Tag Archives: Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – More Sponge, Less Rock

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Make God’s presence your passion. How? Be more sponge and less rock. Put a rock in the ocean, and what happens? Its surface gets wet. The exterior may change color, but the interior remains untouched. Yet place a sponge in the ocean, and notice the change. It absorbs the water. The ocean penetrates every pore and alters the essence of the sponge. God surrounds us in the same way the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere—above, below, on all sides.

We choose our response—rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Hard hearts never heal. Spongy ones do. The Psalmist determined, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.” Open every pore of your soul to God’s presence!

From You’ll Get Through This

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Who’s Going Thirsty?

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Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Revelation 22:17

The invitation is to “take . . . without price.” Jesus wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, but if you are willing, you are invited; therefore come! If you have no belief and no repentance, come to Him, and He will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take without money and without price. He gives Himself to the needy.

In nineteenth-century Britain the drinking fountains at the corners of the streets were valuable institutions; it would have been a strange and foolish sight to see someone standing at the fountain declaring, “I cannot drink because I do not have any money.” However poor an individual may be, there is the fountain, and just as he is, he may drink of it without cost. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed poorly or expensively, do not look for any authorization to drink; the existence of the fountain is sufficient warrant for taking its water freely. The generosity of some good friends has put in place the refreshing supply, and we take it and ask no questions.

Perhaps the only people who go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips.

How many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! “I will not be saved,” they say, “in the same way as the prostitute or the blasphemer.” What! Go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep? Is there no pathway to glory but the path that led the dying thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but “Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Charles Spurgeon – The wicked man’s life, funeral, and epitaph

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“And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this also is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 8:10

Suggested Further Reading: Luke 16:19-23

Go into Bunhill Fields, and stand by the memorial of John Bunyan, and you will say, “Ah! There lies the head that contained the brain which thought out that wondrous dream of the Pilgrim’s Progress from the City of Destruction to the Better Land. There lies the finger that wrote those wondrous lines which depict the story of him who came at last to the land Beulah, and waded through the flood, and entered into the celestial city. And there are the eyelids which he once spoke of, when he said, “If I lie in prison until the moss grows on my eyelids, I will never make a promise to withhold from preaching.” And there is that bold eye that penetrated the judge, when he said, “If you will let me out of prison today, I will preach again tomorrow, by the help of God.” And there lies that loving hand that was ever ready to receive into communion all them that loved the Lord Jesus Christ: I love the hand that wrote the book, “Water Baptism no bar to Christian Communion.” I love him for that sake alone, and if he had written nothing else but that, I would say, “John Bunyan, be honoured for ever.” And there lies the foot that carried him up Snow Hill to go and make peace between a father and a son, in that cold day, which cost him his life. Peace to his ashes! Wait, O John Bunyan, till thy Master sends his angel to blow the trumpet; and methinks, when the archangel sounds it, he will almost think of thee, and this shall be a part of his joy, that honest John Bunyan, the greatest of all Englishmen, shall rise from his tomb at the blowing of that great trump. You cannot say so of the wicked.

For meditation: In Heaven the saved are still known by name—Abraham, Lazarus; in hell the lost are at best known only by a description—Dives is just the Latin for “a rich man”. See the contrast in Proverbs 10:7. Are the names and burial-places of John Bunyan’s enemies well known even on earth?

Sermon no. 200
13 June (1858)

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.H. – Overcomer

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“What goes up must come down.” Sir Isaac Newton’s popular quote is in reference to the law of gravity. The Earth operates through scientific laws put into practice by God Himself. Even the most powerful rulers are still subject to these laws.

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

Matthew 14:25

Jesus, however, is ruler over all. He is “the head of all rule and authority.” (Colossians 2:10) Even the laws of nature must obey Jesus. He proved this when, late one night, He walked on the water to join His disciples in their boat. Not fully understanding who Jesus was, His followers were frightened. Jesus truly is the King of all kings.

When praying and thinking about your problems, remember Christ can do anything. All men and all of nature must obey the Son of God. If He can command those things, He can handle whatever life throws at you. Ask God to give this nation’s people and leaders the same peace He gives His followers in the face of difficulty: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Recommended Reading: Matthew 14:22-33

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Enjoy God’s Presence

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You will never go where God is not. Envision the next few hours of your life. Where will you find yourself? In a school? God indwells the classroom. On the highways? His presence lingers among the traffic. In the hospital, the boardroom, the living room, the funeral home? God will be there.

Acts 17:27 says, “He is not far from each one of us.” Each of us. God doesn’t play favorites. All people can enjoy God’s presence. But many don’t. They plod through life as if their only strength was their own. As if their only solution comes from within, not from above. They live God-less lives. Lay claim to the nearness of God. Grip God’s promise like the parachute it is. Repeat it to yourself over and over. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The One Gift Troubles Cannot Touch

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What do you still have that you cannot lose? My father had just retired. He and mom wanted to visit every national park in their travel trailer. Then came the diagnosis of ALS, a cruel degenerative disease that affects the muscles. Within months, the world, as he knew it, was gone.

Denalyn and I were preparing to do mission work in Brazil. I offered to change my plans. But Dad’s reply was immediate and confident. “Go, I have no fear of death or eternity, so don’t be concerned about me. Just Go. Please Him.” His retirement; years with his children and grandchildren; years with his wife—the loss was severe, but it wasn’t complete. “Dad,” I could have asked him, “what do you have that you cannot lose?” He still had God’s call on his heart! And so do you!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Don’t Settle for a Small Destiny

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We re-define ourselves according to our catastrophes. As a result, we settle for a small destiny!

Think you’ve lost it all? You haven’t. The truth of Romans 11:29 is that God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.

Here’s how it works. Your boss calls you into the office. As kind as it sounds, a layoff is a layoff. How will I pay the bills? Who’s going to hire me? Dread dominates your thoughts. But then you remember your destiny. What do I have that I cannot lose? Wait a second– I am still God’s child. My life is more than this life. God will make something good out of this. I will work hard, stay faithful, and trust Him—no matter what.

Bingo! You just trusted your destiny. Another victory for God. It begins with a yes to God’s call on your life!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – His First Choice

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You are God’s child. He saw you, picked you, and placed you! Jesus said, “You did not choose me, I chose you!” You are God’s child. Replacement or fill-in? Hardly. You are His first choice. The choice wasn’t obligatory, required, compulsory, forced, or compelled. He selected you because He wanted to. You are His open, willful, voluntary choice. He walked onto the auction block where you stood, and He proclaimed, This child is mine!

1 Peter 1:19 says He bought you, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” You are His child forever. Your struggles will not last forever—but you will. The promise is in 2 Timothy 2:12: “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” Believe it. Clutch it. Tattoo it on the interior of your heart!  You are God’s child.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Looking Upward

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Genesis tells us, When Joseph had come to his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic. They took him and cast him into a pit. . .and they sat down to eat a meal. (37:23-25)

Joseph’s hands were bound, his ankles tied, and his voice became hoarse from screaming. It wasn’t that his brothers didn’t hear him. Twenty-two years later, when a famine tamed their swagger, they would confess, “we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear” (Gen 42:21).

You’re a version of Joseph. You carry something of God within you—something the world needs. If Satan can neutralize you, he can mute your influence. Life in the pit stinks! Yet it forces you to look upward. Someone from up there must come down here and give you a hand. God did for Joseph, and He will do the same for you!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Master Weaver

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In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good! Nothing in the Old Testament story of Joseph glosses over the presence of evil. Bloodstains and tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.

“You meant evil against me,” Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that means to weave. You wove evil, he was saying, but God re-wove it together for good. God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn, intertwines the colors. Nothing escapes His reach!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Redeems for Good

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Have you wept your final tear or received your last round of chemotherapy? Not necessarily. Will your unhappy marriage become happy in a heartbeat? Not likely. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle and the abundance of strength? Not in this life. But he does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.

It won’t be quick! Sometimes God takes His time. Twenty years to prepare Noah for the flood, eighty years to prepare Moses for his work. How long will God take with you? He may take His time. His history is redeemed not in minutes but in lifetimes. We see a perfect mess; God sees a perfect chance to train, test, and teach. We see a prison…God sees bootcamp! What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good!

From You’ll Get Through This

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Max Lucado – God Gets Us Through Stuff

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Whatever it is—you’ll get through this! You think you won’t. But we all do. We fear the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave. We wonder, will this gray sky ever brighten? Will we ever exit this pit?

Yes…yes!  Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras: big, bold, and everywhere. Out of the lion’s den for Daniel, the prison for Peter, the whale’s belly for Jonah, the grave for Lazarus, and the shackles for Paul. God gets us through stuff. Through the wilderness, through the valley of the shadow of death. Through is a favorite word of God’s. Isaiah 4:32 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned. . .”

You will get through this!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Never Give Up

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How do we flourish in the midst of tragedy? Remember Joseph? Genesis records his story. It says his brothers “hated him.” They put him into a pit, leaving him for dead. And then they covered up what they’d done. Joseph’s story got worse before it got better. Abandonment led to enslavement, then entrapment, and finally imprisonment. He was sold out. Mistreated. Yet he never gave up. His heart never hardened; his resolve never vanished.

He not only survived—he thrived! Speaking years later to the brothers who had betrayed him he said, “As for you…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result” (Genesis 50:20).

In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Goodness and Mercy  

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Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, he is faithful, for he cannot betray himself. He is a sure God. And because he is, we can confidently say with Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

What a huge statement. Look at the size of it! Goodness and mercy follow the child of God each and every day. Think of the days ahead. He will walk you through. He will take your hand. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me—not some, not most, but all the days of my life. Release your doubts. You are no candidate for insecurity. You can trust God. . .all the days of your life!

From Traveling Light

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Gives Hope

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God gives hope! So what if someone was born thinner or stronger, lighter or darker than you? Why count diplomas or compare resumes? What does it matter if they have a place at the head table? You have a place at God’s table! And he’s filling your cup to overflowing. Hasn’t our Father given us a strong wall of grace to protect us? A sure exit to deliver us? Of whom can we be envious? Who has more than we do?

Rather than want what others have, shouldn’t we wonder if they have what we do? Instead of being jealous of them, how about zealous for them? Hold out the cup! There’s enough to go around. One thing is certain. When the final storm comes and you are safe in your Father’s house, you won’t regret what he didn’t give. You will be stunned at what he did.

From Traveling Light

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Good Shepherd

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If the Gospels teach us anything, they teach us that Jesus is a Good Shepherd. In John 10:11, Jesus announces, “The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” Didn’t Jesus spread the oil of prevention on his disciples? He prayed for them. He equipped them. He revealed to them the secrets of the parables. He calmed their fears. Because he was a good shepherd, he protected them…and protected them against disappointments.

Jesus tends to his sheep. And he will tend to you. Go to him. Others may guide us to God. Others may help us understand God. But no one can do the work of God, for only God can heal. Psalm 147:3 promises God “heals the brokenhearted.” Your first step? Go to God. Then bow before God. Trust in Him. Go. Bow. Trust! Worth a try, don’t you think?

From Traveling Light

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Calming The Storm

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Read: Mark 4:35-41

Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 28-29; John 9:24-41

He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. —Mark 4:39

While Hurricane Katrina headed toward the coast of Mississippi, a retired pastor and his wife left their home and went to a shelter. Their daughter pleaded with them to go to Atlanta where she could take care of them, but the couple couldn’t get any money to make the trip because the banks were closed. After the storm had passed, they returned to their home to get a few belongings, and were able to salvage only a few family photos floating in the water. Then, when the man was taking his father’s photo out of its frame so it could dry, $366 fell out—precisely the amount needed for two plane tickets to Atlanta. They learned they could trust Jesus for what they needed.

For the disciples, trusting Jesus in a storm was the curriculum for the day in the dramatic narrative of Mark 4:35-41. Jesus had instructed His disciples to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and then He went to sleep in the boat. When a quick and violent storm blew in, the disciples dripped as much with fear and anxiety as water from the waves. They woke Jesus, saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (v.38 NIV). Jesus stood up and with three words, “Peace, be still!” He muzzled the storm.

We all experience storms—persecutions, financial troubles, illnesses, disappointments, loneliness—and Jesus does not always prevent them. But He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). He will keep us calm in the storm. —Marvin Williams

Are you in a storm? What do you know about God’s character that could help bring calm to your heart?

In the storms of life, we can see the character of our God.

INSIGHT: Mark 4:35–5:43 records four miracles that answer the question asked in 4:41: “Who can this be . . . ?” They demonstrate Jesus’ absolute power over nature (4:35-41), the spiritual world (5:1-20), physical illnesses (5:21-34), and death (5:35-43). Each miracle shows Jesus as the Omnipotent Sovereign God. In Jewish minds the power to control the sea and the waves was exclusive to God (Job 38:8-11; Ps. 65:5-7; Isa. 51:10; Nah. 1:3-5). It’s interesting, however, that in today’s passage Mark provides an amazing contrast. Just before Jesus displayed the awesome powers of His deity by calming the sea, we are given a touching picture of His frail humanity: Jesus was so tired that even the violent tossing of the waves did not wake Him (4:38).

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Loneliness

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We’ll try anything to get rid of our loneliness. But should we? Should we be so quick to drop it? Could it be that loneliness is a gift? A gift from God? A friend turns away. The job goes bad. Your spouse didn’t understand. The church is dull. One by one he removes the options until all you have left is God. He would do that?  Hebrews 12:6 tells us, “The Lord disciplines those he loves.” If he must silence every voice, he will. He wants you to discover what David discovered and to be able to say what David said, “You are with me.”

Loneliness. Could it be one of God’s finest gifts? Scripture says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” If a season of solitude is his way to teach you to hear his song, don’t you think it’s worth it? So do I.

From Traveling Light

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Get Over Yourself

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Proverbs 16:5 says, “The Lord despises pride.” So, get over yourself!

An elementary boy came home from tryouts for the school play. “Mommy, mommy” he announced, “I got a part. I’ve been chosen to sit in the audience and clap and cheer.” When you have a chance to clap and cheer, do you take it? If you do, your head is starting to fit your hat size.

Demanding respect is like chasing a butterfly. Chase it, and you’ll never catch it. Sit still, and it may light on your shoulder. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:2, “Don’t praise yourself. Let someone else do it.” Does your self-esteem need attention? You need only pause at the base of the cross and be reminded of this: The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you. And that’s a fact!

From Traveling Light

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Nothing to Be Proud About

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Do art critics give awards to the canvas? Can you imagine a scalpel growing smug after a successful heart transplant? Of course not. And the message of the Twenty-Third Psalm is that we have nothing to be proud about either. We have rest, salvation, blessings, and a home in heaven—and we did nothing to earn any of it. Who did the work? The answer threads through the Psalm. . .

He makes me. . .

He leads me. . .

He restores my soul. . .

You are with me. . .

Your rod and staff comfort me. . .

You prepare a table. . .

You anoint my head. . .

And just to make sure we get the point, right in the middle of the poem, David declares, the shepherd leads his sheep, not for our names’ sake, but for “His name’s sake!”

From Traveling Light