Serve God with Your Thirst

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:9)

What if you discovered (like the Pharisees did) that you had devoted your whole life to trying to please God, but all the while had been doing things that in God’s sight were abominations (Luke 16:14–15)?

Someone may question this and say, “I don’t think that’s possible; God wouldn’t reject a person who has been trying to please him.” But do you see what this questioner has done? He has based his conviction about what would please God on his idea of what God is like. That is precisely why we must begin with the character of God revealed in Scripture.

God is a mountain spring, not a watering trough. A mountain spring is self-replenishing. It constantly overflows and supplies others. But a watering trough needs to be filled with a pump or bucket. So, the great question is: How do you serve a spring? And: How do you serve a watering trough? How do you glorify God the way he really is?

If you want to glorify the worth of a watering trough, you work hard to keep it full and useful. But if you want to glorify the worth of a spring, you do it by getting down on your hands and knees and drinking to your heart’s satisfaction, until you have the refreshment and strength to go back down in the valley and tell the people what you’ve found.

My hope as a desperate sinner hangs on this biblical truth: that God is the kind of God who will be pleased with the one thing I have to offer: my thirst. That’s why the sovereign freedom and self-sufficiency of God are so precious to me: they are the foundation of my hope that God is delighted not by the resourcefulness of bucket brigades, but by the bending down of broken sinners to drink at the fountain of grace.

By all means we should seek to please God, now and forever. But woe to us if our whole life proves to be based on a false view of what pleases God. The Lord is pleased not by those who treat him as a needy watering trough, but as an inexhaustible, all-satisfying spring. As Psalm 147:11 says, “The Lord takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

John Piper 

The Gain of Serving God

“They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” (2 Chronicles 12:8)

Serving God is utterly different from serving anyone else.

God is extremely jealous that we understand this — and enjoy it. For example, he commands us, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (Psalm 100:2). There is a reason for this gladness. It is given in Acts 17:25. God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

We serve him with gladness because we do not bear the burden of meeting his needs. He has no needs. So, serving him can’t mean meeting his needs. Instead we rejoice in a service where he meets our needs. Serving God always means receiving grace from God to do what we have to do.

To show how jealous God is for us to understand this, and glory in it, there is a story in 2 Chronicles 12. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who ruled the southern kingdom after the revolt of the ten tribes, chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms.

As judgment, God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, against Rehoboam with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen (2 Chronicles 12:2–3).

In mercy God sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam with this message: “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak’” (2 Chronicles 12:5). The happy upshot of that message is that Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves in repentance and said, “The Lord is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6).

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he said, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak” (2 Chronicles 12:7). But as a discipline to them he says, “They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2 Chronicles 12:8).

The point is plain: serving the enemy and serving God are very different. How so? Serving God is a receiving and a blessing and a joy and a benefit. Serving Shishak is exhausting and depleting and sorrowful. God is a giver. Shishak is a taker.

This is why I am so jealous to say that the worship of Sunday morning and the worship of daily obedience is not at bottom a burdensome giving to God, but a joyful getting from God. That is the true service that God demands. In all you do, trust me as the giver.

John Piper 

Serve God with Your Thirst

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:9)

What if you discovered (like the Pharisees did) that you had devoted your whole life to trying to please God, but all the while had been doing things that in God’s sight were abominations (Luke 16:14–15)?

Someone may question this and say, “I don’t think that’s possible; God wouldn’t reject a person who has been trying to please him.” But do you see what this questioner has done? He has based his conviction about what would please God on his idea of what God is like. That is precisely why we must begin with the character of God revealed in Scripture.

God is a mountain spring, not a watering trough. A mountain spring is self-replenishing. It constantly overflows and supplies others. But a watering trough needs to be filled with a pump or bucket. So, the great question is: How do you serve a spring? And: How do you serve a watering trough? How do you glorify God the way he really is?

If you want to glorify the worth of a watering trough, you work hard to keep it full and useful. But if you want to glorify the worth of a spring, you do it by getting down on your hands and knees and drinking to your heart’s satisfaction, until you have the refreshment and strength to go back down in the valley and tell the people what you’ve found.

My hope as a desperate sinner hangs on this biblical truth: that God is the kind of God who will be pleased with the one thing I have to offer: my thirst. That’s why the sovereign freedom and self-sufficiency of God are so precious to me: they are the foundation of my hope that God is delighted not by the resourcefulness of bucket brigades, but by the bending down of broken sinners to drink at the fountain of grace.

By all means we should seek to please God, now and forever. But woe to us if our whole life proves to be based on a false view of what pleases God. The Lord is pleased not by those who treat him as a needy watering trough, but as an inexhaustible, all-satisfying spring. As Psalm 147:11 says, “The Lord takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

John Piper 

The Gain of Serving God

“They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” (2 Chronicles 12:8)

Serving God is utterly different from serving anyone else.

God is extremely jealous that we understand this — and enjoy it. For example, he commands us, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (Psalm 100:2). There is a reason for this gladness. It is given in Acts 17:25. God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

We serve him with gladness because we do not bear the burden of meeting his needs. He has no needs. So, serving him can’t mean meeting his needs. Instead we rejoice in a service where he meets our needs. Serving God always means receiving grace from God to do what we have to do.

To show how jealous God is for us to understand this, and glory in it, there is a story in 2 Chronicles 12. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who ruled the southern kingdom after the revolt of the ten tribes, chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms.

As judgment, God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, against Rehoboam with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen (2 Chronicles 12:2–3).

In mercy God sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam with this message: “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak’” (2 Chronicles 12:5). The happy upshot of that message is that Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves in repentance and said, “The Lord is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6).

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he said, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak” (2 Chronicles 12:7). But as a discipline to them he says, “They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2 Chronicles 12:8).

The point is plain: serving the enemy and serving God are very different. How so? Serving God is a receiving and a blessing and a joy and a benefit. Serving Shishak is exhausting and depleting and sorrowful. God is a giver. Shishak is a taker.

This is why I am so jealous to say that the worship of Sunday morning and the worship of daily obedience is not at bottom a burdensome giving to God, but a joyful getting from God. That is the true service that God demands. In all you do, trust me as the giver.

John Piper 

What Does it Really Mean to Serve God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.’ And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.” Acts 5:19-21

 

PONDER THIS

Do you know what’s wrong in the average church? Many of us are not sharing our faith. Many of us think we have really served God if we come to church faithfully, live good clean lives, have a job in the church like teaching Sunday School or singing in the choir, and give our money. If we do these things, we usually think we are pretty good Christians. Isn’t that right?

But, unless you are vitally interested in the matter of bringing souls to Jesus Christ, you’re not fulfilling the mission of God. You may say, “Well God didn’t call me to do that, God called me to be a preacher, a singer, a Sunday school teacher.” God has called you to witness, and a Christian who is not witnessing is not merely missing a blessing, he is guilty of high treason against Heaven’s King.

How have you defined serving and living for God? How is that different from Scripture’s definition?

Who are some people you want to share your faith with? How are you praying for them?

PRACTICE THIS

Share your faith, giving witness to something God has recently done in your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Why Do We Serve God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there. The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said to him, ‘Where do you come from?’ So he said to him, ‘I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.’ Micah said to him, ‘Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.’ So the Levite went in. Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him.”

Judges 17:6-11

 

PONDER THIS

This Levite that came to Micah was out of a job and was trying to find some food and a place to stay. The Levites, according to the law of God, were to assist the priest. They were to teach the law. They were to lead in praise. Micah said to him, “You can be my personal priest and if you will be my priest, I will feed you.” This man of God would be the appointed priest of an idolater and a wicked man for money.

In Judges 18:4 the man said, “so Micah did for me. He has hired me, and I have become his priest.” He was a hired man, not a man of God. Jesus said in John 10:12, “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”

A true minister of the Gospel does not act just because He is paid to do it but because He is compelled by the love of Christ. You may not be a paid minister, but how many times do we have this mentality? We do things for God because we are rewarded rather than doing things because we have been called by Him.

What are some rewards you look for when you do something to serve God—whether directly or indirectly?

How can you remind yourself of the calling of God in your daily life?

PRACTICE THIS

Thank a pastor or minister who has encouraged you in your faith.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

“Non-Ministry” Jobs are Still Ministry

PRAY OVER THIS

“With goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” Ephesians 6:7-8

 

PONDER THIS

Your job is a ministry. That should put dignity in what you do. You are not going to work for your company. You’re going to work for Jesus Christ. You are serving God!

So many people say, “I wish I could get out of this ‘rat race’ and serve God.” That’s split-level living. When I’m on an airplane, I try to disguise the fact that I’m a minister. Do you know why? I don’t want people to think I’m a hired gun. I want them to think I love Jesus because I love Jesus.

Don’t get the idea that you have to get into the ministry to serve God. You have a great opportunity to serve the Lord. So many people come to church on Sunday like it’s a weekend hobby. They get much from the service and enjoy the fellowship and worship, but then they despise their jobs and can hardly wait to get back on Sunday so they can, “serve the Lord.” There’s a bridge between their work life and their worship life. But we need to put a little spiritual dynamite under that bridge. You are serving God full-time wherever you go, no matter how mundane or routine your vocation might be.

Do you view your job as ministry? If so, how? If not, why not?

What do you believe is holding you back from serving God in your daily work? How will you submit this to Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Start your days this week in prayer, seeking to remember that if you are in Christ, you serve God full time.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Is Your Heart Far from God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”

John 6:71

 

PONDER THIS

Judas had the right stuff. If you had looked at Judas, you would’ve said, “What a great guy this man Judas is.” He had the right associations. He was close with Jesus. Jesus called him a friend. He spent three and a half years in the best seminary in the world, studying with the Lord Jesus Christ, learning, and hearing Jesus teach.

Not only did he have the right associations, but he also had the right reputation. When Jesus was at the last supper and said, “One of you will betray Me” (John 13:21), the others didn’t say, “Oh I know, it must be Judas.” Do you know what job Judas had? Judas was the treasurer. He was the man that had the money bag. Who do you make treasurer? The person who has the most integrity; the person you respect the most. He was a worker. He went out with the others when they went out to teach, to preach, and to do good. He was right in it with the group.

We have people like that in church all the time. You’re a Bible-believing person; you’ve got good associations. You’ve got a good reputation: everybody thinks you’re a wonderful person, and you may be outwardly. You do a lot of good things: you may be singing in the choir; you may be taking the offering; you may be teaching a Sunday school class; you may be doing something wonderful. But your heart is far from God. The external things mean nothing if you are just going through the motions.

If you are honest with yourself, what is your relationship like with God right now? Are you devoted to Him or is your heart far from Him?

Why are we easily tempted to do external things to impress others instead of actually being right with God?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for your fellow Christians, asking God to keep their hearts devoted to Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Be Willing to Be Willing

PRAY OVER THIS

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:19-21

 

PONDER THIS

I was speaking to a young man who was struggling with doubt, and I asked him if he was an honest doubter or a dishonest doubter. I explained, “An honest doubter doesn’t know, but he wants to know, and therefore he investigates. A dishonest doubter doesn’t know because he doesn’t want to know, and he can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.” Jesus said, “They hate the light, and they will not come to the light because their deeds are evil.”

Would you like to find out whether you’re an honest doubter or a dishonest doubter? Would you sign this statement: God, I don’t know whether You exist or not. I don’t know whether the Bible is Your Word or not. I don’t know whether Jesus Christ is Your Son or not. I don’t know, but I want to know. And because I want to know, I will make an honest investigation. And because it is an honest investigation, I will follow the results of that investigation wherever they lead me, regardless of the cost. Would you sign that statement? We have to start with honesty with God, but it will require something of us. The decision to follow Jesus will require that we surrender our lives to Him when we recognize He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

When have you struggled with doubt? Based on the assessment above, did you come to God honestly? Why or why not?

What are some doubts you’re struggling with right now? What have you done about them?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down some of your doubts on a piece of paper, then go through each one, submitting it to God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Works Through Good Resolves

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

Seeking the power of God to fulfill our good resolves does not mean that we don’t really resolve, or that we don’t really use willpower.

The engagement of God’s power never takes the place of the engagement of our will! The power of God in sanctification never makes us passive! The power of God engages itself beneath or behind and within our will, not in place of our will.

The evidence of God’s power in our lives is not the absence of our willing, but the strength of our willing, the joy of our willing.

Anyone who says, “Well, I believe in the sovereignty of God and so I will just sit back and do nothing” does not really believe in the sovereignty of God. For why would someone who believes in God’s sovereignty so blatantly disobey him?

When you sit back to do nothing, you are not doing nothing. You are actively engaging your will in a decision to sit back. And if that is the way you handle sin or temptation in your life, it is blatant disobedience, because we are commanded to wage a good warfare (1 Timothy 1:18) and resist the devil (James 4:7) and strive for holiness (Hebrews 12:14) and put to death the sinful acts of the body (Romans 8:13).

Second Thessalonians 1:11 says that it is by the power of God that we will fulfill our good resolves and our works of faith. But this does not nullify the meaning of the word “resolve” and the word “work.” Part of the whole process of walking worthy of God’s call is the active engagement of our will in resolving to do righteousness.

If you have lingering sin in your life, or if you keep neglecting some good deed just because you have been waiting around to be saved without a fight, you are compounding your disobedience. God will never appear with power in your will in any other way than through your exercise of that will; that is, through your good resolves — your good intentions and plans and purposes.

So, people who believe in the sovereignty of God must not fear to engage their wills in the struggle for holiness. “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24). Only strive in the faith that in and through your striving God is at work to will and to do his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

John Piper 

Do You Fear Breaking God’s Heart?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua 24:14-15

 

PONDER THIS

We need to fear the Lord. Now, I’m not talking about a negative fear. Do you know the difference between a slave and a son? A slave fears his master’s lash, but a son fears his father’s displeasure. I don’t want to break God's heart. The best illustration I can give you of the kind of fear I’m talking about comes from Mark 4:35-41, when Jesus stilled the waves. The disciples came to Him distressed saying, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (v. 38). “But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’” (v. 40). And Jesus rebuked that kind of fear. But listen to the very next verse: “And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’” (v. 41). He rebuked them for fearing wrongly and in the very next verse they feared Him in a wonderful way. One kind of fear was condemned because it was faithless. The other was exonerated and commended because it was reverential awe. Never get careless about your Christian life. Never lose the reverence. Have a careful reverence for God.

What does it mean to fear the Lord in reverence?

How does fearing the Lord change your faith? How does not fearing the Lord inhibit your faith?

PRACTICE THIS

Resolve to pursue proper fear of the Lord in the year to come. Consider how that may change different aspects of your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Working in God’s Field?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” Romans 15:13-14

 

PONDER THIS

There’s never been a greater time to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The great revivalist Vance Havner said, “Too many are willing to sit at God’s table but not work in His field. …God has a place and purpose for you, somewhere for you to be and something for you to do. You never will be happy elsewhere, nor can you please God anywhere but there.”

Remind yourself today and say out loud: “I have been called into the ministry. I am saved to serve. God, make me a servant. God, make me a minister.” God has called you. Think what will happen if all of us really begin to minister. We’ll turn the world upside down and inside out for Jesus Christ. We could change the world for Jesus if we each understood we’ve been saved to serve. God has called you into the ministry. You don’t just sit in church to soak and sour but to serve.

Where have you served in your church?

What have been some of your hesitations about serving God?

PRACTICE THIS

If you aren’t yet serving, contact someone on staff at your church and ask him or her how you can serve in your church.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Pours His Love Through Us

PRAY OVER THIS

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

 

PONDER THIS

Let me give you some words to remember to help you keep your marriage on track. The first one is decision. Make a decision that you’re going to live for God. God will not force His will on you. Listening to sermons will not change you unless you decide to obey the Word of God. “Choose . . . this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Give your heart to the Lord. The next word is dependence. It is not enough to decide, because you do not have the strength in your own power to live for God. But God can deliver you if you will depend on Him. The third word is devotion. Begin to love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul, and love your wife as yourself. After this decision and after this dependence, let God pour His love through you. You are to love each other, not if you feel like it, but because God commands it. Love for one another comes primarily from Almighty God. Fourthly, development. Continue to feed your love daily. You must nurture your love. It is a growing thing. It’s like a flower that needs to be cultivated. It needs to be protected, and its full beauty can be developed through life.

When have you had to depend on God in order to love someone else?

What does it look like to make an intentional effort to love another person?

PRACTICE THIS

If you are married, find an intentional way to nurture your marriage. If you are not married, find an intentional way to love someone else the way Jesus loves.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Serving with Enthusiasm?

PRAY OVER THIS

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’” Malachi 1:6

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know you are a priest? First Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” We are priests. We’re to offer to the Lord sacrifices day-by-day, and we’re to do it with enthusiasm, not weariness. You may ask me, “Don’t you ever get tired? Don’t you ever get weary?” Yes, I get weary in the work, but I’ve never been weary of the work. I’m as excited today about serving Jesus Christ as I have ever been in my whole life. God knows I’m telling the truth. There is so much I love about serving the Lord Jesus Christ, and every day it gets sweeter.

I want you to keep the wonder in your worship. I want you to keep the fire in your faith. Jesus would rather have you cold than lukewarm. Why? At least a person who’s against Christ has enough respect for Him to be against Him. But a person who is lukewarm says, “I believe. I’m just not excited about it.” We come to church sometimes and yawn in the face of God. God says, “I’m a Father. Where is my honor?” That’s the reason why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). Let’s remember the God we serve, as we seek to honor Him today.

How have you lived out your role as one of God’s priests?

When do you struggle most with having enthusiasm as you serve God?

PRACTICE THIS

Speak to another Christian who has joy in his or her walk with Jesus; ask that person for some words of wisdom and advice to keep faith growing.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

To Refuse Christ is to Reject Christ

PRAY OVER THIS

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Matthew 12:30

 

PONDER THIS

I was witnessing on the streets of Pensacola, Florida, one time, and I saw two girls I’d never seen before. I said, “May I have a moment of your time?” They said, “Yes.” And I explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these two young ladies. They both seemed to be under conviction, so I asked one young lady, “Would you like to pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior today?” She said, “Yes I would,” and I prayed with her, and she gave her heart to Jesus. And then I asked the other young lady, “Would you like to receive Christ as your personal Savior and Lord?” She said, “I’m not ready to do that right now.” I said, “Well, now is the accepted time. There will never be a better time, and why don’t you give your heart to Jesus?” She said, “I just don’t want to make a decision right now.” I said, “Well, listen, if you don’t accept Christ, you’re rejecting Christ.” “Oh,” she said, “I would never reject Christ.” She didn’t understand that to refuse Christ is to reject Christ. Not to accept Him is to deny Him. And today, you’ll either say, yes or no to Jesus Christ. Do you understand that?

What does it mean that if you are not with Jesus, you are against Him?

How does every person have a decision to make regarding Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Have a conversation with another person regarding the decision everyone has to make with Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Won’t Always Get What You Want

PRAY OVER THIS

“And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’” Matthew 11:2-3

 

PONDER THIS

At the beginning of Matthew 11, John was in prison and sent messengers to ask if Jesus was the promised One of God. Jesus knew John’s heart and did not mistake the moment for the man. Jesus knew John had an honest doubt—John asked an honest question, and he got an honest answer. And look at the tribute Jesus paid to John in verse 11, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” And John the Baptist continued to serve the Lord up to the point of giving his head for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do you know what real faith is? Real faith is not receiving from God what you want; real faith is accepting from God what He gives. Learn that and you won’t get offended at God. If things don’t work out like you think they should—if you’re serving God but you end up in a dungeon—just remember that God is God. He is good, and He is in control.

How does today’s devotion remind you that you can bring your honest questions before Jesus?

What question do you need to bring before Him today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to journal and write out questions you want to ask God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Will You Serve God Anyway?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:18

 

PONDER THIS

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said in essence, “Our God is able, and we believe He will. But if He doesn’t, it’s not because He’s not able, and we’re not going to bow before your filthy image.” (See Daniel 3:16-18.) Notice they had a settled faith. They didn’t say, “Well, let’s huddle about it.” Their minds were already made up. They had a sure faith: “Our God is able.” But they also had a steadfast faith to say, “Even if He doesn’t, even if we’re turned to bacon in that furnace, we’re not going to worship your idol.”

Are you ready to quit just because God doesn’t do the thing you ask Him to do? You’d better have an “if not” clause in your faith. It doesn’t mean your faith is weak. It means that it is stronger than ever. “God, I know You’re able. But if You don’t do it, Lord, I’m going to serve You anyway. I’m not going to make bargains with You.” Sometimes we don’t understand why God does things. A mature faith bows to the sovereign purposes of God.

Where do you need to trust God, even “if not”?

How hard is it for you to truly trust God if He doesn’t answer as you desire?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time in prayer today to submit an area of difficulty before God. Ask Him to build your faith and help you trust Him, even “if not.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Gain of Serving God

“They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” (2 Chronicles 12:8)

Serving God is utterly different from serving anyone else.

God is extremely jealous that we understand this — and enjoy it. For example, he commands us, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (Psalm 100:2). There is a reason for this gladness. It is given in Acts 17:25. God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

We serve him with gladness because we do not bear the burden of meeting his needs. He has no needs. So, serving him can’t mean meeting his needs. Instead we rejoice in a service where he meets our needs. Serving God always means receiving grace from God to do what we have to do.

To show how jealous God is for us to understand this, and glory in it, there is a story in 2 Chronicles 12. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who ruled the southern kingdom after the revolt of the ten tribes, chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms.

As judgment, God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, against Rehoboam with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen (2 Chronicles 12:2–3).

In mercy God sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam with this message: “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak’” (2 Chronicles 12:5). The happy upshot of that message is that Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves in repentance and said, “The Lord is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6).

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he said, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak” (2 Chronicles 12:7). But as a discipline to them he says, “They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2 Chronicles 12:8).

The point is plain: serving the enemy and serving God are very different. How so? Serving God is a receiving and a blessing and a joy and a benefit. Serving Shishak is exhausting and depleting and sorrowful. God is a giver. Shishak is a taker.

This is why I am so jealous to say that the worship of Sunday morning and the worship of daily obedience is not at bottom a burdensome giving to God, but a joyful getting from God. That is the true service that God demands. In all you do, trust me as the giver.

John Piper 

All Good Deeds Do Not Glorify God

PRAY OVER THIS

“So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, ‘The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself.’” Exodus 18:17-18

 

PONDER THIS

One of the ways we become physically worn out is by doing things God never intended for us to do. There’s enough time in every day to gracefully do everything God wants us to do, isn’t there? Moses was doing something God didn’t want him to do and called it serving God. He believed he was doing it for the people. But Jethro said, “The thing that you do is not good.”

Consider everything you’re doing you think is so important. We need to eliminate some things, delegate other things, and then dedicate the rest. There are some things other people can do. That’s how Moses learned to delegate. And then there are other things that need to be eliminated altogether. Our doing is not worthwhile if it is not honoring God and blessing others. We need God’s wisdom to discern what is best each day.

What things do you feel God clearly has called you to in your life?

If you used this as a standard for your everyday activity, what might you give away for others to do? What might you eliminate altogether?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of the activities that keep you busy each week. Ask God to help you discern what you might delegate and what you might eliminate so you might serve Him well in the things He has given you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Finishing Well?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” 1 Samuel 28:19

 

PONDER THIS

No man ever got a better start than King Saul. And no man ever had a sadder finish than King Saul. When we first meet King Saul in the Bible as a young man, he’s handsome. He’s winsome. He’s courteous. He’s humble. He’s thoughtful. But as we continue through the Bible, we find he becomes a bitter, envious, murderous, wicked, old man. He died by his own hand. He died sadly, piteously, and embarrassingly.

But we should learn from Saul because the thing that happened to Saul could happen to any person. He gave himself over to certain influences, and the devil moved in, and in Saul, we see the finished product of the devil’s art. As the Bible reminds us at many points, it’s not how you start but how you finish. Saul had the right start, but he finished poorly because he turned away from God.

When was a time you started something well but finished poorly?

Would you say your life is moving toward God over time or away from Him? What needs to change?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of your priorities. Write what really matters to you (not what you think should matter). Objectively review this list and assess whether these priorities will move you closer to or further away from God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers