Max Lucado
Entrust the World to God
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If anyone had a reason to be anxious it was the apostle Paul. Envision an old man as he gazes out the window of a Roman prison. Half-blind, squinting just to read. Awaiting trial before the Roman emperor. His future is as gloomy as his jail cell.
Yet to read his words, you’d think he’d just arrived at a Jamaican beach hotel. His letter to the Philippians bears not a word of fear or complaint. Not one! Instead, he lifts his thanks to God and calls on his readers to d...
The Overseer of Your World
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It is not God’s will that you face every day with dread and trepidation.
I have a childhood memory that I cherish. My father loved corn bread and buttermilk. About ten o’clock each night he would meander into the kitchen and crumble a piece of corn bread into a glass of buttermilk, stand at the counter and drink it. Then he’d make the rounds to the front and back doors, checking the locks. Once everything was secure, he would step into the bedroom I shared with my brother and sa...
A New Chapter for Life
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The anxious heart says, “There’s trouble out there!” So you don’t sleep well, you don’t laugh often, misfortune lurks…it’s just a matter of time. As a result, you’re anxious.
How can this be? Our cars are safer than ever. We regulate food and water and electricity. Yet if worry were an Olympic event, we’d win the gold medal. Keep in mind anxiety is not a sin; it’s an emotion. It can, however, lead to sinful behavior. When we numb our fears with six-packs or food binges, or wh...
No Exemption for Anxiety
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Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs. The sky is falling, and it’s falling disproportionately on you. Anxiety ain’t fun!
One would think Christians would be exempt from anxiety. But we are not. It’s enough to make us wonder if the apostle Paul was out of touch with reality when he wrote in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing.”  Is that what he meant? Not exactly. He wrote the phrase in the present active tense—implying an ongoing state. As if to say, “Don’t let anything in life leave you perpetually br...
Pray About Your Problems
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The moment you sense a problem, however large or small, take it to Christ. “Max, if I take my problems to Jesus every time I have one, I’m going to be talking to Jesus all day long.” Now you’re getting the point.
An unprayed for problem is an embedded thorn. It festers and infects the finger, then the hand, then the entire arm. Best to go straight to the person who has the tweezers. We can only wonder how many disasters would be averted if we first go to Jesus. P...
Gifts From the Father
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James 1:17 says, “Every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
Take this simple pocket prayer for you today: Dear Father, teach me to accept what you’ve given. I may not always understand the circumstances, but show me how they are blessings and give me gratitude for all your gifts. Rain your blessings on my friends and family today. Give them hope whatever they face. Thank you that your blessings never end. In Jes...
Assembly Required
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Do you want to see a father’s face go ashen as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy: some assembly required. What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, sliding R over Z, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I’m convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.
“Some assembly required.” Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one. Life is a gif...
God, a Father to All
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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 that 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. Remind me today that you protect me.  Be my father and defender. Defend those who...
An Open Door to God
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A lot of us make unnecessary messes, but we can change that. May I make a suggestion? Before you face the world, face your Father.
Take this pocket prayer: Father…You are good. Your heart is good. Your words come slowly at first, but stay at it. You are always right. The weather’s bad, the economy is bad, but God, you are awesome. Don’t underestimate the power of this moment. You just opened the door to God and welcomed truth to enter your heart. Who knows, you might even start t...
Authority Over Your World
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Most people have small thoughts about God. In an effort to see God as our friend, we have lost his immensity. In our desire to understand him, we have sought to contain him.
The God of the Bible cannot be contained. With a word he called Adam out of dust and Eve out of a bone. He consulted no committee; he sought no counsel. He has authority over the world, and he has authority over your world. He’s never surprised. He has never, ever uttered the phrase, “How did that happ...
A Heartfelt Plea
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When my eldest daughter was 13, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents’ hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. “Oh, Daddy.” That was enough for me. At that moment I’d have given her the moon, and all she said was, “Oh, Daddy.”
Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt, “Oh Daddy!” Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy...
A Childlike Approach
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Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy. And how do children approach their daddies? When a five-year-old spots his father in the parking lot, how does he react? “Yippee!” was screamed by a red-headed boy wearing a Batman backpack. “Pop! Over here! Push me!” yelled by a boy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap who scooted straight to the swings.
Here’s what I didn’t hear: “Father, it is most gracious of thee to drive thy car to my place of education. Please know of...
