Max Lucado Daily: THE FIRE OF THE SPIRIT - October 17, 2022
“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:24-25 NRSV).
When the fire of the Spirit seems to flicker, what can we do? One of the most practical answers has to do with the importance of the church. The church is far from perfect. Even so, the church is the campfire that God uses to keep us kindled. Fire is a protective element. The eastern shepherd would surround his fold at night with a wall of fire, keeping the wild beasts out and the sheep safe within. The fire of the Spirit deflects a thousand temptations. He loves you too much to leave you unguarded, so welcome his help. He will purify, refine, energize, and protect. No one can do more than He.
Psalm 29
Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
in awe before God’s visible power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your best to honor him!
3 God thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness—
God, across the flood waters.
4 God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s thunder symphonic.
5 God’s thunder smashes cedars,
God topples the northern cedars.
6 The mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.
7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.
9 God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”
10 Above the floodwaters is God’s throne
from which his power flows,
from which he rules the world.
11 God makes his people strong.
God gives his people peace.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 17, 2022
Today's Scripture
Genesis 1:1–4
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Insight
Genesis means “origin.” Jewish scholars used this Greek title in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. The Hebrew title Bereshith is taken from the first word in the Hebrew text: “In the beginning (bereshith)” (Genesis 1:1). Bereshith simply means “beginnings” or “what is first.” Genesis, the book of many “firsts,” tells of the primeval history of the world in general (chs. 1–11) and the patriarchal history of the people of Israel in particular (chs. 12–50). While not in any agreement concerning the specific dates for the primeval history, scholars suggest that Abraham (ch. 12) moved to Canaan some two thousand years before Christ. Genesis is God’s account of the beginnings of the universe, the human race, and sin. It provides the background for His plan to save humanity through one family (3:15), the descendants of Abraham (12:1–2).
By: K. T. Sim
God Spoke
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:3
In 1876, inventor Alexander Graham Bell spoke the very first words on a telephone. He called his assistant, Thomas Watson, saying, “Watson, come here. I want to see you.” Crackly and indistinct, but intelligible, Watson heard what Bell had said. The first words spoken by Bell over a phone line proved that a new day for human communication had dawned.
Establishing the dawn of the first day into the “formless and empty” earth (Genesis 1:2), God spoke His first words recorded in Scripture: “Let there be light” (v. 3). These words were filled with creative power. He spoke, and what He declared came into existence (Psalm 33:6, 9). God said, “let there be light” and so it was. His words produced immediate victory as darkness and chaos gave way to the brilliance of light and order. Light was God’s answer to the dominance of darkness. And when He had created the light, He saw that it “was good” (Genesis 1:4).
God’s first words continue to be powerful in the lives of believers in Jesus. With the dawning of each new day, it’s as if God is restating His spoken words in our lives. When darkness—literally and metaphorically—gives way to the brilliance of His light, may we praise Him and acknowledge that He’s called out to us and truly sees us.
By: Marvin Williams
Reflect & Pray
When dawn breaks through the darkness, how will you celebrate God’s love and faithfulness? How has God’s light opened your eyes to see Him?
Creator of Light, I praise You for dispelling the darkness of this world—opening my eyes to You and Your presence in my life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 17, 2022
The Key of the Greater Work
…I say to you, he who believes in Me,…greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. —John 14:12
Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a “wise” man does not (see Matthew 11:25).
Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…” (John 14:13). Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).
There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? Disciples Indeed, 389 L
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 50-52; 1 Thessalonians 5
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 17, 2022
THE SECRET OF FINISHING YOUR RACE - #9331
If you're into college sports, it's always a big day. If you're into professional sports, it's always a big day. Some call it Alumni Day or Old Timers' Day. Whatever you call it, it's the time a lot of those who played on that very same field come back to cheer on the men and women who are today's players. If you're a player and the game is tough, glance up there in the stands. You'll see some people up there who know how you feel, who've played the game you're playing, who've gone against that same opponent, and who are up there right now, screaming their lungs out for you. They just really want you to win!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Secret of Finishing Your Race."
That picture of the alumni in the stands, rooting for the ones who are wearing the uniform today? That's the inspiring picture that God gives us for those times when our game is tough. It's in Hebrews 12:1-2, our word for today from the Word of God, and maybe it's God's personal encouragement note for you today.
Here we go. "Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." So, the image here is one of an Olympic runner, running his race, encircled by thousands of cheering spectators in the stadium. The cheering crowd here is people who've gone before us who are watching us run the same race they have run successfully before us. And you know they've got to be cheering for you: "Don't give up now, man. Don't drop out. No, don't go off on that detour. Don't let that thing trip you up, man. Don't drop your legacy, our legacy. Don't let it die with you!"
So who's in this "great cloud of witnesses?" Well, they're God's honored alumni, who have run for Him in previous generations. The previous chapter, Hebrews 11, identifies some of the all-stars who are watching you and me from the stands: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. And maybe they've been joined by greats like John Wesley, and John Calvin, and D. L. Moody, and those five missionary martyrs like Jim Elliot. Or maybe it's grandparents, great-grandparents, a mom or dad, who ran their race for Jesus all the way to the finish line, no matter how hard it got.
The previous chapter tells about some heroes of earlier races whose names we don't know but who paid a very high price for the very things you're running for. They're in the stands. They're cheering for you, too - those who it says "faced flogging" and others, the Bible says, who "were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword...the world was not worthy of them" (Hebrews 11:36-38). We're running our race under the gaze of people who paid with their lives to finish their race for Jesus. So what's that that's keeping you from running? What's tripping you up? What's your reason again for slowing down or giving up? This is a faith that people have sacrificed for, shed their blood for!
The secret of running strong and running all the way to the finish line is still the same as it was when the lions came down the chute at the Coliseum 2,000 years ago - "fixing your eyes on Jesus." Because He didn't quit when it meant spikes in His hands and feet. He didn't quit when it was thorns in His head, a spear in His side, and all hell poured into His soul.
So you look up in those stands and you listen to those who finished like heroes. You look up there at the finish line at the One who gave it all for you - and you remember that all of them are counting on you to finish what they started. To carry what they refused to drop. And there's Jesus waiting for you at the finish line, waiting to welcome His weary but winning runner home. You can't stop now!