Max Lucado Daily: THE PARACLETE - September 6, 2022
Jesus doesn’t want us to think of the Holy Spirit as an it or a thing. The Spirit is a person. According to one study only four people in ten believe that the Spirit is a divine person. The rest of those surveyed either don’t have an opinion or choose to believe the Spirit is more like a power surge than a divine being who empowers and teaches us.
Can you join me in a pledge? “I hereby resolve never to call the Holy Spirit an it.” The Spirit is a person. And Jesus calls him the Paraclete. Now, translators land on different, yet similar, translations for this Greek word. Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, Intercessor. But the central message is the same: we are not alone.
Jesus doesn’t want us to think of the Holy Spirit as an it or a thing. The Spirit is a person. According to one study only four people in ten believe that the Spirit is a divine person. The rest of those surveyed either don’t have an opinion or choose to believe the Spirit is more like a power surge than a divine being who empowers and teaches us.
Can you join me in a pledge? “I hereby resolve never to call the Holy Spirit an it.” The Spirit is a person. And Jesus calls him the Paraclete. Now, translators land on different, yet similar, translations for this Greek word. Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, Intercessor. But the central message is the same: we are not alone.
Psalm 64
Listen and help, O God.
I’m reduced to a whine
And a whimper, obsessed
with feelings of doomsday.
2-6 Don’t let them find me—
the conspirators out to get me,
Using their tongues as weapons,
flinging poison words,
poison-tipped arrow-words.
They shoot from ambush,
shoot without warning,
not caring who they hit.
They keep fit doing calisthenics
of evil purpose,
They keep lists of the traps
they’ve secretly set.
They say to each other,
“No one can catch us,
no one can detect our perfect crime.”
The Detective detects the mystery
in the dark of the cellar heart.
7-8 The God of the Arrow shoots!
They double up in pain,
Fall flat on their faces
in full view of the grinning crowd.
9-10 Everyone sees it. God’s
work is the talk of the town.
Be glad, good people! Fly to God!
Good-hearted people, make praise your habit.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 06, 2022
Today's Scripture
Proverbs 25:16–28
A Person Without Self-Control
16–17 When you’re given a box of candy, don’t gulp it all down;
eat too much chocolate and you’ll make yourself sick;
And when you find a friend, don’t outwear your welcome;
show up at all hours and he’ll soon get fed up.
18 Anyone who tells lies against the neighbors
in court or on the street is a loose cannon.
19 Trusting a double-crosser when you’re in trouble
is like biting down on an abscessed tooth.
20 Singing light songs to the heavyhearted
is like pouring salt in their wounds.
21–22 If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch;
if he’s thirsty, bring him a drink.
Your generosity will surprise him with goodness,
and God will look after you.
23 A north wind brings stormy weather,
and a gossipy tongue stormy looks.
24 Better to live alone in a tumbledown shack
than share a mansion with a nagging spouse.
25 Like a cool drink of water when you’re worn out and weary
is a letter from a long-lost friend.
26 A good person who gives in to a bad person
is a muddied spring, a polluted well.
27 It’s not smart to stuff yourself with sweets,
nor is glory piled on glory good for you.
28 A person without self-control
is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.
Insight
In the Bible, what’s the difference between a proverb and a promise? A promise is a statement that’s true all the time. In contrast, the proverbs found in the book of Proverbs are sayings that are generally true and are derived from observing life. Proverbs contain wisdom obtained from living among broken and sinful people, whereas a promise comes from an eternal and unchanging God. We can depend on God to fulfill His promises, while proverbs can be true depending on how people respond to a situation.
By: J.R. Hudberg
A Hole in the Wall
Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.
Proverbs 25:28
Something was eating my flowers. The day before, blooms proudly lifted their heads. Now they were headless stems. I prowled the perimeter of my yard and discovered a rabbit-sized hole in my wooden fence. Bunnies are cute, but the pesky animals can mow down a garden of flowers in minutes.
I wonder, might there be “intruders” shearing off the blooms of God’s character in my life? Proverbs 25:28 says, “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” In ancient days, the wall of the city protected it against invasion from enemies. Even a small opening in a wall meant that the entire city lay open to attack.
So many of the proverbs are about self-control. “If you find honey, eat just enough,” wrote the wise man (25:16). Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit that guards us, protecting us from losing ground to impatience, bitterness, greed, and other pests that can intrude and destroy God’s harvest in our lives (see Galatians 5:22–23). Self-control is a healthy-mindedness that watches for the holes in the walls of our lives and keeps them patched.
When I inspect the perimeter of my life, I can at times see vulnerable holes. A spot where I give in to temptation over and over. An area of impatience. Oh, how I need the healthy-minded self-control of God in my life to guard me from such intruders!
By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What holes do you see in the wall of your heart? How might God’s fruit of self-control help guard your life from such an intruder?
Dear God, please grow the fruit of self-control in my life that I might be protected from intruders.
For further study, read Words Matter.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 06, 2022
The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life
He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. —John 7:38
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe…” (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.
A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.
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: Psalms 148-150; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 06, 2022
It must have felt like a scene from the book and the movie called "The Perfect Storm." Their vessel was a 61-year-old wooden fishing boat, making the Inside Passage from Sitka, Alaska to Port Angeles, Washington. It was supposed to be a one-week trip. It was late in the season - a time of year when wild storms can develop. They sink ships; they take lives. Sure enough, their boat hit hurricane-force winds that threatened to take them to the bottom. At one point when green water washed over the pilothouse and the boat plunged for what seemed to be the bottom, one passenger heard the captain mutter beneath his breath. But as this 30-year veteran of Alaska's ferocious storms worked that wheel, he turned to his passenger, smiled and said two words, "No problem." No matter how vicious the storm became, no matter how perilous the situation seemed, the captain remained calm, and he helped steady his very frightened passengers...and they made it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Navigating Your Storm."
A calm captain who has been through these fearful storms before, who knows everything will be okay at the end of the day and has brought so many others safely through. Now, that's what makes the difference when it feels like the storm is going to sink you. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you have a Captain like that! That's why the writer of "Amazing Grace" could write: "Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
Right now you might be going through a storm that has shaken everything you have. Sometimes it feels like you're headed for the bottom. You're afraid. You're discouraged. You're panicked and desperate. You need to get close to the Captain of your life right now and remember who is piloting your boat. Unless, of course, you've grabbed the wheel from the Captain or if you've jumped overboard in panic.
The Old Testament hero, Daniel, knew well what it was like to be hit by life's hurricanes. As a boy, he had been forcibly moved by invaders from his country to a strange country and to the culture of Babylon. He faced the demands of a pagan culture, even the death sentence of a lion's den, from which, of course, God delivered him. In Daniel 7, where we find our word for today from the Word of God, he has just been given by God this frightening prophetic vision of the turbulent world that was to come with images of a ravenous lion, a vicious bear, an inescapable leopard, and a rapacious beast that crushes and devours everything it touches.
Then, the Bible says in verse 9, "Thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat...thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him." Then the Son of Man approaches that throne and it says, "He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him... His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Wow! So let the lion roar, let the bear threaten, let the leopard pursue. There is a throne with authority over every beast, every storm, every disease, every enemy, every tragedy, and your awesome Lord sits on that throne.
There is not one thumb-breadth of this universe that is not under His control! And whatever has come into your life has had to pass through His hand first. He's either sent it or allowed it. And He loves you and He knows what you need. He knows what you can handle, so long as He is at the wheel.
A friend of mine tells of years of struggle with violent storms that hit his family. He said it was as if God kept falling off His throne. Well, He never has and He never will. And He is in command at this very moment. Relax in His sovereign control. He's brought every one of His children in every generation through every storm, and He'll bring you through. The storm won't decide what happens to you - your Captain will!