Max Lucado Daily: JESUS’ COMPELLING PRAYER EXAMPLE
Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer!
Jesus set a compelling prayer example. He prayed before He ate. He prayed for children. He prayed for the sick. He prayed with thanks…and with tears. He had made the planets and shaped the stars, yet He prayed.
Here’s a prayer for us today:
“Father, you’ve made me your child through your Spirit.
In your kindness you adopted me and delivered me from sin
and death.
Remind me today what it means to be your child.
It’s so easy for me to live every day on my own terms.
Help me live it in light of your grace.
Thank you for accepting me as I am but not leaving me the same.
In Jesus’ name, amen.”
This is my prayer challenge for you! Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Psalm 124
A Pilgrim Song of David
If God hadn’t been for us
—all together now, Israel, sing out!—
If God hadn’t been for us
when everyone went against us,
We would have been swallowed alive
by their violent anger,
Swept away by the flood of rage,
drowned in the torrent;
We would have lost our lives
in the wild, raging water.
6 Oh, blessed be God!
He didn’t go off and leave us.
He didn’t abandon us defenseless,
helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.
7 We’ve flown free from their fangs,
free of their traps, free as a bird.
Their grip is broken;
we’re free as a bird in flight.
8 God’s strong name is our help,
the same God who made heaven and earth.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 11, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 6:5–15
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Insight
Why did Jesus begin this section on prayer (Matthew 6:5–15) with a caution? And who were these “hypocrites” He warned against (v. 5)? Mark 12 indicates they were “teachers of the law” who “devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers” (vv. 38–40).
This doesn’t mean that public prayer is wrong, but it comes with a great danger. We might pray to impress those around us rather than pray with humility to the One who sees our hearts and answers our prayers. At the same time, we might wish we could pray like some particularly eloquent person. In either case, it’s vital we remember that God isn’t in anything done for the sake of appearance. By: Tim Gustafson
It’s Up to God
Your will be done. Matthew 6:10
Nate and Sherilyn enjoyed their stop at an omakase restaurant while visiting New York City. Omakase is a Japanese word that translates, “I will leave it up to you,” which means customers at such restaurants let the chef choose their meal. Even though it was their first time to try this type of cuisine and it sounded risky, they loved the food the chef chose and prepared for them.
That idea could carry over to our attitude toward God with our prayer requests: “I will leave it up to You.” The disciples saw that Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places” to pray (Luke 5:16), so they asked Him one day to teach them how to pray. He told them to ask for their daily needs, forgiveness, and the way out of temptation. Part of His response also suggested an attitude of surrender: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
We can pour out our needs to God because He wants to hear what’s on our hearts—and He delights to give. But being human and finite, we don’t always know what’s best, so it only makes sense to ask with a humble spirit, in submission to Him. We can leave the answer to Him, confident that He’s trustworthy and will choose to prepare what’s good for us. By: Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
What do you want to share with God right now? What would it look like if you totally surrendered it to Him?
Thank You, God, for carrying me and my needs close to Your heart. I surrender my life and those I love to Your care.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 11, 2019
The Supreme Climb
He said, "Take now your son…" —Genesis 22:2
God’s command is, “Take now,” not later. It is incredible how we debate! We know something is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it immediately. If we are to climb to the height God reveals, it can never be done later— it must be done now. And the sacrifice must be worked through our will before we actually perform it.
“So Abraham rose early in the morning…and went to the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:3). Oh, the wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not “confer with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16). Beware when you want to “confer with flesh and blood” or even your own thoughts, insights, or understandings— anything that is not based on your personal relationship with God. These are all things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.
Abraham did not choose what the sacrifice would be. Always guard against self-chosen service for God. Self-sacrifice may be a disease that impairs your service. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential will of God means a hard and difficult time for you, go through it. But never decide the place of your own martyrdom, as if to say, “I will only go to there, but no farther.” God chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed. If you are not living in touch with God, it is easy to blame Him or pass judgment on Him. You must go through the trial before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because by going through the trial you learn to know God better. God is working in us to reach His highest goals until His purpose and our purpose become one.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 11, 2019
Viruses in Your Computer - #8566
Well, it's sad, but we, like a lot of people, have had to institute a lot of safety precautions to protect our computers. There's lots of hacking today, and that dreaded word "virus." Yeah. Now, this is not "take two aspirin and call me in the morning" stuff. No, we're talking technical viruses that can get into your system, wreak havoc with your data and your equipment. That's why the first display I see when I turn on my computer says, "Virus Scan." You know, there are plenty of horror stories of what happened when one of these little alien invaders got into a computer system. We're talking like total meltdown in some cases. It really does pay to go to extra effort to keep those invaders out!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Viruses in Your Computer."
Now, you may be a computer whiz or you might be a computer zero, but you own one of the most sophisticated computers on earth. It's called your brain. And your mental computer is no different from an electronic computer - it's got to be protected from deadly viruses that infiltrate your software and cause expensive damage.
That's why our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 2:11 warns: "Abstain from sinful desires, which war against the soul." Man! That's strong language! See, there are wrong desires that literally start a war in your soul. And whatever feeds those destructive desires is a virus in your mind and heart that you cannot afford - no matter how exciting; no matter how interesting it appears to be. That's why God says the strategy for keeping your soul from being poisoned is simple - abstain. Stay away from sinful desires and the influences that feed them. In fact, as 2 Timothy 2:22 says, "run away from them!"
There are things that millions of people are watching that you can't afford to watch - actually, neither can they. Because those things are planting spiritual viruses in your heart. There are things you can't afford to listen to. There are places you can't afford to go to, things you can't afford to read, and websites you can't afford to visit because of the poison, because of what it does to your soul and to your life.
Lustful images, suggestive humor, sexual scenes, and sexual themes - they get into your thought system and they stay there for years. You never seem to forget a dirty joke. And wrong desires slowly start to dominate so many of your thoughts - without even realizing it, you reach a point where you can't help thinking wrong, thinking dirty, thinking sin. If you're married, these moral viruses dilute and pollute your focus on the one person you should be directing all your desire to - your covenant love. If you're not married, the viruses twist and distort your whole perspective on the opposite sex. They continually bring you down in the battle to be pure.
And those sin-viruses? They get planted in your heart and they literally block the flow of God's power into your life, much like plaque in an artery keeps the blood from getting through. You have no idea how powerful your life could be, how much more God could use you, if you'd clean the viruses of sinful thoughts out of your system.
Thank God, the Bible says it is possible to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). But you have to set boundaries that will keep out the viruses that are all over your TV screen, your radio, movies, magazines, books, and the Internet. It's a battle to keep these alien invaders out of your system, but it's a battle worth fighting.
Get your Virus Scan activated, and avoid anything that can enter your heart, poison your system, and cause lifelong damage.
