Max Lucado Daily: AN INSCRUTABLE AND BEAUTIFUL PROMISE - September 7, 2022
The Holy Spirit has a specific, overarching mission. His task is to teach us about Jesus. The apostle Paul echoed this point. “No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—What God has arranged for those who love him. But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 MSG).
The world religions look to the teachings of their now-dead founders: Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius. Christians, however, hold to this inscrutable and beautiful promise: our teacher not only spoke, but he speaks. His wisdom is not confined to an ancient document but is a part of the day-to-day curriculum of our mentor, the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has a specific, overarching mission. His task is to teach us about Jesus. The apostle Paul echoed this point. “No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—What God has arranged for those who love him. But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 MSG).
The world religions look to the teachings of their now-dead founders: Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius. Christians, however, hold to this inscrutable and beautiful promise: our teacher not only spoke, but he speaks. His wisdom is not confined to an ancient document but is a part of the day-to-day curriculum of our mentor, the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 70
God! Please hurry to my rescue!
God, come quickly to my side!
Those who are out to get me—
let them fall all over themselves.
Those who relish my downfall—
send them down a blind alley.
Give them a taste of their own medicine,
those gossips off clucking their tongues.
4 Let those on the hunt for you
sing and celebrate.
Let all who love your saving way
say over and over, “God is mighty!”
5 But I’ve lost it. I’m wasted.
God—quickly, quickly!
Quick to my side, quick to my rescue!
God, don’t lose a minute.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 07, 2022
Today's Scripture
Isaiah 25:1–9
God’s Hand Rests on This Mountain
1–5 25 God, you are my God.
I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.
Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,
the strong city to a pile of stones.
The enemy Big City is a non-city,
never to be a city again.
Superpowers will see it and honor you,
brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.
They’ll see that you take care of the poor,
that you take care of poor people in trouble,
Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
provide a cool place when it’s hot.
Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard
and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.
But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,
shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.
6–8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
9–10 Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
Insight
The “strong peoples” and “ruthless nations” in Isaiah 25:3 likely refer to the Assyrians led by Sennacherib—the ever-present villain during the time of Isaiah’s ministry (see chs. 36–37). For people of Jerusalem cowering behind the fortifications set up by the mighty King David long ago, Isaiah’s testimony in today’s passage rang with hope. The violence of Assyria might crash against Jerusalem like a “storm driving against a wall” (25:4), but God Himself would be their shelter. He would silence their oppressors. And, like their ancestor David in Psalm 23, they’d enjoy a feast in the presence of their enemies.
Learn more about the book of Isaiah.
By: Jed Ostoich
Finding Refuge
You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm.
Isaiah 25:4
My wife and I once stayed in a lovely old seaside hotel with large sash windows and thick stone walls. One afternoon, a storm ripped through the region, churning up the sea and pounding our windows like angry fists on a door. Yet we were at peace. Those walls were so strong, and the hotel’s foundations so solid! While storms raged outside, our room was a refuge.
Refuge is an important theme in Scripture, starting with God Himself. “You have been a refuge for the poor,” Isaiah says of God, “a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm” (Isaiah 25:4). In addition, refuge is something God’s people were and are to provide, whether through Israel’s ancient cities of refuge (Numbers 35:6) or by offering hospitality to “foreigners” in need (Deuteronomy 10:19). These same principles can guide us today when humanitarian crises hit our world. In such times, we pray that the God of refuge would use us, His people, to help the vulnerable find safety.
The storm that hit our hotel was gone the following morning, leaving us with a calm sea and a warm sun that made the seagulls glow. It’s an image I hold on to as I think of those facing natural disasters or fleeing “ruthless” regimes (Isaiah 25:4): that the God of refuge would empower us to help them find safety now and a brighter tomorrow.
By: Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
When have you taken “refuge” in God or found it through His people? How can you play a part in helping those facing a crisis today?
God of refuge, please empower me, Your child, to help the needy find refuge and hope.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 07, 2022
Fountains of Blessings
The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. —John 4:14
The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to “be filled” (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame— something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you “will flow rivers of living water”— irrepressible life (John 7:38).
We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as “rivers of living water” in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us. But whenever the blessings are not being poured out in the same measure they are received, there is a defect in our relationship with Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything hindering your faith in Him? If not, then Jesus says that out of you “will flow rivers of living water.” It is not a blessing that you pass on, or an experience that you share with others, but a river that continually flows through you. Stay at the Source, closely guarding your faith in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow into the lives of others with no dryness or deadness whatsoever.
Is it excessive to say that rivers will flow out of one individual believer? Do you look at yourself and say, “But I don’t see the rivers”? Through the history of God’s work you will usually find that He has started with the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but those who have been steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 1-2; 1 Corinthians 16
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 07, 2022
YOUR MISSION'S OUT THERE! - #9303
Gayle was part of our ministry team. Her parents were away and they asked her to check on their house while they were gone. It was a pretty cold night, and Gayle thought the heat should be on in the house. So she called her Dad, and Dad said, "Well, you should know what to do. You've done it before. It's probably just the zone valve is stuck."
So Gayle went to work on the zone valve. She really went to work on it! I mean, we're talking desperate measures here like beating the valve to death with a screwdriver and actually breaking blood vessels in her hand in the process. It refused to stay open in spite of (shall we say) Gayle's vigorous encouragement. Well, when Dad got home a few days later, he went to work on it, and it was very easily fixed. Of course he worked on the other valve, the right valve.
She'd been working on the valve, it turns out, that was already working. He told Gayle she'd made a simple mistake. She put a lot of effort into fixing what was already working and she made no effort on what really needed the attention.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft (and I'm sympathetic) and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Mission's Out There!"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4:35. Here's the scene. Jesus has taken His disciples on a spiritual mission into Samaritan territory, and now He's waiting outside the village. The disciples are in the village buying groceries. The Lord met a Samaritan woman at that well and He introduced her to eternal life while He's waiting for the guys to come back.
She runs back, tells the town about her excitement about the Savior, and the Samaritans are now flocking to the well to meet Jesus. What a spiritual opportunity - this sea of unreached people coming to them! Well, notice what the disciples are focused on - lunch. In verses 31-33 that's all they could talk about.
Chapter 4, verse 35 - Jesus says, "Open your eyes and look at the fields. They are white for harvest." Well, what does harvest mean? Ready! And Jesus is saying, "Wake up, guys! We're surrounded by people who are ready to come to Me." And they were about to miss it. They're focused on their own personal concerns. They were ignoring the lost and dying people that were right within their reach.
Two thousand years have come and gone and not much has changed. Today we're too often like Gayle trying to get that valve working. We spend so much of our Christian effort on the people who you might say are already working spiritually. They already know Christ; they're headed for heaven. Everything from our meetings, to our radio programs, to our websites, to our books, our social life largely are focused on blessing the saved, fellowshipping with those who've already been rescued. And that's not bad unless we spend all our energy and time and money there and put almost no effort into the people who are eternally broken and eternally lost without a Savior.
We're just spending everything with and all on the people who've had a Savior for a long time and missing the people who've never had one day with the Savior. It's as if we're so busy worrying about our lunch, our needs, what's going to fill us up that we miss those who are starving.
But Jesus is saying to you, "Open your eyes to those people around you that you work with, that you live near, that go to school with you, that you shop with, you recreate with. That's what the people in hell are going to look like. Then He says, "Look at the fields, not just at the house." Yeah, the house is where you can feel comfy and cozy, but "look at the fields. They're ripe for harvest."
Harvest is urgent business. If the harvest workers don't get busy and act quickly, the harvest dies. So will it be said, "There were people all around us who were ready for Jesus and we weren't ready to go get them, and they weren't ready for eternity." That's going to be true unless we move beyond just fixing those who are already fixed and start working on the ones who are broken.