Max Lucado Daily: YOU HAVE ALL YOU NEED
You have a Bible? Read it! When anxiety termites away at your peace, read Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Or perhaps laziness is knocking on your door. Read Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.”
Don’t make a decision, large or small, without sitting before God with an open Bible, open heart, open ears. Philippians 2:13 says, “God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases Him.” You have all you need to face the giant-size questions of your life. Most of all, you have a God who loves you too much to let you wander. You have a heart for God? Heed it. A Bible? Read it.
2 Chronicles 35
Josiah celebrated the Passover to God in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. He gave the priests detailed instructions and encouraged them in the work of leading worship in The Temple of God. He also told the Levites who were in charge of teaching and guiding Israel in all matters of worship (they were especially consecrated for this), “Place the sacred Chest in The Temple that Solomon son of David, the king of Israel, built. You don’t have to carry it around on your shoulders any longer! Serve God and God’s people Israel. Organize yourselves by families for your respective responsibilities, following the instructions left by David king of Israel and Solomon his son.
5-6 “Take your place in the sanctuary—a team of Levites for every grouping of your fellow citizens, the laity. Your job is to kill the Passover lambs, then consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs so that everyone will be able to keep the Passover exactly as God commanded through Moses.”
7-9 Josiah personally donated thirty thousand sheep, lambs, and goats and three thousand bulls—everything needed for the Passover celebration was there. His officials also pitched in on behalf of the people, including the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, leaders in The Temple of God, gave twenty-six hundred lambs and three hundred bulls to the priests for the Passover offerings. Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with the Levitical chiefs Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, donated five thousand lambs and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.
10-13 Preparations were complete for the service of worship; the priests took up their positions and the Levites were at their posts as instructed by the king. They killed the Passover lambs, and while the priests sprinkled the blood from the lambs, the Levites skinned them out. Then they set aside the Whole-Burnt-Offering for presentation to the family groupings of the people so that each group could offer it to God following the instructions in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They roasted the Passover lamb according to the instructions and boiled the consecrated offerings in pots and kettles and pans and promptly served the people.
14 After the people had eaten the holy meal, the Levites served themselves and the Aaronite priests—the priests were busy late into the night making the offerings at the Altar.
15 The Asaph singers were all in their places following the instructions of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The security guards were on duty at each gate—the Levites also served them because they couldn’t leave their posts.
16-19 Everything went without a hitch in the worship of God that day as they celebrated the Passover and the offering of the Whole-Burnt-Offering on the Altar of God. It went just as Josiah had ordered. The Israelites celebrated the Passover, also known as the Feast of Unraised Bread, for seven days. The Passover hadn’t been celebrated like this since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings had done it. But Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there that week, plus the citizens of Jerusalem—they did it. In the eighteenth year of the rule of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated.
20 Some time later, after Josiah’s reformation of The Temple, Neco king of Egypt marched out toward Carchemish on the Euphrates River on his way to war. Josiah went out to fight him.
21 Neco sent messengers to Josiah saying, “What do we have against each other, O King of Judah? I haven’t come to fight against you but against the country with whom I’m at war. God commanded me to hurry, so don’t get in my way; you’ll only interfere with God, who is on my side in this, and he’ll destroy you.”
22-23 But Josiah was spoiling for a fight and wouldn’t listen to a thing Neco said (in actuality it was God who said it). Though King Josiah disguised himself when they met on the plain of Megiddo, archers shot him anyway.
The king said to his servants, “Get me out of here—I’m badly wounded.”
24-25 So his servants took him out of his chariot and laid him down in an ambulance chariot and drove him back to Jerusalem. He died there and was buried in the family cemetery. Everybody in Judah and Jerusalem attended the funeral. Jeremiah composed an anthem of lament for Josiah. The anthem is still sung by the choirs of Israel to this day. The anthem is written in the Laments.
26-27 The rest of the history of Josiah, his exemplary and devout life, conformed to The Revelation of God. The whole story, from start to finish, is written in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, July 31, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 5:13–16
Salt and Light
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Insight
The concept of light shining in the darkness is one of the primary themes of John’s writings, but it also has a strategic place in Matthew’s gospel. After Jesus returned from being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Matthew records the launching of Christ’s public ministry by quoting the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:2). These words provide the context for His instruction in today’s Scripture text about being a light to others.
Shining Light
Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
I felt nervous about a five-week prayer class I agreed to teach at a local church. Would the students like it? Would they like me? My anxiety was ill-focused, leading me to over-prepare lesson plans, presentation slides, and class handouts. Yet with a week to go, I still hadn’t encouraged many people to attend.
In prayer, however, I was reminded that the class was a service that shined light on God. Because the Holy Spirit would use the class to point people to our heavenly Father, I could set aside my nervousness about public speaking. When Jesus taught His disciples in His Sermon on the Mount, He told them, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:14–15).
Reading those words, I finally sent out a class announcement on social media. Almost immediately, people started registering—expressing gratitude and excitement. Seeing their reactions, I reflected more on Jesus’ teaching: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (v. 16).
With that perspective, I taught the class with joy. I pray that my simple deed becomes a beacon and encourages others to shine their light for God as well. By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
When have you felt nervous or self-conscious about sharing your deeds and gifts for God? How can your deeds and gifts help others, and what are ways you can share them?
Jesus, empower me to let my God-given light shine so others can see and glorify You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 31, 2020
Becoming Entirely His
Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. —James 1:4
Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.
Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.
We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work….” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. Biblical Ethics, 125 R
Bible in a Year: Psalms 54-56; Romans 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 31, 2020
Seeing What Isn't Working - #8755
One Christmas our youngest grandson was visiting at our son's house, and he was fascinated with the extensive Christmas lights that his uncle had strung around the outside of his house. I should tell you that one of our grandson's first words was "light," and lights were one of the first thing he would point out in any room. He was almost obsessed with them! As night fell and our son's Christmas lights came on, our grandson surprisingly wasn't very happy. We thought he'd be amazed by all those lights, but instead he just kept pointing out this one short stretch of lights that wasn't working and repeating, "Lights off. Lights off." Forget the hundreds of lights that were on!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing What Isn't Working."
Our grandson basically ignored the lights that were working. All he could see were the ones that weren't. Sadly, there are grownup people who live most of their lives that way. They look right past the things that are working and they choose to focus on the things that aren't. So they're often frustrated, discontent, mean spirited, unhappy, edgy, critical, negative; all those good things. When we're like that, I guess we become what I would call "negatologists" - people who major on the negative, which robs us of what the Bible identifies as a major source of strength for everyday living.
Nehemiah actually announced it in Nehemiah 8:10, our word for today from the Word of God. He simply said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." That joy is a stubborn positiveness about life, and it's rooted in the Lord you belong to, not the circumstances you're experiencing.
Earlier in the Book of Nehemiah, we see a somewhat inverted example of how he must have lived this out in everyday life. Nehemiah is a Jewish captive who works as a trusted servant of the King of Persia. For some time now, Nehemiah has been grieving over the reports of the condition of his people and of his city back in Israel.
One morning he comes in to serve the king, and the king asks, "Why is your face so sad today when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." Nehemiah uses this as an opportunity to share the burden of his heart. And God uses that as an opportunity to enlist the king in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, His Holy City.
Notice this little detail. It was a big deal that Nehemiah looked sad at work. For some of us, it would be a big deal if we looked happy at work! "Why are you so happy?" For this "joy of the Lord" man, being down seemed to be a major exception to the way he was most of the time. Nehemiah must have been a man with heaven's perspective, who could see what lights were on any given day, rather than the lights that weren't working.
How about you? Could it be that you've allowed yourself to start dwelling most of the time on what's wrong: what's wrong with your situation, what's wrong with your church, what's wrong with the people around you, what's wrong with your family members? Without realizing it, you've actually allowed yourself to become what the world already has more than enough of - a negatologist - a role really that is just totally unfitting for a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you belong to Him, there are always so many more lights on than off. But it all has to do with what you choose to dwell on. You can't choose your circumstances, but you can choose what you dwell on. Don't let the things that aren't working make you miss the beauty of the lights that are on all around you.