Do you want a Promised Land life? Do you desire the fullness of Glory Days? Then obey God’s commands! What’s that? You expected something more mystical, exotic, or intriguing? You thought that the Promised Land level life was birthed from ecstatic utterances or angelic visions, mountaintop moments, or midnight messages from heaven? Sorry to disappoint you.

Obedience, wrote C.S. Lewis, is the key to all doors. Don’t think for a second you can heed the wrong voice, make the wrong choice, and escape the consequences. At the same time, obedience leads to a waterfall of goodness not just for you but for your children, your children’s children, and great-grandchildren.  It is God’s promise in Exodus 20:6 to “show love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” As we obey God’s commands, we open the door for God’s favor!

From Glory Days

Remember the story of the prodigal son? He squandered his inheritance on wild living and bad choices. He lost every penny. His trail dead-ended in a pigpen. One day he was so hungry he leaned over the pig trough, took a sniff, and drooled. He was just about to dig in when something within him awoke. Wait a second. What am I doing wallowing in the mud?Then he made a decision that changed his life forever. “I will arise and go to my father.”

You can do that. You can’t undo all the damage you’ve done. But you can arise and go to your Father. Even the apostle Paul had to make this choice. He said, “I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead, I go straight for the goal” (Philippians 3:13-14).

Landing in a pigpen stinks. But staying there…is just plain stupid.

From Glory Days

What was I thinking taking this job? I should have done better. It’s all my fault. The voices—you’ve heard them all. When you lost your job, flunked the exam, or when your marriage went south…when you failed. The voices began to howl, laughing at you. You heard them and you joined them. You disqualified yourself and berated yourself. You sentenced yourself to hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth. Oh, the voices of failure. Failure finds us all.

But God’s Word is written for failures. It’s full of folks who were foul-ups. David was a failure, yet God used him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish and God heard his prayer. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet! A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures! Miss this truth and you miss your Glory Days. God’s grace is greater than your failures.

From Glory Days

Imagine you were living in the South during the Civil War and had accumulated large amounts of Confederate currency. Through a series of events you became convinced that the South was going to lose and your money would soon be worthless. What would you do? If you had any common sense you would put every penny into the currency that is to come and prepare yourself for the end of the war.

Are you investing in the currency of heaven? The currency of this world will be worth nothing when you die or when Christ returns. Whom do you trust? God or King More? King More is a rotten ruler. He never satisfies. He rusts. He loses his value. For all the promises he makes, he cannot keep a single one. King More will break your heart. But the King of Kings? He will catch you every single time!

From Glory Days

In the Lucado house the game was called “Ladies and Gentlemen.” Participants were three pre-school-age daughters and one very happy-to-ham-it-up father—who was the chief ringmaster. “Ladies and Gentleman,” I would announce to the audience of one—Denalyn, who was wondering why we needed to do acrobatics before bedtime. “The Lucado girls will now fly through the air!” They loved it. Never once did they question my judgment or strength. Their mom did. A pediatrician would have. But never in the cycle of a thousand flips and flops did my daughters say to me, “Have you thought this through, Dad?” “I’m not sure you can catch me.” They trusted me completely. After all, I was their father.

Oh that we would trust ours. Jesus once declared, “The work God wants you to do is this…believe the One he sent!” Everything begins with faith!

From Glory Days

Yell a loud NO to the Devil and watch him scamper! He must retreat. He is not allowed in the place where God is praised. Just keep praising and walking.

“But, Max, I’ve been walking a long time,” you say. Yes, it seems like it. It must have seemed that way to the Hebrews too. Joshua didn’t tell them how many trips they’d have to make around the city of Jericho. God told Joshua the walls would fall on the seventh day but Joshua didn’t tell the people. They just kept walking.

Our Joshua [Jesus] didn’t tell us either. Through the pen of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:58, Jesus urges us to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Keep walking! For all you know, this may be the day the walls come down.

From Glory Days

Does a stronghold have a strong hold on you? Do you feel nothing but despair? Do you think thoughts of defeat? A stronghold is a false premise that denies God’s promise. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says “it sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” It attempts to magnify the problem and minimize God’s ability to solve it.

God could never forgive me— That’s the stronghold of guilt.

Bad things always happen to me— That’s the stronghold of self-pity.

I have to be in charge– The stronghold of pride.

I don’t deserve to be loved– The stronghold of rejection.

Most Christians don’t recognize strongholds. But we don’t have to be among them. Our weapons are from God and have divine power to demolish strongholds. Isn’t that what you want? Keep God at center stage. Turn off the computer and open the Bible more! And turn to God for help.

From Glory Days

Here’s what you need to know about the walls of Jericho. They were immense. They wrapped around the city like a suit of armor. Here’s what you need to know about Jericho’s inhabitants. They were ferocious and barbaric. They withstood all sieges and repelled all invaders. Until the day Joshua showed up. Until the day his army marched in. Until the day everything shook. Until mighty Jericho crumbled.

But here’s what you need to know about Joshua. He didn’t bring the walls down. The shaking, quaking of the thick, impervious walls? God did that for him. And God will do that for you! Your Jericho is your fear, your anger, your bitterness, your guilt about the past. It stands between you and your Glory Days. And its walls must fall! Life will always bring challenges. But God will always give strength to face them.

From Glory Days

Joshua 5:14 says “Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped.” He was a five-star general. Forty-thousand soldiers saluted as he passed. Two-million people looked up to him. Yet in the presence of God, he fell on his face, and worshiped.

We’re never so strong or mighty that we don’t need to worship. Worship-less people have no power greater than themselves to call on. The worship-less heart faces Jericho all alone. Don’t go to your Jericho without first going to your Commander. Let him remind you of his all-encompassing power.

In Hebrews 13:5 he has given you this promise. “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” Look to Jesus for comfort. Turn your gaze away from Jericho. You’ve looked at it long enough. Your Jericho may be strong but your Jesus is stronger. Let him be your strength.

From Glory Days

Romans 6:11 says, “Consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God.” When the devil draws near, stand against him. Don’t take his lies. When he dredges up your past, tell him whose you are. He has no recourse to this truth. He knows who you are. He just hopes that you don’t, or that you will forget.

So prove to him that you know and remember. Tell him what 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.” Romans 8:35– “I cannot be separated from the love of God.” And Philippians 4:13– “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Promised Land people think like this. They live out of their inheritance. They show the devil the new name on their spiritual passport. Remember whose you are!

From Glory Days

Some years back as I was driving my daughter Andrea to middle school, she noticed I was anxious.

“Why are you so quiet, Dad?”  I told her I was worried about a book deadline.

She asked me, “Haven’t you written other books?”  “Yes,” I replied.

“How many?” At that point the answer was fifteen.

She responded, “have you ever missed a deadline before?” “No,” I said.

“So God helped you fifteen times already?” “Yes,” I winced. She was sounding like her mother.

She reasoned further, “if he has helped you fifteen different times, don’t you think he will help you this time?”

Satan has no recourse to your testimony! Your best weapon against his attacks is a good memory. Don’t forget a single blessing! 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “You have been bought with a price. You belong to God.” God’s message for you? Remember whose you are. Live out your inheritance!

From Glory Days

Jericho’s shady lady found God—or better worded, God found Rahab the harlot. He spotted a tender heart in the hard city of Jericho and reached out to save her. He would have saved the entire city, but no one else made the request. Then again, Rahab the harlot had an advantage. She had nothing to lose. She was at the bottom of the rung. She had already lost her reputation. She was at the bottom of the pit.

Perhaps that’s where you are as well. You may or may not sell your body, but you’ve sold your allegiance, affection, attention, and talents. You’ve sold out. Glory days? Perhaps for him or for her. But not for me. I’m too soiled, dirty. I’ve sinned too much. No Glory Days for me!

God’s one-word reply for such doubt? Rahab! God has a place for the Rahabs of the world! He has a place for you!

From Glory Days