Traveling Light

We’ve never been more educated and entertained. We have technological tools our parents could only dream of, and we are saturated with information, amusement, and recreation. Yet more than ever, we are starving for hope. After 40 years of counseling and ministry, Max Lucado has learned that nothing lifts the desperate, weary heart like the promises of God. In a world full of despair, depression, anxiety, and instability, we do not need more opinions or hunches; we need the definitive declarations of our mighty and loving God.

Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a 100-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Can you imagine your life without fear?

Have you wept more tears than you knew existed? Maybe you dread facing another day without the one you love. Perhaps the test results came back positive, or your bank account doesn't account for much. There's no escaping it - the challenges of life can be overwhelming. But when your source of hope comes from the Source of all power, you will experience His new mercies in each new day.

God Is with You Every Day is a brand-new 365-day devotional from Max Lucado, and his first new devotional since the creation of the Grace for the Moment® line. Max's signature reassuring and encouraging voice, paired with the practical, relevant, and personal message that God is with you every day, makes a great way to start each day of the year. This devotional begins each week with a prayer and scripture, followed by six days of devotions and scripture for reflection.

According to one research program, anxiety-related issues are the number one mental health problem among women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men. Stress-related ailments cost the nation $300 billion every year in medical bills and lost productivity. And use of sedative drugs like Xanax and Valium have skyrocketed in the last 15 years. Even students are feeling it. One psychologist reports that the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.

It's early in the final week. The props and players for Friday's drama are in position. Five-inch spikes are in the bin. A cross-beam leans against a shed wall. The players are nearing the stage - Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas, Judas, the centurions. Players and props. Only this is no play; it's a divine plan. A plan begun before Adam felt heaven's breath, and now all heaven waits and watches. All eyes are on one figure - the Nazarene. Commonly clad. Uncommonly focused. He's on his final journey.

God does what it takes to get our attention.It’s the message of the Bible. It’s the message of this book: the relentless pursuit of God. God on the hunt. God in the search. Peeking under the bed for hiding kids, stirring the bushes for lost sheep. Searching, wrestling, pulling us back to him, over and over again. Kind, then stern. Tender and tough. Faithfully firm. Patiently urgent. Eagerly tolerant. Softly shouting.

Does life feel futile? Doesn't have to. Do some of your failures seem fatal? They aren't. And your death. Does the grave appear to be the final stop? According to Christ, your death is just the start of the something great.

There is a missing force in Christianity today. It's a critical one, and its absence has led to weak believers, disintegrating families, ineffective churches, and a decaying culture. Without it, we lack what we need to fully live as heaven's representatives on earth. That missing force is discipleship. In Kingdom Disciples, Tony Evans outlines a simple, actionable definition of discipleship to help the church fulfill its calling.

Phillip Keller's unique perspective on the beloved psalm is a genuine classic about how a real-life shepherd views the love Jesus the Shepherd has for his flock. His inspirational insights come from his firsthand experiences in developing and managing sheep ranches.