Max Lucado Daily: LET YOUR GENTLENESS BE EVIDENT TO ALL
How many disasters have been averted because one person refused to buckle under the strain? It’s this kind of composure Paul is summoning when he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:5-6).
The Greek word translated here as “gentleness” describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature. It envisions an attitude fitting to the occasion, levelheaded and tempered. This gentleness is “evident to all.” Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.
The gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking. The contagiously calm person is the one who reminds others, “God is in control.” Pursue this gentleness. The Lord is near—you are not alone. You may feel alone. You may think you’re alone. But there is never a moment in which you face life without help. God is near—be anxious for nothing!
Isaiah 21
A Message concerning the desert at the sea:
As tempests drive through the Negev Desert,
coming out of the desert, that terror-filled place,
A hard vision is given me:
The betrayer betrayed, the plunderer plundered.
Attack, Elam!
Lay siege, Media!
Persians, attack!
Attack, Babylon!
I’ll put an end to
all the moaning and groaning.
Because of this news I’m doubled up in pain,
writhing in pain like a woman having a baby,
Baffled by what I hear,
undone by what I see.
Absolutely stunned,
horror-stricken,
I had hoped for a relaxed evening,
but it has turned into a nightmare.
5 The banquet is spread,
the guests reclining in luxurious ease,
Eating and drinking, having a good time,
and then, “To arms, princes! The fight is on!”
6-9 The Master told me, “Go, post a lookout.
Have him report whatever he spots.
When he sees horses and wagons in battle formation,
lines of donkeys and columns of camels,
Tell him to keep his ear to the ground,
note every whisper, every rumor.”
Just then, the lookout shouted,
“I’m at my post, Master,
Sticking to my post day after day
and all through the night!
I watched them come,
the horses and wagons in battle formation.
I heard them call out the war news in headlines:
‘Babylon fallen! Fallen!
And all its precious god-idols
smashed to pieces on the ground.’”
10 Dear Israel, you’ve been through a lot,
you’ve been put through the mill.
The good news I get from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
the God of Israel, I now pass on to you.
11-12 A Message concerning Edom:
A voice calls to me
from the Seir mountains in Edom,
“Night watchman! How long till daybreak?
How long will this night last?”
The night watchman calls back,
“Morning’s coming,
But for now it’s still night.
If you ask me again, I’ll give the same answer.”
13-15 A Message concerning Arabia:
You’ll have to camp out in the desert badlands,
you caravans of Dedanites.
Haul water to the thirsty,
greet fugitives with bread.
Show your desert hospitality,
you who live in Tema.
The desert’s swarming with refugees
escaping the horrors of war.
16-17 The Master told me, “Hang on. Within one year—I’ll sign a contract on it!—the arrogant brutality of Kedar, those hooligans of the desert, will be over, nothing much left of the Kedar toughs.” The God of Israel says so.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 17, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Hebrews 2:14–18
Since the children have flesh and blood,g he too shared in their humanityh so that by his death he might break the poweri of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devilj—15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their feark of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.l 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,k m fully human in every way, in order that he might become a mercifuln and faithful high priesto in service to God,p and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.q 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Insight
The New Testament letter to the Hebrews was written to help Jewish believers in Jesus understand the danger of taking their eyes off the One who came to rescue them and all humanity from our universal fear of death (2:1, 14–15). Only Christ can give us the courage to freely live without the fear of dying. Nothing less than the public record of His life, death, and resurrection can overcome Satan’s twisted suggestion that God can’t be trusted because He isn’t as good as He wants us to believe. It took Jesus’ suffering and death to reveal a God who’s merciful enough to forgive the worst of our wrongs. It took His resurrection from the dead and the changed lives of His witnesses to expose the lie that when we’ve taken our last breath, all hope is gone.
Able to Help
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Hebrews 2:18
Joe’s eight-week “break” from his job as a crisis care worker at a New York City church was not a vacation. In his words, it was “to live again among the homeless, to become one of them, to remember what hungry, tired, and forgotten feel like.” Joe’s first stint on the streets had come nine years earlier when he arrived from Pittsburgh without a job or a place to stay. For thirteen days he lived on the streets with little food or sleep. That’s how God had prepared him for decades of ministry to needy people.
When Jesus came to earth, He also chose to share the experiences of those He came to save. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). From birth to death, nothing was missing from Christ’s human experience—except sin (4:15). Because He conquered sin, He can help us when we’re tempted to sin.
And Jesus doesn’t need to reacquaint Himself with our earthly cares. The One who saves us remains connected to us and is deeply interested in us. Whatever life brings, we can be assured that the One who rescued us from our greatest foe, the devil (2:14), stands ready to help us in our times of greatest need. By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
How does it encourage you to know that Jesus became one of us to identify with us and help us? What difference does knowing that He “walked in our shoes” make during this season in your life?
Father, help me to remember that You’re ready to help me in all areas of my life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 17, 2020
All or Nothing?
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment…and plunged into the sea. —John 21:7
Have you ever had a crisis in your life in which you deliberately, earnestly, and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of the will. You may come to that point many times externally, but it will amount to nothing. The true deep crisis of abandonment, or total surrender, is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of only external things may actually be an indication of your being in total bondage.
Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of the will, not of emotion; any positive emotion that results is simply a superficial blessing arising out of the transaction. If you focus your attention on the emotion, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make the determination to surrender your will regarding whatever you see, whether it is in the shallow or the deep, profound places internally.
If you have heard Jesus Christ’s voice on the waves of the sea, you can let your convictions and your consistency take care of themselves by concentrating on maintaining your intimate relationship to Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 1-2; Luke 14:1-24
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 17, 2020
Pandemic Pressure and Sinking Hopes - #8680
At the time, the Thresher was the fastest and quietest nuclear submarine there was. Until that awful day in 1963 when it suddenly disappeared in the Atlantic. All 129 crew members were lost. When they finally located the doomed sub, they found it broken into six pieces. The cause of the deadliest submarine disaster in history, actually, has been hard to nail down. But ultimately it seems the Thresher collapsed because they were at a depth, for whatever reason, where the pressure on the outside became greater than the pressure on the inside.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pandemic Pressure and Sinking Hopes."
For sure, the upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic seemed to shake almost every area of our lives. Our jobs, our kids' schooling, our family life, our sports, our entertainment, our ability to pay our bills, retirement plans, even our shopping - it's hard to think of an area of our lives that was not suddenly turned upside down. And with it, there's been a lot of fear. A lot of anxiety. A lot of discouragement. Even despair.
It's been a deep dive for all of us. And the pressure has revealed some things we normally don't see when life is speeding along. Social distance and staying home can uncover the cracks in our closest relationships. The almost overnight ravaging of our financial security has exposed that a lot we've called security isn't secure. And we're not in control, after all.
But there's evidence of a spiritual phenomenon taking place. Google reports an explosion of internet searches on the subject of prayer. Lifeway reported a 62% increase in Bible sales in one week. Usually we're too busy, too self-assured for God. But not when our "go to" things suddenly get up and go. Not when we feel - to use a word the Bible uses to describe us - we feel lost.
The pressure on the outside has become greater than the pressure on the inside. And that can sink you. Whatever or whoever we've been hanging onto suddenly isn't enough to withstand the stress. Or to provide any real hope.
When we're facing something much bigger than we are, we desperately need something - or someone - much bigger than what we're facing. And the Bible makes it clear that one thing hasn't changed - ever. And never will. Psalm 29:11, our hope-filled word for today from the Word of God says: "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace."
It's when we really need God, when we start to reach for Him, that we discover the distance between us and Him. In the Bible's stark words, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). In a way the word sin can be defined with just two words - "My way." God gave me my life. I acted like I'm God and I've done my life my way, not His way. So it's like there's a wall between me and a holy, sinless God.
Oh, but that same Bible has some mind-blowing good news. The God we've ignored and disobeyed loves us too much to leave that wall there. Listen to how incredibly God loves you - "He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross" (1 Peter 2:24). When Jesus was dying on that Good Friday, He was carrying the guilt, the shame, the hell for every wrong thing I've ever done. Then He walked out of His grave under His own power to offer the gift of eternal life.
The day you pin all your hopes on Him is the day you welcome Him into your life. And then you have anchored your life and your future to a hope and a love no loss on earth can touch.
If the pressure of our times has shown you how very much you need a relationship with God, let this be the day you tell Jesus, "I'm Yours." Let me give you our web address so you can go there today and find out how to be sure you belong to Jesus. It's ANewStory.com.
There will be things that are bigger than you can handle. But with Jesus in your life, you can be unsinkable!