Sin’s Grip, God’s Cure

“My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” PROVERBS 5:1-4

 

PONDER THIS

Nothing will protect you more from immorality than loading up with the Word of God. You need the Word of God in your heart. Every now and then, we hear about some minister or another prominent figure who fell to immorality, and we think, “Oh, isn’t that terrible? Look how far he fell.” You may not know how low he was living, but he didn't fall that far. He failed to keep himself in the Word of God and store it up inside.

Sin is so deceptive and has deadly power. Sin fascinates and then it assassinates. It thrills and then it kills. It brings death—spiritual death, physical death, eternal death. We cannot combat it on our own. We need God to change our hearts daily by the Spirit and through His Word. When sin grasps us, it will not let go. Only God can heal our hearts; let’s start our day with Him.

What does your time with God look like each day?

How has time spent with God protected you from sin and kept you close to Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down the ways you want to grow in relationship with God and share with a friend who will keep you accountable to pursue those things.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Are In A State of Decay

The minute you are born, you begin to die.

To die is to decay!

You are going to rot!

Your temporary body is really temporary.

Your soul or spirit is eternal.

God, your Creator, designed this reality. 

So as our body is dying, our spirit is being renewed, by God, for His divine purpose.

It is a mystery from the beginning of ages that man dies and his soul lives on.

The body is seen.

It's tangible, you can touch it.

We are recognized by our face.

The soul is unseen.

The soul exist as a vapor, not being seen by the eye.

It contains the essence of who you are.

As Creator, God knows the mystery.

How can the two be separated and one die and the other live?

By His divine plan, the mystery of life and death are carried out in perfect harmony.  

By His divine plan, death did not hold His Son! 

Praise be to God for His Son Jesus!

In His resurrection we have eternal life through obedience to our Lord and Savior. 

We are forgiven, sanctified, justified and redeemed as worthy before Holy God!

God is not far off, He is with you!

He will never leave or desert you.

Fall before Him for forgiveness, knowing that Christ alone is able to save.

He alone brings salvation to the lost!

Be saved and share the gospel of Christ.

It is your calling to make disciples!

You are accountable!

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:31-39

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.  - Zephaniah 3:17

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. - 1 John 4:4

4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

6 So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" 

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:4-8

And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" - Isaiah 6:5

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." - Luke 5:8

5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. - Matthew 28:5-6

18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

What Do You Make Time For?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

 “For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.” Acts 22:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What is more important in your life today? Seeing your daytime soap opera or asking an unsaved neighbor over for a chance to love them to Jesus? Joining your buddies for a round of golf, or visiting your unsaved father? Going shopping with your friends, or taking the time to read the Bible to a lost person in a nursing home? Someone wisely observed, “We managed to make time during the day for what’s really important to us.”

Friend, the time is running out. We will not be witnessing in heaven. This is our earthly duty and privilege now. None of us knows how many hours we have left. We must seize the golden opportunities that God gives us daily to witness.

ACTION POINT:

A line from “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is our challenge: “Oh, be swift, my soul to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Setting God-Given Goals

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” Hebrews 2:1.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever written some God–given goals to keep you from being a drifter?

Without goals, you’re a ship without a rudder, a compass, a sail and an anchor. What kind of ship is that? One that is doomed to failure. Most people don’t plan to fail. They simply don’t plan. How can you tell whether or not your goal is a God–given goal? 

First, have you prayed over it and asked for God’s blessing?

Second, does it create in you enough spiritual enthusiasm and excitement to see it fulfilled? 

Third, does it demand the very best in you? 

Fourth, does it touch every area of your life? There is no area of your life that is out–of–bounds from God.

ACTION POINT:

Take time today—or surely this week—to write down some goals and even a mission statement focused on the following areas of your life: spiritual, physical, relational, intellectual, and financial.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Yes, God Is Holding Us Accountable!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.” Daniel 9:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Daniel prayed, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and Thy judgments.” You ask, “Did Daniel do all that?” No, Daniel simply included himself in his prayer for his nation. 

Does God hold me accountable for the abortion in America? Yes! Does God hold me accountable for the pornography? Yes! For the drug addiction, alcoholism, materialism, humanism? Yes, He does. Friend, if the church had done what she ought to have done, and if we would do what we ought to do, then these problems would be healed. And while we may not commit these sins, they are still our sins. Verse 20 of this same chapter makes it so clear: “While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel….”

Now, people who don’t know God aren’t going to confess the sin of this nation. Like Daniel, we must set our face and pray with reflection and repentance, confessing our sin and the sin of America. Only sin that is confessed is forgiven.

ACTION POINT:

Have you ever set your face to prayer? So much of our prayer, I hate to say, is casual prayer, prayer that comes with almost a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. When are we going to set our face before God with fasting and determination?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers