Tag Archives: Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Grateful Heart

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Max Lucado

Some things were not made to co-exist. Long-tailed cats and rocking chairs?  Bad combination. Bulls in a china closet?  Not a good idea. Blessings and bitterness? That’s the mixture that doesn’t go over well with God. Perhaps you’ve sampled it?  Gratitude doesn’t come naturally. Self-pity does. Bellyaches do. Yet they don’t mix well with the kindness we’ve been given.

I attended a banquet where a soldier was presented with the gift of a free house. He nearly fell over with gratitude. He hugged the guitar player in the band, the woman on the front row.  He thanked the waiter, the other soldiers.  He even thanked me and I didn’t do anything. Shouldn’t we be equally grateful?

John 14:2 says Jesus is building a house for us.  Our deed of ownership is every bit as certain as that of the soldier! The grateful heart sees every day as a gift.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God is in All Days

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Max Lucado

Suppose I invited you to experience the day of your dreams. Twenty-four hours on an island paradise with your favorite people, food, and activities? The only stipulation? You’ll need to begin the day with one millisecond of distress. Would you accept my offer?  I think you would.

A moment is nothing compared to twenty-four hours. Compared to eternity, what is seventy, eighty, ninety years? A finger snap compared to heaven. We point to our sick child, crutches, or famine and say, “This makes no sense!” Yet of all of his creation, how much have we seen? Of all his work, how much do we understand? Perhaps a doorway peephole. What if God’s answer to the question of suffering requires more megabytes than our puny minds have been given?

Let God finish his work. The forecast is simple.  We’ll have some good days. And some bad days. But God is in all days.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Definitive Answer

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Max Lucado

At some point, we all stand at an intersection and ask this question:  Is God good when the outcome is not?

The definitive answer to the goodness of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ.  He’s the only picture of God ever taken. He pressed his fingers into the sore of the leper. He inclined his ear to the cry of the hungry. He didn’t retreat at the sight of pain.  Just the opposite. Cruel accusations of jealous men?  Jesus knows their sting.

Is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain?  This was Paul’s opinion.  He said, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Your pain won’t last forever, my friend, but you will. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us! You’ll get through this! God is good even when the outcome is different.  Hang onto this promise!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God is Good

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Max Lucado

When the cancer is in remission, we say, God is good. When the pay raise comes, we announce, God is good. But is God only good when the outcome is?

Most, if not all of us, have a contractual agreement with God. I pledge to be a good, decent person and God, in return, will do what I expect.  Save my child.  Heal my wife.  Protect my job. Yet when God fails to meet our expectations we’re left spinning in a tornado of questions.

In such times, remember that God is sovereign.  James 1:17 tells us He does not change like shifting shadows. God does permit evil.  But He doesn’t allow Satan, the father of evil, to triumph. Isn’t this the promise of Romans 8:28?  “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” The ultimate culmination of God’s purpose is good even when the specific details are difficult.

From  You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Waiting Doesn’t Come Easy

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Max Lucado

Waiting is easier said than done! Waiting doesn’t come easy for me. I’ve been in a hurry all my life. Pedal faster, drive quicker. I used to wear my wristwatch on the inside of my arm so I wouldn’t lose the millisecond it took to turn my wrist.  What insanity!

I wonder if I could’ve obeyed God’s ancient command to keep the Sabbath holy.  To slow life to a crawl for twenty-four hours? The Sabbath was created for frantic souls like me; people who need this weekly reminder: the world will not stop if you do! Isaiah 40:31 promises, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Fresh strength. Legs that don’t grow weary. Wait on the Lord—He will bring rest to your soul!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Higher Purpose

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Max Lucado

God promises, “When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:2).

Will your unhappy marriage become happy in a heartbeat? Not likely. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle?  Not in this life. But He does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.

It won’t be quick. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers abandoned him.  He was 37 when he saw them again.  Another year passed before he saw his father.  Sometimes God takes His time.  But remember this: You are a version of Joseph in your generation. His story is in the Bible for this reason: To teach us to trust God to trump evil. What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good. You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – We Don’t Like to Wait

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Max Lucado

We don’t like to wait.  We’re the giddy-up generation. We frown at the person who takes eleven items to the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on.”  We really don’t like to wait!

Look around you. Do you realize where we sit?  This planet is God’s waiting room. The young couple? Waiting to get pregnant. The guy with the briefcase?  Waiting for work. Waiting on God to give or to help.  Waiting on God to come. The land of waiting. And you? Are you in God’s waiting room?

You may be infertile or inactive, in limbo, in between jobs or in search of a house, spouse, health, or help. Here’s what you need to know. While you wait, God works! God never twiddles His thumbs. He never stops. Just because you’re idle, don’t assume God is. Trust Him.  In the right time, you’ll get through this.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Your Mess Can Be Your Message

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Max Lucado

I like the conversation Bob Benson recounts in his book, See You at the House, about his friend who’d had a heart attack. For a while it seemed his friend wouldn’t make it. But he recovered.

Months later Bob asked him, “How did you like your heart attack?”

“It scared me to death, almost.”

“Would you do it again?”

“No!”

“Would you recommend it?”  Bob asked.

“Definitely not.”

Then Bob asked him, “Does your life mean more to you now than it did before?”

“Well, yes.”

“You and your wife always had a beautiful marriage, but are you closer now than ever?” “Yes.”

“Do you have a new compassion for people—a deeper understanding and sympathy?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you know the Lord in a richer fellowship than you’d ever realized?”

“Yes.”

Then Bob said, “So, how’d you like your heart attack?”

Deuteronomy 11:2 reminds us to remember what you’ve learned about the Lord through your experience with Him.  Do that, my friend, and your mess will become your message!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Tests are Temporary

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Max Lucado

All tests are temporary, limited in duration. 1 Peter 1:6 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”  Some tests end on earth, but all tests will end in heaven, right?

In the meantime, let God train you.  He watches the way you handle the little jobs. Jesus promised in Matthew 25:21, “If you are faithful over a few matters, I will set you over many.” Do you aspire to great things?  Excel in the small things. Don’t complain.  Let others grumble.  Not you. When you’re given a task, take it. When you see a hurt, address it.  Compassion matters to God.

This is the time for service, not self-centeredness. Cancel the pity party.  Love the people God brings to you. He will work in you what is pleasing to Himself.  And you will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God is at Work in Us

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Max Lucado

Howard Rutledge came to appreciate his time as a POW in Vietnam.  He wrote: “After twenty-eight days of torture, I could remember I had children but not how many.  I prayed for strength. During long periods of enforced reflection, it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial.  My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for steak.  It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.”

God is at work in each of us, whether we want it or not. He takes no pleasure in making life hard. Philippians 1:6 says, “He does not relish in our sufferings, but He delights in our development.”  No one said the road would be painless or easy. But God will use this mess for something good. God is doing what is best for us, training us to live His holy best.  Rest in this assurance…you will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Life is a Required Course

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Max Lucado

God can make something good out of your mess! The test you’re experiencing will become your testimony.  2nd Corinthians 1:4-5 says, “God comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone who’s going through hard times so we can be there for that person, just as God was there for us.”

You didn’t sign up for this crash course in single parenting? No, God enrolled you. He’s taken the intended evil and rewoven it into this curriculum. Why?  So you can teach others what He’s taught you. Rather than say, “God, why?” ask “God, what?” What can I learn from this experience? Rather than ask God to change your circumstances, ask Him to use your circumstances to change you.

Life is a required course.  Might as well do your best to pass it!  You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Trust His Training

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Max Lucado

Each day has a pop quiz!  And some seasons are like final exams. Brutal, sudden pitfalls of stress, sickness, or sadness. What’s the purpose of the test?  James 1:3-4 says, “For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

Test, test, test! This chapter in your life may look like rehab, smell like unemployment, sound like a hospital, but you’re in training. God hasn’t forgotten you, just the opposite. He has chosen to train you. Forget the notion that God doesn’t see your struggle. Quite the contrary. God is fully engaged. He is the Potter, we are the clay.  He’s the Shepherd, we’re the sheep.  He’s the Teacher, we’re the students. Trust His training. You’ll get through this!

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Behind Bars

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Max Lucado

In 1965 Howard Rutledge parachuted into North Vietnam and spent the next several years in a prison in Hanoi, locked in a filthy cell breathing stale, rotten air trying to keep his sanity. Few of us will ever face the conditions of a POW camp.

Yet, to one degree or another, we all spend time behind bars. After half-a-century of marriage, my friend’s wife began to lose her memory.  A young mother called, just diagnosed with Lupus. Why would God permit such imprisonment?  To what purpose?  Jeremiah 30:24 promises, “The Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intents of His mind.”

This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it doesn’t bewilder God.  He will use it for His purpose. Please be reminded…You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Do What Pleases God

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Max Lucado

Dad, would you intentionally break the arm of your child? Of course not. Such an action violates every fiber of your moral being. Yet if you engage in sexual activity outside your marriage, you’ll bring more pain into the life of your child than a broken bone.

Mom, would you force your children to sleep outside on a cold night?  By no means. Yet if you involve yourself in an affair, you’ll bring more darkness and chill into the lives of your children than a hundred winters.

Actions have consequences. Make this your rule of thumb:  Do what pleases God!  Your classmates showed you a way to cheat, the internet provides pornography to watch—ask yourself the question, “How can I please God?” Psalm 6:5 says, “Do what is right as a sacrifice to the Lord and trust the Lord.”  You will never go wrong doing what is right!

From You’ll Get Through This

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Max Lucado – Don’t Fix Stupid with Stupid

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Max Lucado

You may think to yourself, “No one will know.  I won’t get caught.  I’m only human. . .”  But don’t make matters worse by doing something you’ll regret. Years ago, a friend gave me this counsel. “Make a list of all the lives you would impact through your sexual immorality.”  I did.  Every so often I re-read it. Denalyn.  My three daughters.  My son-in-law. My yet-to-be-born grandchildren.  Every person who’s ever read one of my books or heard my sermons.  My publishing team.  Our church staff. The list reminds me that one act of carnality is a poor exchange for a lifetime of lost legacy.

You don’t fix a struggling marriage with an affair, a drug problem with more drugs.  You don’t fix stupid with stupid. Do what pleases God. Turbulent times will tempt you to forget Him. Shortcuts will lure you.  Don’t be foolish or naïve. Do what pleases God.  Nothing more, nothing less!

From  You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Presence

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Max Lucado

Depression can buckle the knees of the best of us, and a pastor’s wife is no exception. Years ago my wife, Denalyn, battled depression. Every day was gray.  Her life was loud and busy—two kids in elementary school, a third in kindergarten, and a husband who didn’t know how to get off the airplane and stay home.

The days took their toll. But Denalyn was never one to play games. On a given Sunday when the depression was suffocating, she armed herself with honesty and went to church. If people ask me how I’m doing, I’m going to tell them. She answered each, “How are you” with a candid, “Not well. I’m depressed. Will you pray for me?”  Casual chats became long conversations. Brief hellos became heartfelt moments of ministry. She found God’s presence amidst God’s people! He’s waiting on you, my friend. And He will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Lean on God’s People

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Max Lucado

Whatever it is that’s troubling you, you’ll get through this! Cancel your escape to the Himalayas. Forget the deserted island.  This is no time to be a hermit. Pray!  Lean on God’s people.  Be a barnacle on the boat of God’s church.

Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Don’t quit.  And don’t hide! Would the sick avoid the hospital?  The hungry avoid the food pantry?  Would the discouraged abandon God’s Hope Distribution Center?  Only at great risk. God is waiting on you, my friend. He is with you. Your family may have left. Your supporters may be gone. Your counselor may be silent. But God has not budged. His promise in Genesis 28:15 still stands,“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go!”

You will get through this!

From  You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Surrounds Us

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Max Lucado

God surrounds us like 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? Everything within you says, harden your heart. Run from God, resist God, blame God.

But be careful.  Hard hearts never heal.  Spongy ones do! Open every pore of your soul to God’s presence.  Here’s how. Lay claim to the nearness of God. He says in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Grip this promise like the parachute it is. Repeat it over and over until it trumps the voices of fear. The Lord God is with you, and He is mighty to save. Cling to His character.  Quarry from your Bible a list of the deep qualities of God and press them into your heart. He is sovereign. You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – He is Not Far From Us

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Max Lucado

You will never go where God is not! Envision the next few hours—where will you be? In a school?  God indwells the classroom. On the highway?  His presence lingers among the traffic.  In the hospital operating room, the executive board-room, the in-laws’ living room?  God will be there.

Acts 17:27 says, “He is not far from each of us.”  Each of us.  God doesn’t play favorites. From the masses on city streets to isolated villagers in valleys and jungles, all people can enjoy God’s presence.

But many don’t! They plod through life as if there is no God to love them. As if the only strength is their own. As if the only solution will come from within, not above.  They live God-less lives.  The psalmist determined, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You, God.” (Psalm 56:3).  Put your hope in God. You will get through this!

 

From You’ll Get Through This

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Max Lucado – Vengeance is God’s

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The Bible says vengeance is God’s.  He will repay.  (Romans 12:19)  What a great reminder!  Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice, it just entrusts it to God. We tend to give too much or too little. But the God of justice has the precise prescription.

God can discipline your abusive boss. He can soften your angry parent.  He can bring your ex to his knees or her senses. Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice, it just entrusts it to God. Unlike us, God never gives up on a person.  Never. Long after we’ve moved on, God is still there, probing the conscience, stirring conviction, always orchestrating redemption. Fix your enemies?  That’s God’s job.

When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. No one owns a secret formula. As long as you’re trying to forgive, you are forgiving. Stay the course and you’ll find a way to be strong even when you’ve been hurt. You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This