Upwords with Max Lucado

The following is from the above titled devotional. 

May 18, 2012

Let's Major in God

David just showed up this morning. He clocked out of sheep watching to deliver bread and cheese to his brothers on the battle-front. That’s where David hears Goliath defying God,. . . .

Read the first words he spoke, not just in the battle, but in the Bible: “David asked the men standing near him, ‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’” (1 Sam. 17:26 niv).

David shows up discussing God. The soldiers mentioned nothing about him, the brothers never spoke his name, but David takes one step onto the stage and raises the subject of the living God. . . .

No one else discusses God. David discusses no one else but God. . . .

David sees what others don’t and refuses to see what others do. All eyes, except David’s, fall on the brutal, hate-breathing hulk. . . . The people know his taunts, demands, size, and strut. They have majored in Goliath.

David majors in God. He sees the giant, mind you; he just sees God more so. Look carefully at David’s battle cry: “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (1 Sam. 17:45).

— origiginally printed in Facing Your Giants

Lord God, train us to walk on your path. Teach us to see you in situations that are dangerous and difficult. Like David, when we are surrounded by overwhelming challenges may our thoughts and words turn first to you. Rather than discuss the problem, remind us to discuss you. May our first thought in the morning and our last thought at night be centered on you. Rather than worry about the impossibilities, let us major in your mighty power. When we are tempted to look at the giants in our lives, we will choose to look at you, amen.

Let the God of my salvation be exalted! (Psalm 18:46)

We walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Living Free Every Day

The following is borrowed from the above titled devotional.


Powerless! 
May 18, 2012

Today's Scripture
"Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NLT 
Thoughts for Today
Paul writes that he had a thorn in the flesh. We don't know for certain what that thorn was, but it was something over which Paul had no control. Today's verse tells us Paul asked God to take the thorn away, but God said no, that his grace was sufficient. And Paul learned to be thankful for his weaknesses because they reminded him of his dependence on God. Only then could the power of Christ work through him. 
Throughout the Bible, God commonly made his people face impossible circumstances that could not be overcome without his intervention. That made them trust and depend on him and not themselves. He loved them and wanted them to have his best, but he knew they could not achieve that on their own. They needed him. 
Many, like Paul, have found that the first step in overcoming their bondage to sin is to come to a place where they admit they are powerless to control their life. 
Consider this …
The ways of the world are so different from God's ways. The world proclaims man's power as a great thing. Powerful in business. Powerful in government. Power. In control. 
But as Christians, we need to recognize that we are powerless to live a victorious life. And admitting we are powerless is a good thing because then we will depend on God. And only then will we be open to receive his unlimited strength, his unconditional love, and his bountiful mercy. 
Prayer
Father, each day help me to remember that I am powerless. Powerless to control my life on my own. I thank you for my weaknesses because they remind me to turn to you. In Jesus' name . . .

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Boasting

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Have you ever boast about yourself? What are some things you boast about? Do you make a habit of boasting about these things? When do you usually boast? Why do you boast about these things? Dictionary.com defines the word boast as "to talk with exaggeration and excessive pride, especially about oneself."

God had just told the prophet Jeremiah about his impending judgment on Judah for its sins (Jer 7-9:16). Jeremiah proclaimed God's message to the people, which also included a command about what to boast in. Why? The people of Judah were full of themselves. Their lifestyle was totally depraved (e.g., Jer 7:5-6,9). Yet they thought and taught that destruction would not come because the LORD's Temple was in their midst (e.g., Jer 7:4,8). They were trusting in their own wisdom, riches, and might. They also thought it wise and very beneficial to make alliances with Egypt and Assyria (Jer 2:18). They were full of themselves, even though God was the one who had blessed them with wisdom, riches, and might. Most importantly, He was the source of their wisdom, riches, and might. Yet, they decided to rebel against God and instead trust in themselves in light of these blessings. As a result, they became blinded by their sins that they could not see their own foolishness, idolatry, and wickedness. If we are not careful, we too can become full of ourselves and likewise become blinded by our sins. If we become full of ourselves our boasting will be misplaced.

Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, ...  (Jer 9:23-24a)." What do we need to understand and know about the LORD? "He practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For He delights in these things (Jer 9:24b)." Note, we are not to boast in love, justice, and righteousness. Why not? These virtues - love, justice, and righteousness - are found in Him and are from Him. As such, they never change or devalue but remain constant forever. For the LORD is love, He is just, and He is righteous. And because He is the Source of these virtues we cannot manipulate or control them. I find this to be awesome and comforting, and hope you do as well. We are instead to boast in the LORD (also, Psalm 34:2; 1 Cor 1:31; Gal 6:14). We are to boast in Him because it is He who gives us the ability and privilege to understand and know Him.

Beloved brothers and sisters, may it be our heart's desire and daily pursuit to grow in our understanding and knowledge of the LORD and make our boast only Him.

In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley

The following is from the above titled online daily devotional.


May 14 
Selfish Christianity 

John 6:22-27

Which interests you more—who Jesus is or what He can do for you? I’m afraid that too many of us are more concerned about what He can give us than we are about getting to know who He is.
But this is nothing new—Jesus had this problem when He walked on earth. The crowds often sought Him out for what He could do for them. Even though their needs were quite often legitimate, Christ knew their motives.

There is a fine line between selfishly trying to use the Lord to get what we want and humbly coming to Him with our needs and struggles. Some of the issues we bring to Him are so pressing and urgent in our minds that our desire for Him to take action in the way we want becomes greater than our willingness to submit to His will. At times, what we call “faith” is really a demanding spirit.

We must remember that our needs will come to an end, but Jesus Christ will remain forever. If our prayers have dealt only with presenting our requests to the Lord, we’ve missed a great opportunity to get to know the One with whom we’ll spend eternity. Let’s invest time in pursuing intimacy with Christ. Then we can enjoy the benefits of that relationship forever.

How much of your communion with God is devoted to your needs—even legitimate ones? Are you spending any time getting to know the Lord? Although God delights in our prayers and tells us to pray about everything, He also wants us to come to Him just because we enjoy being with Him.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visitwww.intouch.org.

Used with permission from In Touch Ministries, Inc. © 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Have You Seen The LORD?

They are in our lives, but sometimes we don't even realize they are there. Just like Israel and Isaiah, we also have our Uzziahs. Uzziah represents the gods in our lives. The kings of our hearts. Whether intentionally and unintentionally, they are there. Whether we confess it or not the truth is that they do exist. They sit on the throne of our hearts, pulling the strings. We trust in their familiarity, safety, and comfort. They may not necessarily be bad things. Usually they are good things, sometimes very good things. Is that bad? No, but it is dangerous.
Dangerous because they can easily take the place of God, which is idolatry.

Idolatry is breaking the first and greatest commandment. That commandment is to love God with our entire being. Put another way, we are not to have any other gods but God. Idolatry is the attitude that refuses to love God with our everything. Idolatry means that God is not our god. Therefore, idolatry is Sin! It is an offense against God that is full of pride. It is an offense against God that is full of perversion. Isaiah saw the depth of his sins. He could smell the stench of it. He realized how he also, like the people, fell short of God's glory and he exclaimed it.

He pronounced judgement of woe on himself. He cried, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!" Why did he say this? Because he saw the king, the LORD of Hosts! It was also a cry of repentance because he saw the LORD. Isaiah's encounter with the LORD shook him to the core. He was never the same! He was then cleansed and commissioned to go for the LORD.

Have you seen the LORD? You can by looking intently into the scriptures. Examine your life by the scriptures. Do it today. You will exclaimed like Isaiah did. You too will cry out in repentance. Why? Because you will see the LORD, and your life will never be the same! And like Isaiah, you will be cleansed and commissioned to go for the LORD.

Holiness Day-By-Day

The following is from The Navigator's Devotional Ministry. See the bottom of the page for more info.

Devotional for Friday, May 11, 2012

Sin and Self-Esteem

Today's Scripture: 2 Peter 1:5
"Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue."
Read it online at the Bible Gateway: (NIV) (NASB) (KJV) (The Message)

We should not seek holiness in order to feel good about ourselves, to blend in with our Christian peer group, or to avoid the sense of shame and guilt that follows the committing of persistent sin. Far too often our concern with sin arises from how it makes us feel. Sinful habits, sometimes called "besetting sins," cause us to feel defeated, and we don't like to be defeated in anything, whether it's a game of Ping-Pong or our struggle with sin.

I once spoke at a retreat on the importance of putting on Christ-like character while at the same time seeking to put off sinful habits. After my message, four or five people came to me asking for personal help in dealing with some particular sin in their lives, but no one came asking for help in putting on any Christ-like virtues. As I pondered the possible reason for this, I realized that sinful habits make us feel guilty and defeated. The absence of Christ-like character usually doesn't have a similar effect, so there's less motivation to seek change in our lives.

We need to work at ensuring that our commitment to holiness is a commitment to God, not to our own self-esteem. Frederick W. Faber, a nineteenth-century British writer, showed great insight into this tendency (I've paraphrased his words for clarity): "When we sin we are more vexed at the lowering of our self-esteem than we are grieved at God's dishonor. We are surprised and irritated at our own lack of self-control in subjecting ourselves to unworthy habits. The first cause of this is self-love, which is unable to stand the disappointment of not seeing ourselves in time of trial come out beautiful, erect, and admirable."

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The text for this devotional comes from the award-winning NavPress devotional bookHoliness Day by Day by Jerry Bridges. For more information or to order a copy, visit theNavPress website.

Visit the The Navigators' Devotional Ministry website for more devotional resources.

Relationship not Religion

Relationship is what God desires, not religion. Relationship with God comes through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Religion is a heavy burden. Relationship is a light burden.
Religion is a choke-hold. Relationship is an easy yoke.
Religion complicates. Relationship simplifies.
Religion brings condemnation. Relationship brings freedom.
Religion seeks to appease God. Relationship is to glorify God.
Religion is merit-based. Relationship is grace-based.
Religion is man-centered. Relationship is God-centered.
Religion emphasizes doing. Relationship emphasizes being.
Religion is intimidating. Relationship cultivates intimacy.
Religion focuses on duty. Relationship focuses on love.
Religion attempts to give holiness. Relationship brings of holiness.
Religion manufactures persecution. Relationship brings persecution.
Religion seeks uniformity. Relationship brings of unity.
Religion is vain & deceptive philosophies. Relationship is living & active truths.
Religion attempts to offer salvation. Relationship brings salvation.
Religion comes up short. Relationship is full.
Religion focuses on appearance. Relationship focuses on the heart.
Religion is a restless pursuit. Relationship brings rest.
Religion is temporary. Relationship is eternal.
Religion is built on ideas. Relationship is built on Jesus.

All of us have one or the other. So, which one do you have?