just hit the brakes! My world suddenly shrank!"
You could be in a time like that right now because of an injury, a change at work, a burden that's been added to you that's really slowed you down, or maybe a health setback, a financial setback, or maybe because of a closed door or a lost relationship. If you were a goldfish, you might be saying, "Hey, I was swimming along in a much bigger bowl. Why did my world suddenly get smaller?"
Here's part of the answer in Psalm 23:3, "He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." God wants to restore your soul. He wants to give you specific guidance, and maybe neither one can happen as long as you're swimming full speed in your fast-moving world. Our goldfish probably didn't realize it, but we put him temporarily in a little bowl so we could improve his world. After his frustrating, but brief time in a little bowl, he returned to a better, brighter world in his big, clean bowl.
We're like that. For us to have the better perspective, the closer walk, the inner power that Jesus wants to give us - look, I've experienced it - He often has to slow us down and temporarily shrink our world. Years ago when my very active wife was bedridden for seven months recovering from hepatitis, here's what she said, "You know, God used this time to do something wonderful. He has cleansed my schedule." Hard process, but a liberating result. You know, that is often God's way.
He makes us lie down. He makes us slow down. He makes us quiet down so He can restore our beat-up soul that He could never restore at the pace we usually travel, and to give us some direction in our stressed-out mind. We can't hear His voice sometimes until He slows us down. Isn't it interesting that the Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." So don't worry if you suddenly find yourself in a smaller bowl. God is calling you to a timeout so he can return you to a better and brighter world!
