Max Lucado Daily: “ONLY GOD” MOMENTS - August 29, 2025
There is something unique about your story. Would you be willing to share it? Become well versed in your “only God” moments. Those precious events in your life that only God could have orchestrated.
There was an occasion when Jesus healed a deranged man. The fellow had made his home in a cemetery and cut himself with rocks. When Jesus delivered him from the affliction, the man wanted to go with Jesus. Christ, however, said, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you…” (Mark 5:19 NKJV).
In other words, speak up! Do you feel ill equipped to do so? That’s okay. You have God’s Spirit to help you, and God’s plan is reduced to one strategy: ordinary folks telling the extraordinary story of Jesus with the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit.
Help Is Here
Mark 8:1-21
A Meal for Four Thousand
1–3 8 At about this same time he again found himself with a hungry crowd on his hands. He called his disciples together and said, “This crowd is breaking my heart. They have stuck with me for three days, and now they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they’ll faint along the way—some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples responded, “What do you expect us to do about it? Buy food out here in the desert?”
5 He asked, “How much bread do you have?”
“Seven loaves,” they said.
6–10 So Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. After giving thanks, he took the seven bread loaves, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples so they could hand them out to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He pronounced a blessing over the fish and told his disciples to hand them out as well. The crowd ate its fill. Seven sacks of leftovers were collected. There were well over four thousand at the meal. Then he sent them home. He himself went straight to the boat with his disciples and set out for Dalmanoutha.
11–12 When they arrived, the Pharisees came out and started in on him, badgering him to prove himself, pushing him up against the wall. Provoked, he said, “Why does this generation clamor for miraculous guarantees? If I have anything to say about it, you’ll not get so much as a hint of a guarantee.”
Contaminating Yeast
13–15 He then left them, got back in the boat, and headed for the other side. But the disciples forgot to pack a lunch. Except for a single loaf of bread, there wasn’t a crumb in the boat. Jesus warned, “Be very careful. Keep a sharp eye out for the contaminating yeast of Pharisees and the followers of Herod.”
16–19 Meanwhile, the disciples were finding fault with each other because they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus overheard and said, “Why are you fussing because you forgot bread? Don’t you see the point of all this? Don’t you get it at all? Remember the five loaves I broke for the five thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?”
They said, “Twelve.”
20 “And the seven loaves for the four thousand—how many bags full of leftovers did you get?”
“Seven.”
21 He said, “Do you still not get it?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 29, 2025
by Alyson Kieda
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
2 Samuel 6:1-2, 6-15
David mustered the pick of the troops of Israel—thirty divisions of them. Together with his soldiers, David headed for Baalah to recover the Chest of God, which was called by the Name God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who was enthroned over the pair of angels on the Chest.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, so Uzzah reached out and grabbed the Chest of God. God blazed in anger against Uzzah and struck him hard because he had profaned the Chest. Uzzah died on the spot, right alongside the Chest.
8–11 Then David got angry because of God’s deadly outburst against Uzzah. That place is still called Perez Uzzah (The-Explosion-Against-Uzzah). David became fearful of God that day and said, “This Chest is too hot to handle. How can I ever get it back to the City of David?” He refused to take the Chest of God a step farther. Instead, David removed it off the road and to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Chest of God stayed at the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months. And God prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household.
12–16 It was reported to King David that God had prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household because of the Chest of God. So David thought, “I’ll get that blessing for myself,” and went and brought up the Chest of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David, celebrating extravagantly all the way, with frequent sacrifices of choice bulls. David, ceremonially dressed in priest’s linen, danced with great abandon before God. The whole country was with him as he accompanied the Chest of God with shouts and trumpet blasts.
Today's Insights
The ark of the covenant (or ark of God) was the physical manifestation of God’s presence with the Israelites (2 Samuel 6:2; see Exodus 25:22; 30:6). In one of their battles, they brought the ark to the battlefield. The Philistines captured it, holding it in Philistine territory for seven months before they returned it to Israel (1 Samuel 4-6). Because of the unfaithfulness of the Israelites, the ark was neglected and remained in the Israelite town of Kiriath Jearim for another twenty years (7:1-2) before David brought it to Jerusalem and placed it in the tabernacle (2 Samuel 6). Today, God’s presence is with all who believe in Christ.
The Lost Ark
David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 2 Samuel 6:12
During his church’s fall retreat at a nearby camp, Pastor Jeff took a walk with my son, who led him through a wooded trail to the outdoor chapel. Suddenly they came upon the ark of the covenant! Of course, it wasn’t the real ark but a life-sized, gold-colored replica begun by my husband years ago, with Jeff’s encouragement, and recently completed by my son as a surprise.
Jeff was so thrilled he hurried to enlist others to help him bring the ark to the camp dining hall. What a sight to see the men carrying the ark down the road as two of the pastor’s little grandsons trailed behind hand in hand!
Scripture tells of the joyous occasion when the real ark of the covenant, which symbolized God’s presence with His people, was brought from the house where it had been kept into its proper place in Jerusalem, “the City of David” (2 Samuel 6:12). King David was so overjoyed he danced “before the Lord with all his might” as the people shouted and trumpets sounded (vv. 14-15).
Years later, the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon, and Jerusalem was destroyed (2 Kings 25). We don't know what happened to the ark. Legends abound, but we no longer need it to enjoy God’s presence (John 14:16-17). Through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and sending of the Spirit, God is with all who believe in Christ. That’s an excellent reason to rejoice!
Reflect & Pray
How does it impact you to know God is with you? When have you felt His presence?
Dear God, thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit.
For further study, read A Story of a Life Led by the Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 29, 2025Sublime Intimacy
Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? — John 11:40
Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something which, from a commonsense standpoint, flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. They stand in the relation of the natural to the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ when your common sense fails? Can you venture heroically on his words when the facts of your life shout, “It’s a lie”? Up on the mountaintop with God, it’s easy to say, “I believe God can do anything.” But you have to come down from the heights into the valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at your belief.
Every time my program of belief is clear to my own mind, I will come across something that contradicts it. Let me say to myself, “I believe God will meet all my needs,” then my provisions run dry; I have no idea how they’ll be replenished. Then let me see whether I will go through the trial of faith or whether I will sink back to a lower level.
Faith must be tested. It can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? Either the test will prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me” (Matthew 11:6). The supreme thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly in him, and all you come up against will strengthen and develop your faith. There’s continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death.
May God keep us in fighting shape! Faith is indescribable trust in God, trust which never dreams he will not stand by us.
Psalms 126-128; 1 Corinthians 10:19-33
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 29, 2025
YOUR BIBLE - INFORMED OR TRANSFORMED? - #10080
I'll bet you didn't know that Christianity is like suntan lotion. Huh? Neither did I until I was speaking at a conference, and I took my oldest son with me. He was about 12 or 13 I think (my poor kids had to listen to their Dad speak so many times).
Well, we were on our way home on the plane, and all of a sudden on this long trip from the West, my son said to me, "Hey, Dad, you know what? I finally listened to a lot of your talks this time." Let's see, was that's good news/bad news. I don't know what he was doing before. But he said, "You know what? I've figured out that Christianity is a lot like suntan lotion." I said what you would have said, "What?" He said, "You know, if you put a big, old blob of suntan lotion on your arm, it doesn't do you any good until you rub it in."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Bible - Informed or Transformed?"
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Joshua 1:8 where we have God's formula for success. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth: meditate on it day and night..." By the way, that word meditate is used in Hebrew to talk about a cow chewing its cud. So, chew it over and over again. Why? "...so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
Now, you get what God is saying to Joshua? I think it's His message to you and me today. The purpose of reading is not just to know something. It's to find something to do. When Jesus was talking to the 12 disciples about going out in the Great Commission to disciple people all around the world, He said, "Go and make disciples of all nations teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Don't just tell them what there is to know; teach them to do it.
James 1 again says that the Bible is like a mirror. When you look in a mirror, you're supposed to change something because of what you see there. Right? The one reason there's such a gap between our beliefs and our behavior is because we won't in my son's words, "Rub it in." We have these great big blobs of spiritual truth all over us. We've been hearing it forever. We went to church a couple of times this week, we've got this guy that keeps coming at us on the radio, we've got Bible studies, we've got websites. The problem is that we tend to go for information rather than transformation; for application of what God says. To answer the question, "So what? What's this supposed to do in my life." It's one thing to read the Bible; it's another thing to let the Bible read you.
God's interested in what difference His Word is making in you today, not just whether you can pass a Bible quiz. What did you read today? What are you doing differently today because of it? When God says meditate on it, what does that mean? Does that mean you stare into space blankly, kind of an Eastern mysticism thing? Not at all! You think about something you read in the Bible until you have made a connection between what you read and something you're going to face today. That's Christian meditation. It's not focusing on nothing; it's focusing on what God said and then you've meditated when you've connected that there's something you should do with it today. I think you ought to keep a spiritual journal and write down every day, "What did I read today in my own words? What did God say today and what am I going to do differently because God said it?"
If you're in a position where you teach God's Word to people, even if you're just a parent doing that, make sure you always answer the unspoken question I think people are asking, "So what? Okay, it's true. So, what do you want me to do with it?" By all means answer that question for yourself. Look, have you gotten a little lazy as you read God's Word, just sort of accumulating more Bible information? That leads to boredom, it leads to powerlessness, and the illusion of spiritual life.
Those Bible blobs? They're not going to do you much good until you rub them in.
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