Max Lucado Daily: GOD WILL HELP
When you feel helpless, where can you turn? I suggest you turn to one of Jesus’ most intriguing teachings about prayer!
Luke tells the story of a persistent neighbor looking to borrow bread at midnight (Luke 11:5 -13). Imagine it’s you ringing the doorbell. The door opens. “What are you doing here?” he asks. “A friend of mine has arrived for a visit, and I’ve nothing for him to eat,” you answer. The homeowner grumbles but finally takes you to his pantry. And, as a result, your surprise guest doesn’t have to go to bed hungry. All because you spoke up on behalf of someone else.
This is intercessory prayer at its purest. This prayer gets God’s attention. If your cranky and disgruntled neighbor will help you out, how much more will God do?
Ezekiel 14
Idols in Their Hearts
Some of the leaders of Israel approached me and sat down with me. God’s Message came to me: “Son of Man, these people have installed idols in their hearts. They have embraced the wickedness that will ruin them. Why should I even bother with their prayers? Therefore tell them, ‘The Message of God, the Master: All in Israel who install idols in their hearts and embrace the wickedness that will ruin them and still have the gall to come to a prophet, be on notice: I, God, will step in and personally answer them as they come dragging along their mob of idols. I am ready to go to work on the hearts of the house of Israel, all of whom have left me for their idols.’
6-8 “Therefore, say to the house of Israel: ‘God, the Master, says, Repent! Turn your backs on your no-god idols. Turn your backs on all your outrageous obscenities. To every last person from the house of Israel, including any of the resident aliens who live in Israel—all who turn their backs on me and embrace idols, who install the wickedness that will ruin them at the center of their lives and then have the gall to go to the prophet to ask me questions—I, God, will step in and give the answer myself. I’ll oppose those people to their faces, make an example of them—a warning lesson—and get rid of them so you will realize that I am God.
9-11 “‘If a prophet is deceived and tells these idolaters the lies they want to hear, I, God, get blamed for those lies. He won’t get by with it. I’ll grab him by the scruff of the neck and get him out of there. They’ll be equally guilty, the prophet and the one who goes to the prophet, so that the house of Israel will never again wander off my paths and make themselves filthy in their rebellions, but will rather be my people, just as I am their God. Decree of God, the Master.’”
12-14 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, when a country sins against me by living faithlessly and I reach out and destroy its food supply by bringing on a famine, wiping out humans and animals alike, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job—the Big Three—were alive at the time, it wouldn’t do the population any good. Their righteousness would only save their own lives.” Decree of God, the Master.
15-16 “Or, if I make wild animals go through the country so that everyone has to leave and the country becomes wilderness and no one dares enter it anymore because of the wild animals, even if these three men were living there, as sure as I am the living God, neither their sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only those three, and the country would revert to wilderness.
17-18 “Or, if I bring war on that country and give the order, ‘Let the killing begin!’ leaving both people and animals dead, even if those three men were alive at the time, as sure as I am the living God, neither sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only these three.
19-20 “Or, if I visit a deadly disease on that country, pouring out my lethal anger, killing both people and animals, and Noah, Daniel, and Job happened to be alive at the time, as sure as I am the living God, not a son, not a daughter, would be rescued. Only these three would be delivered because of their righteousness.
21-23 “Now then, that’s the picture,” says God, the Master, “once I’ve sent my four catastrophic judgments on Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, disease—to kill off people and animals alike. But look! Believe it or not, there’ll be survivors. Some of their sons and daughters will be brought out. When they come out to you and their salvation is right in your face, you’ll see for yourself the life they’ve been saved from. You’ll know that this severe judgment I brought on Jerusalem was worth it, that it had to be. Yes, when you see in detail the kind of lives they’ve been living, you’ll feel much better. You’ll see the reason behind all that I’ve done in Jerusalem.” Decree of God, the Master.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 30, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Malachi 1:8–14
When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
Insight
Malachi confronted the people of Israel for their lack of respect and honor for God. This was demonstrated by their disregard for the purity of their sacrifices. They brought sacrifices that were blind, lame, and sick (1:8). In contrast, God required that the sacrifices brought to Him be without defect (see Leviticus 1:3, 10; 3:1, 6; 4:3, 23, 28, 32). God gave good gifts to the Israelites, and He expected they’d offer good gifts to Him in return. Offering a defective sacrifice was a sign of disrespect; they were performing a ritual rather than honoring God from the heart.
Giving Our Best
He will purify . . . and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness. Malachi 3:3
We stared at the piles of donated shoes as we entered a local homeless shelter. The director had invited our youth group to help sort through the heaps of used footwear. We spent the morning searching for matches and lining them up in rows across the concrete floor. At the end of the day, we threw away more than half of the shoes because they were too damaged for others to use. Though the shelter couldn’t stop people from giving poor quality items, they refused to distribute shoes that were in bad condition.
The Israelites struggled with giving God their damaged goods too. When He spoke through the prophet Malachi, He rebuked the Israelites for sacrificing blind, lame, or diseased animals when they had strong animals to offer (Malachi 1:6–8). He announced His displeasure (v. 10), affirmed His worthiness, and reprimanded the Israelites for keeping the best for themselves (v. 14). But God also promised to send the Messiah, whose love and grace would transform their hearts and ignite their desire to bring offerings that would be pleasing to Him (3:1–4).
At times, it can be tempting to give God our leftovers. We praise Him and expect Him to give us His all, yet we offer Him our crumbs. When we consider all God has done, we can rejoice in celebrating His worthiness and giving Him our very best. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
Why are you sometimes tempted to give God your leftovers or damaged goods? In what ways will you give Him your best today?
Mighty God, please help me place You first and give You my best.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 30, 2020
“By the Grace of God I Am What I Am”
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain… —1 Corinthians 15:10
The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.
There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 37-39; 2 Peter 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 30, 2020
Waiting For the Sunrise - #8841
One vacation morning, my wife and I woke up real early for some reason - so we decided to make the most of that pre-dawn time. We went out to the porch of the mountain cabin we were in and we just sat there to watch the sunrise. It was awesome! We watched the eastern sky slowly brighten over the mountains, and it turned the sky these beautiful shades of pink and yellow. It took a while for the old sun to rise. I mean, we were waiting for almost an hour as the sky gradually got brighter. At last, there was this brighter spot over one particular peak, and then suddenly there it was - the sun crested the mountain. And even though we had to wait a while for the sun to come up, wow! Man, when it did, it totally cleared the mountain and it began ascending the sky in less than two minutes! Literally, as it rose, everything seemed to come to life across the valley. It's incredible to watch how God begins a day!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Waiting For the Sunrise."
You know, we can learn a lot about the ways of God in our lives by just watching how He starts each new day. That's especially important if it's been dark in your life for a while. It's been a long night, huh? You've been waiting a long time for light to break through. But remember how God operates - a long wait, maybe a few signs of a little brightening, and then a sudden, dramatic breakthrough.
The divine modus operandi is vividly illustrated in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 12:11. God's ancient people have been waiting for God to come through with their promised deliverance from their slavery in Egypt. But before it gets better, it gets worse. The request to Pharaoh only leads to them being oppressed even more. Then there's a series of ten plagues, nine of which do not change their lives. It's been a long, long night. Like you maybe, they've been waiting for the sunrise for a long time.
Then comes the night of the first Passover, the night God will change Pharaoh's heart with the last plague. Here are the Lord's instructions to His people about the Passover: "This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat in haste." After all this waiting, God says, "Hey, be ready to go at a moment's notice."
Here's what happened: "During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, 'Up! Leave My people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you requested. Take your flocks and herds...and go.' The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country." Pharaoh and his people are literally urging their labor force, the Jews, to leave their country! And the Egyptians even give the Jews silver and gold and clothes - they finance the exodus! It was a long wait, and then a sudden and blazing sunrise, and a dramatic difference.
God may have you right in the middle of that kind of impending miracle at this moment. Except right now it looks like it's going to be dark forever. Don't let the length of the wait make you give up on the sunrise. Don't ever assume there's not enough time left for the answer to come.
Have you ever seen a sunrise? You're going to see one in your life - when God has everything ready. And when it comes, it may very well come very fast. And that sunrise will illuminate everything. It will change everything! And, believe me, that sunrise? It's worth waiting for.
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.