Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S MESSAGES - December 5, 2024
“We have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2 NKJV).
You know, people see signs of God every day. Sunsets that steal the breath. Newborns that bring tears. But do all who see the signs draw near to God? No.
The wise men, however, understood the purpose of the sign. And they followed it to Jerusalem, where they heard about the scripture. The prophecy told them where to find Christ. It is interesting to note that the star reappeared after they learned about the prophecy. The star “came and stood shining right over the place where the Child was” (Matthew 2:9). It is as if the sign and word worked together to bring the wise men to Jesus.
The ultimate aim of all God’s messages, both miraculous and written, is to shed the light of heaven on Jesus.
Christmas Stories: Heartwarming Classics of Angels, a Manger, and the Birth of Hope
Esther 5
Three days later Esther dressed in her royal robes and took up a position in the inner court of the palace in front of the king’s throne room. The king was on his throne facing the entrance. When he noticed Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased to see her; the king extended the gold scepter in his hand. Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. The king asked, “And what’s your desire, Queen Esther? What do you want? Ask and it’s yours—even if it’s half my kingdom!”
4 “If it please the king,” said Esther, “let the king come with Haman to a dinner I’ve prepared for him.”
5–6 “Get Haman at once,” said the king, “so we can go to dinner with Esther.”
So the king and Haman joined Esther at the dinner she had arranged. As they were drinking the wine, the king said, “Now, what is it you want? Half of my kingdom isn’t too much to ask! Just ask.”
7–8 Esther answered, “Here’s what I want. If the king favors me and is pleased to do what I desire and ask, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the dinner that I will fix for them. Then I’ll give a straight answer to the king’s question.”
9–13 Haman left the palace that day happy, beaming. And then he saw Mordecai sitting at the King’s Gate ignoring him, oblivious to him. Haman was furious with Mordecai. But he held himself in and went on home. He got his friends together with his wife Zeresh and started bragging about how much money he had, his many sons, all the times the king had honored him, and his promotion to the highest position in the government. “On top of all that,” Haman continued, “Queen Esther invited me to a private dinner she gave for the king, just the three of us. And she’s invited me to another one tomorrow. But I can’t enjoy any of it when I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate.”
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said, “Build a gallows seventy-five feet high. First thing in the morning speak with the king; get him to order Mordecai hanged on it. Then happily go with the king to dinner.”
Haman liked that. He had the gallows built.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 05, 2024
by Katara Patton
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Luke 22:41-44
He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?” At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.
Today's Insights
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose their own will over the will of their creator. God said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Their actions have affected all future generations.
The garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:36-46) is the second garden to have a universal impact on the course of human experience. There, Jesus was faced with a similar choice: do what seemed beneficial to Himself or submit to the will of the Father. Christ asked for there to be another way. But in a decision that would undo the rebellion of Adam and Eve, He submitted to God’s will and went to the cross (Luke 22:39-44).
A Prayer for God’s Will
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. Luke 22:42
As a young believer in Jesus, I picked up my new devotional Bible and read a familiar Scripture: “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). The commentary explained that what we really should be asking God for is our will to line up with His. By seeking for His will to be done, we would be assured that we’d receive what we asked for. That was a new concept for me, and I prayed for God’s will to be done in my life.
Later that same day, I became surprisingly excited about a job opportunity I’d already turned down in my mind, and I was reminded about my prayer. Perhaps what I didn’t think I wanted was actually a part of God’s will for my life. I continued to pray and eventually accepted the job.
In a much more profound and eternally significant moment, Jesus modeled this for us. Before His betrayal and arrest, which led to His crucifixion, He prayed: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Christ’s prayer was filled with anguish and agony as He faced physical and emotional pain (v. 44). Yet He was still able to “earnestly” pray for God’s will to be done.
God’s will in my life has become my ultimate prayer. This means I may desire things I don’t even know I want or need. The job I originally hadn’t wanted turned out to be the beginning of my journey in Christian publishing. Looking back, I believe God’s will was done.
Reflect & Pray
What prayer request is on your heart? What do you believe God is calling you to do?
Heavenly Father, please guide me to do Your will.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 05, 2024
The Temple of the Holy Spirit
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? — 1 Corinthians 6:19
Do I realize that God holds me accountable for how I rule my body? Am I keeping my body under his rule, drawing on his grace in order to maintain righteousness? “I do not set aside the grace of God,” Paul writes, “for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). To set aside the grace of God is to make it of no effect in my actual physical life.
“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). I have to work out in my physical life the salvation that God, through his grace, has worked in. The grace of God is absolute; the salvation of Jesus is perfect; it is done, forever. I am not being saved; I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne. But I am responsible for working out that salvation. This means that I have to manifest in my physical body the life of Jesus—not mystically, but really.
All who have been born again are capable of keeping their bodies under absolute control for God. God gives us dominion over the temple of the Holy Spirit, over imagination and affection. I must never give way to inordinate affection. Most of us are much stricter with others than we are with ourselves. We make excuses for our own inclinations while condemning others for things to which we are not naturally inclined.
“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). Do I agree with my Lord and Master that my body will be his temple? If I do, then the entirety of God’s law for my body is summed up in this revelation: my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Daniel 1-2; 1 John 4
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 05, 2024
A Gift Only You Can Give - #9889
Poor Charlie Brown. For over 50 Christmases the same frustrated question has wailed from his mouth - "Can anyone tell me what Christmas is really all about?!"
My eight-year-old son could have told him. We were at the kitchen table devouring a Christmas Eve pizza, eager to start opening gifts. That's when the call came. Our kids sort of groaned collectively.
It was Wilma, the assistant principal at a tough inner city elementary school. She apologized for interrupting us on Christmas Eve (no apology needed), but she was desperate. She was trying to rescue Christmas for some of the children in her school. Their families had been burned out of their apartments in a recent series of suspicious fires. Their Christmases had gone up in flames.
Wilma asked, "Guys, is there any way you could look around the house and see if there's anything you might be able to donate for these kids and their families? I just didn't know who else to call at the last minute like this." Our three kids were off to go closet diving almost before I could explain the request. Karen and I went coat shopping in our closet.
Our son Doug was the first one to return from toy hunting. There's no way I could have expected what he was carrying in his arms. His bright red, nearly new, fully-equipped Tonka fire truck. Possibly his most treasured toy.
"I want to give this to some boy who might not have a Christmas," he said.
"Wow, Doug. I know how much you love that truck. But I don't want you to be sorry later on. Are you sure you want to give it?"
I've never forgotten his answer.
With wide eyes and a wrinkled brow, he held up that fire truck and he said, "But, Daddy - isn't this what Christmas is all about?"
Yes, Doug, it is.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Fire Truck and a Question for Christmas."
For some of us this Christmas, it may be about giving something that isn't easy for us to give. A gift of great value... and great sacrifice.
Giving someone time we don't have. Or a listening ear. A helping hand. An apology. Some overdue "I love you's."
Maybe our gift would be a place to stay or a financial intervention. A visit. A costly "I forgive you." A reconciling letter. A timeout for a caregiver. A meal together. Or, a second chance.
It may very well be a gift only you can give them. And one of greater value than anything from Amazon or the mall.
It was that very first Christmas when God gave the gift that, only He could give. A way for us to bridge the unbreachable gap between us and Him. Created by our defiant living of life "my way" instead of His way. What the Bible calls, sin. What the Bible says, carries an eternal death penalty.
But God comes to us with the priceless gift of eternal life in his hands. But it was surely the most expensive gift ever given, it cost Him everything.
Now a word for today from the Word of God, in Romans 8:32.
"He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." You see it was only the life of the Son of God, that was birthed in that stable, and surrendered on that cross, that could pay our death penalty and give us Heaven.
And this could be your very first Christmas with Christ in your heart, if you would say to Him this day, Jesus, you died for my sin, I am yours, beginning today.
Our website if there to help you get that set, to help you get that done. I would encourage you to go today to ANewStory.com.
Jesus comes to us with hands that are open and nail-scarred, He's offering the gift only He can give. And asking -
"Isn't this what Christmas is all about?"
