Max Lucado Daily: PRAY WITHOUT CEASING - July 7, 2023
Sound burdensome? Are you wondering, My business needs attention, my children need dinner, my bills need paying. How can I stay in a place of prayer? Well do this: change your definition of prayer. Think of prayer less as an activity for God and more as an awareness of God. Seek to live in uninterrupted awareness.
Acknowledge his presence everywhere you go. In the grocery as you shop. Your presence, my King, I welcome. As you wash the dishes, worship your Maker. God loves the sound of your voice. Always. He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers.
For that reason, “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6 NKJV).
Calm Moments for Anxious Days
Read more Calm Moments for Anxious Days
Psalm 136
Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.
23-26 God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, July 07, 2023
Today's Scripture
Exodus 16:4-7, 13–17
4-5 God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration. I’m going to test them to see if they’ll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration.”
6-7 Moses and Aaron told the People of Israel, “This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, he’s listened to your complaints against him. You haven’t been complaining against us, you know, but against God.”
13-15 That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). They had no idea what it was.
15-16 So Moses told them, “It’s the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God’s instructions: ‘Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent.’”
17-18 The People of Israel went to work and started gathering, some more, some less, but when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered more had no extra and those who gathered less weren’t short—each person had gathered as much as was needed.
Insight
Having crossed the Red Sea, which was the final act of their liberation from Egypt, the Israelites transitioned on to Sinai. The elements of the transition include a season of worship at the Red Sea (15:1–21), cleansing the bitter waters at Marah (vv. 22–27), God’s provision of manna and quail (ch. 16) and water from the rock (17:1–7), a battle against the Amalekites (vv. 8–16), a leadership summit with Jethro (ch. 18), and their arrival at Sinai (ch. 19). At Sinai, God reintroduced Himself to His chosen people, and Israel further transitioned from being a massive extended family to becoming a nation with laws. By: Bill Crowder
Chocolate Snowflakes
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” Exodus 16:15
Residents of Olten, Switzerland, were surprised by a shower of chocolate shavings covering the entire town. The ventilation system at a nearby chocolate factory had malfunctioned, sending cocoa into the air and dusting the area with confectionary goodness. The chocolate coating sounds like a dream come true for chocoholics!
While chocolate doesn’t adequately provide for one’s nutritional needs, God supplied the Israelites with heavenly showers that did. As they traveled through the desert, they began to grumble about the variety of food they’d left behind in Egypt. In response, God said He would “rain down bread from heaven” to sustain them (Exodus 16:4). When the morning dew dried up each day, a thin flake of food remained. Approximately two million Israelites were instructed to gather as much as they needed that day. For forty years of their desert wanderings, they were nourished by God’s supernatural provision in manna.
We know little about manna except that it was “white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey” (v. 31). Though manna may not sound as appealing as a steady diet of chocolate, the sweetness of God’s provision for His people is clear. Manna points us to Jesus who described Himself as the “bread of life” (John 6:48) that sustains us daily and assures us of life eternal (v. 51). By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
How has God provided for you? How does Jesus being the “bread of life” encourage you to trust Him?
Father God, thank You for providing for my deepest need in Jesus and sustaining me every day.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 07, 2023
All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult
Enter by the narrow gate….Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory?
God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.
Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
Bible in a Year: Job 34-35; Acts 15:1-21
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 07, 2023
How to Get God's Best - #9520
Okay, babies don't always know what's good for them. That may be why some prehistoric parents invented the airplane idea. A baby should eat the food that he has in his bowl, but he doesn't want to. So, you put the food on the spoon, and you make like an airplane. "See the airplane (airplane sound)! Now your mouth is the hangar! Open the hangar so the airplane can go in!" I always hated it when the mouth opened, the plane approached, and suddenly the hangar door closed, leaving the airplane's cargo all over the baby's face. "Hey baby! I have what you need. But you won't open your mouth."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Get God's Best."
Our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Psalm 81:10. Here's what God says: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
God seems to be saying here to His people in olden times in the Old Testament, and to us today, "You are under-living. There's so much more I want to give you. There's much more I want to do for you." I think there's a voice inside a lot of us that might be saying, "There's got to be something more in this relationship with Christ, in this Christianity stuff." Well, this isn't necessarily to make you materially prosperous, but He does have a lot more power, a lot more peace, a lot more love to put into your life, a lot more significance to open up your life to really making a difference. The problem is you can't get your mouth open.
Made me think about a baby being fed. God wants you to have His best for your life. That's opening your mouth. He wants you to expect the supernatural, to act as if the supernatural is coming. See, you've got this awesomely big God! Remember it says in the Bible, "In His own hometown, Nazareth, Jesus could do no mighty work because of their unbelief." He did miracles everywhere but there, and the people who knew the most about Jesus saw the least supernatural because they weren't expecting anything. They didn't open their mouths.
Faith is acting as if God will keep His promise, as if He will do something God-sized. God says here, "I tried to and they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't follow my ways." Is there a part of your life where you've been doing your own thing and going your own way? Maybe it's at home, at work, at church. How about your finances, your relationships? You're missing God's best because you're going your own way.
He says, "I've let them follow their own devices." Well, you're on your own in that part of your life. You're settling for crumbs when He wants to serve you a banquet. In fact Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). There's so much Jesus wants to do for you.
But maybe you have never opened up your life to this Savior, the One who gave His life on a cross for you. And everything He wants to bring into your life includes the love you were made for. He wants to bring eternal life that only He can bring, because only He conquered death.
And above all, He wants to erase every sin of your life from God's book. And the only reason you will miss Him in all of this is because you didn't open up to Him. He says, "If you will open the door, I will come in" (Revelation 3:20). I hope you will say to Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." I think we can help you know you belong to Him for sure. Would you go to our website? It's what it's there for. It's ANewStory.com.
He's holding out His hand with the supernatural stuff that you need right now. Like He said, "Open your mouth" and let Him fill it.