Max Lucado Daily: Voices in our Head
Voices of 'failure' in our world. Voices of 'not good enough' in our head. Who is this morality patrolman who issues a citation at every stumble? Does he ever shut up? No. Because Satan never shuts up!
Revelation 12:9-10 says, "For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth, the one who accused our brothers and sisters before God day and night."
Satan is relentless, tireless. The Accuser makes a career out of accusing. But he will not have the last word. Jesus has acted on our behalf. He stooped…low enough to be spat upon, nailed, and speared. Low…low enough to be buried. And then he stood…he stood up!
Romans 8:34 promises that Christ is in the presence of God at this very moment standing up for us. We have a clean record. It's by his grace!
From GRACE
2 Kings 3
Joram son of Ahab began his rule over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He was king for twelve years. In God’s sight he was a bad king. But he wasn’t as bad as his father and mother—to his credit he destroyed the obscene Baal stone that his father had made. But he hung on to the sinful practices of Jeroboam son of Nebat, the ones that had corrupted Israel for so long. He wasn’t about to give them up.
4-7 King Mesha of Moab raised sheep. He was forced to give the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and another 100,000 rams. When Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Joram set out from Samaria and prepared Israel for war. His first move was to send a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Would you join me and fight him?”
7-8 “I’m with you all the way,” said Jehoshaphat. “My troops are your troops, my horses are your horses. Which route shall we take?”
“Through the badlands of Edom.”
9 The king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom started out on what proved to be a looping detour. After seven days they had run out of water for both army and animals.
10 The king of Israel said, “Bad news! God has gotten us three kings out here to dump us into the hand of Moab.”
11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of God anywhere around through whom we can consult God?”
One of the servants of the king of Israel said, “Elisha son of Shaphat is around somewhere—the one who was Elijah’s right-hand man.”
12 Jehoshaphat said, “Good! A man we can trust!” So the three of them—the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom—went to meet him.
13 Elisha addressed the king of Israel, “What do you and I have in common? Go consult the puppet-prophets of your father and mother.”
“Never!” said the king of Israel. “It’s God who has gotten us into this fix, dumping all three of us kings into the hand of Moab.”
14-15 Elisha said, “As God-of-the-Angel-Armies lives, and before whom I stand ready to serve, if it weren’t for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I wouldn’t give you the time of day. But considering—bring me a minstrel.” (When a minstrel played, the power of God came on Elisha.)
16-19 He then said, “God’s word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. You will ravage the country: Knock out its fortifications, level the key villages, clear-cut the orchards, clog the springs, and litter the cultivated fields with stones.”
20 In the morning—it was at the hour of morning sacrifice—the water had arrived, water pouring in from the west, from Edom, a flash flood filling the valley with water.
21-22 By this time everyone in Moab had heard that the kings had come up to make war against them. Everyone who was able to handle a sword was called into service and took a stand at the border. They were up and ready early in the morning when the sun rose over the water. From where the Moabites stood, the water reflecting the sun looked red, like blood.
23 “Blood! Look at the blood!” they said. “The kings must have fought each other—a bloody massacre! Go for the loot, Moab!”
24-25 When Moab entered the camp of Israel, the Israelites were up on their feet killing Moabites right and left, the Moabites running for their lives, Israelites relentless in pursuit—a slaughter. They leveled the towns, littered the cultivated fields with rocks, clogged the springs, and clear-cut the orchards. Only the capital, Kir Hareseth, was left intact, and that not for long; it too was surrounded and attacked with thrown and flung rocks.
26-27 When the king of Moab realized that he was fighting a losing battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen to hack a corridor past the king of Edom, but they didn’t make it. Then he took his son, his firstborn who would succeed him as king, and sacrificed him on the city wall. That set off furious anger against Israel. Israel pulled back and returned home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Today's Scripture
Romans 12:17–21
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
Insight
It may seem odd that Paul tells his readers to “do what is right in the eyes of everyone” (Romans 12:17), especially since “everyone” includes unbelievers (vv. 14, 20). Paul is drawing from the teachings of Jesus, challenging us to treat all people well regardless of how they treat us (Matthew 5:39, 44).
But that involves being “careful,” as Paul puts it (Romans 12:17)—considering our actions carefully so as not to jeopardize the integrity and beauty of the gospel. Throughout his letters, Paul asks believers in Jesus to live well before the unbelieving world so that, in doing so, the changed lives of His followers can bear witness to His worthiness (2 Corinthians 8:21; 1 Timothy 3:7).
It may feel unnatural to repay evil with kindness, but in doing so we follow in the footsteps of Jesus Himself, who gave Himself in our place while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:8). By: Jed Ostoich
Friends and Enemies
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18
Scholar Kenneth E. Bailey told of the leader of an African nation who’d learned to maintain an unusual posture in the international community. He’d established a good relationship with both Israel and the nations surrounding it. When someone asked him how his nation maintained this fragile balance, he responded, “We choose our friends. We do not encourage our friends to choose our enemies [for us].”
That is wise—and genuinely practical. What that African country modeled on an international level is what Paul encouraged his readers to do on a personal level. In the midst of a lengthy description of the characteristics of a life changed by Christ, he wrote, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). He goes on to reinforce the importance of our dealings with others by reminding us that even the way we treat our enemies (vv. 20–21) reflects our trust in and dependence upon God and His ultimate care.
To live in peace with everyone may not always be possible (after all, Paul does say “if”). But our responsibility as believers in Jesus is to allow His wisdom to guide our living (James 3:17–18) so that we engage those around us as peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). What better way could there be to honor the Prince of Peace? By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
Where do you struggle to live at peace? How could being an intentional peacemaker interject grace into that conflict?
Loving Father, I was Your enemy and You called me friend. Enable me to be a peacemaker so I can show that same grace to others.
For further study, read Knowing God Through Romans.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Total Surrender
Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." —Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ‘This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse— “Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ‘cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 17-19; Mark 13:1-20