Max Lucado Daily: GOD CHANGES HIS PEOPLE THROUGH PRAYER
This much is sure: God will teach you to pray. Don’t think for a minute that he’s glaring at you from a distance with crossed arms and a scowl, waiting for you to get your prayer life together. Just the opposite! In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with Me.”
Jesus waits on the porch. He taps…and calls. He waits for you to open the door. To pray is the hand of faith on the door handle of your heart. The happy welcome to Jesus says, Come in, O King. Come in. The kitchen is messy, but come in. I’m not much of a conversationalist, but come in.
Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer! God changes His people through such moments.
Psalm 125
A Pilgrim Song
Those who trust in God
are like Zion Mountain:
Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain
you can always depend on.
Mountains encircle Jerusalem,
and God encircles his people—
always has and always will.
The fist of the wicked
will never violate
What is due the righteous,
provoking wrongful violence.
Be good to your good people, God,
to those whose hearts are right!
God will round up the backsliders,
corral them with the incorrigibles.
Peace over Israel!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 136:1–3, 10–26
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea[a] asunder
His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.
16 to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.
17 to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures forever.
23 He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures forever.
25 He gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.
Insight
When we read the Psalms, it’s easy to forget they were actually written to be sung, not read. While many were about individual experiences, some were directed to the people of Israel corporately. This was often expressed when the people gathered for worship. Psalm 136 was such a psalm, and some scholars believe it was intended to be sung antiphonally—where one group made a musical declaration and another group responded to that declaration. The priests and Levites (worship leaders) would sing a statement about God (“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,” v. 1) and the assembled congregation would respond, “His love endures forever.” By: Bill Crowder
Our Blessings, His Love
To him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever. Psalm 136:16
In 2015, a woman discarded her deceased husband’s computer at a recycling center—a computer that had been made in 1976. But more important than when it had been made was who made it. It was one of 200 computers hand built by Apple founder Steve Jobs, and was worth an estimated quarter of a million dollars! Sometimes knowing the true worth of something means knowing who made it.
Knowing that it’s God who made us shows us how valuable we are to Him (Genesis 1:27). Psalm 136 catalogs key moments of His people—ancient Israel: how they had been freed from captivity in Egypt (vv. 11–12), journeyed through the wilderness (v. 16), and were given a new home in Canaan (vv. 21–22). But each time a moment of Israel’s history is mentioned, it’s paired with this repeated refrain: “His love endures forever.” This refrain reminded the people of Israel that their experiences weren’t random historical events. Each moment had been orchestrated by God and was a reflection of His enduring love for those He’d made.
Far too often, I allow moments that show God at work and His kind ways to simply pass by, failing to recognize that every perfect gift comes from my heavenly Father (James 1:17) who made me and loves me. May you and I learn to connect every blessing in our lives to God’s enduring love for us. By: Peter Chin
Reflect & Pray
How can we better remember the Source of life’s blessings? What hinders you from doing so?
Heavenly Father, please don’t allow even one blessing that You’ve given pass by without me recognizing that it came from You, and You alone!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
The Changed Life
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17
What understanding do you have of the salvation of your soul? The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is— has God changed the things that really matter to you? If you still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above— you are deceiving yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. And when a crisis comes, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved.
What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 , or do I squirm and evade the issue? True salvation, worked out in me by the Holy Spirit, frees me completely. And as long as I “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), God sees nothing to rebuke because His life is working itself into every detailed part of my being, not on the conscious level, but even deeper than my consciousness.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Your Destination Tag - #8567
My son-in-law had to fight a battle that's all too familiar to frequent flyers - it's called Baggage Wars. That's when your suitcase goes somewhere other than where you're going. He fought a four-week battle, calling almost daily to see if the airline had located a missing bag with some pretty valuable items in it. Hooray! They finally found it! It had been checked to Chicago. Of course, it went to Portland, Oregon. It was checked on one airline and ended up tagged by a different airline. It started with his name on it, and it ended up with someone else's name on it. I don't know how this happened. Somehow his valuables did not end up where he thought they would. They were tagged for another destination.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Destination Tag."
There's no destination more important for you or me than the place where we're going to spend forever. Usually, we don't think about it much; mostly when our health is in question, or our safety, or we have a close call, or when someone's death makes us confront our own mortality. Sometimes we spend more time thinking about this year's vacation destination than our eternal destination, but forever is a long time. We need to know what our final destination tag says.
According to the Bible, some people are going to be tragically surprised by where they end up. Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 16:25, says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." In one survey, the vast majority of Americans thought they would go to heaven when they die, but you know, you can only get there God's way. Any other way, however sincerely you believe in it, will not get you into God's heaven.
Referring to Jesus with His title as the Son of God, John 3:36 clarifies how to be sure God's destination tag on you says "heaven." Here's what the Bible says: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath abides on him." Why is this? Because no one can get into God's heaven with their sin unforgiven, and our sin carries an eternal death penalty. A death penalty can only be paid by someone dying.
And when it comes to your sin and mine, someone did. His name is Jesus...and only Jesus. In God's own words, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Your sin will keep you out of heaven. Jesus died to pay for that sin so you don't have to. Your eternal destination hinges on whether or not there has ever been a time when you told Jesus, "You are my only hope of being forgiven. You're my only hope of going to heaven, and I'm Yours, Jesus." Only the one who died and paid for your sin could forgive your sin. No one else could do that. He's the only one who paid the penalty for it. And you know what? Three days later he walked out of his grave under his own power so he could walk into your life today.
If you're depending on anything else, even your religion, even all your Christianity, you won't make it to heaven. But that could change today, and you could know for sure, beginning right now, that you are going to heaven when you die. You tell Jesus you want to begin this life-saving relationship with Him, that you're done running your own life. You're pinning all your hopes on him and that you are His.
A lot of the information that will help you know for sure you belong to him is right in our website. It's set up for you for a day like this, for a time like this when God is speaking to your heart about beginning your relationship with him. The website is ANewStory.com. I urge you to get there as soon as you can today.
Something wonderful happens the moment you give yourself to the Man who died for you. He changes the destination tag on your heart from hell to heaven. That could happen for you this very day.
