Max Lucado Daily: THE HOLY SPIRIT COME WITH POWER - September 2, 2022
Jesus would not let his followers begin their ministries unless they knew the Holy Spirit. By this point the disciples had spent three years in training. They had seen the empty tomb, they had touched his resurrected body, they had spent forty days listening to the resurrected Christ teach about the kingdom. But they needed more. Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NKJV).
The Holy Spirit comes with power. Power to make good choices, to keep promises, to silence the inner voices of fear and failure. Power to get busy about the right things in the right way. Power. This is what Jesus promised then, and this is what Jesus promises still.
Jesus would not let his followers begin their ministries unless they knew the Holy Spirit. By this point the disciples had spent three years in training. They had seen the empty tomb, they had touched his resurrected body, they had spent forty days listening to the resurrected Christ teach about the kingdom. But they needed more. Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NKJV).
The Holy Spirit comes with power. Power to make good choices, to keep promises, to silence the inner voices of fear and failure. Power to get busy about the right things in the right way. Power. This is what Jesus promised then, and this is what Jesus promises still.
John 5:1-24
Even on the Sabbath
Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
7 The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
8-9 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
9-10 That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”
11 But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”
12-13 They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
14 A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”
15-16 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”
18 That really set them off. The Jews were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God.
What the Father Does, the Son Does
19-20 So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.
20-23 “But you haven’t seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honor.
24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 02, 2022
Today's Scripture
Luke 12:35–40
When the Master Shows Up
35–38 “Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!
39–40 “You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, the Son of Man will show up.”
Insight
In Luke 12:35–40, Jesus used two illustrations from the ancient world to stress how crucial it is for His followers to be ready for His return. Verse 35 helps us to visualize what Christ taught in the first illustration: “Be dressed ready for service.” Servants expecting the return of their master needed to be clothed, alert, and ready to welcome him regardless of the time of his return (v. 38). The reward for readiness is quite surprising, for it’s a reversal of roles—the servants are pronounced “blessed” (makarios) (or “it will be good,” vv. 37–38). This is the same word Jesus used to describe His followers in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2–12; Luke 6:20–23). Houseowners are the focus of the second readiness illustration; they’re to be alert so thieves don’t break into their homes. The teaching for believers in Christ is clear: always be ready.
By: Arthur Jackson
Lighting Candles
Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.
Luke 12:35
It was noon, but the sun wasn’t visible. New England’s Dark Day began the morning of May 19, 1780, and lasted for hours. The cause of the surreal darkness was likely heavy clouds of smoke from massive wildfires in Canada, but many wondered if it might be judgment day.
The Connecticut governor’s council (senate) was in session, and when some considered adjourning because of the darkness, Abraham Davenport responded, “I am against adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.”
Davenport’s desire to be found faithfully performing the work God had given him to do on the day He returns is illustrative of Jesus’ words: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes” (Luke 12:35–37).
Day or night, it’s always good to serve our Savior. Even when darkness encroaches, His promises for all who look forward to Him will stand. Like candles in the darkness, may our “light shine before others, that they may see” (Matthew 5:16) and love and serve Him too.
By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
What would you do differently if you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow? How will you shine His light today?
Come soon, Jesus! I pray You’ll find me ready on that day, and that the way I live now will draw others to You.
Learn more about walking daily in the Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 02, 2022
A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice
He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow… —John 7:38
Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all.
When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask…of very costly oil…and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “…there were some who…said, ‘Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “…wherever this gospel is preached…what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?
“He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break “the flask” of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
Bible in a Year: Psalms 137-139; 1 Corinthians 13
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 02, 2022
PRAYER - AND THE POWER YOU NEED - #9300
There was this violent thunderstorm, and about 18 hours followed without electricity. Fortunately, my wife was never without candles, so we had a nice candlelit dinner at home. I read the newspaper by flashlight. We easily survived without our television. We even played a board game by candlelight. Go figure! But there was no electric power in the house. Not after that huge lightning bolt found its target in our yard - the transformer that sets on a telephone pole not far from our house. My wife saw it, and apparently it was a pretty impressive hit. But there's no way you're going to have power when the transformer's down. I mean, that's what brings all that power in those wires down to where we can use it to like run our house.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Prayer - and The Power You Need."
It could be that the power's been out where you live - I mean, in your life. You're facing some issues that just can't seem to be resolved, that problem that's defying a solution, some mountains that aren't moving, that just aren't getting answered. Maybe there's an overload, and I mean, you're just overwhelmed right now. It could be that it's in your family, or at church, at work, in your personal life - there just doesn't seem to be anything powerful enough to meet the need, to handle the demands. Maybe the transformer's down.
For those of us who belong to Jesus Christ, there's this thing called prayer that brings all the power of God Himself down to where we can use it to change our everyday lives. Prayer is your spiritual transformer. And it's possible that it's gotten lost in the storm that you've been going through.
There's this vivid picture of both powerlessness and power in our word for today from the Word of God. In Mark 5, beginning in verse 24, the Bible says, "A large crowd followed and pressed around [Jesus]. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse."
This woman had tried all the earth-solutions she could think of, but the need was just much too great for anyone on earth to be able to meet. She'd thrown money at the problem - nothing happened. She went to all the human experts - nothing happened. But as the Bible continues, it says, "when she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched the cloak, because she thought, 'If I just touch His clothes, I'll be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." (Boy, that's great!)
Only one thing brought a solution: desperately lunging for Jesus, believing that His authority and His power were greater than her massive need. That's going to be the only place you're going to find a solution. By getting back to the one weapon that can prevail in your battle, coming in desperate faith to your all-powerful Lord, waging war with prayer. Maybe you've been scurrying around, trying everything to find a solution. But you've overlooked fervent, frequent, faith-filled praying. You don't need a planning meeting; you need a prayer meeting. You don't need a program; you need to pray. You don't need a fund-raising strategy or a new methodology or some human expert. Now, God might use that. But you need to pray like you've never prayed before, believing God for something so big, only God could do it!
You've been so overwhelmed with your situation that maybe you've neglected the only power source that can possibly change things - releasing the power of Almighty God through intense and intensive prayer. The storm isn't the reason you don't have the power you need. It's the transformer of prayer that brings God's power down to where you live, where your need is. So, get your "transformer" back on line. You'll have all the power you need!