Well said, Mr. Lucado!

Take Goliath Down
by Max Lucado

Goliaths still roam our world. Debt. Disaster. Dialysis. Danger. Deceit. Disease. Depression. Super-size challenges still swagger and strut, still pilfer sleep and embezzle peace and liposuction joy. But they can't dominate you. You know how to deal with them. You face giants by facing God first.

Focus on giants—you stumble.
Focus on God—your giants tumble.

You know what David knew, and you do what David did. You pick up five stones, and you make five decisions. Ever wonder why David took five stones into battle? Why not two or twenty? Rereading his story reveals five answers. Use your five fingers to remind you of the five stones you need to face down your Goliath. Let your thumb remind you of ...

1. THE STONE OF THE PAST
Goliath jogged David's memory. Elah was a déjà vu. While everyone else quivered, David remembered. God had given him strength to wrestle a lion and strong-arm a bear. Wouldn't he do the same with the giant? A good memory makes heroes."Remember His marvelous works which He has done" (1 Chron. 16:12). Catalog God's successes. Keep a list of his world records. Has he not walked you through high waters? Proven to be faithful? Have you not known his provision? How many nights have you gone to bed hungry? Mornings awakened in the cold? He has made roadkill out of your enemies. Write today's worries in sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone. Pick up the stone of the past. Then select ...

2. THE STONE OF PRAYER
Note the valley between your thumb and finger. To pass from one to the next you must go through it. Let it remind you of David's descent. Before going high, David went low; before ascending to fight, David descended to prepare. Don't face your giant without first doing the same. Dedicate time to prayer. Paul, the apostle, wrote, "Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long" (Eph. 6:18 MSG).Prayer spawned David's successes. His Brook Besor wisdom grew out of the moment he "strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1 Sam. 30:6). When Saul's soldiers tried to capture him, David turned toward God: "You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble" (Ps. 59:16).Invite God's help. Pick up the stone of prayer. And don't neglect ...

3. THE STONE OF PRIORITY
Let your tallest finger remind you of your highest priority: God's reputation. David jealously guarded it. No one was going to defame his Lord. David fought so that "all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's" (1 Sam. 17:46-47).David saw Goliath as a chance for God to show off! Did David know he would exit the battle alive? No. But he was willing to give his life for the reputation of God.What if you saw your giant in the same manner? Rather than begrudge him, welcome him. Your cancer is God's chance to flex his healing muscles. Your sin is God's opportunity to showcase grace. Your struggling marriage can billboard God's power. See your struggle as God's canvas. On it he will paint his multicolored supremacy. Announce God's name and then reach for ...

4. THE STONE OF PASSION
David ran, not away from, but toward his giant. On one side of the battlefield, Saul and his cowardly army gulped. On the other, Goliath and his skull-splitters scoffed. In the middle, the shepherd boy ran on his spindly legs. Who bet on David? Who put money on the kid from Bethlehem? Not the Philistines. Not the Hebrews. Not David's siblings or David's king. But God did.And since God did, and since David knew God did, the skinny runt became a blur of pumping knees and a swirling sling. He ran toward his giant.Do the same!Let your ring finger remind you to take up the stone of passion.One more stone, and finger, remains:

5. THE STONE OF PERSISTENCE
David didn't think one rock would do. He knew Goliath had four behemoth relatives. For all David knew, they'd come running over the hill to defend their kin. David was ready to empty the chamber if that's what it took.Imitate him. Never give up. One prayer might not be enough. One apology might not do it. One day or month of resolve might not suffice. You may get knocked down a time or two ... but don't quit. Keep loading the rocks. Keep swinging the sling.

David took five stones. He made five decisions. Do likewise. Past. Prayer. Priority. Passion. And persistence.

Next time Goliath wakes you up, reach for a stone. Odds are, he'll be out of the room before you can load your sling.

From Facing Your Giants
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2005) Max Lucado

"Give us this day Our Daily Bread"

Had to re-post this. Beautifully composed by my man Max Lucado. When it comes down to it, the Lord's Prayer truly is a holistic journey of the self to the Lord. Enjoy!

The Kitchen: God's Abundant Table

by Max Lucado

"Give us this day our daily bread..."

Your first step into the house of God was not to the kitchen but to the living room, where you were reminded of your adoption. "Our Father who is in heaven." You then studied the foundation of the house, where you pondered his permanence. "Our Father who is in heaven." Next you entered the observatory and marveled at his handiwork: "Our Father who is in heaven." In the chapel, you worshiped his holiness: "Hallowed be thy name." In the throne room, you touched the lowered scepter and prayed the greatest prayer, "Thy kingdom come." In the study, you submitted your desires to his and prayed, "Thy will be done." And all of heaven was silent as you placed your prayer in the furnace, saying, "on earth as it is in heaven."

Proper prayer follows such a path, revealing God to us before revealing our needs to God. (You might reread that one.) The purpose of prayer is not to change God, but to change us, and by the time we reach God's kitchen, we are changed people. Wasn't our heart warmed when we called him Father? Weren't our fears stilled when we contemplated his constancy? Weren't we amazed as we stared at the heavens?

Seeing his holiness caused us to confess our sin. Inviting his kingdom to come reminded us to stop building our own. Asking God for his will to be done placed our will in second place to his. And realizing that heaven pauses when we pray left us breathless in his presence.By the time we step into the kitchen, we're renewed people! We've been comforted by our father, conformed by his nature, consumed by our creator, convicted by his character, constrained by his power, commissioned by our teacher, and compelled by his attention to our prayers.

The prayer's next three petitions encompass all of the concerns of our life. "This daily bread" addresses the present. "Forgive our sins" addresses the past. "Lead us not into temptation" speaks to the future. (The wonder of God's wisdom: how he can reduce all our needs to three simple statements.)

First he addresses our need for bread. The term means all of a person's physical needs. Martin Luther defined bread as "Everything necessary for the preservation of this life, including food, a healthy body, house, home, wife and children." This verse urges us to talk to God about the necessities of life. He may also give us the luxuries of life, but he certainly will grant the necessities.

Any fear that God wouldn't meet our needs was left in the observatory. Would he give the stars their glitter and not give us our food? Of course not. He has committed to care for us. We aren't wrestling crumbs out of a reluctant hand, but rather confessing the bounty of a generous hand. The essence of the prayer is really an affirmation of the Father's care. Our provision is his priority.

From The Great House of God
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1997) Max Lucado

The Secret Miracle

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." ... His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

-John 2:1-3, 5

[A]nd the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

-John 2:9

There were myriad responsibilities these servants needed to take care of to make sure the wedding feast ran without a hitch. Is the food ready? Are there enough seats for the guests? Do we have enough wine for the guests? Apparently, this last responsibility was not sufficiently covered. Imagine the servants' anxiety at this point. "Out of wine?? What are we going to do? Our master will not be pleased with us." (<-A gross understatement, most likely) Enter a woman who claims that her son has a solution for their situation. Jesus' mother told the servants at the wedding feast to do whatever Jesus instructed them to do. And, without question, they did it. Filling six 20-30 gallon stone water jars with water is no small task (Mind you, there are no garden hoses or other such modern conveniences to assist in this endeavor, so imagine the process involved in obtaining 180 gallons of water. As an analogy, picture filling 180 milk jugs, but replace the plastic with stone... Yes, quite a task.). Yet, they obeyed this most unassuming of wedding guests. These servants looked upon this Man, whom they had never seen before, and one glance at Him assuaged their anxieties. One look at Jesus and "something" about Him told the servants, "He will provide for us a solution." Not only did He provide the solution to overcome this obstacle, Jesus was the solution these servants and the world were seeking.

So, the servants start obeying. They draw the water as Jesus instructed, filling the jars to the brim. Next, they probably expect Jesus to wave His hands over the jars or sprinkle some magic dust into the pots, resulting in a mini-firework display and an eye-popping color change in the liquid, signaling the amazing transformation of water into wine! Instead, Jesus tells them to take some of the water they had collected and bring it to their master. "Ummm," thought the servants (probably), "so you want us to give our master this water which we just drew? That's it? You know we're serving wine at this party, right?" But again, they obeyed. They ended up serving the best wine of the night ... and Jesus didn't have to lift a finger. The servants did all the work - they were the instruments of this miracle. Jesus worked through these obedient servants, whose faith in this Wedding Guest was now filled to the brim, on the verge of overflow, because they "knew" of what just occurred. The master of the banquet, bridegroom, bride and other guests continued celebrating, unaware of what took place to let the party continue. But, the servants "knew" and were content in being a part of the greater work that was done here.

God commands all of us to do - so we must do. Anything he commands, so must we obey. God has given us authority in this world from the time of Genesis. We, being His hands and feet, are the servants, the miracle workers. The same power which raised Jesus from the dead resides in us as well (see Ephesians 1:18-21 & II Timothy 1:7). Even if we don't see the ultimate outcome, we do the work, because God's point-of-view sees what we cannot see. What Jesus wants us to also realize is that miracles don't require great pomp, circumstance, magic powder or overt theatrics to be considered a miracle.

• Helping someone break an addiction? That's a miracle.
• Praying for someone and seeing someone healed from cancer? That's a miracle.
• Mending a broken marriage? That's a miracle.
• Listening when no one else listens and loving when no one else loves? That's a miracle.
• Seeing someone receive Jesus as the Lord and Savior of his/her life? THAT'S A MIRACLE!

That we are alive in this wretched world despite our wretched ways is a miracle of grand proportions, thanks to the saving grace and blood of Christ. Best of all? When the workers "know" and never forget who is the Source and responsible for it all. Though the world may not know now, the servants do the miraculous work, so that the world will know. For God's is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever ... AMEN!

Bringing EVERYONE back into the fold

Many think that God is looking forward to casting people away into judgment and dooming all of those who do not believe in the Son. On the contrary! Is that what a Father would desire for His children. Look at how Anne Cetas of Our Daily Bread puts it eloquently:

In our Bible-study class, we were reading Ephesians 4:17-24 out loud when Alyssa began to cry. Most of us were wondering why, when she quietly said, “I’m crying because hearing this passage read out loud makes me see the condition that lost people are in. They’re separated from God and are blind to it! That breaks my heart.”

One person in the class admitted later that he was embarrassed he had never felt that sad about nonbelievers and had in the past even talked excitedly about the judgment they would receive one day from God.

The apostle Paul laid out the condition of the lost with these words: “[They have] their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God . . . because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 4:18). He testified that he had “great sorrow and continual grief in [his] heart” because his fellow countrymen had not yet come to know the love of Christ (Rom. 9:1-3).

As we think about the condition of nonbelievers, we can remember God’s heart toward them: “The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). When we share the Word of God and pray earnestly for others, eyes will be opened to His love. — Anne Cetas

God wishes to commune with all members of His one big, happy family. Just as He yearns to bring back the lost, so should we.

God's Command to Live

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged." -Joshua 1:9

Isn't that fascinating? God has commanded us to be strong and be courageous. God has commanded us to go forth boldly to proclaim His name. God has commanded us to live life abundantly. Those who are fearful, who complain, who worry ... STOP! There is no need, for God is above and out of the reach of all of that and assures us that we can be too, if we heed His commands. It's a direct command from God to be strong and courageous, so go be strong and courageous, will ya? Because God says so!