Max Lucado Daily: HEIRS OF GOD AND CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST
After spending the better part of an hour reciting the woes of my life to my wife, Denalyn interrupted me with a question. “Is God in this anywhere?” I hate it when she does that. What had happened to me? I was focusing on my resources. I wasn’t consulting God. I’d limited my world to my strength, my wisdom, and my power. No wonder I was in a tailspin! For such moments God gives this promise: “We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
The cronies of dismay, gloom and rejection have no answer for the promise of inheritance. Tell them, the gauge may be bouncing on empty, but I will not run out of fuel. I’m a child of the living and loving God, and he will help me!” And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!
2 Corinthians 5
For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.
6-8 That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.
9-10 But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.
11-14 That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We’re not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we’re on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.
14-15 Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.
16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Kings 6:8–17
Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans
8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
9 The man of God sent word to the kingn of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warnedo the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12 “None of us, my lord the kingp,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.”q 14 Then he sentr horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,”s the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are moret than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariotsu of fire all around Elisha.
Insight
Although the two Old Testament prophets Elijah (whose name means “Yahweh is God”) and Elisha (whose name means “God is salvation”) had similar names and missions—to serve God and the people of Israel—they are two different people. Their prophetic exploits are found in 1 Kings 17 through 2 Kings 13. Elijah departed this earth dramatically—caught up in a whirlwind into heaven (2 Kings 2:11); Elisha succumbed to sickness and died (13:14). By: Arthur Jackson
The Reality of God
The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he [saw] chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17
In C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, all of Narnia is thrilled when the mighty lion Aslan reappears after a long absence. Their joy turns to sorrow, however, when Aslan concedes to a demand made by the evil White Witch. Faced with Aslan’s apparent defeat, the Narnians experience his power when he emits an earsplitting roar that causes the witch to flee in terror. Although all seems to have been lost, Aslan ultimately proves to be greater than the villainous witch.
Like Aslan’s followers in Lewis’ allegory, Elisha’s servant despaired when he got up one morning to see himself and Elisha surrounded by an enemy army. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” he exclaimed (2 Kings 6:15). The prophet’s response was calm: “Don’t be afraid . . . . Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (v. 16). Elisha then prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see” (v. 17). So, “the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (v. 17). Although things at first seemed bleak to the servant’s eye, God’s power ultimately proved greater than the enemy horde.
Our difficult circumstances may lead us to believe all is lost, but God desires to open our eyes and reveal that He is greater. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
What difficult times are you facing? How have you experienced that God is greater than any evil you face?
Thank You, God, for Your faithfulness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Taking the Initiative Against Drudgery
Arise, shine… —Isaiah 60:1
When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us— He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there. Whenever God gives us His inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a moral issue— a matter of obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not continue to lie down doing nothing. If we will arise and shine, drudgery will be divinely transformed.
Drudgery is one of the finest tests to determine the genuineness of our character. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. And when we experience it, our spirituality is instantly tested and we will know whether or not we are spiritually genuine. Read John 13. In this chapter, we see the Incarnate God performing the greatest example of drudgery— washing fishermen’s feet. He then says to them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with the light of God upon it. In some cases the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it becomes different. When the Lord does something through us, He always transforms it. Our Lord takes our human flesh and transforms it, and now every believer’s body has become “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. The Place of Help, 1051 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
The Verdict and the Penalty Are Already In - #8637
Americans kind of are trial junkies. I mean, there's like whole TV channels, you know, devoted to watching trials. Many of us are fascinated with high-profile trials that will sometimes headline our news. Legal proceedings seem to grind on for months, if not years, and then there are weeks of hotly contested testimony. Then suddenly it's in the hands of the jury. I've certainly checked the news to see if the verdict was in on some prominent trials. Then, after all those months, it's suddenly over. In a moment, the verdict is in. When the verdict is guilty, there is one more decision to be announced - the penalty. In some terrible cases, the penalty has been death.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Verdict and the Penalty Are Already In."
There's one verdict, and one sentence we don't have to wait for - yours and mine. The verdict and the penalty are already in. Not from a jury, but from the Judge. The Judge we all face - God Himself. Deep down inside, I think we know that on the other side of our last heartbeat, which God decides by the way, we'll face our Creator. The Bible gives us a sobering warning about that. It says, "Prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12). And the Bible tells you how to do that.
But first you have to understand the verdict and the sentence we all face; church folks and unchurched folks, nice folks and nasty folks, rich and poor, folks from every religion. In God's own words, "we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). In other words, no one is good enough to measure up to God's holiness. No one's good enough to go to heaven. So the verdict is in - guilty; guilty of breaking the laws of God, guilty of defying God by running a life that He was supposed to run.
The penalty is in, too. God wastes no words. He leaves no loopholes when He announces in Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." Spiritually speaking, every one of us deserves to be on Death Row. The death the Bible talks about is not something about your body. It's about your soul. It's about being separated from God throughout your life on earth and then horribly separated from Him forever, because He's a holy God and I'm anything but holy.
You already know what living away from Him on earth is like. You're missing the love that you were made for, you've got a soul that's always restless and never satisfied, a life that may be full but it's not fulfilling, and there's incurable emptiness deep down inside. But eternity without Him, well that's so much worse. It is, in fact, hell.
But John 3:16-18, our word for today from the Word of God, reveal the greatest news you could ever hear. You ready? "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Why? Because Jesus did all the dying for all the sinning you and I have ever done! Then the Bible says that you and I are in one of two groups: "Whoever believes in Jesus," the Bible says, "is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
There it is: condemned or pardoned, guilty or forgiven, heaven or hell. You choose by whether or not you pin all your hopes on Jesus as the only One who can save you, because He's the only One who died to save you from God's death penalty.
If you've never given yourself to Him, please, would you do it today. Don't wait to accept God's pardon. Some people have waited too long. Every day you put this off, you risk going into eternity unforgiven and lost. Let this be the day you tell
Jesus, "I'm pinning all my hopes on what You did when You died for my sins and walked out of your grave under your own power."
And if you'll get to our website, you will have there right in front of you the steps to beginning this relationship with God. It's ANewStory.com. This could be the day your hell is cancelled and your heaven is guaranteed.