Max Lucado Daily: SECRET SAUCE TO THOUGHT MANAGEMENT - September 4, 2025
Thoughts. We cannot see them. We cannot always predict them. But we cannot deny this about them: They define our lives. Think well, live well. Think poorly, live poorly. It’s no wonder that God urges us to “be careful how you think” (Proverbs 4:23). God loves us too much to let us lead a life marked by poor thinking. He made our brains. He can retrain our brains.
I embrace and cherish a Christian worldview. Namely, God made us, saves us, pastors us, and is coming back for us. The promise of heaven thrills me, and the assurance of God’s love sustains me.
The secret sauce for thought management is a genuine faith in the God of the Bible. Invite Jesus to change you by changing your thoughts.
Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life
Mark 9:1-29
Then he drove it home by saying, “This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force.”
In a Light-Radiant Cloud
2–4 Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus.
5–6 Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing.
7 Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.”
8 The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus.
9–10 Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. “Don’t tell a soul what you saw. After the Son of Man rises from the dead, you’re free to talk.” They puzzled over that, wondering what on earth “rising from the dead” meant.
11 Meanwhile they were asking, “Why do the religion scholars say that Elijah has to come first?”
12–13 Jesus replied, “Elijah does come first and get everything ready for the coming of the Son of Man. They treated this Elijah like dirt, much like they will treat the Son of Man, who will, according to Scripture, suffer terribly and be kicked around contemptibly.”
There Are No Ifs
14–16 When they came back down the mountain to the other disciples, they saw a huge crowd around them, and the religion scholars cross-examining them. As soon as the people in the crowd saw Jesus, admiring excitement stirred them. They ran and greeted him. He asked, “What’s going on? What’s all the commotion?”
17–18 A man out of the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought my mute son, made speechless by a demon, to you. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes stiff as a board. I told your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they couldn’t.”
19–20 Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.” They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure, causing him to writhe on the ground and foam at the mouth.
21–22 He asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been going on?”
“Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!”
23 Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”
24 No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!”
25–27 Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: “Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you—Out of him, and stay out!” Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up.
28 After arriving back home, his disciples cornered Jesus and asked, “Why couldn’t we throw the demon out?”
29 He answered, “There is no way to get rid of this kind of demon except by prayer.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 04, 2025
by Tom Felten
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Ezra 7:6-11, 27-28
That’s Ezra. He arrived from Babylon, a scholar well-practiced in the Revelation of Moses that the God of Israel had given. Because God’s hand was on Ezra, the king gave him everything he asked for. Some of the Israelites—priests, Levites, singers, temple security guards, and temple slaves—went with him to Jerusalem. It was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
8–10 They arrived at Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king’s reign. Ezra had scheduled their departure from Babylon on the first day of the first month; they arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month under the generous guidance of his God. Ezra had committed himself to studying the Revelation of God, to living it, and to teaching Israel to live its truths and ways.
11 What follows is the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra, priest and scholar, expert in matters involving the truths and ways of God concerning Israel:
Ezra: “I Was Ready to Go”
27–28 Blessed be God, the God-of-Our-Fathers, who put it in the mind of the king to beautify The Temple of God in Jerusalem! Not only that, he caused the king and all his advisors and influential officials actually to like me and back me. My God was on my side and I was ready to go. And I organized all the leaders of Israel to go with me.
Today's Insights
The book of Ezra records the two returns of Jewish exiles from Babylon. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David (Matthew 1:12), led the first return of fifty thousand in 538 bc (Ezra 1-6). Some eighty years later (458 bc), Ezra led another five thousand in the second return (chs. 7-10). Nehemiah, a contemporary of Ezra, led the third return in 444 bc. Ezra, a priest and a teacher well-versed in the law of Moses, faithfully taught the Scriptures to the people, leading them in two spiritual renewals (Ezra 9-10; Nehemiah 8-10). As God helped Ezra, He can help us persist in finishing the work He has for us.
Our Calling in Christ
Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord. Ezra 7:10
Ginnie Hislop received a standing ovation as she received her master’s degree in 2024. Why? It came eighty-four years after she’d completed her coursework! In 1941, she needed only to submit her thesis. But her then boyfriend, George, was suddenly called to serve during World War II. The two quickly married and headed to his army outpost—leaving Ginnie’s nearly realized degree behind. But after a lengthy pause, she was finally able to complete what she’d started.
Ezra was a student of Scripture—one who truly had an “advanced degree” in God’s law—who’d been waiting years to return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. “Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees” (Ezra 7:10). Zerubbabel and a group of Israelite exiles had been permitted to return from Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem decades earlier (2:1-2). And now Ezra, who had “the gracious hand of his God . . . on him” (7:9), was leading more exiles to Jerusalem. God would use him to reform and restore the proper worship of Him according to Scripture: “Ezra opened the book [of the Law]. All the people . . . bowed down and worshiped the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).
Ezra had to wait decades, but he completed his calling in God’s strength. In His power, let’s persist in finishing the work He has for us.
Reflect & Pray
What can you do to press on in your calling from God? How can you persist in His power and wisdom?
Dear God, please help me finish well what You’ve called me to do.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 04, 2025
His
They were yours; you gave them to me. — John 17:6
A disciple is one in whom the Holy Spirit has forged this realization: “I am not my own.” To say “I am not my own” is to have reached a point of great spiritual nobility. If I am a disciple, I make a sovereign decision to give myself over to Jesus Christ. Then the Holy Spirit comes in to teach me his nature. He teaches me this not so that I’ll hold myself apart from others, like a showroom exhibit of holiness, but in order to make me one with my Lord. Until I am made one with him, he won’t send me out. Jesus Christ waited until after the resurrection to send his disciples to preach the gospel, because only then did the power of the Holy Spirit come upon them, enabling them to perceive who Jesus Christ was and to become one with him.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children . . . such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Jesus doesn’t say, “Such a person cannot be a good and moral individual.” He says, “Such a person cannot be one over whom I write the word mine.” Any of the relationships Jesus mentions may be a competitive relationship. I may prefer to belong to my father or my mother, to my spouse or to myself. If I do, Jesus says I cannot be his disciple. This doesn’t mean I won’t be saved; it simply means I won’t be his.
“You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Our Lord makes his disciples his own possessions. He becomes responsible for them. The spirit the disciple receives isn’t the spirit of hard work or of doing practical things for Jesus. It’s the spirit of love and devotion, of being a perfect delight to him. The secret of the disciple is “I am entirely his, and he is carrying out his work through me.”
Be entirely his.
Psalms 143-145; 1 Corinthians 14:21-40
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 04, 2025
ATTACKING YOUR MESS - #10084
Our garage had gotten to the point where it was scary. Yeah, it was so scary my son used to have nightmares about it. He'd wake up and realize the nightmare was real! It was so messy there really wasn't much walking space. You could crawl around, but that was even tight. See, it had been a busy year, and we really hadn't any time to clean it up. It wasn't that it was all our mess - we had been storing things for other people too.
But we knew it was a mess and we felt bad about it. Every time we went out there we got discouraged and endangered. (There was no telling what was under all those piles!) Now, the mess was still there even though we knew about it. Oh, and we talked about it. But then we did something other than just walk by it and talk about it. We actually attempted to clean the garage, and it quickly got to the point where you could actually walk around in it. It looked twice the size! We approached it differently this time. We attacked it, and clean felt great!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Attacking Your Mess."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 7, beginning at verse 9. "Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us." Now, they didn't stop just feeling sorry. No, they went on. As the passage goes on it says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance..." Now, that's a key, remember that. "...that leads to salvation and leaves no regret..." Maybe I could put in there leaves no mess. "...but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done."
See, these people got busy with the mess! Now, what God is saying here is sorry doesn't do it. It didn't do it in our garage. Just to be sorry about the garage didn't change anything! Oh, we'd been sorry for a long time, but the mess was still there. Look, maybe there's a spiritual mess in some corner of your life right now. And this would be a great time to be thinking about cleaning up the mess.
Can you think of a sin that you've confessed over and over again only to re-sin again and again in that area? Maybe it's your temper, or something to do with your personal purity, could be sinful talk, pride, or lust, but you just can't win it. Well, it may be that you still have the mess because you've confessed but you haven't repented. It's not enough to acknowledge the sin, feel sorry about the sin and ask for help. You've got to tackle that mess!
If you feel like we did when we started cleaning that garage, you might say, "Oh, this is hopeless! Where do I start on this mess?" Well, you start organizing. You start cleaning out your life. You start setting it up as if you're not going to sin like that again. You repent specifically by name for that sin. You ask God to break your heart and make you sad over it. You find someone who will hold you accountable, who knows about your battle and will ask you how it's going. You burn all the bridges to that old part of you - that wrong part of you - all those things the Devil has used to bring that sin into your life over and over again. You just don't allow yourself to get into the situations where you could even do this sin.
Will you fall again? Sadly, that may very well happen. Will there be a mess in the garage again? There may be. But pick it up while it's small. Get up quickly. You attack the mess when it's small, and you start a new day clean. You don't need to acknowledge that mess again - you need to attack it.
Take it from a man who finally got fed up with a mess that had been there way too long. Clean really feels good.
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