6/21/2012 Max, Forward Day TO Day, & Chambers Daily Devotionals + Daily Verse

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16 New Living Translation [NLT] (Read all of John 3)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16 New International Version [NIV] (Read all of John 3)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 King James Version [KJV] (Read all of John 3)

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado

“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”

June 21

The LORD will be your confidence.

Proverbs 3:26 (NKJV)

The temple builders and the Savior seekers.

You'll find them both in the same church, on the same pew--at times, even in the same suit. One sees the structure and says, "What a great church." The other sees the Savior and says, "What a great Christ!"

Which do you see?


From: Everyday Blessings
Copyright (J. Countryman, 2004)
Max Lucado

Today's My Utmost For His Highest

June 21

The Ministry of the Inner Life
Oswald Chambers

You are . . . a royal priesthood . . .

1 Peter 2:9

By what right have we become "a royal priesthood"? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our "hanging on by the skin of our teeth," although we say, "What a wonderful victory I have!" Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, "Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men." Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: "Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now."
How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.

Forward Day By Day

Thursday, June 21

If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.

Matthew 18:10-20.

I have a priest friend who couldn’t wait to be called to a different parish. He told me that every Sunday he would look out at the congregation and see the faces of six people who couldn’t stand him. Their cool, irrepressible disdain became for him a dark spiritual energy. He was overjoyed when he took a new ministry. One day he called: “You know those six people I told you about? They are all here, just with different faces.”

Learning to love in the power of Jesus can’t be inflamed by our default strategies of withdrawal or polite avoidance. Here are some powerful clues as to how Christ brings an overcoming love into relationships: First, it is all about gaining your brother, not winning an argument. Can we begin to pray that in the pain? Second, go to your sister. Most often we go everywhere else, and elevate our cowardice to a level of nobility by saying “They won’t listen.” And we settle for superficial relationships.

Pray about it; and go. Forget who is right. Look for how Christ can make it new.

Psalm 83 (NIV)

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you—
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
Even Assyria has joined them
to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
who perished at Endor
and became like dung on the ground.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
who said, “Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God.”

Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
Cover their faces with shame, Lord,
so that they will seek your name.

May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord —
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. Psalm 34 [NIV]


Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.

I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

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Please continue reading throughout the day:

Psalms 85, 86; Numbers 12:1-16; Romans 2:12-24