Max Lucado Daily: HIS KINGDOM WILL NEVER END - December 21, 2022
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable.
As Mary looked into the face of the baby—her son, her Lord, his majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Somehow she knew she was holding God. So this is he. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said: “His kingdom will never end.” Oh he looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager, and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end.” May you be a part of it.
Proverbs 14
A Way That Leads to Hell
Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home;
Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.
2 An honest life shows respect for God;
a degenerate life is a slap in his face.
3 Frivolous talk provokes a derisive smile;
wise speech evokes nothing but respect.
4 No cattle, no crops;
a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow.
5 A true witness never lies;
a false witness makes a business of it.
6 Cynics look high and low for wisdom—and never find it;
the open-minded find it right on their doorstep!
7 Escape quickly from the company of fools;
they’re a waste of your time, a waste of your words.
8 The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track;
the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch.
9 The stupid ridicule right and wrong,
but a moral life is a favored life.
10 The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends
will be an outsider at their celebrations.
11 Lives of careless wrongdoing are run-down shacks;
holy living builds soaring cathedrals.
12-13 There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough;
look again—it leads straight to hell.
Sure, those people appear to be having a good time,
but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.
Sift and Weigh Every Word
14 A mean person gets paid back in meanness,
a gracious person in grace.
15 The gullible believe anything they’re told;
the prudent sift and weigh every word.
16 The wise watch their steps and avoid evil;
fools are headstrong and reckless.
17 The hotheaded do things they’ll later regret;
the coldhearted get the cold shoulder.
18 Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion;
wise realists plant their feet on the ground.
19 Eventually, evil will pay tribute to good;
the wicked will respect God-loyal people.
20 An unlucky loser is shunned by all,
but everyone loves a winner.
21 It’s criminal to ignore a neighbor in need,
but compassion for the poor—what a blessing!
22 Isn’t it obvious that conspirators lose out,
while the thoughtful win love and trust?
23 Hard work always pays off;
mere talk puts no bread on the table.
24 The wise accumulate wisdom;
fools get stupider by the day.
25 Souls are saved by truthful witness
and betrayed by the spread of lies.
26 The Fear-of-God builds up confidence,
and makes a world safe for your children.
27 The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water
so you won’t go off drinking from poisoned wells.
28 The mark of a good leader is loyal followers;
leadership is nothing without a following.
29 Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding;
a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.
30 A sound mind makes for a robust body,
but runaway emotions corrode the bones.
31 You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless;
when you’re kind to the poor, you honor God.
32 The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold;
the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.
33 Lady Wisdom is at home in an understanding heart—
fools never even get to say hello.
34 God-devotion makes a country strong;
God-avoidance leaves people weak.
35 Diligent work gets a warm commendation;
shiftless work earns an angry rebuke.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Today's Scripture
Revelation 5:6–10
So I looked, and there, surrounded by Throne, Animals, and Elders, was a Lamb, slaughtered but standing tall. Seven horns he had, and seven eyes, the Seven Spirits of God sent into all the earth. He came to the One Seated on the Throne and took the scroll from his right hand. The moment he took the scroll, the Four Animals and Twenty-four Elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb. Each had a harp and each had a bowl, a gold bowl filled with incense, the prayers of God’s holy people. And they sang a new song:
Worthy! Take the scroll, open its seals.
Slain! Paying in blood, you bought men and women,
Bought them back from all over the earth,
Bought them back for God.
Then you made them a Kingdom, Priests for our God,
Priest-kings to rule over the earth.
Insight
While it may surprise us that the book of Revelation explicitly mentions prayer only three times, what it says about the prayers of the saints is encouraging. The word prayers is mentioned in Revelation 5:8, 8:3, and 8:4, along with the word incense each time. “He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people. . . . The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (8:3–4). Aromatic incense in the Old Testament accompanied the sacrifices offered to God. The offering of fragrant incense preceded the offering of the first sacrifice of the day and followed the last offering (see Exodus 30:7–8). The priestly nature of his prayers did not escape David: “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2). By: Arthur Jackson
Treasured Prayer
May these words of mine . . . be near to the Lord our God day and night. 1 Kings 8:59
The Clark’s Nutcracker is an amazing bird. Every year it prepares for winter by hiding tiny caches of four or five whitebark pine seeds, as many as five hundred seeds per hour. Then, months later, it returns to uncover the seeds, even under heavy snow. A Clark’s Nutcracker may remember as many as ten thousand locations where it has hidden seeds—an astounding feat (especially when you consider the difficulty we humans can have remembering the location of our car keys or glasses).
But even this incredible act of memory pales in comparison with God’s ability to remember our prayers. He’s able to keep track of every sincere prayer and remember and respond to them even years later. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John describes “four living creatures” and “twenty-four elders” worshiping the Lord in heaven. Each one was “holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people” (5:8).
Just as incense was precious in the ancient world, our prayers are so precious to God that He keeps them before Him continually, treasured in golden bowls! Our prayers matter to God because we matter to Him, and through His undeserved kindness to us in Jesus He offers us uninhibited access (Hebrews 4:14–16). So pray boldly! And know that not a word will be forgotten or misplaced because of the amazing love of God. By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
How does it encourage you to know God never forgets your prayers? Who do you need to pray for today?
Heavenly Father, please give me the perseverance to pray faithfully and the faith to look for what You alone can do.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?
We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
Bible in a Year: Micah 4-5; Revelation 12
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
DON'T LET THE BUMPS FOOL YOU - #9378
Buttermilk Falls is a beautiful spot! That's what I had been told, and I was always open for a great new spot to go for a Sunday afternoon drive with the kids. So we drove out to the country and set out to discover the beauty of Buttermilk Falls. I did have to stop and ask directions a couple of times; I guess a lot of people didn't know where this great spot was.
Well, finally someone directed me down this very unlikely back road, and I said, "You mean this goes somewhere?" I want you to know it got more and more doubtful the farther we went down that road. Eventually I was driving about two miles an hour because the ruts got bigger and bigger in the road the farther we went. Pretty soon I thought I had landed on the moon. These weren't ruts; these were craters! And somebody in the car said, "Dad, this has got to be the wrong road." Well, we kept on traveling and sure enough after all those bumps, we found a very special spot that's called Buttermilk Falls. And we've been back there several times. It sure felt like we were on the wrong road, but we were right on course.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Let the Bumps Fool You."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2, beginning at verse 1, "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world and everyone went to his own town to register." What a hassle, right? "So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged in the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there the time came for the baby to be born."
Let's go back a little bit and see what's happened in Joseph's commitment to the Lord. Maybe it parallels your own right now. First of all, Joseph had a special encounter with the Lord. The angel of the Lord came to him and told him that He wanted Joseph to make some special sacrifices in order to be specially used. And Joseph said, "I'll do it. I'll take the risk. I'll risk my reputation. No one's going to believe this story about Mary and the virgin birth, but I will risk my reputation and I'll go ahead and marry this girl and I will raise this son. I'll endure the cloud that might be over our name." And he submitted his family dreams to God's plans.
Joseph obeyed the Lord and he lived happily ever after, right? Wrong. He started down that road marked God's Will, and ran into some very big bumps. New taxes all of a sudden, dangerous journey, no room in the inn. Then he's got to escape to Egypt and he can't return to his home town for two years. Was he still on the right road? Yes. Did it feel like it? Probably not.
All right, let's go to your life right now. You've started down that road that's marked God's Will, and maybe there was a time when you submitted your plans to God's plans like Joseph did. And you've been hitting bumps ever since. You say, "We must be on the wrong road." Well, those bumps are the right road. You see, now you've become the enemy's target because you're doing God's will. He didn't bother much with you before, and now you've become a divine project and God is allowing some heavy stuff to come into your life, because it will help build you into Christ-likeness. You're worth it.
I'm glad I kept driving those craters to Buttermilk Falls. The view, in fact, was beautiful! It was definitely worth it. We went back! You're on the right road, too, if you're staying faithful to your commitment. You're going to enjoy that destination once you get there. Just hang on to your Father a little tighter, and don't let those bumps fool you. And for sure, don't let them stop you.