Tag Archives: Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Heaven’s Throne Room

October 25, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

You sleep alone in a double bed. You walk the hallways of a silent house. You catch yourself calling out his name or reaching for her hand. Good-bye is the challenge of your life! To get through this is to get through this raging loneliness, this strength-draining grief. Just the separation has exhausted your spirit. You feel quarantined, isolated.

May I give you some hope? If heaven’s throne room has a calendar, one day is circled in red and highlighted in yellow. The Bible says that the The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He will come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then the rest of us who are still alive will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. (I Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Oh, what a day that will be! We’ll be walking on air! And there will be one huge family reunion. I leave you with this reminder: You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Mournful to Hopeful

October 24, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

In May of 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth lost their five-year-old daughter in an automobile accident. They were deluged by messages of kindness. One in particular gave Steven strength. It was from a pastor friend who’d lost his son in an auto accident. “Remember, your future with your daughter will be greater than your past with her.”

Death seems to take so much. We bury the wedding that never happened, the golden years we never knew. We bury dreams. But in heaven these dreams will come true. Acts 3:21 says that God has promised a “restoration of all things.”

All things includes all relationships. Our final home will hear no good-byes. Gone forever. Let the promise change you. From sagging to seeking, from mournful to hopeful! From dwellers in the land of good-byes to a heaven of hellos! You’ll get through this!

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Max Lucado – Good-Bye

October 23, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Good-bye. No one wants to say it. And death is the most difficult good-bye of all.

After our church had five funerals in seven days, the sorrow took its toll on me. I chided myself, “Come on, Max, get over it. Death is a natural part of living.” Then I self-corrected. No it isn’t. Birth is. Breathing is. Belly laughs, big hugs and bedtime kisses are. But death? We weren’t made to say good-bye. God’s original plan had no farewell, no final breath, day, or heartbeat. No matter how you frame it, good-bye doesn’t feel right.

God has served notice. All farewells are on the clock. He has decreed a family reunion. What a reunion it will be. Revelation 21:4 says, on that day, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

This long journey will come to an end. You’ll see Him. And you’ll see them. Isn’t this our hope?

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Make a Plan

October 22, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

You can’t control the weather. You aren’t in charge of the economy. You can’t un-wreck the car. But you can map out a strategy. Remember, God is in this crisis. Ask Him to give you a plan, two or three steps you can take today.

Seek counsel from someone who’s faced a similar challenge. Ask friends to pray. Look for resources. Reach out to a support group. Make a plan!

You’d prefer a miracle? You’d rather see the bread multiplied or the stormy sea turned to glassy calm in a finger snap? God may do this. Then again, He may tell you, “I’m with you. And I can use this for good. Now, let’s make a plan.”

God’s sovereignty doesn’t negate our responsibility. Just the opposite. It empowers it. Trust God to do what you can’t. Obey God and do what you can! You’ll get through this.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – God is in the Crisis

October 21, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven’s strength? No wonder life’s tough. You’re assuming God isn’t in this crisis.

Isabel spent her first three and a half years in a Nicaraguan orphanage. As with all orphans, her odds of adoption diminished with time. And then the door slammed on her finger! Why would God permit this innocent girl to feel even more pain? Might He be calling the attention of Ryan Schnoke sitting in the playroom nearby? He and his wife had been trying to adopt a child for months! Ryan walked over, picked her up, and comforted her. Several months later, Ryan and Christina were close to giving up, and Ryan remembered Isabel. Little Isabel is now growing up in a happy, healthy home.

A finger in the door? God doesn’t manufacture pain, but He certainly puts it to use! Your crisis? You’ll get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – He is Preparing a Place

October 18, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

God’s purpose from all eternity is to prepare a family to indwell the kingdom of God. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

God’s plotting for our good. In all the setbacks, He is ordaining the best for our future. Every event of our day is designed to draw us toward our God and our destiny. When people junk you in the pit, God can use it for good. When family members sell you out, God will recycle the pain. Falsely accused? Utterly abandoned? You may stumble but you will not fall. You will get through this!

Not because you are strong, but because God is. Not because you are big, but because God is. Not because you’re good, but because God is. He has a place prepared for you!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – God Cares About Justice

October 17, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

A mother says, I’m so sorry for abandoning you—could we possibly get together?

Her daughter thinks to herself, That’s it? She wants to get together and I’m supposed to just forgive her?

Seems too easy. Doesn’t mom need to experience what she gave? Spend a few years wondering if she’ll see her daughter again? Some pain-filled nights? A bit of justice? Isn’t some vengeance in order? Of course it is. God cares about justice more than we do.

In Romans 12:17, Paul tells us to never pay back evil for evil. Leave that to God, for He has said that he will repay those who deserve it.

We fear the evildoer will slip into the night, unknown and unpunished. Not to worry. God will repay—not He might repay. God will execute justice on behalf of truth and fairness. Fix your enemies? That’s God’s job. Forgive your enemies? Ahh, that’s where you and I come in. We forgive.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Generational Garbage

October 16, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Your family history doesn’t have to be your future. The generational garbage can stop here and now.

Don’t give your kids what your ancestors gave to you. Talk to God about it, in detail. God, everyday I came home from school to find mom drunk, lying on the couch. I had to take care of baby brother, do homework on my own. It’s not right, God. Difficult, for certain. But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Let Him replace “childish thinking” with mature truth.

A dear friend of mine was called to identify the body of his father who’d been shot by his ex-wife. The blast was just another in a long line of angry, violent family moments. He made this resolution: “It stops with me.” And it has!

God wants to help you—for your sake! Trust Him—with His help, you’ll get through this.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Stay the Course

October 15, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. They do. Themselves!

Keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent. God’s healing includes a move out of the House of Spite, toward the spacious ways of grace, away from hardness toward forgiveness. Can he really, you wonder? Can He really clean up this mess? This history of sexual abuse? This raw anger at the father who left my mother? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart?

Begin the process of forgiveness. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Jesus did for you. Stay the course. You’ll spend less time in the spite house and more in the grace house. And as one who’s walked the hallways of both, believe me, you’re going to love the space of grace. You’ll get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Let God Do His Work

October 14, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Were your growing up years hard years? Family pain is the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early; it involves people who should have been trustworthy. You were too young to process the mistreatment. You didn’t know how to defend yourself. Besides, the perpetrators of your pain were so large. Your dad, mom, uncle, big brother—they towered over you, usually in size, always in rank. When they judged you falsely, you believed them.

As a result, you’ve been operating on faulty data. “You’re stupid, slow, dumb like your daddy, fat like your momma.” Decades later, these voices of defeat still echo in our subconscious. But they don’t have to! Romans 12:2 says to let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

You are God’s child. His creation. You’ll get through this! You’re part of His family.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Defiant Joy

October 11, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

My friend Rob cried freely telling his story about his young son’s challenging life.

Daniel was born with a double cleft palate, dramatically disfiguring his face. He had surgery, but the evidence remains, so people constantly notice and occasionally make remarks.

Daniel, however, is unfazed! He just tells people God made him this way so, what’s the big deal? He was named student of the week, so was asked to bring something to show his classmates for show and tell. Daniel told his mom he wanted to take the pictures that showed his face prior to the surgery. His mom was concerned. “Won’t that make you feel a bit funny?” she asked. But Daniel insisted, “Oh, no, I want everyone to see what God did for me!”

Try Daniel’s defiant joy and see what happens. God has handed you a cup of blessings. Sweeten it with a heaping spoonful of gratitude!

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – God Notices the Grateful Heart

October 10, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

God notices the grateful heart. He took a praise-singing shepherd boy and made him a king.

There’s no hint of God getting out of sorts if we aren’t thankful. But there is evidence that we are affected by our own ingratitude. What of the disastrous days? The nights I can’t sleep and the hours I can’t rest? Am I grateful then? Jesus was.

The Bible records, “On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.” (I Corinthians 11:23). It’s not often you see the words betrayed and thanks in the same sentence, much less in the same heart. In the midst of the darkest night of the human soul, Jesus found a way to give thanks.

Anyone can thank God for the light. Jesus teaches us to thank God for the night. He says to us, “You’ll get through this!” And we will.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – Thank you, God

October 9, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

If you feel the world owes you something, brace yourself. You’ll never get reimbursed! Henry Ward Beecher said, “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” The sky is never blue enough, the steak isn’t cooked enough, the universe isn’t good enough to deserve a human being like you.

Pursue gratitude. The grateful heart is like a magnet, sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. Thank you, God. Your lungs inhale and exhale 11,000 liters of air every day. Thank you, God. For the jam on our toast and the milk on our cereal, the blanket that calms us and the joke that softens us and the warm sun that reminds us of God’s love. Gratitude leaves us looking at God and away from dread. It does to anxiety what morning sun does to valley mist. It burns it up!

Thank you God.

From You’ll Get Through This

Max Lucado – The Grateful Heart

October 8, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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 – God is in All Days

October 7, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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 – The Definitive Answer

October 4, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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 – God is Good

October 3, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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 – Waiting Doesn’t Come Easy

October 2, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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 – A Higher Purpose

October 1, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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 – We Don’t Like to Wait

September 30, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

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.

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