Max Lucado Daily: No Easy Solutions
Life turns every person upside down. No one escapes unscathed. Not the woman who discovers her husband is in an affair. Not the teenager who discovers a night of romance has resulted in a surprise pregnancy.
We'd be foolish to think we're invulnerable. But we'd be just as foolish to think evil wins the day. The Bible vibrates with the steady drumbeat of faith; God recycles evil into righteousness.
I don't have an easy solution or magic wand. But I have found something-or Someone-far better. God Himself. When God gets in the middle of life, evil becomes good. Trust God. No, really trust Him! He will get you through this. Will it be easy or quick? I hope so. But it seldom is. Yet God will make good out of this mess. That's His job.
From You'll Get Through This
Zechariah 9
The Whole World Has Its Eyes on God
1–6 9 War Bulletin:
God’s Message challenges the country of Hadrach.
It will settle on Damascus.
The whole world has its eyes on God.
Israel isn’t the only one.
That includes Hamath at the border,
and Tyre and Sidon, clever as they think they are.
Tyre has put together quite a kingdom for herself;
she has stacked up silver like cordwood,
piled gold high as haystacks.
But God will certainly bankrupt her;
he will dump all that wealth into the ocean
and burn up what’s left in a big fire.
Ashkelon will see it and panic,
Gaza will wring its hands,
Ekron will face a dead end.
Gaza’s king will die.
Ashkelon will be emptied out,
And a villain will take over in Ashdod.
6–8 “I’ll take proud Philistia down a peg:
I’ll make him spit out his bloody booty
and abandon his vile ways.”
What’s left will be all God’s—a core of survivors,
a family brought together in Judah—
But enemies like Ekron will go the way of the Jebusites,
into the dustbin of history.
“I will set up camp in my home country
and defend it against invaders.
Nobody is going to hurt my people ever again.
I’m keeping my eye on them.
A Humble King Riding a Donkey
9–10 “Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion!
Raise the roof, Daughter Jerusalem!
Your king is coming!
a good king who makes all things right,
a humble king riding a donkey,
a mere colt of a donkey.
I’ve had it with war—no more chariots in Ephraim,
no more war horses in Jerusalem,
no more swords and spears, bows and arrows.
He will offer peace to the nations,
a peaceful rule worldwide,
from the four winds to the seven seas.
11–13 “And you, because of my blood covenant with you,
I’ll release your prisoners from their hopeless cells.
Come home, hope-filled prisoners!
This very day I’m declaring a double bonus—
everything you lost returned twice-over!
Judah is now my weapon, the bow I’ll pull,
setting Ephraim as an arrow to the string.
I’ll wake up your sons, O Zion,
to counter your sons, O Greece.
From now on
people are my swords.”
14–17 Then God will come into view,
his arrows flashing like lightning!
Master God will blast his trumpet
and set out in a whirlwind.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies will protect them—
all-out war,
The war to end all wars,
no holds barred.
Their God will save the day. He’ll rescue them.
They’ll become like sheep, gentle and soft,
Or like gemstones in a crown,
catching all the colors of the sun.
Then how they’ll shine! shimmer! glow!
the young men robust, the young women lovely!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Today's Scripture
John 3:1-9
Born from Above
1–2 3 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5–6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7–8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
Insight
Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3). Christ’s claim that a person needs to be born “again” confused Nicodemus: “How can someone be born when they are old?” (v. 4). The Greek word anothen, translated “again” (vv. 3, 7), has several meanings and can indicate either time or location. It can mean “from above” (heaven), “from the beginning,” “for a long time,” or “again.” Both “you must be born again” (niv) or “you must be born from above” (nrsv) are accurate translations of verse 7. Christ is telling Nicodemus that to enter heaven, a person must be made new. We can’t do this through our own efforts but only through the Spirit (v. 8).
By: J.R. Hudberg
Born Again?
Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
John 3:5
“Born again? What does that mean?” asked the funeral director. “I’ve never heard of that term before.” Grasping the opportunity, the son of the deceased father explained what it meant through the words of John chapter 3.
“It comes down to the fact that we are all born once into this world,” he said. “God doesn’t have a magic scale where He weighs our good deeds against the bad. God requires us to be born of the Spirit,” he continued. “That’s why Jesus died on the cross—He paid for our sins and made it possible for us to possess eternal life with Him. We can’t make it on our own.”
In John 3, Nicodemus began to doubt if he truly had it all figured out. A trained teacher in the Scriptures (v. 1), he recognized that Jesus was different and that His teaching had authority (v. 2). He wanted to find out for himself, so he approached Christ one night to get the matter settled. Nicodemus must have accepted Jesus’ statement “You must be born again” (v. 7) and believed, because he helped prepare the Savior’s body for burial after He was crucified (19:39).
The funeral director agreed to go home and read the third chapter of John’s gospel. Like the son who talked with the director, let’s take Jesus’ words to heart and share them with others as He helps us. By: Brent Hackett
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to be born again? How can you share what it means with others?
Dear Father, thank You for allowing me to be born again. May Your Spirit move in the hearts of those to whom I share the need to be born again.
Learn more about having a personal relationship with God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 27, 2024
The Method of Missions
Go and make disciples of all nations. —Matthew 28:19
Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “Go and save souls”; salvation is the sovereign work of God. He said, “Go and make disciples.” But you can’t make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself—that is, unless you are rightly related to Jesus Christ.
When the disciples came back from their first mission, they were filled with joy at what they’d been able to do: “Lord, even the demons submit to us” (Luke 10:17). Jesus replied, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (v. 20). He was saying, “Do not rejoice in successful service. The great secret of joy is that you are rightly related to me.”
We have to keep this secret at the forefront of our minds, so that we may remain true to the call of God. God calls his missionaries to a single purpose: discipling men and women to Jesus Christ. If we aren’t rightly related to our Lord, we risk losing focus and giving in to a passion for winning souls that doesn’t spring from God but from the desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge the missionary faces isn’t that people are difficult to save or that the world is full of indifference. The missionary’s challenge lies in maintaining a relationship with Jesus Christ; it lies in believing that what he said is true. In every case we encounter as missionaries, our Lord asks us: “Do you believe I am able to do this?” In turn, we have to ask ourselves: “Am I wise enough in God’s sight, and foolish enough in the world’s sight, to bank on what Christ has said, or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of boundless confidence in him?” If I take up any method other than acting in total confidence on what Jesus Christ has said, I depart from the method he set down: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go” (Matthew 28:18–19).
Jeremiah 12-14; 2 Timothy 1
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10.
Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
