Max Lucado Daily: A Parent's Prayer
Each year God gives millions of parents a gift, a brand new baby. Like no one else, parents can unlock the door to a child's uncommonness. As dads, we accelerate or stifle…release or repress, our children's giftedness. They will spend much of life benefitting or recovering from our influence. But remember, our kids were God's kids first. We tend to forget this fact, regarding our children as our children, as though we have the final say in their health and future. We don't. Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God.
God never dismisses a parent's prayer. Keep giving your child to God, and in the right time and the right way, God will give your child back to you!
From Dad Time
Psalm 114
After Israel left Egypt,
the clan of Jacob left those barbarians behind;
Judah became holy land for him,
Israel the place of holy rule.
Sea took one look and ran the other way;
River Jordan turned around and ran off.
The mountains turned playful and skipped like rams,
the hills frolicked like spring lambs.
What’s wrong with you, Sea, that you ran away?
and you, River Jordan, that you turned and ran off?
And mountains, why did you skip like rams?
and you, hills, frolic like spring lambs?
Tremble, Earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence!
in the presence of Jacob’s God.
He turned the rock into a pool of cool water,
turned flint into fresh spring water.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 04, 2023
Today's Scripture
John 13:36–38; 21:18–19
36 Simon Peter asked, “Master, just where are you going?”
Jesus answered, “You can’t now follow me where I’m going. You will follow later.”
37 “Master,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow now? I’ll lay down my life for you!”
38 “Really? You’ll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”
17-19 Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I’m telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he commanded, “Follow me.”
Insight
Peter’s words to Jesus in John 13:37 show his misunderstanding of who his teacher really was. He sincerely intended to lay his life down for his king—but not if that king went willingly to his death. Peter was prepared to fight Roman oppressors, and he did. Or at least tried to.
In John 18—not long after Jesus had told Peter that he’d deny Him—they stood together in a garden surrounded by Roman soldiers. As if to prove his willingness to die for Jesus, Peter leapt into action, swinging a sword and attacking one of the men.
The disciples—and many believers in Jesus in the years since—didn’t understand His mission. He came not to gain power, dominance, and control but to set all those things aside. As John would write years later in the last book of the Bible, our King isn’t a conquering lion, but a slain lamb (Revelation 5:5–6).
By: Jed Ostoich
Courage to Stand for Jesus
Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38
In ad 155, the early church father Polycarp was threatened with death by fire for his faith in Christ. He replied, “For eighty and six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. And how can I now blaspheme my king who saved me?” Polycarp’s response can be an inspiration for us when we face extreme trial because of our faith in Jesus, our King.
Just hours before Jesus’ death, Peter boldly pledged his allegiance to Christ: “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37). Jesus, who knew Peter better than Peter knew himself, replied, “Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” (v. 38). However, after Jesus’ resurrection, the same one who’d denied Him began to serve Him courageously and would eventually glorify Him through his own death (see 21:16–19).
Are you a Polycarp or a Peter? Most of us, if we’re honest, are more of a Peter with a “courage outage”—a failure to speak or act honorably as a believer in Jesus. Such occasions—whether in a classroom, boardroom, or breakroom—needn’t indelibly define us. When those failures occur, we must prayerfully dust ourselves off and turn to Jesus, the One who died for us and lives for us. He’ll help us to be faithful to Him and courageously live for Him daily in difficult places. By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
When do you need extra doses of courage to stand for Jesus? What do you find helpful in your witness for Him?
Heavenly Father, forgive me when I shrink back in fear and betray You by my words or actions. I need Your strength to live boldly as a believer in Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 04, 2023
The Never-forsaking God
He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." —Hebrews 13:5
What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
“I will never leave you…”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.
“I will never…forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?
We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.
Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 21-22; John 14