Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Will Stand Up for You - February 23, 2022
Ever had anyone stand up for you? The answer is yes. Jesus stands at this very moment, offering intercession on your behalf. “Grant Mary the strength to face this interview!” “Issue to Tom the wisdom to be a good father!”
“Where is Jesus?” the bedridden, enfeebled, impoverished, overstressed, and isolated ask. Where is he? He is in the presence of God, praying for us. Jesus prayed for Peter, he stood up for Stephen, and he promises to pray and stand up for you. “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is the sinless and perfect high priest. And when he speaks, all of heaven listens.
Deuteronomy 8
Keep and live out the entire commandment that I’m commanding you today so that you’ll live and prosper and enter and own the land that God promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth. Your clothes didn’t wear out and your feet didn’t blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.
6-9 So it’s paramount that you keep the commandments of God, your God, walk down the roads he shows you and reverently respect him. God is about to bring you into a good land, a land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams out of the hills and through the valleys. It’s a land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil, and honey. It’s land where you’ll never go hungry—always food on the table and a roof over your head. It’s a land where you’ll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills.
10 After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you.
11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,
the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.
17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.
19-20 If you forget, forget God, your God, and start taking up with other gods, serving and worshiping them, I’m on record right now as giving you firm warning: that will be the end of you; I mean it—destruction. You’ll go to your doom—the same as the nations God is destroying before you; doom because you wouldn’t obey the Voice of God, your God.
* * *
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Today's Scripture
Psalm 8
(NIV)
For the director of music. According to gittith.b A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your namem in all the earth!
You have set your gloryn
in the heavens.o
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a strongholdp against your enemies,
to silence the foeq and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,r
the work of your fingers,s
the moon and the stars,t
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?c u
5 You have made themd a little lower than the angelse v
and crowned themf with glory and honor.w
6 You made them rulersx over the works of your hands;y
you put everything under theirg feet:z
7 all flocks and herds,a
and the animals of the wild,b
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,c
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!d
Insight
Psalm 8 lifts God as the Lord of all creation (v. 9). The psalmist confesses that the sky with its moon and stars—seen by the nations around Israel as gods—is simply the “work of [God’s] fingers” (v. 3).
In light of God’s immense power, the psalmist is humbled and amazed by the high place God has given humanity, who are entrusted to care for creation (vv. 6–8) and are “crowned . . . with glory and honor” (v. 5). The description we find in Psalm 8 of the dignity given to human beings is especially remarkable when compared to other ancient Near Eastern literature, which describe men and women as created to be slaves for the gods who then wavered over whether their existence was worth the trouble. By: Monica La Rose
The Challenge of the Stars
What is mankind that you are mindful of them?
Psalm 8:4
In the early twentieth century, Italian poet F. T. Marinetti launched Futurism, an artistic movement that rejected the past, scoffed at traditional ideas of beauty, and glorified machinery instead. In 1909, Marinetti wrote his Manifesto of Futurism, in which he declared “contempt for women,” praised “the blow with the fist,” and asserted, “We want to glorify war.” The manifesto concludes: “Standing on the world’s summit we launch once again our insolent challenge to the stars!”
Five years after Marinetti’s manifesto, modern warfare began in earnest. World War I did not bring glory. Marinetti himself died in 1944. The stars, still in place, took no notice.
King David sang poetically of the stars but with a dramatically different outlook. He wrote, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3–4). David’s question isn’t one of disbelief but of amazed humility. He knew that the God who made this vast cosmos is indeed mindful of us. He notices every detail about us—the good, the bad, the humble, the insolent—even the absurd.
It’s pointless to challenge the stars. Rather, they challenge us to praise our Creator. By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
What current philosophies or movements can you think of that leave no room for God? What reminds you of your Creator, and how does that prompt you to praise Him?
Heavenly Father, I acknowledge Your love for me with feelings of amazement, awe, and humility. Who am I? Thank You for loving me!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
The Determination to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28
Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…” (1 Timothy 1:13). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
Bible in a Year: Numbers 7-8; Mark 4:21-41
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Undeniable Evidence - #9163
Cindy got off to a great fast start spiritually. Well, in a way she did, because it took about two years of her coming to my Campus Life Club before she finally chose Christ as her Savior. But after that she really took off. In fact, she came over to my house not long after she made her commitment and said, "Ron, could you give me an argument to convince my big sister, Megan, that this is real?" What had happened was that Cindy came home talking about Jesus, and Megan said, "Oh, right! Sure, of course! Last week it was a drug, next week it will be a boyfriend. This week it's Jesus. You'll get over it, Cindy."
Well, Cindy needed to know how to convince her. She needed an argument she thought. I said, "Well, maybe I could give you one. But I'd rather you'd do this. Ask yourself this question, 'What change could I ask Jesus to make in me that my big sister, Megan, would have to notice?'" She said, "I've got it!"
Two weeks later she came back, and I said, "Well, how did it go with the Lord and with Megan?" She said, "Oh great! I gave God the chair." Right! "I gave God the chair?" She said, "Well see, we've got this big, red overstuffed chair in our living room. It's right by the picture window and right in front of the TV set. And Megan and I always start by arguing over this chair ... like who's going to get it. So I just said, 'Lord, help me be unselfish about this chair.'"
Wouldn't you know, that began to get Megan's attention. She said, "Cindy, what's happened to you?" Two years later ... I guess these girls are on two year cycles here. Megan came to me. She said, "Ron, Cindy and I just wanted you to know I've just given my life to Christ." I said, "Oh that's awesome!" She said, "Yeah, but we've got a question. Now, who gets the chair?" That is a true story my friend.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Undeniable Evidence."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from chapter 5, verse 15 of Matthew. "People do not 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. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Notice here it doesn't say they will hear your good beliefs and praise your Father in heaven. They will see your good deeds.
Now, here's 1 Peter 2:12. It's sort of a companion verse. "Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and then glorify God on the day He visits us." So these people who start out criticizing you end up praising your God. Why? It's not the beliefs. It's not meetings that interest people in your Jesus. It's your changed life. It's the difference He makes.
Maybe you need to ask yourself in light of the lost people in your world, "What change could I ask Jesus to make in me that they would have to notice?" So if you're concerned for a parent who doesn't know the Lord, why don't you ask yourself, "How can I give them a better son? How can I give them a better daughter?" That's what they ought to get out of me being a Christian is a better son or daughter, more time with them, more help around the house, more respect. That's a change a parent would notice.
Maybe you're a parent and you've got a son or daughter who doesn't know the Lord. Ask yourself, "What change could I have Jesus make in me as a mom or dad that my son or daughter would sure notice?" Who could be against anything that gives them a better parent or a better child? Maybe you're an employee and you want to reach your employer. Now you get the drift here I think. "Lord, how could I change? Make me more reliable, more on time, more conscientious; whatever they would notice; a better friend, a better neighbor. In other words, be different in the way that would matter most to the lost person you want to take to heaven with you.
Now, for Cindy it was the chair in the living room. Listen! Give the people around you a new and improved model of you, made possible daily by a Savior named Jesus. But be new in their language. It will win you the right to introduce them to the One who's changed you. See, they can't see Jesus, but they're looking at you. So, show them in living color the life-changing difference-making power of Jesus Christ, a change that matters to them. You know why? Because that is undeniable evidence.
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