Max Lucado Daily: Who is the Holy Spirit? - January 6, 2022
If you want to see believers search for words, ask, “Who is the Holy Spirit?”
The Bible makes more than a hundred references to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said more about the Holy Spirit than he did about the church or marriage. The Holy Spirit is central to the life of the Christian. Everything from Acts to Revelation is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came alongside the disciples, indwelled them, and gave the early church the push they needed to face the challenges ahead.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit became the primary agent of the Trinity on earth. He will complete what was begun by the Father and the Son. “Keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). He directs and leads; you must obey and follow.
Numbers 9
Passover
God spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt: “Have the People of Israel celebrate Passover at the set time. Celebrate it on schedule, on the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, following all the rules and procedures.”
4-5 Moses told the People of Israel to celebrate the Passover and they did—in the Wilderness of Sinai at evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. The People of Israel did it all just as God had commanded Moses.
6-7 But some of them couldn’t celebrate the Passover on the assigned day because they were ritually unclean on account of a corpse. So they presented themselves before Moses and Aaron on Passover and told Moses, “We have become ritually unclean because of a corpse, but why should we be barred from bringing God’s offering along with other Israelites on the day set for Passover?”
8 Moses said, “Give me some time; I’ll find out what God says in your circumstances.”
9-12 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, If one or another of you is ritually unclean because of a corpse, or you happen to be off on a long trip, you may still celebrate God’s Passover. But celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at evening. Eat the lamb together with unraised bread and bitter herbs. Don’t leave any of it until morning. Don’t break any of its bones. Follow all the procedures.
13 “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.
14 “Any foreigner living among you who wants to celebrate God’s Passover is welcome to do it, but he must follow all the rules and procedures. The same procedures go for both foreigner and native-born.”
The Cloud
15-16 The day The Dwelling was set up, the Cloud covered The Dwelling of the Tent of Testimony. From sunset until daybreak it was over The Dwelling. It looked like fire. It was like that all the time, the Cloud over The Dwelling and at night looking like fire.
17-23 When the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the People of Israel marched out; and when the Cloud descended the people camped. The People of Israel marched at God’s command and they camped at his command. As long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, they camped. Even when the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for many days, they honored God’s command and wouldn’t march. They stayed in camp, obedient to God’s command, as long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, but the moment God issued orders they marched. If the Cloud stayed only from sunset to daybreak and then lifted at daybreak, they marched. Night or day, it made no difference—when the Cloud lifted, they marched. It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there. And when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God’s command and they marched at God’s command. They lived obediently by God’s orders as delivered by Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 06, 2022
Today's Scripture
Colossians 3:12–14
(NIV)
Insight
Love and unity are constant themes throughout the New Testament, and Paul highlights both concepts in Colossians. In 3:11, Paul pointed out how believers in Jesus enjoy an unprecedented unity. This is a radical unity that totally disregards traditional barriers of class and ethnic division. Instead, “Christ is all, and is in all.” Such unity is to live itself out in a radically different way: in “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (v. 12). Never has this counsel been more appropriate than today. Instead of rancorous disagreement, we’re to “bear with each other” (v. 13). This implies a patient understanding of others that grows out of an awareness that we’re not without fault either. Such self-awareness enables us to empathize with those with whom we disagree. Paul concludes: “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14). By: Tim Gustafson
Dealing with Disagreement
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13
The social media powerhouse Twitter created a platform where people all over the world express opinions in short sound bites. In recent years, however, this formula has become more complex as individuals have begun to leverage Twitter as a tool to reprimand others for attitudes and lifestyles they disagree with. Log on to the platform on any given day, and you’ll find the name of at least one person “trending.” Click on that name, and you’ll find millions of people expressing opinions about whatever controversy has emerged.
We’ve learned to publicly criticize everything from the beliefs people hold to the clothes they wear. The reality, however, is that a critical and unloving attitude doesn’t align with who God has called us to be as believers in Jesus. While there will be times when we have to deal with disagreement, the Bible reminds us that as believers we’re to always conduct ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Instead of being harshly critical, even of our enemies, God urges us to “bear with each other and forgive one another if [we have] a grievance” (v. 13).
This treatment isn’t limited to the people whose lifestyles and beliefs we agree with. Even when it’s difficult, may we extend grace and love to everyone we encounter as Christ guides us, recognizing that we’ve been redeemed by His love. By: Kimya Loder
Reflect & Pray
Consider a time when you were quick to criticize a friend or a stranger. What was the result? What could you have done differently to honor God and the individual?
Heavenly Father, I know I fall short of Your glory every day. Thank You for Your unconditional love. Help me strive to be more like You by being patient and gentle with others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 06, 2022
Worship
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. —Genesis 12:8
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
Bible in a Year: Genesis 16-17; Matthew 5:27-48
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 06, 2022
A Hurricane Named Peace - #9129
Several years ago I thought they were talking about my grandmother storming up the East Coast. Actually, it was a hurricane with her name - Irene. Oh, and I know what that name means. It means peace. How ironic.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Hurricane Named Peace."
Of course, it was in the face of a monster life-hurricane that Jesus gave His disciples one of the greatest promises of peace ever made. Within hours, the Man for whom they left everything was going to be arrested, tortured and crucified like a criminal.
So, our word for today from the Word of God, John 14 beginning in verse 27, tells us that as this Category 5 "hurricane" was on the verge of ripping apart their world, Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27).
Excuse me, but how can a devastating life-storm go hand-in-hand with peace?
I got a hint of how that happens on the day that they thought the plane I was on might crash. The hydraulic system had failed and we were being diverted to the nearest airport. The flight attendants were barely concealing their own anxiety. It was all over them, and they were drilling us as fast as they could in how to prepare for a crash landing (Of course, they never mentioned that "c" word, but you could tell what it was all about.). Needless to say, it was really tense, very quiet on our flight.
There was a grandma next to me, and she was I guess pretty much a nervous wreck. She talked about seeing her grandchildren in New Jersey, and I listened and I did my best to be of some comfort to her, and then it was time to land on a runway that was flanked with emergency vehicles; lights flashing everywhere. And thankfully, we landed safely, just a little bumpy.
We were packing up to leave, and the grandma said to me, "How could you be so calm when everybody else was so uptight?" And I said, "Well, honestly I had total peace the whole time, because see, well my peace isn't based on what's going on around me. It's based on Who's going on inside me. See, one day I asked Jesus to come into my life and take over, and He did, and nothing can take Him from me."
That's the secret of hurricane peace. Your response to the tempest is defined by your anchor relationship with Jesus Christ, not the screaming winds of the storm. Or as the Bible says, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3). The wind and the water won't determine what happens to me. Jesus will. And whatever may get washed away, I cannot lose the One who is my reason to live, my defining love, my unloseable security.
Of course, the peace that Jesus promised to His followers that dark night would come at an unthinkable price; His horrific death on a cross, because there is no peace for someone who's away from the God who made them. And, according to the Bible, that's all of us. Having the unshakeable peace of God depends on being at peace with God, and that couldn't happen without my sin being paid for. So the road to peace is paved with the blood of Jesus. Or as the Bible says, "He was crushed for our iniquities (or our wrongdoings); the punishment" - get this - "that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).
So, for you, peace will begin at the foot of Jesus' cross; the peace place where Jesus died to pay the price to make peace between you and God. And that peace becomes yours, that gift of eternal life becomes yours when you reach out and make it your own; when you personalize it by saying, "Jesus, I give myself to You because You died for me, and You're alive because You walked out of your grave. I want You to walk into my life." You could let that peace begin today! Let it happen today. Say, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
Go visit our website. It's called ANewStory.com. It's there to help you understand how to begin your relationship with Him.
Hurricane-proof peace is actually a person, and He'll be there when the storm is howling, and He'll be there when the storm has passed.
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.