ANVIL TIME

by Max Lucado

On God’s anvil. Perhaps you’ve been there.

Melted down. Formless. Undone. Placed on the anvil for…reshaping? (A few rough edges too many.) Discipline? (A good father disciplines.) Testing? (Buy why so hard?)

I know. I’ve been on it. It’s rough. It’s a spiritual slump, a famine. The fire goes out. Although the fire may flame for a moment, it soon disappears. We drift downward. Downward into the foggy valley of question, the misty lowland of discouragement. Motivation wanes. Desire is distant. Responsibilities are depressing.

Passion? It slips out the door.
Enthusiasm? Are you kidding?
Anvil time.

It can be caused by a death, a breakup, going broke, going prayerless. The light switch is flipped off and the room darkens. “All the thoughtful words of help and hope have all been nicely said. But I’m still hurting, wondering…..”

On the anvil.

Brought face to face with God out of the utter realization that we have nowhere else to go. Jesus in the garden. Peter with a tear-streaked face. David after Bathsheba. Elijah and the “still, small voice.” Paul, blind in Damascus.

Pound, pound, pound.

I hope you’re not on the anvil. (Unless you need to be, and if so, I hope you are.) Anvil time is not to be avoided; it’s to be experienced. Although the tunnel is dark, it does go through the mountain. Anvil time reminds us of who we are and who God is. We shouldn’t try to escape it. To escape it could be to escape God.

God sees our life from beginning to end. He may lead us through a storm at age thirty so we can endure a hurricane at age sixty. An instrument is useful only if it’s in the right shape. A dull ax or bent screwdriver needs attention, and so do we. A good blacksmith keeps his tools in shape. So does God.

Should God place you on his anvil, be thankful. It means he thinks you’re still worth reshaping.

From On the Anvil:
Stories On Being Shaped Into God’s Image

This is a new edition of Max’s first book.
It contains an updated forward, written by him, as well as thoughtful questions for each chapter.

© (Tyndale House, 1985, 2008) Max Lucado

The Power of Prayer (1)

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. - James 1:6.

In James 5:13-18 we read:
13 Is anyone among you suffering ? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful ? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick ? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

This is a very interesting and profitable passage of the holy Scripture. This passage talks solely about prayer. It mentions prayer in every verse.

13 Is anyone among you .. ? Let him pray
14 Is anyone among you sick ? ... Let him pray
15 And the prayer ...
16 .. and pray for ...
17 ... and he prayed ...
18 And he prayed again ...

It is also worth noting that it is addressed to the sick, the afflicted and the spiritually weak. Perhaps you have committed sin that has weakened you spiritually or you may have peculiar need in your life. There is deliverance through the prayer of faith. This passage talks aout prayer in various ways. Viz:
1. The prayer of faith
2. Personal prayer
3. The prayers of elders
4. The believers' prayers
5. Spirit-energized prayer

Elijah the prophet is cited as an example from the old covenant to give us a model of prayer. Since we have a better covenant, we should be able to get better results and encouragement in our prayers.

This passage also talks about faith. Verse 15 says "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Actually the whole book of James talks about faith and shows the types of faith to be manifested when we pray.
a) Unwavering faith must be manifested when you pray (James 1:6)
b) Sincere, honest and pure faith (James 2:1)
c) Living, active and scriptural faith (James 2:17,20,26)
d) Rich, abundant faith that solely leans upon the promises of God (James 2:5)
e) Faith that is effective in healing and forgiveness (James 5:16)

These are the kinds of faith we are to manifest if we are attacked, sick or afflicted, in order to receive the desired result.

- Daniel OC

WATER FOR YOUR SOUL

by Max Lucado

Where do you find water for the soul? Jesus gave an answer one October day in Jerusalem. People had packed the streets for the annual reenactment of the rock-giving-water miracle of Moses. Each morning a priest filled a golden pitcher with water from the Gihon spring and carried it down a people-lined path to the temple. He did this every day, once a day, for seven days. “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’ ” (John 7:37–38).

He “stood and shouted” (NLT). The traditional rabbinic teaching posture was sitting and speaking. But Jesus stood up and shouted out. Forget a kind clearing of the throat. God was pounding his gavel on heaven’s bench. Christ demanded attention.

He shouted because his time was short. The sand in the neck of his hourglass was down to measurable grains. In six months he’d be dragging a cross through these streets. And the people? The people thirsted. They needed water, not for their throats, but for their hearts. So Jesus invited: Are your insides starting to shrivel? Drink me.

Internalize him. Ingest him. Welcome him into the inner workings of your life. Let Christ be the water of your soul.

Toward this end, I give you this tool: a prayer for the thirsty heart. Carry it just as a cyclist carries a water bottle. The prayer outlines four essential fluids for soul hydration: God’s work, God’s energy, his lordship, and his love. You’ll find the prayer easy to remember. Just think of the word W-E-L-L.

Lord, I come thirsty. I come to drink, to receive. I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. My sins are pardoned, and my death is defeated. I receive your energy. Empowered by your Holy Spirit, I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. I receive your lordship. I belong to you. Nothing comes to me that hasn’t passed through you. And I receive your love. Nothing can separate me from your love.

Don’t you need regular sips from God’s reservoir? I do. I’ve offered this prayer in countless situations: stressful meetings, dull days, long drives, demanding trips, character-testing decisions. Many times a day I step to the underground spring of God and receive anew his work for my sin and death, the energy of his Spirit, his lordship, and his love.

Drink with me from his bottomless well. You don’t have to live with a dehydrated heart.

Receive Christ’s work on the cross,
the energy of his Spirit,
his lordship over your life,
his unending, unfailing love.

Drink deeply and often. And out of you will flow rivers of living water.


From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

WHEN DEATH BECOMES BIRTH

by Max Lucado

You live one final breath from your own funeral.

Which, from God’s perspective, is nothing to grieve. He responds to these grave facts with this great news: “The day you die is better than the day you are born” (Eccles. 7:1). Now there is a twist. Heaven enjoys a maternity-ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery-room doors. “He’ll be coming through any minute!” They can’t wait to see the new arrival. While we’re driving hearses and wearing black, they’re hanging pink and blue streamers and passing out cigars. We don’t grieve when babies enter the world. The hosts of heaven don’t weep when we leave it.

Oh, but many of us weep at the thought of death. Do you? Do you dread your death? And is your dread of death robbing your joy of life?

Jesus came to “deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Heb. 2:15).

Your death may surprise you and sadden others, but heaven knows no untimely death: “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Ps. 139:16).

Dread of death ends when you know heaven is your true home. In all my air travels I’ve never seen one passenger weep when the plane landed. Never. No one clings to the armrests and begs, “Don’t make me leave. Don’t make me leave. Let me stay and eat more peanuts.” We’re willing to exit because the plane has no permanent mailing address. Nor does this world. “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior” (Phil. 3:20).

Why don’t you do this: give God your death. Imagine your last breath, envision your final minutes, and offer them to him. Deliberately. Regularly. “Lord, I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. I entrust you with my departure from earth.” With Christ as your friend and heaven as your home, the day of death becomes sweeter than the day of birth.


From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

IN GOD WE (NEARLY) TRUST

by Max Lucado

A few days before our wedding, Denalyn and I enjoyed and endured a sailing voyage. Milt, a Miami church friend, had invited Denalyn, her mom, and me to join him and a few others on a leisurely cruise along the Florida coast.

Initially it was just that. Leisure. We stretched out on cushions, hung feet over the side, caught some zzz’s and rays. Nice.

But then came the storm. The sky darkened, the rain started, and the flat ocean humped like a dragon’s neck. Sudden waves of water tilted the vessel up until we saw nothing but sky and then downward until we saw nothing but blue. I learned this about sailing: there is nothing swell about a swell. Tanning stopped. Napping ceased. Eyes turned first to the thunderclouds, then to the captain. We looked to Milt.

He was deliberate and decisive. He told some people where to sit, others what to do, and all of us to hang on. And we did what he said. Why? We knew he knew best. No one else knew the difference between starboard and stern. Only Milt did. We trusted him. We knew he knew.

And we knew we didn’t. Prior to the winds, we might have boasted about Boy Scout merit badges in sailing or bass-boat excursions. But once the storm hit, we shut up. (Except for Denalyn, who threw up.) We had no choice but to trust Milt. He knew what we didn’t—and he cared. The vessel was captained, not by a hireling or a stranger, but by a pal. Our safety mattered to him. So we trusted him.

Oh, that the choice were equally easy in life. Need I remind you about your westerly winds? With the speed of lightning and the force of a thunderclap, williwaws anger tranquil waters. Victims of sudden storms populate unemployment lines and ICU wards. You know the winds. You’ve felt the waves. Good-bye, smooth sailing. Hello, rough waters.

Such typhoons test our trust in the Captain. Does God know what he is doing? Can he get us out? Why did he allow the storm?

Can you say about God what I said about Milt?
I know God knows what’s best.
I know I don’t.
I know he cares.

Such words come easily when the water is calm. But when you’re looking at a wrecked car or a suspicious-looking mole, when war breaks out or thieves break in, do you trust him?

To embrace God’s sovereignty is to drink from the well of his lordship and make a sailboat-in-the-storm decision. Not in regard to Milt and the sea, but in regard to God and life. You look toward the Captain and resolve: he knows what’s best.


From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

An Inseparable Pair

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1.

Every coin has two sides. They go hand in hand. They stand and fall together. Whatever the case may be, the coin always exists with two sides. Whatever happens to the one also happens to the other. They are Siamese twins, inseparable.

Time and life are like that too. Like the two sides of a coin, they interact with and affect each other. They are joined together and have a common destiny. They travel together on the same place. Time cannot make sense without its relations to life. Similarly, life has no meaning without its relation to time. They always need each other and compliment each other in their relationship.

Beloved saints of God, whatever you do with your life affects your time and whatever you do with your time affects your life. The quality of your life is determined by the way you use your time. The value you manage to squeeze out of your time will be determine by the kind of life you envision.

Finally, whatever you do to your time will be done to your life and whatever you do to your life will also be done to your time. Waste time and life goes down the drain. Play with your life and time flies out of the window. You cannot have your cake and eat it. Be sure to use your time and life for the most profitable engagement ever, that which will last throughout all time and eternity and yield a reword that appreciates forever.

As an unbeliever, you can enter that path to Jesus Christ today. As a believer, you can re-dedicate your life and time to please God. Remember that there is only one life given to every man and we must all give account on the last day. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this judgement. (Hebrews 9:27).

May the good Lord bless you as you make the best of your life and time fruitfully for the glory of God Almighty!

The quality of your life is determined by the way you use your time.

- Daniel O.C.

Simply Excellent

For you were once darkness, but now you are in the Lord. Walk as children of light. - Ephesians 5:8.

Someone is diligently calling all Christians for love and partnership, she is simply excellent. Who is this ? "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honour are with me, enduring riches and righteousness. My fruits is better than gold, yes than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I traverse the way of righteousness, in the midst of justice, that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I may fill their treasuries" (Proverbs 8:17-21)

Beloved saints of the living God, who is this making such excellent offer ? She gives riches, honours, desirable riches and righteousness. She speaks right things, excellent things and truth. Every Christian believer really needs to meet her. Much more than mere acquaintance, every working Christian should like to share board with her, so well as to say to her, "For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her." (Proverbs 8:11)

But what is her name if you know her ? Where can she be found ? She has such excellent qualities and adds good value to the labours of those that know her. She helps Christians be well-motivated and make timely decisive actions in order to become great achievers of good things.

There are only 24 hours in a day, but by her a godly Christian can accomplish in a day what an ordinary, slothful and pleasure seeking so called churchgoer may not get done in a year.

Beyond human appreciation, she has supernatural appeal. She says, "The Lord possesed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a cricle on the face of the deep. " (Proverbs 8:22-27). No wonder the Scriptures say that everything that God made in Creation was very good (Genesis 1:31). She is a divine quality of God. Praise the Lord, but do you know her name ?

Yes! Her name is WISDOM and her twin partner is called UNDERSTANDING. Wisdom is calling on every Christian to make himself/herself a name among the precious of distinction. "Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom, and in all your getting, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). "Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23).

Faith is not founded on feelings but it stands firm on the Word of the Lord.

- Daniel O.C

SERVE ONE ANOTHER

by Max Lucado

Jesus “set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion” (Phil. 2:7–8 MSG).

Let’s follow his example. Let’s “put on the apron of humility, to serve one another” (1 Pet. 5:5 TEV). Jesus entered the world to serve. We can enter our jobs, our homes, our churches. Servanthood requires no unique skill or seminary degree. Regardless of your strengths, training, or church tenure, you can …

Love the overlooked. Jesus sits in your classroom, wearing the thick glasses, outdated clothing, and a sad face. You’ve seen him. He’s Jesus.

Jesus works in your office. Pregnant again, she shows up to work late and tired. No one knows the father. According to water-cooler rumors, even she doesn’t know the father. You’ve seen her. She’s Jesus.

When you talk to the lonely student, befriend the weary mom, you love Jesus. He dresses in the garb of the overlooked and ignored. “Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40 MSG).

You can do that. Even if your sweet spot has nothing to do with encouraging others, the cure for the common life involves loving the overlooked. You can also …

Wave a white flag. We fight so much. “Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from?” asks the brother of Jesus. “Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves” (James 4:1 MSG). Serve someone by swallowing your pride. One more aspect of servanthood…..

Every day do something you don’t want to do. Pick up someone else’s trash. Surrender your parking place. Call the long-winded relative. Carry the cooler. Doesn’t have to be a big thing. Helen Keller once told the Tennessee legislature that when she was young, she had longed to do great things and could not, so she decided to do small things in a great way. Don’t be too big to do something small. “Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort” (1 Cor. 15:58 MSG).

A good action not only brings good fortune, it brings God’s attention. He notices the actions of servants. He sent his Son to be one.

When you and I crest Mount Zion and hear the applause of saints, we’ll realize this: hands pushed us up the mountain too. The pierced hands of Jesus Christ, the greatest servant who ever lived.

From

Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

Spiritual Wisdom

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. - 1 Cor. 2:12

The Holy Spirit enables us to live, pleasing and delighting the heart of our Heavenly Father if we allow Him to control our lives in every situation, daily and moment by moment. But often we are busy satisfying the senses of the flesh by making choices with senses and reason and acting on them without the Holy Spirit.

We profess and want to believe that we are led by the Spirit in all things, but we allow fleshly desires, the lust of the flesh, the pride of the life and the world to overcome us. We make choices that will grieve the Spirit of God. We make compromises and instead of leading a life of holiness, led by the Spirit of God and prayerfulness, we deceive ourselves and live in a make-believe 'white-washed life of pretense holiness.".

Beloved child of God, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God whose temple you are. Do not grieve the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ who loves you and who gave Himself for you without counting His own life that you might have eternal life.

Romans 8:8 says "So then those who are living the life o the flesh (catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature) cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him." Verse 13 says "For if you live according to (the dictates of) the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you are (habitually) putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the (evil) deeds prompted by the body, you shall (really and genuinely) live forever". So if you want to please God and satisfy Him, dedicate yourself to live a life led and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God for only then we are truly 'the sons of God' (Romans 8:14)

Confess to the Lord whatever has been your life all your shortcomings. Let the cry of David be your cry from the depth of your heart, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right preserving and steadfast spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your Holy presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:10). In a world where everyone is dead to sin and corrupt them to be the very core let them see you as a vessel of holiness, a true son of God, one who is truly the temple of God in whom dwells the Holy Spirit of God.

Today come to the Lord asking Him to make you His dwelling place, give yourself to a life lead and controlled by the Spirit of God. Then the very remembrance of you in the minds of people would be associated with someone who walks daily by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

If we put Him first in our lives, give to Him
the best of ourselves and serve Him
with our whole heat, soul and strength,
He will always have the best for us

- Daniel O.C

CHOOSING THE UNCOMMON LIFE

by Max Lucado

One can’t, at once, promote two reputations. Promote God’s and forget yours. Or promote yours and forget God’s. We must choose.

Joseph did. Matthew describes Jesus’s earthly father as a craftsman (Matt. 13:55). He lives in Nazareth: a single-camel map dot on the edge of boredom. Joseph never speaks in the New Testament. He does much. He sees an angel, marries a pregnant girl, and leads his family to Bethlehem and Egypt. He does much, but says nothing.

A small-town carpenter who never said a Scripture-worthy word. Is Joseph the right choice? Doesn’t God have better options? An eloquent priest from Jerusalem or a scholar from the Pharisees? Why Joseph? A major part of the answer lies in his reputation: he gives it up for Jesus. “Then Joseph [Mary’s] husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly” (Matt. 1:19).

Mary’s parents, by this point, have signed a contract and sealed it with a dowry. Mary belongs to Joseph; Joseph belongs to Mary. Legally and matrimonially bound.

Now what? His fiancée is pregnant, blemished, tainted … he is righteous, godly. On one hand, he has the law. On the other, he has his love. The law says, stone her. Love says, forgive her. Joseph is caught in the middle. But Joseph is a kind man. “Not wanting to disgrace her, [he] planned to send her away secretly” (v. 19 NASB).

A quiet divorce. How long would it stay quiet? Likely not long. But for a time, this was the solution.

Then comes the angel. “While he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit’ ” (v. 20).

Mary’s growing belly gives no cause for concern, but reason to rejoice. “She carries the Son of God in her womb,” the angel announces. But who would believe it? Who would buy this tale? Envision Joseph being questioned by the city leaders.

“Joseph,” they say, “we understand that Mary is with child.”

He nods.

“Is the child yours?”

He shakes his head.

“Do you know how she became pregnant?”

Gulp. A bead of sweat forms beneath Joseph’s beard. He faces a dilemma. He makes his decision. “Joseph … took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS” (Matt. 1:24–25).

Joseph tanked his reputation. He swapped his reputation for a pregnant fiancée and an illegitimate son and made the big decision of discipleship. He placed God’s plan ahead of his own.

Would you be willing to do the same? God grants us an uncommon life to the degree we surrender our common one. “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life” (Matt. 16:25 NLT). Would you forfeit your reputation to see Jesus born into your world?


From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

A Father's Love

Many poems have been written to explain
How a mother's love can soothe the pain
But little has been said about a Father's concern
So now I think it must be his turn.

A Father's love for his offspring
Is just like that of a solid gold ring,
No matter what, it is unending,
Never breaking; though .. sometimes bending.

His love is strong as a mother's, although..
Due to his personality, it sometimes doesn't show.
There is no question of how strong,
Or of its lasting, however long.

So no matter if his child is good or bad
There is no love stronger, than that of a Dad.

Happy Father's Day

YOUR GOD IS A GOOD GOD

by Max Lucado

Use your uniqueness to take great risks for God!

The only mistake is not to risk making one.

Such was the error of the one-talent servant. Did the master notice him? Indeed, he did. And from the third servant we learn a sobering lesson. “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground’ ” (Matt. 25: 24–25).

Contrast the reaction of the third servant with that of the first two.

The faithful servants “went and traded” (v. 16). The fearful one “went and dug” (v. 18).

The first two invested. The last one buried.

The first two went out on a limb. The third hugged the trunk.

The master wouldn’t stand for it. Brace yourself for the force of his response. “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest” (vv. 26–27).

Whoa. What just happened? Why the blowtorch? Find the answer in the missing phrase. The master repeated the assessment of the servant, word for word, with one exclusion. Did you note it? “I knew you to be a hard man” (v. 24). The master didn’t repeat the description he wouldn’t accept.

The servant levied a cruel judgment by calling the master a hard man. The servant used the exact word for “hard” that Christ used to describe stiff-necked and stubborn Pharisees (see Matt. 19:8; Acts 7:51). The writer of Hebrews employed the term to beg readers not to harden their hearts (3:8). The one-talent servant called his master stiff-necked, stubborn, and hard.

His sin was not mismanagement, but misunderstanding. Was his master hard? He gave multimillion-dollar gifts to undeserving servants; he honored the two-talent worker as much as the five; he stood face to face with both at homecoming and announced before the audiences of heaven and hell, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Was this a hard master? Infinitely good, graciously abundant, yes. But hard? No.

The one-talent servant never knew his master. He should have. He lived under his roof and shared his address. He knew his face, his name, but he never knew his master’s heart. And, as a result, he broke it.

Who is this unprofitable servant? If you never use your gifts for God, you are. If you think God is a hard God, you are.

For fear of doing the wrong thing for God, you’ll do nothing for God. For fear of making the wrong kingdom decision, you’ll make no kingdom decision. For fear of messing up, you’ll miss out. You will give what this servant gave and will hear what this servant heard: “You wicked and lazy servant” (v. 26).

But you don’t have to. It’s not too late to seek your Father’s heart. Your God is a good God.

From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

Building God's House

For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. - Psalms 84:11

The promise here are unmistakable. The condition clearly states "walk uprightly with the Lord your God." This is why we preach holiness and emphasize on the total obedience to the Lord. This is the reason we encourage every Christian to walk in the narrow way and remain faithful to the Word of God in his public and private life.

It is understandable that the blessings of God are attached to the obedience of His word. There are several churchgoers who complain to be serving Him. They concede to their sinfulness but still affirm their devotion to the Almighty God. What hypocrisy! They can easily admit unfaithfully, "especially pride", through their words, actions and deeds. Yet they do not heed any godly sermon that leads them to repentance.

Beloved, repent and forsake your ungodly ways today and turn to the Lord with all your heart. Receive the word of God and obey it excitedly. Those who continue in their sins and expect to enjoy the promises of God would find their hopes dashed.

Sinners in church who are stagnant and unprogressive in their spiritual lives remain as the "tail," while new believers who have been sincerely born again, are forging ahead and becoming the "head". It is really painful to be the tail.

Beloved child of the living God! Why should you be "tail" when your Heavenly Father has set you to be a "head" ?

The word of God in Haggai 1:5,7 says, "Now therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts, "Consider your ways."

Do mull over your habits and activities to ask whether your attitude is sensible before the Lord.

- Daniel O.C

HONOR GOD IN YOUR WORK

by Max Lucado

Heaven’s calendar has seven Sundays a week. God sanctifies each day. He conducts holy business at all hours and in all places. He uncommons the common by turning kitchen sinks into shrines, cafés into convents, and nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures.

Workdays? Yes, workdays. He ordained your work as something good. Before he gave Adam a wife or a child, even before he gave Adam britches, God gave Adam a job. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 NASB). Innocence, not indolence, characterized the first family.

God views work worthy of its own engraved commandment: “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest” (Exod. 34:21 NASB). We like the second half of that verse. But emphasis on the day of rest might cause us to miss the command to work: “You shall work six days.” Whether you work at home or in the marketplace, your work matters to God.

And your work matters to society. We need you! Cities need plumbers. Nations need soldiers. Stoplights break. Bones break. We need people to repair the first and set the second. Someone has to raise kids, raise cane, and manage the kids who raise Cain.

Whether you log on or lace up for the day, you imitate God. Jehovah himself worked for the first six days of creation. Jesus said, “My Father never stops working, and so I keep working, too” (John 5:17 NCV). Your career consumes half of your lifetime. Shouldn’t it broadcast God? Don’t those forty to sixty hours a week belong to him as well?

The Bible never promotes workaholism or an addiction to employment as pain medication. But God unilaterally calls all the physically able to till the gardens he gives. God honors work. So honor God in your work. “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good” (Eccles. 2:24 NASB).

Here is the big idea:

Use your uniqueness (what you do)
to make a big deal out of God (why you do it)
every day of your life (where you do it).

At the convergence of all three, you’ll find the cure for the common life: your sweet spot.

From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

AN UNCOMMON CALL TO AN UNCOMMON LIFE

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

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

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

20 APRIL 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE
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CHAIRMAN: Caleb R.
WORSHIP LEADER: Kai Yew
BACK UPS: Hong Lu, Gigi Lim, Jenny Lee
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PIANIST: Jun Fhui
SYNTH: Joseph Yap
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DRUMMER: Anna Sim
GUITARIST: Terry Choong
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LCD: Meng Fhui, Moses Tan
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh

13 APRIL 2008

CHAIRMAN: Dr Siow KW
WORSHIP LEADER: Shankar R.
BACK UPS: Siew Pin, Jacinta Lee, Jocelyn Choong
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PIANIST: Jessica Lee
SYNTH: Jun Fhui
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DRUMMER: Simon Lim
GUITARIST: Anna Sim
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LCD: Tian Sia, Jocelyn Lee
PA: Hiew FF, Tommy Quek

6 APRIL 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE
CHAIRMAN: Barnabas P.
WORSHIP LEADER: Foong Yee
BACK UPS: Gigi Lim, Peggy Tan
-
PIANIST: Lydia Sim
SYNTH: Meng Fhui
-
DRUMMER: Kai Yew
GUITARIST: Terry Choong
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LCD: Joseph Yap, Moses Tan
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh