Make War with Unbelief

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17)

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of my faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Join me in this battle! Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. Unbelief in the promises of God is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17. The shield by which we quench Satan’s fiery deceits is faith (verse 16) — faith in that very word of God. So take up the shield in your left hand and the sword in your right hand, and let us fight the good fight of faith.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

John Piper 

Would Your Boss Notice Your Faith?

“Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” 

EPHESIANS 6:5-7

 

PONDER THIS

I want to let you in on a secret. If we would begin to live on Monday like these verses describe, people would start believing what we preach on Sunday. What better place could there be to witness for Jesus Christ than on the job? Your job is your temple of devotion; it is your lamp stand for witness. The boss would say, “I don’t understand these Christians. They’re here on time. They work with smiles on their faces. They’re very careful. They’re honest. They don’t steal a thing. I can trust them with the entire business. They seem to be devoted to the business as if they own it.” When a man goes to hire new workers, he ought to think, “Those are the kind of people I want.”

But it’s not in human nature to do that. Human nature is to get by with as little as you can and get as much as you can. How are we going to live as these verses describe? You don’t have what it takes. That’s not your nature. By nature, you are selfish, but being Spirit-filled you can live this way.

How does your relationship with the Lord change the way you work each day?

How does this change your perspective on daily routine tasks?

PRACTICE THIS

What tasks are in front of you today? Consider how it would look to do these tasks to the Lord and take action to follow through.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

 

Bible Study

 

1 Peter 2:18

[18] Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4

[3] But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. [4] For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Ephesians 5:22-23

[22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

1 Timothy 2:14

[14] and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

Our Good Is His Glory

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God — that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. We endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.”

But we have learned from the Bible (and from Edwards!) that God’s interest is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us — to us sinners, who desperately need him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives, is never above God’s interest and God’s happiness and God’s glory, but always in God’s. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him — in him!

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6:6, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” this is a reward he wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn’t have! But this reward — this joy — is the overflow of turning away from human praise, and going into our closet to seek God.

Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory. They put their happiness in God himself and discover the glorious truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

John Piper 

You Can’t Worship God in Your Own Strength

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

JOHN 4:24

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever thought about what the Bible commands you to do? How are you going to do what the Bible commands? You don’t have the strength to do it. For example, Ephesians 5:19-20 says, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But the reality is, none of us will live like this in our own strength. In our worship lives, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God is Spirit and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Have you ever been in a worship service where people are trying to worship God in the flesh? It’s just some kind of a circus, and it’s a program. How tedious and how tasteless that is. But you’ve also been in worship services where those who are leading the worship are filled with God’s blessed Holy Spirit, and the people are singing praises to God, and they’re worshiping God in spirit and in truth. The only way you can truly worship God is to worship Him in the power of His Spirit.

How would you describe the difference between worshiping God in the power of the Holy Spirit and in your own power?

Reflect on different experiences you’ve had with both of these.

PRACTICE THIS

Take a walk outside today, asking God to fill you with His Spirit and to lead you to worship Him as you observe creation all around you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

Matthew 6:9-13

[9] Pray then like this: 

    “Our Father in heaven,

    hallowed be your name. 

    [10] Your kingdom come,

    your will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven. 

    [11] Give us this day our daily bread, 

    [12] and forgive us our debts,

        as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

    [13] And lead us not into temptation,

        but deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6:14-16

[14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

[16] “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 6:22-24

[22] “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, [23] but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

[24] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:25-34

[25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But 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, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The Power of a Superior Promise

I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts. (Psalm 119:45, my translation)

An essential element of joy is freedom. None of us would be happy if we were not free from what we hate and free for what we love.

And where do we find true freedom? Psalm 119:45 says, “I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts.”

The picture is one of open spaces. The word frees us from smallness of mind. “God gave Solomon . . . breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29). The word frees us from threatening confinements. “He brought me out into a broad place” (Psalm 18:19).

Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The freedom he has in mind is freedom from the slavery of sin (John 8:34). Or, to put it positively, it is freedom for holiness.

The promises of God’s grace provide the power that makes the demands of God’s holiness an experience of freedom rather than fear and confinement. Peter described the freeing power of God’s promises like this: “Through [his precious and very great promises] you become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4).

In other words, when we trust the promises of God, we sever the root of corruption and sinful desire by the power of a superior promise.

How crucial is the word that breaks the power of counterfeit pleasures! And how vigilant we should be to light our paths and load our hearts with the word of God!

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

John Piper