Max Lucado Daily: BASK IN THE BLESSING - October 19, 2022
“But you have an anointing from the Holy One [you have been set apart, specially gifted and prepared by the Holy Spirit], and all of you know [the truth because he teaches us, illuminates our minds, and guards us from error]” (1 John 2:20 AMP).
From the perspective of heaven, the gift of the Spirit is the greatest gift imaginable. Jesus told his followers that it was to their advantage for him to go away. His departure would trigger the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Jesus limited himself to a physical body. He could be in only one place at one time. The Holy Spirit, however, can be everywhere all the time. There is no place that he is not!
God has decreed you to be special to him. He has soaked you with himself. Bask in this blessing.
Psalm 31
I run to you, God; I run for dear life.
Don’t let me down!
Take me seriously this time!
Get down on my level and listen,
and please—no procrastination!
Your granite cave a hiding place,
your high cliff nest a place of safety.
3-5 You’re my cave to hide in,
my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps;
I want to hide in you.
I’ve put my life in your hands.
You won’t drop me,
you’ll never let me down.
6-13 I hate all this silly religion,
but you, God, I trust.
I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
you saw my pain,
you disarmed my tormentors,
You didn’t leave me in their clutches
but gave me room to breathe.
Be kind to me, God—
I’m in deep, deep trouble again.
I’ve cried my eyes out;
I feel hollow inside.
My life leaks away, groan by groan;
my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out,
turned my bones to powder.
To my enemies I’m a monster;
I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified;
they cross the street to avoid me.
They want to blot me from memory,
forget me like a corpse in a grave,
discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
The street-talk gossip has me
“criminally insane”!
Behind locked doors they plot
how to ruin me for good.
14-18 Desperate, I throw myself on you:
you are my God!
Hour by hour I place my days in your hand,
safe from the hands out to get me.
Warm me, your servant, with a smile;
save me because you love me.
Don’t embarrass me by not showing up;
I’ve given you plenty of notice.
Embarrass the wicked, stand them up,
leave them stupidly shaking their heads
as they drift down to hell.
Gag those loudmouthed liars
who heckle me, your follower,
with jeers and catcalls.
19-22 What a stack of blessing you have piled up
for those who worship you,
Ready and waiting for all who run to you
to escape an unkind world.
You hide them safely away
from the opposition.
As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces,
you silence the poisonous gossip.
Blessed God!
His love is the wonder of the world.
Trapped by a siege, I panicked.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” I said.
But you heard me say it,
you heard and listened.
23 Love God, all you saints;
God takes care of all who stay close to him,
But he pays back in full
those arrogant enough to go it alone.
24 Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up.
Expect God to get here soon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Today's Scripture
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.
Insight
David had many ruthless enemies who conspired against him and threatened his life. He wrote Psalms 52–64 to describe his fears and sufferings and his trust in God to deal with his enemies and protect him and keep him safe. Psalm 64 is the last of these testimonies. In this psalm, David wrote of the harm and the hurt he faced when his enemies spoke falsehood and evil against him (vv. 1–6). Believing God would come to his rescue, he spoke of God vindicating him and punishing these evildoers (vv. 7–9). David turned to God as his refuge and safe place (v. 10). In the New Testament, Paul advocated a similar response regarding our enemies: “Never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19 nlt).
By: K. T. Sim
Reasons to Rejoice
The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!
Psalm 64:10
When Ms. Glenda walked into the church commons area, her infectious joy filled the room. She had just recovered from a difficult medical procedure. As she approached me for our usual after-church greeting, I thanked God for all the times over the years that she’s wept with me, gently corrected me, and offered encouragement. She’s even asked for forgiveness when she’s thought she’s hurt my feelings. Whatever the situation, she always invites me to share my struggles honestly and reminds me that we have many reasons to praise God.
Mama Glenda, as she lets me call her, wrapped me in a gentle hug. “Hi, Baby,” she said. We enjoyed a short conversation and prayed together. Then she left—humming and singing as always, looking for someone else to bless.
In Psalm 64, David boldly approached God with his complaints and concerns (v. 1). He voiced his frustrations about the wickedness he saw around him (vv. 2–6). He didn't lose confidence in God’s power or the reliability of His promises (vv. 7–9). He knew that one day, “The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!” (v. 10).
As we wait for Jesus’ return, we’ll face tough times. But we’ll always have reasons to rejoice in every day God has made.
By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
What reasons has God given you to rejoice today? How can you encourage someone who may feel discouraged?
Almighty God, thank You for giving me so many reasons to rejoice as I celebrate who You are, what You’ve done, and all You’ve promised to do.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." —John 18:36
The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation….For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.
We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.
It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 56-58; 2 Thessalonians 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
We know well all about the World Trade Center and what happened on that September 11th. But there's those personal stories that put a face on it even to this day. I saw a particularly moving first-person story of one woman who miraculously survived the collapse of the North Tower that awful day. She tried to make her way down the long stairwell from her office on the 64th floor. She got to the 13th floor. That's when the entire tower began to crumble. She fell to the ground as the building continued to literally collapse around her. She dropped 13 floors and ended up with her head pinned between two concrete pillars and her legs trapped in a staircase. She said, "I saw that no one came, and I wasn't hearing any noises around me. So I thought, 'I'm going to die here. I'm going to see myself slowly die here.'"
The young mother; well, she prayed, she slept, she prayed some more. And at one point, she just asked God for a miracle. That's when she heard noises. She yelled out, and someone answered back. She had been trapped under tons of debris for 27 hours. Here's how she described what happened next: "I took a piece of concrete. I kocked the stair above me. And when they heard the knocking, they started to come closer. And then I put my hands through a little crack in the ceiling, and I felt the person hold my hand. The fireman found my hand and he said, 'I've got you.' And I said, 'Thank God.'" She was the last person pulled alive from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Lasting Thing You'll Ever Do."
There's no scene more powerful than a rescue. Whether it's a firefighter pulling someone out of tons of debris or a spiritual rescuer leading someone from an eternity without hope into the life that only Jesus can give. Someone will live instead of dying because someone else took the risks to go in for the rescue.
If you've been rescued by Jesus, then your orders couldn't be more clear. Listen to our word for today. The Word of God says in Jude 23, "Save others by snatching them from the fire." See, someone snatched you from the fire of God's judgment. Now it's your turn to rescue some folks within your reach who have not yet grabbed the hand of Jesus; who may not even know He's extending His hand.
I'm not saying it's easy to tell someone about Jesus. I mean, when has rescuing someone ever been easy? When has there been a rescue that didn't involve the rescuer taking risks, going beyond where it's safe? So many fears keep us from telling the people we know about Jesus; the fear of being rejected - you know the fears; the fear of messing it up. The fear of not knowing all the answers.
But there needs to be a fear greater than any of those. You know what that fear is? That's the fear of this person we know spending all eternity in hell, forever away from God. It's that fear of losing someone forever that finally says, "I can't hold back any longer. If I don't go in, they may die. If I do go in, they have a chance to live."
The man who rescued that young woman from the World Trade Center debris? Well, first he had to touch her. You need to be doing whatever it takes to touch the life of someone that you hope to take to heaven with you. Build that relationship. Take time for them. Go out of your way to get to know them. Find ways to serve them, to show love to them in their language. Be there for them in critical moments. Touch them so you can save them.
And ask the Lord, who is ultimately the One who rescues every person, to open up natural opportunities for you to explain your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I've talked before about the three-open prayer. "Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Lord, open my mouth."
There is someone in your personal world right now whose life, in a very real way, depends on you every bit as much as a trapped young woman's life depended on that firefighter who risked to save her. And there is no greater thrill, there is no greater joy than being able to reach out to a lost person and to be able to say "I've got you" and to help them move from death to life.
