Max Lucado Daily:Standing on the Promises - January 11, 2022
“All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding Yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT).
The best book of promises is the one you and God are going to write together. Search until you find covenants that address your needs. Clutch them as the precious pearls they are. Hide them in your heart so they can pay dividends long into the future. When the Enemy comes with his lies of doubt and fear, produce the pearl. Satan will be quickly silenced. He has no reply for truth!
The promises of God work, my friend. They can walk you through horrific tragedies. Build your life on the great and precious promises of God. Since his promises are unbreakable, your hope will be unshakable. The winds still blow. But in the end you will be standing—standing on the promises of God.
Numbers 13
Scouting Out Canaan
God spoke to Moses: “Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe.”
3-15 So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe. These were their names:
from Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccur
from Simeon: Shaphat son of Hori
from Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh
from Issachar: Igal son of Joseph
from Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nun
from Benjamin: Palti son of Raphu
from Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi
from Manasseh (a Joseph tribe): Gaddi son of Susi
from Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli
from Asher: Sethur son of Michael
from Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsi
from Gad: Geuel son of Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land. Moses gave Hoshea (Salvation) son of Nun a new name—Joshua (God-Saves).
17-20 When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country. Look the land over, see what it is like. Assess the people: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? Observe the land: Is it pleasant or harsh? Describe the towns where they live: Are they open camps or fortified with walls? And the soil: Is it fertile or barren? Are there forests? And try to bring back a sample of the produce that grows there—this is the season for the first ripe grapes.”
21-25 With that they were on their way. They scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath. Their route went through the Negev Desert to the town of Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of the giant Anak, lived there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it took two men to carry it—slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs. They named the place Eshcol Valley (Grape-Cluster-Valley) because of the huge cluster of grapes they had cut down there. After forty days of scouting out the land, they returned home.
26-27 They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip:
27-29 “We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”
31-33 But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.”
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Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Today's Scripture
John 16:25–33
(NIV)
“Though I have been speaking figuratively,r a time is comings when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name.t I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved meu and have believed that I came from God.v 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”w
29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.x 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believey that you came from God.”z
31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is cominga and in fact has come when you will be scattered,b each to your own home. You will leave me all alone.c Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.d
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.e In this world you will have trouble.f But take heart! I have overcomeg the world.”
Insight
After three years of following their Teacher, seeing His miracles, and expecting to see Him overthrow the Roman occupation, His disciples were confused when He told them He was leaving (John 16:5–7). But that’s not all. He also said that in His absence, they’d have trouble (vv. 1–4, 16–18). Sensing their alarm, Jesus signaled that before long they’d understand God’s plan to overcome the oppressive world rule of His enemy (v. 33). Only after He’d risen from the dead and sent His Spirit would they understand the self-sacrificing goodness of God. Jesus exposed the accusing lies of Satan (v. 11), overcame with love the worst of our sins, and conquered death by showing His power over the grave.
Learn more about the life and times of Jesus. By: Mart DeHaan
Escape or Peace?
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
“ESCAPE.” The billboard shouts the benefits of having a hot tub installed. It gets my attention—and gets me thinking. My wife and I have talked about getting a hot tub . . . someday. It’d be like a vacation in our backyard! Except for the cleaning. And the electric bill. And . . . suddenly, the hoped-for escape starts to sound like something I might need escape from.
Still, that word entices so effectively because it promises something we want: Relief. Comfort. Security. Escape. It’s something our culture tempts and teases us with in many ways. Now, there’s nothing wrong with resting or a getaway to someplace beautiful. But there’s a difference between escaping life’s hardships and trusting God with them.
In John 16, Jesus tells His disciples that the next chapter of their lives will test their faith. “In this world you will have trouble,” He summarizes at the end. And then He adds this promise, “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33). Jesus didn’t want His disciples to cave in to despair. Instead, He invited them to trust Him, to know the rest He provides: “I have told you these things,” he said, “so that in me you may have peace” (v. 33).
Jesus doesn’t promise us a pain-free life. But He does promise that as we trust and rest in Him, we can experience a peace that’s deeper and more satisfying than any escape the world tries to sell us. By: Adam Holz
Reflect & Pray
How have you seen invitations to escape in the world around you recently? How well do you think they might deliver on those promises?
Father, help me to trust You so that I may find peace and rest in You.
Read Finding Peace in a Troubled World .
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
What My Obedience to God Costs Other People
As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon…, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. —Luke 23:26
If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.
When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).
A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.
Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
Bible in a Year: Genesis 27-28; Matthew 8:18-34
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
The Problem With "Just Looking" - #9132
Maybe I'm just too sensitive, but I always feel a little sheepish when I walk into a store, knowing I'm not going to buy anything. I'll just be browsing and, you know, some bored salesperson stands up and starts moving my direction. Maybe what makes me feel bad is her look of hope, of expectancy, of "at last I can justify my existence" - "at last I can accomplish what I'm here to do." So the salesperson pleasantly asks, "May I help you?" To which I answer with the two most hated words in the life of a salesperson, "Just looking." I am such a disappointment.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem With 'Just Looking.'"
It's not just sales people who are bothered by folks who are "just looking." Jesus is troubled by people - often people like you and me - who aren't interested in buying spiritually. They're "just looking." Like the people in our word for today from the Word of God in John 9:13.
Now, this follows Jesus' amazing miracle of healing a man who had been blind from birth. It should have been amazing to the religious leaders, the Pharisees. But all they could see was that Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath - which they considered a violation of their laws.
The Bible says, "They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been born blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. 'He put mud on my eyes,' the man replied, 'and I washed, and now I see." Awesome, huh? Not to the Pharisees. No. Their reaction? "Some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.'"
Obviously men - very religious men - have no intention of buying into what Jesus is doing here. They're just looking. Actually, everywhere Jesus did miracles there seemed to be two groups - the expecters - who are looking for Jesus to do something, and the disecters - who are just looking at what Jesus is doing. What bothers me is that the disecters were the religious folks, the spiritual veterans. Like me - maybe you. They were always so busy analyzing what Jesus was doing they missed what Jesus was doing. That could be happening to you and me.
As you get more settled into Christian things, as you know more Christian ideas, as you do more Christian activity, this subtle numbness starts to creep in. You go to church, not so much to have God speak to you but to watch God speak to others. You make spiritual events happen but you seldom let them happen to you. You start to become a discusser of God's working rather than an experiencer of God at work. You start to become critical of other leaders and other methods.
Can you feel maybe a creeping sleep in your soul? Somewhere you stepped out of the middle of God's life-changing work and you moved to the edges to watch, to analyze, to categorize, to criticize, or to help it happen. And it's cold out there, isn't it? You show up at Jesus' store, you look around, but you don't buy into the wonder of it all. The great revivalist Gipsy Smith started preaching when he was 17 and he quit when he was 82 - because he died. When people used to ask him why he was as excited and passionate in his preaching as he was as a young man, he simply said, "I have never lost the wonder."
Maybe you have. It's time to get back into the mainstream where the miracles are...where the powerful works of God are. Drop your analyzer's detachment. Get back to your original love, your original excitement about Jesus. Let God happen to you again! When Jesus is offering such supernatural merchandise, it would be a shame if you're just on the edges "just looking."
