“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that we might have hope.” Romans 15:4 (NIV)

Encourage those who are struggling. Don’t know what to say?  Then open your Bible.

To the grief stricken: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  Hebrew 13:5 (NIV).

To the guilt ridden:  “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Romans 8:1(NIV).

To the jobless: “In all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Romans 8:28 (NIV).

To those who feel beyond God’s grace: “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 (NIV).

Your Bible is a basket of blessings. Won’t you share one?

By Max Lucado
Used with permission
From: A Love Worth Giving

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

RELATED READING

Be an Encourager

I Love Encouragement

Who Could Use Your Encouragement Today?

Encourage One Another

The post Words of Hope appeared first on Thoughts About God.

The problem is not that God hasn’t spoken but that we haven’t listened.

Imagine your reaction if I were to take a telephone book, open it up, and proclaim, I have found a list of everyone who’s on welfare! Or what if I said, Here is a list of college graduates! Or, This book will tell us who has a red car. You’d probably say, “Now wait a minute, that’s not the purpose of that book. You’re holding a telephone book. Its purpose is simply to reveal the name and number of residents of a city during a certain time frame.”

Only by understanding its purpose can I accurately use the telephone book. Only by understanding its purpose can I accurately use the Bible!

The purpose of the Bible is simply to proclaim God’s plan to save his children. It asserts that man is lost and needs to be saved. And it communicates the message that Jesus is the God in the flesh sent to save his children.

Though the Bible was written over sixteen centuries by at least forty authors, it has one central theme – salvation through faith in Christ. Begun by Moses in the lonely desert of Arabia and finished by John on the lonely Isle of Patmos, it is held together by a strong thread: God’s passion and God’s plan to save his children.

What a vital truth! Understanding the purpose of the Bible is like setting the compass in the right direction. Calibrate it correctly and you’ll journey safely. But fail to set it, and who knows where you’ll end up.

What do you Want?

By Max Lucado
From: Let the Journey Begin: God’s Road map for New Beginnings
Used by permission.

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:    
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

RELATED READING

Where to Start Reading the Bible

Read the Manual

The Christian and the Bible

You Have a Bible?

The post Set Your Compass in the Right Direction appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“The LORD hates what evil people do, but he loves those who do what is right.” Proverbs 15:9 (NCV)

Perhaps the wound is old. A parent abused you. A teacher slighted you. A mate betrayed you…. And you are angry.

Or perhaps the wound is fresh. The friend who owes you money just drove by in a new car. The boss who hired you with promises of promotions has forgotten how to pronounce your name…. And you are hurt.

Part of you is broken, and the other part is bitter. Part of you wants to cry, and part of you wants to fight…. There is a fire burning in your heart. It’s the fire of anger….

And you are left with a decision.

“Do I put the fire out or heat it up? Do I get over it or get even? Do I release it or resent it? Do I let my hurts heal, or do I let hurt turn into hate?“….

Unfaithfulness is wrong. Revenge is bad. But the worst part of all is that, without forgiveness, bitterness is all that is left.

By Max Lucado
From: The Applause of Heaven
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

Brokenness as a Good Thing

From Brokenness to Holiness

Brokenness and Glory

The post A Broken Heart? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything” Philippians 4:6.

God offers you and me the possibility of a worry-free life.  Jesus said,

“Can all your worries add a single moment to your life!  Of course not”  (Matthew 6:27).

Worry is irrelevant.  You don’t add one day to your life or one bit of life to your day by worrying.

Worry is also irreverent; it’s distrusting God…an “unconscious blasphemy.”  The Apostle Paul urges us to “be anxious for nothing.”  How?  Our part includes prayer and gratitude.  Instead of looking forward in fear, look upward in faith and backward in appreciation of past victories. God’s part is peace and protection.  God enjoys perfect peace because he enjoys perfect power.  And he offers his peace to you to guard your heart.  Do your part and God will do his.

By Max Lucado
From: Come Thirsty
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

Further Reading

• The Worry-Free God – Devotional by Debbie West

• Victory over Worry –  by Palitha Jayasooriya

• Why Worry Yourself Sick?

The post You Don’t Have to Worry appeared first on Thoughts About God.

One day it dawned on me.  I had become the very thing I hate–  a hypocrite.  

A pretender.  Two-faced. I’d written sermons about people like me. Christians who care more about their appearance than integrity.

I knew what I needed to do.  I’d written sermons about that too!  1 John 1:8-9 says,

“If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins because we can trust God to do what is right.”

I needed to confess. What is confession?  Well confession is not complaining.  If I merely recite my problems and rehash my woes, I’m whining. Confession is a radical reliance upon grace.

Maybe you need to do what I’ve done in the last few days.  You just need to confess.  God will hear your confession.  And in your confession you will find a wonder of God’s grace.  You see grace creates an honest confession.  And then his great grace, receives it.

By Max Lucado
used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:    
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/
Read more GRACE

FURTHER READING

Grace to Keep on Yielding

Lavish Grace

God’s Grace

The post Confession is a Radical Reliance Upon Grace appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“. . . whoever believes in Him shall not perish . . .” (John 3:16)

Some years ago I took a copy of God’s “whoever” policy to California. I wanted to show it to my Uncle Billy. He’d been scheduled to visit my home, but bone cancer had thwarted his plans.

My uncle reminded me much of my father: squared like a blast furnace, ruddy as a leather basketball. They shared the same West Texas roots, penchant for cigars, and blue-collar work ethic. But I wasn’t sure if they shared the same faith. So after several planes, two shuttles, and a rental-car road trip, I reached Uncle Billy’s house only to learn he was back in the hospital. No visitors. Maybe tomorrow.

He felt better the next day. Good enough to come home. I went to see him. Cancer had taken its toll and his strength. The recliner entombed his body. He recognized me yet dozed as I chatted with his wife and friends. He scarcely opened his eyes. People came and went, and I began to wonder if I would have the chance to ask the question.

Finally the guests stepped out onto the lawn and left me alone with my uncle. I slid my chair next to his, took his skin-taut hand, and wasted no words. “Bill, are you ready to go to heaven?” His eyes, for the first time, popped open. Saucer wide. His head lifted. Doubt laced his response: “I think I am.”

“Do you want to be sure?”

“Oh yes!”

Our brief talk ended with a prayer for grace. We both said “amen” and I soon left. Uncle Billy died within days. Did he wake up in heaven? According to the parable of the eleventh hour workers, he did.

Some struggle with such a thought. A last-minute confessor receives the same grace as a lifetime servant?  Doesn’t seem fair. The workers in the parable complained too. So the landowner, and God, explained the prerogative of ownership:

“Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me” (Mathew. 20:15 RSV).

Request grace with your dying breath, and God hears your prayer. Whoever means “whenever.”

And one more: whoever means “wherever.” Wherever you are, you’re not too far to come Home.

by Max Lucado
Used by permission
From: 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

That Which Cannot be Broken

God’s Deep Love for You

What a Difference a Leaf Makes

The post Heavens “Whoever” Policy appeared first on Thoughts About God.

The secret to loving is living loved. It’s the forgotten first step in relationships. Remember Paul’s prayer? “May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love” (Ephesians 3:17 NLT).

Many people tell us to love. Only God gives us the power to do so. We know what God wants us to do. “This is what God commands. . .that we love each other.”  (1 John 3:23). But how can we? How can we be kind to those who are unkind to us? How can we love as God loves? By being loved. By following the principle: receive first and love second. God loves you personally…powerfully…passionately! He loves you with an unfailing love. Others have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded!

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission
From: A Love Worth Giving

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:    
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

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Vengeance is God’s. He will repay—whether ultimately on the Day of Judgment or intermediately in this life. God can discipline your abusive boss. He can bring your ex to his knees or to her senses. Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice; it just entrusts it to God. He guarantees the right retribution.  The God of justice has the precise prescription.

Forgive your enemies? Ah, that’s where you and I come in. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger,” Paul wrote, “and do not give the devil an opportunity” (Ephesians 4:26-27). Don’t give the devil territory or ground. Bitterness invites him to occupy a space in your heart, to rent a room. Believe me, he will move in and stink up the place! When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. Stay the course!

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission
From You’ll Get Through This

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:    
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

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FURTHER READING

Unresolved Anger Read more..

Anger Management Read more..

The Danger of Anger Read more

The post Stay the Course of Forgiveness appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. Gideon: from farmer to general; Mary: from peasant girl to the mother of Christ; Paul: from local rabbi to world evangelist. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. He changed David from a shepherd to a king. Peter wanted to fish the Sea of Galilee. God called him to lead the first church. God makes reassignments.

But, someone might ask, what about the tragic changes God permits? Some seasons make no sense – do such moments serve a purpose?

They do if we see them from an eternal perspective. What makes no sense in this life will make perfect sense in the next. I have proof: you in the womb.

I know you don’t remember this prenatal season, so let me remind you what happened during it. Every gestation day equipped you for your earthly life. Your bones solidified, your eyes developed, the umbilical cord transported nutrients into your growing frame – for what reason? So you might remain enwombed? Quite the contrary. Womb time equipped you for earth time, suited you up for your postpartum existence.

Some prenatal features went unused before birth. You grew a nose but didn’t breathe. Eyes developed, but could you see? Your tongue, toenails, and crop of hair served no function in your mother’s belly. But aren’t you glad you have them now?

Certain chapters in this life seem so unnecessary, like nostrils on the pre-born. Suffering. Loneliness. Disease. Holocausts. Martyrdom. Monsoons. If we assume this world exists just for happiness, these atrocities disqualify it from doing so. But what if this earth is the womb? Might these challenges, severe as they may be, serve to prepare us, equip us for the world to come? As Paul wrote, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”  2 Corinthians 4:17 (CEV).

By Max Lucado
From:  Fearless
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

When Life’s Menu Changes

Facing Changes

Hope Changes Everything

The post Make Friends with Whatever’s Next appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Fathers, do not make your children angry; but raise them with the training and teaching of the Lord”. Ephesians 6:4

When I come home from work and see those little noses pressed against the windowpane, then I know I’m a success.—Paul Faulkner

Today is Father’s Day. A day of cologne. A day of hugs, new neckties, long-distance telephone calls, and Hallmark cards.

Today is my first Father’s Day without a father. For thirty-one years I had one. I had one of the best. But now he’s gone. He’s buried under an oak tree in a west Texas cemetery. Even though he’s gone, his presence is very near—especially today.

It seems strange that he isn’t here. I guess that’s because he was never gone. He was always close by. Always available. Always present. His words were nothing novel. His achievements, though admirable, were nothing extraordinary.

But his presence was….

Like a warm fireplace in a large house, he was a source of comfort. Like a sturdy porch swing or a big-branched elm in the backyard, he could always be found … and leaned upon.

During the turbulent years of my adolescence, Dad was one part of my life that was predictable. Girlfriends came and girlfriends went, but Dad was there.

Football season turned into baseball season and turned into football season again and Dad was always there. Summer vacation, Homecoming dates, algebra, first car, driveway basketball—they all had one thing in common: his presence.

And because he was there life went smoothly. The car always ran, the bills got paid, and the lawn stayed mowed. Because he was there the laughter was fresh and the future was secure.

Because he was there my growing up was what God intended growing up to be: a storybook scamper through the magic and mystery of the world. Because he was there we kids never worried about things like income tax, savings accounts, monthly bills or mortgages. Those were the things on Daddy’s desk.

We have lots of family pictures without him. Not because he wasn’t there, but because he was always behind the camera.

He made the decisions, broke up the fights, chuckled at Archie Bunker, read the paper every evening, and fixed breakfast on Sundays. He didn’t do anything unusual. He only did what dads are supposed to do—be there.

He taught me how to shave and how to pray. He helped me memorize verses for Sunday school and taught me that wrong should be punished and that rightness has its own reward. He modeled the importance of getting up early and of staying out of debt. His life expressed the elusive balance between ambition and self-acceptance.

He comes to mind often. When I smell “Old Spice” after-shave, I think of him. When I see a bass boat, I see his face. And occasionally, not too often, but occasionally when I hear a good joke (the kind Red Skelton would tell), I hear him chuckle. He had a copyright chuckle that always came with a wide grin and arched eyebrows.

Daddy never said a word to me about sex nor told me his life story. But I knew that if I ever wanted to know, he would tell me. All I had to do was ask. And I knew if I ever needed him, he’d be there.

Like a warm fireplace.

Maybe that’s why this Father’s Day is a bit chilly. The fire has gone out. The winds of age swallowed the last splendid flame, leaving only golden embers. But there is a strange thing about those embers, stir them a bit and a flame will dance. It will dance only briefly, but it will dance And it will knock just enough chill out of the air to remind me that he is still in a special way, very present.

by Max Lucado
used by permission

From: “A Good Dad is There for His Children” taken from God Came Near © 1987

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://www.maxlucado.com/info/view/about_max_lucado/

FATHERHOOD

A Call to Fatherhood

Godly Fathers – a Biblical perspective

Leaving a Legacy for Christ

How Will You be Remembered?

A Good Dad is “There” for His Children 

Ten Things to Teach your Son about True Manhood – by John Grant

Bible Verses for Fathers

Quotes about Fathers

STORIES Of Dads or about Dads

We Asked You ‘What is Special about Your Father?‘ This is what you said.

My Dad’s Love – Frank shares a true story of how his father’s love affected his life.

How my Son Changed my Priorities.  The Ed Becker story

My Daddy is a Man – Lessons from a 3 year old on what it means to really love our heavenly father.

My Lunch with Dad

Norm Brown’s story – Our first child was born – a daughter. She had cerebral palsy and God has used her to teach me patience, compassion, love and understanding. I can thank God every day for our daughter. She is a special gift from God.

Unending Guilt – a woman couldn’t forgive herself for going against her father’s wishes.

The post A Good Dad is “There” for His Children appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” A glimpse of God’s goodness changes us. If He is only slightly stronger than us, why pray? If He has limitations, questions, and hesitations, then you might as well pray to the Wizard of Oz.

Psalm 68:5-6 says, God is “a father to the fatherless. He sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”

Pray with me!

Dear God. Today remind me today that you protect me. Be my father and defender. Defend those who’re weak and afraid and feel forgotten. Show up in their lives today. Thank you for giving me a spiritual family that can never be taken away. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

At any point you’re only a prayer away from help!

By Max Lucado
From: Before Amen
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:    
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

FURTHER READING

God Is Our Loving Father

God our Father

Alphabet Of The Father Heart of God

The post God is Father to the Fatherless appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, ‘Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’ — ‘No, Lord,‘ she said. And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I. Go and sin no more.’” John 8:10-11 (NLT))

Condemnation – the preferred commodity of Satan. He will repeat the adulterous woman scenario as often as you permit him to do so, marching you through the city streets and dragging your name through the mud. He pushes you into the center of the crowd and megaphones your sin:

This person was caught in the act of immorality … stupidity … dishonesty … irresponsibility.

But he will not have the last word. Jesus has acted on your behalf.

He stooped. Low enough to sleep in a manger, work in a carpentry shop, sleep in a fishing boat. Low enough to rub shoulders with crooks and lepers. Low enough to be spat upon, slapped, nailed, and speared. Low. Low enough to be buried.

And then he stood. Up from the slab of death. Upright in Joseph’s tomb and right in Satan’s face. Tall. High. He stood up for the woman and silenced her accusers, and he does the same for you.

He “is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us” (Romans. 8:34 MSG). Let this sink in for a moment. In the presence of God, in defiance of Satan, Jesus Christ rises to your defense. He takes on the role of a priest. “Since we have a great priest over God’s house, let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience” (Hebrews. 10:21–22 NCV).

A clean conscience. A clean record. A clean heart. Free from accusation. Free from condemnation. Not just for our past mistakes but also for our future ones.

“Since he will live forever, he will always be there to remind God that he has paid for [our] sins with his blood” (Hebrews. 7:25 TLB). Christ offers unending intercession on your behalf.

Jesus trumps the devil’s guilt with words of GRACE.

By Max Lucado
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

The post The God Who Stoops… And Stands appeared first on Thoughts About God.