by Max Lucado
Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.
1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG
Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment. Mine like a gold digger the unique-to-you nuggets from your life.
When I was six years old, my father built us a house. Architectural Digest didn’t notice, but my mom sure did. Dad constructed it, board by board, every day after work. My youth didn’t deter him from giving me a job. He tied an empty nail apron around my waist, placed a magnet in my hands, and sent me on daily patrols around the building site, carrying my magnet only inches off the ground.
One look at my tools and you could guess my job. Stray-nail collector.
One look at yours and the same can be said. Brick by brick, life by life, God is creating a kingdom, a “spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5 CEV). He entrusted you with a key task in the project. Examine your tools and discover it. Your ability unveils your destiny. “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.
Look at you. Your uncanny ease with numbers. Your quenchless curiosity about chemistry. Others stare at blueprints and yawn; you read them and drool. “I was made to do this,” you say.
Heed that inner music. No one else hears it the way you do.
What about you? Our Maker gives assignments to people, “to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matt. 25:15). As he calls, he equips. Look back over your life. What have you consistently done well? What have you loved to do? Stand at the intersection of your affections and successes and find your uniqueness.
You have one. A divine spark. An uncommon call to an uncommon life. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Cor. 12:7 CEV). So much for the excuse “I don’t have anything to offer.” Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us …”? Or, “The Spirit has given a few of us …”? No. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” Enough of this self-deprecating “I can’t do anything.”
And enough of its arrogant opposite: “I have to do everything.” No, you don’t! You’re not God’s solution to society, but a solution in society. Imitate Paul, who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Cor. 10:13 NLT). Clarify your contribution.
Don’t worry about skills you don’t have. Don’t covet strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6 NASB).
From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
The River of Communion
The first fresh hour of every morning should be dedicated to the Lord whose mercy gladdens it with golden light. The eyes of the day open their lids, and in so doing open the eyes of the hosts of heaven's protected slumbers.
It is fitting that those eyes should look up to the great Father of lights, the fount and source of all good things upon which the sunlight gleams. It augurs for us a day of grace when we begin bedtimes with God, the sanctifying influence of all season spent operates upon each succeeding hour.
Morning devotion anchors the soul, so that it will not readily drift far away from God during the day. Morning devotion perfumes the heart so that it smells fragrant with piety until night falls. It girds up the soul's garments so that it is less apt to stumble and feeds all its powers so that it is not permitted to faint.
The morning is the date of the day and should be well-guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day's actions are strung and should be well-knotted with devotion.
If we felt more the majesty of life, we should be more careful of its mornings, because "For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5)
He who rushes from his bed to his usual daily business without first talking to and worshipping God is as foolish as though he had not put on his/her clothes or cleaned his/her face. He/she is unwise as though he/she had dashed into battle without arms and armour. Let us bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God before the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to operate us.
Beloved saints of the Living God, let us heat the summary of this issue:-
- You can pray like prophet Daniel and stop the lion's mouth
- You can pray like Elijah and call down fire from heaven
- You can pray like propher Elisha and humble an enemy nation
- You can pray like propher Moses, the chosen leader and divide the sea
- You can pray like the humble housewife Hannah and receive your Samuel from God
- You can pray like the prophetess Deborah and be a mother in Israel
- Obviously! You can pray like Queen Esther and save a nation
May God help us heed His divine call to pray for our blessed generation in Jesus' name. Amen. Beloved, sense the urgency of the hour and respond to the divine call to pray. Morning devotion anchors the soul, so that it will not readily drift away from God during the day.
- Daniel O.C
It is fitting that those eyes should look up to the great Father of lights, the fount and source of all good things upon which the sunlight gleams. It augurs for us a day of grace when we begin bedtimes with God, the sanctifying influence of all season spent operates upon each succeeding hour.
Morning devotion anchors the soul, so that it will not readily drift far away from God during the day. Morning devotion perfumes the heart so that it smells fragrant with piety until night falls. It girds up the soul's garments so that it is less apt to stumble and feeds all its powers so that it is not permitted to faint.
The morning is the date of the day and should be well-guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day's actions are strung and should be well-knotted with devotion.
If we felt more the majesty of life, we should be more careful of its mornings, because "For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5)
He who rushes from his bed to his usual daily business without first talking to and worshipping God is as foolish as though he had not put on his/her clothes or cleaned his/her face. He/she is unwise as though he/she had dashed into battle without arms and armour. Let us bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God before the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to operate us.
Beloved saints of the Living God, let us heat the summary of this issue:-
- You can pray like prophet Daniel and stop the lion's mouth
- You can pray like Elijah and call down fire from heaven
- You can pray like propher Elisha and humble an enemy nation
- You can pray like propher Moses, the chosen leader and divide the sea
- You can pray like the humble housewife Hannah and receive your Samuel from God
- You can pray like the prophetess Deborah and be a mother in Israel
- Obviously! You can pray like Queen Esther and save a nation
May God help us heed His divine call to pray for our blessed generation in Jesus' name. Amen. Beloved, sense the urgency of the hour and respond to the divine call to pray. Morning devotion anchors the soul, so that it will not readily drift away from God during the day.
- Daniel O.C
Sunday, 25 May 2008
OPEN ARMS
by Max Lucado
If you ever wonder how in the world God could use you to change the world, look at the people God used to change history. A ragbag of ne’er-do-wells and has-beens who found hope, not in their performance, but in God’s proverbially open arms.
Abraham- God took what was good and forgave what was bad and used “old forked tongue” to start a nation. Moses- would you call upon a fugitive to carry the Ten Commandments? God did. David- his track record left little to be desired, but his repentant spirit was unquestionable. Jonah- God put him in a whale’s belly to bring him back to his senses. But even the whale couldn’t stomach this missionary for too long.
On and on the stories go: Elijah, the prophet who pouted; Solomon, the king who knew too much; Jacob, the wheeler-dealer; Gomer, the prostitute; Sarah, the woman who giggled at God. One story after another of God using man’s best and overcoming man’s worst.
The reassuring lesson is clear. God used (and uses!) people to change the world. People! Not saints or superhumans or geniuses, but people. Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all. And what they may lack in perfection, God makes up for in love.
Jesus later summarized God’s stubborn love with a parable. He told about a teenager who decided that life at the farm was too slow for his tastes. So with pockets full of inheritance money, he set out to find the big time. What he found instead were hangovers, fair-weather friends, and long unemployment lines. When he had had just about as much of the pig’s life as he could take, he swallowed his pride, dug his hands deep into his empty pockets, and began the long walk home; all the while rehearsing a speech that he planned to give to his father.
He never used it. Just when he got to the top of the hill, his father, who’d been waiting at the gate, saw him. The boy’s words of apology were quickly muffled by the father’s words of forgiveness. And the boy’s weary body fell into his father’s opened arms.
The same open arms welcomed him that had welcomed Abraham, Moses, David, and Jonah. No wagging fingers. No clenched fists. No “I told you so!” slaps or “Where have you been?” interrogations. No crossed arms. No black eyes or fat lips. No. Only sweet, open arms. If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used and take heart. Look at the forgiveness found in those open arms and take courage.
And, by the way, never were those arms opened so wide as they were on the Roman cross. One arm extending back into history and the other reaching into the future. An embrace of forgiveness offered for anyone who’ll come. A hen gathering her chicks. A father receiving his own. A redeemer redeeming the world.
No wonder they call him the Savior.
From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado
If you ever wonder how in the world God could use you to change the world, look at the people God used to change history. A ragbag of ne’er-do-wells and has-beens who found hope, not in their performance, but in God’s proverbially open arms.
Abraham- God took what was good and forgave what was bad and used “old forked tongue” to start a nation. Moses- would you call upon a fugitive to carry the Ten Commandments? God did. David- his track record left little to be desired, but his repentant spirit was unquestionable. Jonah- God put him in a whale’s belly to bring him back to his senses. But even the whale couldn’t stomach this missionary for too long.
On and on the stories go: Elijah, the prophet who pouted; Solomon, the king who knew too much; Jacob, the wheeler-dealer; Gomer, the prostitute; Sarah, the woman who giggled at God. One story after another of God using man’s best and overcoming man’s worst.
The reassuring lesson is clear. God used (and uses!) people to change the world. People! Not saints or superhumans or geniuses, but people. Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all. And what they may lack in perfection, God makes up for in love.
Jesus later summarized God’s stubborn love with a parable. He told about a teenager who decided that life at the farm was too slow for his tastes. So with pockets full of inheritance money, he set out to find the big time. What he found instead were hangovers, fair-weather friends, and long unemployment lines. When he had had just about as much of the pig’s life as he could take, he swallowed his pride, dug his hands deep into his empty pockets, and began the long walk home; all the while rehearsing a speech that he planned to give to his father.
He never used it. Just when he got to the top of the hill, his father, who’d been waiting at the gate, saw him. The boy’s words of apology were quickly muffled by the father’s words of forgiveness. And the boy’s weary body fell into his father’s opened arms.
The same open arms welcomed him that had welcomed Abraham, Moses, David, and Jonah. No wagging fingers. No clenched fists. No “I told you so!” slaps or “Where have you been?” interrogations. No crossed arms. No black eyes or fat lips. No. Only sweet, open arms. If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used and take heart. Look at the forgiveness found in those open arms and take courage.
And, by the way, never were those arms opened so wide as they were on the Roman cross. One arm extending back into history and the other reaching into the future. An embrace of forgiveness offered for anyone who’ll come. A hen gathering her chicks. A father receiving his own. A redeemer redeeming the world.
No wonder they call him the Savior.
From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado
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