God Always Answers with What We Need

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t get it, but later your eyes were opened and you thanked God for that unanswered prayer? This is a silly illustration, but when I was a kid, I saw an old car that was being sold for $125, and I prayed for God to give me the money to get it. God didn’t answer my prayer. Somebody else got that car, the motor fell out of it, and I had to thank God that He did not answer that prayer. You see, prayer may be specifically denied. It may be strategically delayed, and it may be significantly different than you expected.

On a more serious note, I once fasted and prayed for something and did not receive an answer from God. One day, God spoke to me. He said, “Adrian, I heard your prayer a long time ago. You’re asking me to do something that I’m not going to do. You’re asking me to reach in and change somebody’s heart against that person’s will, and I don’t operate that way. But Adrian, I know the need of your heart. I know what you want. I know what you need. And your prayer is heard.” As I look back, I see how clear that was and how great our God is. If God doesn’t give us what we ask, He will give us something better and sweeter than we ask, if we ask Him in the wonderful name of Jesus.

When in your life have you wrestled with unanswered prayers?

Who can you remind of God’s love and of His ability and faithfulness to answer prayer?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage someone you know who is wrestling with unanswered prayer. Ask your friend how he or she is doing and really listen. Then remind that person that God hears and will do exactly what is needed!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Five Purposes for Suffering

For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

We seldom know the micro reasons for our sufferings, but the Bible does give us faith-sustaining macro reasons.

It is good to have a way to remember some of these so that, when we are suddenly afflicted, or have a chance to help others in their affliction, we can recall some of the truths God has given us to help us not lose hope.

Here is one way to remember: 5 R’s (or if it helps, just pick three and try to remember them).

The macro purposes of God in our sufferings include:

Repentance: Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God. Luke 13:4–5:

“Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Reliance: Suffering is a call to trust God and not the life-sustaining props of this world. 2 Corinthians 1:8–9:

We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Righteousness: Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his righteousness and holiness. Hebrews 12:6, 10–11:

“The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” . . . He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Reward: Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousandfold. 2 Corinthians 4:17:

This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Finally, Reminder: Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God’s condemnation but his purification. Philippians 3:10:

. . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.

So, it is understandable that the Christian heart would cry out in suffering, “Why?” since we don’t know most of the micro reasons for our suffering — why now, why this way, why this long? But don’t let that ignorance of the micro reasons cause you to overlook the massive help God gives in his word by telling us his macro purposes for us.

“You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Job 1:21

[21] And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Job 2:10

[10] But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job 42:10

 Restores Job’s Fortunes

[10] And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Are You Seeking the Will of God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:1-4

 

PONDER THIS

Sometimes our prayers are utterly selfish rather than God-centered. That’s one reason we don’t get our prayers answered. But do you know what enmity with God means? It’s talking about warfare. When James mentioned adulterers and adulteresses, he wasn’t talking literally; he was talking spiritually. Christ is the bridegroom and we’re the bride. And if we want anything that the bridegroom does not want, we are flirting with this world, and we are taking away our love from our Lord and Savior the bridegroom. To love this world is spiritual adultery, and it is enmity, warfare, with God. Don’t have a girlfriend called “This World,” if you are a Spirit-filled man. And if you’re a Spirit-filled woman, don’t have a boyfriend called “This World.” That is spiritual adultery. Many times, we ask God for things in this way. We ask God to underwrite our worldliness. We ask God to underwrite our carnality.

Whenever you pray about anything and the answer doesn’t come, ask yourself this question: Are my motives pure? Am I earnestly, sincerely, with all my heart, seeking the will of God? And sometimes the answer, therefore, may be simply denied.

When have you prayed with selfish intentions?

What does it look like to earnestly seek the will of God with all your heart?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Psalm 51:10. Take some time to pray and ask God where there has been selfishness in your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prevailing Grace

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners.” (Isaiah 57:18)

Learn your doctrine from biblical texts. It stands up better that way, and feeds the soul.

For example, learn the doctrine of irresistible grace from texts. In this way, you will see that it does not mean grace cannot be resisted; it means that when God chooses, he can and will overcome that resistance.

In Isaiah 57:17–19, for instance, God chastises his rebellious people by striking them and hiding his face: “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry” (verse 17).

But they did not respond with repentance. Rather, they kept backsliding. They resisted: “But he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart” (verse 17).

So grace can be resisted. In fact, Stephen said to the Jewish leaders, “You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).

What then does God do? Is he powerless to bring those who resist to repentance and wholeness? No. He is not powerless. The next verse says, “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners” (Isaiah 57:18).

So, in the face of recalcitrant, grace-resisting backsliding, God says, “I will heal him.” He will “restore.” The word for “restore” is to “make whole or complete.” It is related to the word shalom, “peace.” That wholeness and peace is mentioned in the next verse which explains how God turns around a grace-resisting backslider.

He does it by “‘creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace (shalom, shalom), to the far and to the near,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will heal him’” (Isaiah 57:19). God creates what is not there — peace, wholeness. This is how we are saved. And this is how we are brought back from backsliding — again and again.

The grace of God triumphs over our resistance by creating praise where it did not exist. He brings shalom, shalom to the near and the far. Wholeness, wholeness to the near and the far. He does it by “restoring,” that is, replacing the disease of resistance with the soundness of submission.

The point of irresistible grace is not that we can’t resist. We can, and we do. The point is that when God chooses, he overcomes our resistance and restores a submissive spirit. He creates. He says, “Let there be light!” He heals. He leads. He restores. He comforts.

Therefore, we never boast that we have returned from backsliding. We fall on our faces before the Lord and with trembling joy thank him for his irresistible grace that conquered all our resistance.

John Piper 

Bible Study

James 4:7-8

[7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Lamentations 3:57-58

    [57] You came near when I called on you;

        you said, ‘Do not fear!’

    [58] “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;

        you have redeemed my life.

Zechariah 1:3

[3] Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah 1:16-17

    [16] Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

        remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

    cease to do evil, 

    [17]     learn to do good;

    seek justice,

        correct oppression;

    bring justice to the fatherless,

        plead the widow’s cause.

Worship God in Every Season of Life

PRAY OVER THIS

“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.’” John 4:21-22 

 

PONDER THIS

What is the highest good? What is the ultimate privilege? Here Jesus said it so clearly: we’re to love God.

We are to love Him thoughtfully with all our hearts. A full heart is no excuse for an empty head. Serve the Lord with knowledge and wisdom. Love Him in spirit and in truth. Then we love Him practically with all our strength—everything we do. Whatever we do in word or deed, we do to the glory of God. (See Colossians 3:17.)

What is worship? It’s giving God glory. The Bible says to serve your masters, according to the flesh, as if they were Jesus, for you serve the Lord God. (See Ephesians 6:5.) Your workplace can be your temple of devotion, your lampstand of witness, as you worship God with all your strength. That’s what Jesus was telling this woman. She said, “Do we worship here, or do we worship there?” Jesus said, “Woman, you worship in spirit and in truth.” There is no place that is not a holy place. There is no ground that is not sacred ground. There is no time that should not be a time of worship.

Where in your life is it hardest for you to worship God?

What would it look like to worship God as you work throughout your day?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down one way you can commit to worshiping God as you work in your home, at your job, or in any other place He has called you for this season.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Caused to Return

Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! (Lamentations 5:21, my translation)

There is no hope for God’s people unless God causes them to return from their sliding and leaping into sin and unbelief.

The book of Lamentations is the bleakest book in the Bible. God himself had decimated the apple of his eye: Jerusalem.

The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)

He has killed all who were delightful in our eyes. (Lamentations 2:4)

The Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. (Lamentations 1:5)

So how does the book end?

It ends with the only hope there is:

Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! (Lamentations 5:21)

That is my only hope — and your only hope!

Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).

Not if you return. But when you return. I have prayed for you! You will return. And when you do, it will be my sovereign grace that brought you back from the precipice of apostasy.

Christian, this is true for you. This is your only hope of perseverance in faith. Glory in it.

Christ Jesus is the one who . . . is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

He will cause us to return. Therefore, “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling . . . be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever” (Jude 1:24–25). Amen!

John Piper 

Bible Study

John 17:12

[12] While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Colossians 1:22

[22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

1 Peter 4:13-14

[13] But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. [14] If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Jude 1:18-23

[18] They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” [19] It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. [20] But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, [21] keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. [22] And have mercy on those who doubt; [23] save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

How to Express Love to God

PRAY OVER THIS

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." John 4:23

 

PONDER THIS

I once had the pleasure of attending a father-daughter banquet with my daughter, Janice, and we were in the program for the evening. Janice stood up first and spoke of what her father meant to her. I could not tell you how my heart was blessed, how deeply moved I was, and how grateful I was to hear my child speak not only privately to me, but openly and publicly of her love and devotion to her father. That’s the way God’s great heart is. It gives Him pleasure when we worship. A father wants love.

Now, I’ve got some good news for you. Every Father’s Day little children wonder, “What can I get for daddy? What can we give daddy?” You could give him some slippers, or you could give him a tie, but you know what your daddy wants? Love! What can you give to God today? You say, “Well, I can’t sing like these people sing. I can’t preach like so-and-so. I can’t do this. I can’t do that.” There is nobody who can love God better than you can, and that’s what God wants more than anything else. Isn’t that great?

Have you ever felt inadequate to love and worship God? Why or why not?

How do you express your love for God?

PRACTICE THIS

Make an intentional effort today to express your love for God in a special way.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Repent

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

A vague, bad feeling that you are a crummy person is not the same as conviction for sin. Feeling rotten is not the same as repentance.

This morning I began to pray, and felt unworthy to be talking to the Creator of the universe. It was a vague sense of unworthiness. So I told him so. Now what?

Nothing changed until I began to get specific about my sins. Crummy feelings can be useful if they lead to conviction for specific sins. But vague feelings of being a bad person are not usually very helpful.

The fog of unworthiness needs to take shape into clear dark pillars of disobedience. Then you can point to them and repent and ask for forgiveness and take aim with your gospel bazooka to blow them up.

So I began to call to mind the commands I frequently break. These are the ones that came to mind.

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Not 95%, but 100%. (Matthew 22:37)

Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Be as eager for things to go well for him as you are for things to go well for you. (Matthew 22:39)

Do all things without grumbling. No grumbling — inside or outside. (Philippians 2:14)

Cast all your anxieties on him — so you are not being weighed down by them anymore. (1 Peter 5:7)

Only say things that give grace to others — especially those closest to you. (Ephesians 4:29)

Redeem the time. Don’t fritter away the minutes, or dawdle. (Ephesians 5:16)

So much for any pretensions to great holiness! I’m undone.

This is much worse than vague, crummy feelings. Ah, but now the enemy is visible. The sins are specific. They’ve come out of hiding. I look them in the eye. I’m not whining about feeling crummy. I’m apologizing to Christ for not doing specific things that he commanded.

I’m broken, and I’m angry at my sin. I want to kill it, not me. I’m not suicidal. I’m a sin-hater and a sin-murderer. (“Put to death what is earthly in you,” Colossians 3:5; “Put to death the deeds of the body,” Romans 8:13.) I want to live. That’s why I’m a killer — of my sin!

In this conflict, I hear the promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Peace rises.

Now, prayer feels possible and right and powerful again.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Romans 3:26

[26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Psalm 143:1-2

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

    [1] Hear my prayer, O LORD;

        give ear to my pleas for mercy!

        In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 

    [2] Enter not into judgment with your servant,

        for no one living is righteous before you.

Proverbs 28:13

    [13] 

    Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,

        but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Psalm 51:3

    [3] For I know my transgressions,

        and my sin is ever before me.

Right Here Right Now In This Moment In This Time

Salvation is here, right now.

The work has been done.

The gift is being offered.

You are a sinner deserving judgment.

Without Christ you are doomed!

Mercy has come from the blood of Christ through the cross. 

Death has lost its sting.

Christ has risen indeed.

Our hope is in Christ!

Christ is seated at the right hand of God The Father.

Are you in Christ? 

Is your name written in the book?

2 Corinthians 6:2

[2] For he says, 

    “In a favorable time I listened to you,

        and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

    Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 

Isaiah 55:6

    [6] “Seek the LORD while he may be found;

        call upon him while he is near;

Luke 4:18-19

    [18] “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

        because he has anointed me

        to proclaim good news to the poor.

    He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

        and recovering of sight to the blind,

        to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 

    [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Colossians 2:9-14

[9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. [11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. [13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Romans 5:8

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Psalm 39:7

    [7] “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

        My hope is in you.

Revelation 20:11-15

Judgment Before the Great White Throne

[11] Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. [12] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. [13] And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. [14] Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Victory Is Found In Jesus

PRAY OVER THIS

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:4-7

 

PONDER THIS

If you are in Christ Jesus, where does this passage say you are seated? In heavenly places. You are in Christ. When God raised Christ, He raised you. Jesus by death destroyed him that had the power of death, and now He is seated in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers that ever were, are, or will be. He is there living, risen, and victorious. Guess who’s there with Him? You are!

Has Jesus ascended? Yes. Have you ascended? Yes! Does Jesus have all power? Yes! Do you have all power? The word power means authority. It doesn’t mean you can fly or walk on water. Were demons subject to Jesus? Yes. Are they subject to you? Yes!

If you’re not living in dominion, it is not because the devil is so powerful. Satan has no power over you. Jesus said, “I give you authority over all the power of the enemy” You may say, “Then why don’t I have it?” Paul wrote this to remind us of what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what you have in Him!

How should knowing this truth about who you are in Christ change the way you will live today?

Who are some brothers and sisters in Christ you know who need to be reminded of who they are in Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ about who they are in Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

He Knows Your Need

“Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:31–32)

Jesus wants his followers to be free from worry. In Matthew 6:25–34, he gives at least seven arguments designed to take away our anxiety. One of them lists food and drink and clothing, and then says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:32).

Jesus must mean that God’s knowing is accompanied by his desiring to meet our need. He is emphasizing we have a Father. And this Father is better than any earthly father.

I have five children. I love to meet their needs. But my knowing falls short of God’s knowing in at least three ways.

First, right now I don’t know where any of my children are. I could guess. They’re in their homes or at work or school, healthy and safe. But they might be lying on a sidewalk with a heart attack.

Second, I don’t know what is in their heart at any given moment. I can guess from time to time. But they may be feeling some fear or hurt or anger or lust or greed or joy or hope. I can’t see their hearts. They don’t even know their own hearts perfectly.

Third, I don’t know their future. Right now they may seem well and steady. But tomorrow some great sorrow may befall them.

This means I can’t be for them a very strong reason not to worry. There are things that may be happening to them now, or may happen tomorrow, that I do not even know about. But it is totally different with their Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven! He knows everything about us, where we are, now and tomorrow, inside and out. He sees every need.

Add to that, his huge eagerness to meet our needs. Remember the “much more” of Matthew 6:30, “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?”

Add to that his complete ability to do what he is eager to do (he feeds billions of birds hourly, around the world, Matthew 6:26).

So join me in trusting the promise of Jesus to meet our needs. That’s what Jesus is calling for when he says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

John Piper 

Bible Study

Titus 3:5

[5] he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Romans 2:4

[4] Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

John 3:16

For God So Loved the World

[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Colossians 2:9-14

[9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. [11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. [13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.