Max Lucado Daily: EXHIBIT THE GLORY OF GOD - November 18, 2022
God endows us with gifts so we can make him known. God endues the Olympian with speed, the salesman with savvy, the surgeon with skill. Why? The big answer is to make a big to-do out of God. Brandish him. Herald him. Magnify your maker!
Scripture says, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11).
So exhibit God with your uniqueness. When you magnify your Maker with your strengths, when your contribution enriches God’s reputation, your days grow suddenly sweet!
Psalm 138
Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!”
Angels listen as I sing my thanks.
I kneel in worship facing your holy temple
and say it again: “Thank you!”
Thank you for your love,
thank you for your faithfulness;
Most holy is your name,
most holy is your Word.
The moment I called out, you stepped in;
you made my life large with strength.
4-6 When they hear what you have to say, God,
all earth’s kings will say “Thank you.”
They’ll sing of what you’ve done:
“How great the glory of God!”
And here’s why: God, high above, sees far below;
no matter the distance, he knows everything about us.
7-8 When I walk into the thick of trouble,
keep me alive in the angry turmoil.
With one hand
strike my foes,
With your other hand
save me.
Finish what you started in me, God.
Your love is eternal—don’t quit on me now.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 18, 2022
Today's Scripture & Insight: Acts 12:4–11
Peter Under Heavy Guard
That’s when King Herod got it into his head to go after some of the church members. He murdered James, John’s brother. When he saw how much it raised his popularity ratings with the Jews, he arrested Peter—all this during Passover Week, mind you—and had him thrown in jail, putting four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. He was planning a public lynching after Passover.
5 All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously.
6 Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby. And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances!
7-9 Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: “Hurry!” The handcuffs fell off his wrists. The angel said, “Get dressed. Put on your shoes.” Peter did it. Then, “Grab your coat and let’s get out of here.” Peter followed him, but didn’t believe it was really an angel—he thought he was dreaming.
10-11 Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze. At the first intersection the angel left him, going his own way. That’s when Peter realized it was no dream. “I can’t believe it—this really happened! The Master sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s vicious little production and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to.”
Insight
Imprisoned by King Herod (Acts 12:1–4)—Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1)—Peter’s situation looked grim. Herod had just executed James the son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2). He was planning to “bring [Peter] out for public trial after the Passover” (v. 4), perhaps planning to publicly execute him then. Peter was held securely, bound by two chains, each connected to a soldier, while other soldiers stood guard (v. 6). His sudden deliverance by God’s angel was so unexpected that he appears initially to be in a daze, not sure it was really happening (vv. 9, 11). By: Monica La Rose
Thoughts and Prayers
Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Acts 12:5
“You’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.” If you hear those words, you might wonder if the person really means it. But you never had to wonder when Edna Davis said them. Everyone in the small, one stoplight town knew of “Ms. Edna’s” yellow legal pad—page after page, lined with name after name. Early each morning the aging woman prayed out loud to God. Not everyone on her list received the answer to prayer they wanted, but several testified at her funeral that something God-sized had happened in their lives, and they credited it to the earnest prayers of Ms. Edna.
God demonstrated the power of prayer in Peter’s prison experience. After the apostle was seized by Herod’s men, thrown into prison, and then “guarded by four squads of four soldiers each” (Acts 12:4), his prospects looked bleak. But “the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (v. 5). They had Peter in their thoughts and prayers. What God did is simply miraculous! An angel appeared to Peter in prison, released him from his chains, and led him to safety beyond the prison gates (vv. 7–10).
It’s possible some may use “thoughts and prayers” without really meaning it. But our Father knows our thoughts, listens to our prayers, and acts on our behalf according to His perfect will. To be prayed for and to pray for others is no small thing when we serve the great and powerful God.
By: John Blase
eflect & Pray
When was the last time you knew someone remembered you and prayed earnestly for you? Who is someone you can pray that way for today?
Jesus, thank You that I can bring every care to You and that You listen.
Learn more about the basics of prayer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 18, 2022
Winning into Freedom
If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. —John 8:36
If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual part of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin— we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.
God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, “I can’t do that.” God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our “arguments…and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)— we have to do it. Don’t say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.
“If the Son makes you free….” Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. “…you shall be free indeed”— free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.
The Place of Help
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 8-10; Hebrews 13
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 18, 2022
NERVOUS ABOUT ETERNITY - #9355
Class reunions are interesting. It gives you a chance to see people you haven't seen for years and they haven't seen you. And you go hoping you'll recognize them. More than that, you go hoping they'll recognize you after all these years. And usually they'll say something like, "Hey, I remember you with hair. Didn't you used to have teeth?" It's interesting these class reunions. The conversations can be pretty superficial because honestly you don't have much in common any more. Right?
But once in a while you stop impressing each other enough to get into something important. That actually happened to a doctor friend of mine at his 45th high school reunion. My doctor friend, a committed follower of Jesus, and he was catching up with a highly successful orthodontist, who is an atheist by his own description. But this atheist orthodontist said to my doctor friend, "So, would you talk to me about what you believe?" My friend was pretty surprised to hear that from this particular fellow. This man gave his reason for asking. He just said, "Frankly, I'm nervous about eternity."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Nervous About Eternity."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 9:27. It actually gives us a glimpse of the beginning of eternity for all of us. "Man is destined to die once," it says "and after that to face judgment." Well this man said, "That's what I was afraid of." See, the Bible confirms we have an undeniable, uncancelable, unpostponable appointment with God for judgment.
This orthodontist was refreshingly honest. He said, "I'm nervous about eternity." Most of us know that feeling. Sometimes that nervous about eternity feeling hits when a friend dies or a coworker or a family member and for a little while we think about eternity. I've seen teenagers ask me at a funeral, "What if that was me?" Or sometimes we'll think about eternity when we've had a close call or in those quiet moments when thoughts that we usually try to bury come to center stage.
Actually, it's a pretty good idea to be nervous about eternity, because it's going to last a lot longer than these 70 years, or whatever, that we think about all the time. People everywhere seem to just know in their soul that there's something between them and God; something's wrong. We know there's this moral reckoning, this moral bill to be paid for the sin of our life. The judgment is coming and the Bible says when we feel that way we're right. Wouldn't it be great to know there was nothing to fear; that your eternity is secure?
This may be the best news you've ever heard. Romans 5:8 - "God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we were still sinners..." Okay the wall between God and us right there because we've run our life. It goes on to say, "Christ died for us." The Bible says, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Wow! See, sin is what will keep you out of heaven, and Jesus paid for that sin when He died on the cross. If you put your trust in Him and His death for you, you can trade your death penalty for eternal life.
John 5:24 says it so beautifully, "When you come to Christ you have crossed over from death to life." Wow! The old Plains Indians used to set prairie fires to burn their fields between their village and the approaching fire. They said, "The fire cannot go where the fire has already been." Why don't you go to the place where the fire of God's judgment for your sin fell on God's Son - the cross. You can claim His forgiveness there.
That's what my friend asked, "If you died tonight, and God asked you 'why should I let you into My heaven?', what would you tell Him?" Well, that's a good question. You could say, "Lord..." Here's the only right answer: "I trusted in the work that Your only Son did on the cross for me."
Have you ever done that? Has there ever been a day when you made personal what Jesus died on the cross for to forgive your sin? You say, "Well, I'm not sure." Make sure. The stakes are so high to not be sure you're ready for eternity. If you'll go to our website, listen, right there I've briefly explained to you how to begin this relationship. You could do it today. It's ANewStory.com. That's the site.
Once you've been to the cross, and you've taken what Jesus did there for you, you don't ever have to be nervous about eternity again.
