Joshua 21:45 says, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”  Joshua and his men went from dry land to the Promised Land, from manna to feasts, from arid deserts to fertile fields. They inherited their inheritance: the glory days of Israel. This is God’s vision for your life. You, at full throttle. You, as victor over the Jerichos and giants.

Paul describes it as a life in which “Christ’s love has the first and last word in everything we do” (2 Corinthians 5:14).  A life in which Paul says, “we do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:16). A life defined by grace, refined by challenge, and aligned with a heavenly call. In God’s plan, in God’s land…God’s promises outweigh personal problems. Victory becomes a way of life! Your glory days await you!

From Glory Days

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Nearly 9 out of 10 believers say they are saved, yes. But empowered? No. Like the children of Israel, they are out of Egypt but not yet possessing the Promised Land. That’s about 2 billion people who call themselves Christians chugging along on a fraction of their horsepower.

What would happen if they got a tune-up? How would the world be different if 2 billion people came out of the wilderness? How many marriages would be saved? How many wars would be prevented? If every Christian began to live the Promised Land life, how would the world be different? With God’s help you can close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be; indeed, the person God made you to be. The Bible says you can live from glory to glory. You just need to possess the land!

From Glory Days

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God spoke. Joshua listened and Israel’s Glory Days began. The Jordan River opened up and Jericho’s walls fell down. Evil was booted, and hope was rebooted. Joshua 21:43 says, “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it. The Lord gave them rest all around…not a man of all their enemies stood against them!”

Perhaps you need a new season. You don’t need to cross the Jordan River, but you need to get through the week. You aren’t facing Jericho, but you are facing rejection or heartache. The story of Joshua dares us to believe God has a Promised Land for us to take! It’s not real estate, but a real state of the heart and mind! A Promised Land…a promised land life!

From Glory Days

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God has a promised land for you to take!

I sat across the table from a man in midlife misery. He described his life with words like stuck, rut, and stalled. He’s a Christian, but he can’t tell you the last time he defeated a temptation or experienced an answered prayer. Twenty years into his faith and he fights the same battles he was fighting the day he came to Christ. It’s as if the door to spiritual growth has a lock and everyone has the key but him.

Joshua 21:43 says, “So the Lord gave Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give. . .and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.”

The promised land! God’s vision for your life. Yours for the taking. Expect to be challenged. The enemy won’t go down without a fight. But your glory days await you!

From Glory Days

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The most notorious road in the world is the Via Dolorosa, “the Way of Sorrows.” According to tradition, it’s the route Jesus took from Pilate’s hall to Calvary. The path is marked by stations frequently used by Christians for their devotions—each one a reminder of the events of Christ’s final journey. No one actually knows the exact route Jesus followed that Friday. But we do know where the path began. In heaven. Jesus began his journey when he left his home in search of us.

The Bible has a word for this quest: reconciliation. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV). Reconciliation restiches the unraveled, reverses the rebellion, and rekindles the cold passion. Reconciliation touches the shoulder of the wayward and woos him homeward. The path to the cross tells us exactly how far God will go to call us back.

From He Chose the Nails

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Can a holy God overlook our mistakes? Should a kind God punish our mistakes? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions. But from God’s perspective there’s a third. It’s called “the Cross of Christ.” The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.

How could he do this? In a sentence: God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. “God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 MSG). Why did he do it? Because “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (John 3:16 NLT). Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read: “For God so loved the rich”? Or “For God so loved the famous?” No we simply (and happily) read: “For God so loved the world!” And you are included in that love!

From He Chose the Nails

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Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was seamless. Coordinated. Unified. He was like his robe: uninterrupted perfection. A seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth…from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe, the wardrobe of indignity. Shamed before his family. The indignity of nakedness. The indignity of failure. Shamed before his accusers. Worst of all he bore the indignity of sin. Scripture says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV). The clothing of Christ on the cross? Sin—yours and mine. The sins of all humanity.

From He Chose the Nails

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Think about the thief on the cross who repented! We know little about him, but we know this: He made some bad mistakes in his life. But is he spending eternity reaping the fruit of all the bad choices he made? No, just the opposite. He is enjoying the fruit of the one good choice he made.

You may look back over your life and say, “If only. . .if only I could make up for those bad choices.” You can. One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth.

How could two thieves see the same Jesus and one choose to mock him and the other choose to pray to him? When one prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him. When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice. He does the same for you.

From He Chose the Nails

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In so many areas of life we have no choice. “It’s not fair,” we say. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire.

Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next. Wouldn’t you agree? It would have been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. It would’ve been nice, but it didn’t happen. When it came to many details of your life on earth, you weren’t given a choice, a voice, or a vote. But when it comes to life after death, you were! In my book that seems like a good deal. Wouldn’t you agree?

From He Chose the Nails

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Much has been said about the prayer of the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus. But dare we forget the one who didn’t pray? He offered no request. He, too, could have requested mercy. He, too could have asked Jesus to remember him in the new kingdom. But he didn’t. He offered no prayer of repentance. And Jesus didn’t demand one.

Jesus gave both criminals the same choice. One said “remember me.” The other said nothing. There are times when God sends thunder to stir us. There are times when God sends blessings to lure us. But then there are times when God sends nothing but silence as he honors us with the freedom to choose where we spend eternity.

From He Chose the Nails

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God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, can’t be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins hidden. “He has forgiven you all your sins: he has utterly wiped out the written evidence. . .and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 Phillips).

He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails. The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews. With a flex of the biceps, Jesus could have resisted. Jesus himself chose the nails. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice—nailed to the cross; covered by his blood.

From He Chose the Nails

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Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers press a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. As the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it, think about the hand that received the nail. The fist doesn’t clench—the moment isn’t aborted.

A mallet drove a nail into the hand, not just of a carpenter, but into the hand of God. Fingers that formed Adam out of clay and furrowed truth into tablets felt the pain of crucifixion. The same hand that stilled the seas stilled your guilt. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you.

From He Chose the Nails

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What is the fruit of sin? Step into the briar patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety. Haven’t our hearts been caught in these brambles?

The heart of Jesus, however, had not. Jesus never knew the fruits of sin—until he became sin for us. And when he did, all the emotions of sin tumbled in on him. Can’t you hear the emotion in his prayer at the cross? “My God, my God, why have you rejected me?” (Matthew 27:46). These are not the words of a saint. This is the cry of a sinner. He stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven.

Do you want to know the most amazing thing about the One who gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns? He did it for you. Just for you.

From He Chose the Nails

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Have you ever wondered why God gives us so much?  We could exist on far less! God could have left the world flat and gray—we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. Why give a flower its fragrance? Why give food its taste?

Jesus asked, “If you hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matthew 7:11 TLB).

Every gift reveals God’s love—but no gift reveals his love more than the gifts of the cross. They came, not wrapped in paper, but in passion. Not covered with ribbons, but sprinkled with blood. The gifts of the cross! Have you taken time to open these gifts? If you do, perhaps you will hear him whisper, “I did it just for you.”

From He Chose the Nails

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Just suppose you were to stand on a stage while a film of every secret and selfish second of your life was projected on the screen behind you? Wouldn’t you shout to the heavens to have mercy?

Imagine what Christ felt on the cross! Scripture says “He personally carried all our sins in his body. . .” (1 Peter 2:24). See Christ on the cross? That’s a gossiper hanging there. See Jesus? Embezzler. Liar. See the crucified carpenter? He’s an addict and murderer.

Hold it, Max. Don’t you lump Christ with those evildoers. I didn’t. HE did. More than place his name in the same sentence, he placed himself in their place. With hands nailed open, he invited God, “Treat me as you would treat them!” And God did.

“My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” (Matthew 27:46). Why did Christ scream those words? So you’ll never have to.

From Next Door Savior

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On a trip to the United Kingdom, our family visited a castle. In the center of the garden was a maze—row after row of shoulder-high hedges—one dead end leading to another. By successfully navigating the labyrinth, you discovered the door to a tall tower in the center of the garden. I just couldn’t figure out which way to go. Then I heard a voice, “Hey, Dad, back up and turn right.” Do you think I trusted her? I listened. It was my daughter calling from the tower. Her vantage point was better than mine. She was above the maze. She could see what I couldn’t!

Don’t you think we should do the same with God? “God is. . .higher than the heavens” (Job 22:12 TLB).  The Psalmist says, “The LORD is high above all nations” (Psalm 113:4).

Can he not see what eludes us? Doesn’t he want to get us out and bring us home? Of course he does!

From Next Door Savior

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You lead a common life. Punctuated by occasional weddings, job transfers, bowling trophies, and graduations—a few highlights—but mainly it’s the day-to-day rhythm you share with the majority of humanity. Do commoners rate in heaven? Does God love common people?

God answers these questions in a most uncommon fashion. If the word common describes you, take heart—you are in fine company because it also describes Christ. When you list the places Christ lived, draw a circle around the common town named Nazareth. For thirty of his thirty-three years, Jesus lived a common life. Aside from that one incident in the temple at the age of twelve, we have no record of what he said or did for the first three decades he walked on this earth.

Next time you feel common, take heart! God uses the common to do uncommon things.

From Next Door Savior

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Do you want to go to heaven? It doesn’t matter how religious you are or how many rules you keep. You need a new birth; you need to be “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5-6 NLT).

Religious rule keeping can sap your strength. It’s endless! No prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Her inmates never know when they are finished. Christ, however, gifts you with a finished work. He fulfilled the law for you at the Cross. Gone is the fear that having done everything, you might not have done enough. You climb the stairs, not by your strength, but his.

God pledges to help those who stop trying to help themselves. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV). God will change you, my friend, from the inside out!

From Next Door Savior

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My friend Roy was sitting on a park bench one morning as he watched a little guy struggling to get on the school bus that stopped just a few feet away. He was leaning down frantically trying to “un-knot” a knotted shoestring. All of a sudden it was too late—the door was closing. The little boy fell back on his haunches and sighed. Then he saw Roy. Tears in his eyes he looked at the man on the bench and asked, “Do you untie knots?”

Jesus loves that request. Life gets tangled. People mess up. You never outgrow the urge to look up and say, “Help!” Jesus had a way of appearing at such moments. Peter’s empty boat. Nicodemus’s empty heart. Matthew with a friend issue. Look who shows up. Jesus, our next door Savior!  And we ask, “Do you untie knots?” His answer is “Yes!”

From Next Door Savior

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Exactly what is worship?  I like King David’s definition: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3 NASB). Worship is the act of magnifying God. Enlarging our vision of him.  As we draw nearer, he seems larger. Isn’t that what we need? A big view of God? Don’t we have big problems, big worries, big questions? Of course we do. Hence we need a big view of God. Worship offers that. How can we sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” and not have our vision expanded?

A vibrant, shining face is the mark of one who has stood in God’s presence. After speaking to God, Moses had to cover his face with a veil (Exodus 34:33-35). After seeing heaven, Stephen’s face glowed like that of an angel (Acts 6:15; 7:55-56). God is in the business of changing the face of the world!

From Just Like Jesus

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