Max Lucado Daily: GOD KEPT HIS PROMISE - October 11, 2023
“Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men” (Genesis 33:1). Israel—the exhausted, God-struck patriarch—had no choice but to trust. He prostrated himself like a vassal before a royal in an ancient court. And all of a sudden “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him,…and they wept” (Genesis 33:4).
They wept for relief. They wept with forgiveness. They wept at the possibility of a new start, a fresh beginning. Esau wept because his brother was home. Israel wept because he’d come face-to-face with his past, only to find that his past held no power over his life.
God had gone ahead of him. God had kept the promise he had made in Bethel. “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Genesis 28:15). He will do the same with you my friend. God never gives up on you.
2 Corinthians 8
The Offering
1–4 8 Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.
5–7 This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.
8–9 I’m not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.
10–20 So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written,
Nothing left over to the one with the most,
Nothing lacking to the one with the least.
I thank God for giving Titus the same devoted concern for you that I have. He was most considerate of how we felt, but his eagerness to go to you and help out with this relief offering is his own idea. We’re sending a companion along with him, someone very popular in the churches for his preaching of the Message. But there’s far more to him than popularity. He’s rock-solid trustworthy. The churches hand-picked him to go with us as we travel about doing this work of sharing God’s gifts to honor God as well as we can, taking every precaution against scandal.
20–22 We don’t want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves. We’re being as careful in our reputation with the public as in our reputation with God. That’s why we’re sending another trusted friend along. He’s proved his dependability many times over, and carries on as energetically as the day he started. He’s heard much about you, and liked what he’s heard—so much so that he can’t wait to get there.
23–24 I don’t need to say anything further about Titus. We’ve been close associates in this work of serving you for a long time. The brothers who travel with him are delegates from churches, a real credit to Christ. Show them what you’re made of, the love I’ve been talking up in the churches. Let them see it for themselves!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Today's Scripture
Ephesians 1:15–23
That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
20–23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.
Insight
In his explanation of his prayers for the Ephesian church, Paul concludes by saying that he desires all believers in Jesus to know God’s “incomparably great power” (Ephesians 1:19). To explain what he means, he points to God’s strength that both raised Christ from the dead and established His rule in the heavenly realms (vv. 20–21).
For the early church—small and weak in the face of the mighty Roman Empire—the sheer expanse of God’s power would come as a welcome comfort. No rule or authority or even death itself transcended it, and that very power was promised to His people through the Spirit (Acts 1:8). And, as if that weren’t enough, Paul points out that Jesus’ transcendence and rule isn’t bound to the current age but will continue when all other powers fade away (Ephesians 1:21). It’s that very power that the apostle prayed we’d all come to know. By: Jed Ostoich
Open the Eyes of My Heart
May [God] give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Ephesians 1:17
In 2001, a premature baby named Christopher Duffley surprised doctors by surviving. At five months old, he entered the foster care system until his aunt’s family adopted him. A teacher realized four-year-old Christopher, though blind and diagnosed with autism, had perfect pitch. Six years later at church, Christopher stood onstage and sang, “Open the Eyes of My Heart.” The video reached millions online. In 2020, Christopher shared his goals of serving as a disability advocate. He continues to prove that possibilities are limitless with the eyes of his heart open to God’s plan.
The apostle Paul commended the church in Ephesus for their bold faith (Ephesians 1:15–16). He asked God to give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” so they would “know him better” (v. 17). He prayed that their eyes would be “enlightened,” or opened, so they would understand the hope and inheritance God promised His people (v. 18).
As we ask God to reveal Himself to us, we can know Him more and can declare His name, power, and authority with confidence (vv. 19–23). With faith in Jesus and love for all God’s people, we can live in ways that prove His limitless possibilities while asking Him to keep opening the eyes of our hearts.
By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How has God helped you overcome obstacles or limitations? How does knowing His truth, character, and love change the way you see challenges?
Mighty and merciful God, please open the eyes of my heart so that I can know, love, and live for You with bold faith that leads others to worship You.
For further study, read Why Should I Trust God?.
https://discoverodb.org/articles/why-should-i-trust-god/
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
God’s Silence— Then What?
When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. —John 11:6
Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 37-38; Colossians 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Why You're His Best Messenger - #9588
Some friends of ours struggled with a wide variety of health issues over several years. And a while back, a trusted friend told them about a juice taken from a rare fruit that seemed to have measurably improved their health, and the health of several people that they love. Well, our friends invested in that juice, and they liked the early results. I can just imagine what would have happened, though, if some telemarketer had called them cold and tried to sell this product to them. "Hey, I have some juice for you." Click. See, I know these people. They never would have bought it from some professional salesman. But, you know, it helped when someone like them, someone they knew and trusted, was the one who told them about it. They wanted what she believed in. They wanted what was changing her.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why You're His Best Messenger."
You are divinely positioned. Yeah, because someone will believe you about Jesus that would never believe anyone else. You know, most of us are like my friends that I described. We're not going to buy from Mr. Slick Salesman. We'll buy from someone who's like us. Even when it comes to the most important choice we'll ever make in our life - our relationship with the God we will stand before when we die.
Many of us have found at the cross of Jesus Christ the greatest love in the universe. And in His empty grave, we found the greatest power in the universe - the power of the only man who ever walked out of His grave under His own power. But every day we're with folks who've never experienced His love or His power and who will never experience His heaven if they don't meet Him for themselves. But whose responsibility is it to tell them?
Many of us would like to leave it to someone who can do it better - like my pastor or that evangelist. He's really good. He's better at this. The problem is that in our world today, those folks are perceived as professional God-salesmen, which most lost folks aren't interested in listening to. But then, God's strategy never has been to leave spiritual rescuing just to His professional lifeguards. He works through the everyday believer; His satisfied customers.
Take our word for today from the Word of God, for example, in John 4:39. Jesus wants to reach the Samaritans in a nearby village, but He's Jewish and they don't like Jews. He doesn't go into that village and have rallies there. He reaches one Samaritan woman and sends her back to her village to tell about Him. The Bible says, "Many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the woman's testimony." They listened to someone like them, and so will the people around you.
Over the past twenty plus summers, I've been an eyewitness to a modern miracle. I think in 400 years of missionary effort, only about 4% of Native Americans know Jesus Christ. And yet, over the years I've seen thousands of Native young people give their lives to Christ, because our On Eagles' Wings teams - they're the ones telling about Jesus and their people just like them, young Native Americans who have lived the drinking, the drugs, the gang life, the violence, the despair and the suicide. But now they have found hope in the Creator's Son, Jesus Christ, and they're going to reservation after reservation introducing people just like them to Jesus Christ. It could be one of the greatest harvests in 400 years among Native people. Why? Because the messenger is someone like them! That's why I believe there's been a breakthrough.
Do you see yourself in all of this life-saving picture? Who are the people around you going to listen to about your Jesus? Someone from their tribe, their vocation, their avocation, their generation, their location, their association. And showing them in that world - their world - the Jesus-difference.
Is there someone who could say it better? Maybe. Would they listen to that person? Probably not. They'll listen to you. Jesus is sending you to your people to tell them about Him. Humanly speaking, you are their best chance.