Max Lucado Daily: FEED YOUR FAITH, NOT YOUR FEARS
I’m just checking in to make sure that you are feeding your faith more than you are feeding your fears. You know if you feed your faith, your fears will starve. But if you feed your fears, your faith will. So we have to make an intentional decision during this season of high anxiety and turbulence to encourage one another and to feed one another’s faith. And also we need to take the initiative to feed our own faith.
So I encourage you my friend, I encourage you. Don’t give into despair. Don’t give into anxiety. We’re gonna get through this. We really are. I know that we’re getting new news day by day. I know that developments are changing it seems by the hour. But let me tell you the thing that has not changed. Our heavenly father is still on the throne.
Isaiah 8
Then God told me, “Get a big sheet of paper and write in indelible ink, ‘This belongs to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Spoil-Speeds-Plunder-Hurries).’”
2-3 I got two honest men, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, to witness the document. Then I went home to my wife, the prophetess. She conceived and gave birth to a son.
3-4 God told me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Before that baby says ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mamma’ the king of Assyria will have plundered the wealth of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
5-8 God spoke to me again, saying:
“Because this people has turned its back
on the gently flowing stream of Shiloah
And gotten all excited over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
I’m stepping in and facing them with
the wild floodwaters of the Euphrates,
The king of Assyria and all his fanfare,
a river in flood, bursting its banks,
Pouring into Judah, sweeping everything before it,
water up to your necks,
A huge wingspan of a raging river,
O Immanuel, spreading across your land.”
9-10 But face the facts, all you oppressors, and then wring your hands.
Listen, all of you, far and near.
Prepare for the worst and wring your hands.
Yes, prepare for the worst and wring your hands!
Plan and plot all you want—nothing will come of it.
All your talk is mere talk, empty words,
Because when all is said and done,
the last word is Immanuel—God-With-Us.
11-15 God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:
“Don’t be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them.
Don’t fear what they fear.
Don’t take on their worries.
If you’re going to worry,
worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy can be either a Hiding Place
or a Boulder blocking your way,
The Rock standing in the willful way
of both houses of Israel,
A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass
to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Many of them are going to run into that Rock
and get their bones broken,
Get tangled up in that barbed wire
and not get free of it.”
16-18 Gather up the testimony,
preserve the teaching for my followers,
While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,
while I wait and hope for him.
I stand my ground and hope,
I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel,
Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who makes his home in Mount Zion.
19-22 When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
They end up in the dark with nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 30, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:Matthew 26:26–29
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke itd and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup,e and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of theb covenant,f which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.g 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with youh in my Father’s kingdom.”
Insight
The Passover is a family meal observed at the beginning of Israel’s religious calendar, commemorating their deliverance from Egyptian slavery and celebrating the beginning of a redeemed people who belong to God (Exodus 12:1–3; 13:3, 14–16; 19:5–6).
Because Jesus Himself is the true Passover Lamb (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7), He instituted a new family meal. His eating the Passover with His disciples points to the formation of a new kingdom of God—a new redeemed people and a new family of God. Today we refer to it as the Last Supper because it would have been the last Passover meal for Jesus before the cross (Matthew 26:17–30). Many scholars believe the next feast will be at the great messianic banquet when Jesus returns to establish His Father’s kingdom on earth (see Isaiah 25:6; Luke 13:29; 14:15).
Blessed Bread
Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Matthew 26:26 nlt
When our oldest child became a teenager, my wife and I gave her a journal that we’d been writing in since her birth. We’d recorded her likes and dislikes, quirks and memorable one-liners. At some point the entries became more like letters, describing what we see in her and how we see God at work in her. When we gave it to her on her thirteenth birthday, she was mesmerized. She’d been given the gift of knowing a crucial part of the origins of her identity.
In blessing something as common as bread, Jesus was revealing its identity. What it—along with all creation—was made to reflect: God’s glory. I believe Jesus was also pointing to the future of the material world. All creation will one day be filled with the glory of God. So in blessing bread (Matthew 26:26), Jesus was pointing to the origin and the destiny of creation (Romans 8:21–22).
Maybe the “beginning” of your story feels messed up. Maybe you don’t think there’s much of a future. But there’s a bigger story. It’s a story of a God who made you on purpose and for a purpose, who took pleasure in you. It’s a story of God who came to rescue you (Matthew 26:28); a God who put His Spirit in you to renew you and recover your identity. It’s a story of a God who wants to bless you. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
How does seeing your true origin story as being made on purpose and for a purpose change the way you see yourself? What’s the bigger story than simply your situation right now?
Dear Jesus, I place my life like bread in Your hands. Only You can return me to my origin. Only You can carry me to my destiny. Jesus, You are the author and the finisher of my faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 30, 2020
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
Bible in a Year: Judges 9-10; Luke 5:17-39
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 30, 2020
Heaven's Balanced Books - #8666
When there's a string of corporate meltdowns, Wall Street gets a very bad case of the jitters. It happened a few years ago, didn't it? The sudden discovery that a major company we thought was doing well is actually in big trouble doesn't exactly inspire investor confidence. In some cases, some unusually "creative accounting" conceal how bad things really are for some time. Of course, the fundamentals of financial viability never really change. Your outgo and your income, your losses and your gains have to at least balance, and it's management's job to, of course, be sure that they do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Heaven's Balanced Books."
When you open your heart to Jesus Christ, it would be appropriate to hang a sign that says, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT." You step down and the One who should have been your Chief Executive Officer all along takes charge. And you can be sure He's committed to balancing the books in your life, keeping a loving balance between gains and losses.
In the midst of horrendous personal losses, Job was still able to see this balancing work of God in his life. In Job 1:21, which is our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Later, Job would have this balancing work of God more than proved when, as the Bible says, "the Lord...gave him twice as much as he had before...the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first" (Job 42:10-12).
In God's deep love and infinite wisdom, He knows that we just can't stand to have all blessings or all burdens, all happiness or all heartaches. That might be why the writer of Proverbs 30 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you...or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:8-9).
Solomon assures us that, in God's great management of our life, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to tear down and a time to build...a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3-4).
Maybe right now you're particularly focused on a lot of bad news, some losses you're experiencing. This might be a good time to step back and look at the big picture of what heaven's CEO is doing in your life. It's time to review the blessings that are there side-by-side with the burdens. Are you missing that? God has this incredible way of knowing just how much loss you can handle and how to balance that with some good news, and how much victory you can handle and how to balance that with some struggle.
This loving God, who knows exactly what you need and when you need it, is working this very day on His gracious, life-building balance. At any given moment, you'll have something discouraging, but always something encouraging to offset it and make it bearable.
At any given moment, you will have some wonderful answered prayers and you'll also have some yet-to-be-answered prayers. You can be sure that until the day you see Jesus, you will always, and I mean always, have plenty to thank Him for and plenty to trust Him for. That's how spiritual babies become spiritual adults. That's how spiritual wimps become spiritual warriors.
Don't miss the good things God is doing because you're nearsightedly focusing on the hard things. You have a Savior who's always balancing the gains and the losses to make your life more profitable than you could ever imagine.
