The Window of the Heart

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3)

One of the most remarkable capacities of the human mind is the capacity to direct its own attention to something it chooses. We can pause and say to our minds, “Think about this, and not that.” We can focus our attention on an idea or a picture or a problem or a hope.

It is an amazing power. I doubt that animals have it. They are probably not self-reflective, but rather governed by impulse and instinct.

Have you been neglecting this great weapon in the arsenal of your war against sin? The Bible calls us again and again to use this remarkable gift. Let’s take this gift off the shelf, and dust it off, and put it to use.

For example, Paul says in Romans 8:5–6, “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (my translation).

This is stunning. What you set your mind on determines whether the issue is life or death.

Many of us have become far too passive in our pursuit of change and wholeness and peace. I have the feeling that in our therapeutic age we have fallen into the passive mindset of simply “talking through our problems” or “dealing with our issues” or “discovering the roots of our brokenness in our family of origin.”

But I see a much more aggressive, non-passive approach to change in the New Testament. Namely, set your mind. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Our emotions are governed in large measure by what we consider — what we dwell on with our minds. For example, Jesus told us to overcome the emotion of anxiety by what we consider: “Consider the ravens. . . . Consider the lilies” (Luke 12:24, 27).

The mind is the window of the heart. If we let our minds constantly dwell on the dark, the heart will feel dark. But if we open the window of our mind to the light, the heart will feel the light.

Above all, this great capacity of our minds to focus and consider is meant for considering Jesus (Hebrews 12:3). So, let’s do this: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

John Piper 

Guarding the Door of Your Mind

“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.” PSALM 119:9

 

PONDER THIS

Our utility room got into a particular state that was pretty neat. We had everything labeled in boxes and everything. But once the holidays came and company was over, we got busy. So, we started carrying stuff out there and stacking it in that utility room. It stacked here and there. Then, after a while, we got to the point where we’d open the door and throw stuff in. At that point, we wondered, “What difference does it make?” Just put it in there and shut the door.

Your mind can get that way. Once the Spirit of God helps you get it clean, you must be intentional to keep it that way. If you don’t have the assurance that it’s clean, the devil will just throw anything in there, and you’ll accept it. So, you’ve got to get it clean, and then there must be a determination to keep it clean.

When have you had to clean your mind? What was that process like?

What are the areas of your life where you haven’t let God clean because it seems too hard or painful?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to an accountability partner about the areas of your mind and life God needs to clean up and ask your friend to pray for you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When God’s Hand is Heavy

Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” PSALM 51:8-10

 

PONDER THIS

Some people believe, “If we sin, God just tosses us away.” They’ve got it absolutely wrong. God doesn’t toss you away if you’re His child. When you sin, God puts His hand on you and squeezes. David said, “Your hand was heavy upon me.” In Psalm 51, David spoke of his bones being broken. He was speaking poetically. If God has words of rebuke, if God has arrows of conviction, if God has a hand of pressure on you, respond with “Thank God. He loves me too much to let me go on this way.”

The most miserable man in the world is not an unsaved man. The most miserable man in the world is a child of God out of fellowship with God. If you’re a child of God and you’re living in sin, God’s not going to let you go. You’re not going to get away with it.

David’s sin wearied him. The thing David had done in his heart continued to weary him in his mind. He couldn’t sleep. A clear conscience is better than any sleeping pill. Unresolved guilt will sap the strength out of your life, strength that ought to be given to productive purposes. But God uses these moments to draw us back to Him.

When have you been weary from sin? How did you respond?

Do you regularly make space to listen for God’s conviction? How could you make this space?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the areas of life where you need to repent. Pray and invite God into the areas you have sought to close off to Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Heart is Still Crooked

Pray Over This

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

 

Ponder This

You and I have a heart problem. I'm not talking about a physical ailment. This is an ailment that resists all medication. All the spiritual exercise and all the spiritual diet in the world will not cure the disease of our hearts.

 

The heart is sick; it resists meditation.

 

Many people don't understand that their problem is their hearts, and they're trying to medicate their hearts, when they really need heart transplants. They are trying somehow to cure the problem of sin. But sin is on the inside. Even if you reform on the outside, you've not dealt with the problem of the heart. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.  

 

I've been to a sawmill from time to time, and watched them put the logs on the cradle, and lop off the edges. They'll take a big log out of the woods that has bumps and knots on it. It may be a little crooked, but they lay it on the cradle, and run it through until it looks straight. On the outside, it's perfectly square, and if you stand and look down it, it's perfectly straight. But if you look at the end of it, the heart is still crooked. That's the way it is with some individuals. Many individuals have tried to reform outwardly. Reformation is not enough. You need regeneration.

What are some ways you have seen that the heart is wicked? What are some ways you have seen that your heart is wicked?

What are some ways God has healed your heart? What are some areas in your heart that still need transformation and healing?

 

Practice This

Pray and open yourself up to God, asking Him to reveal where you still need healing and transformation in your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Secret Faults Result in Moral Earthquakes

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”

PSALM 19:12-14

 

PONDER THIS

You don’t have what it takes to understand the things of God; only the Holy Spirit of God can help you understand. Who can convict you of sin? Your heart is not going to expose your heart. As a matter of fact, the Bible says of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8, “When He has come, He will convict the world of sin.”

Did you know that you have secret faults you don’t know anything about? In Memphis, Tennessee, there is a hidden fault called the New Madrid fault. Can you look down and see that fault in the ground? No, but it’s there. One of these days it may cause an earthquake. A lot of times, people have moral earthquakes because they have secret faults they fail to recognize are there.

We need to open ourselves up to God and let the Holy Spirit reveal our secret faults. The psalmist was not playing a cover-up game; he opened himself up before God because he wanted to be with God. Let’s do the same.

Why are we prone to hiding, even before God?

What are some of the faults you have hidden or tried to ignore?

PRACTICE THIS

You don’t have what it takes to understand the things of God; only the Holy Spirit of God can help you understand. Who can convict you of sin? Your heart is not going to expose your heart. As a matter of fact, the Bible says of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8, “When He has come, He will convict the world of sin.”

Did you know that you have secret faults you don’t know anything about? In Memphis, Tennessee, there is a hidden fault called the New Madrid fault. Can you look down and see that fault in the ground? No, but it’s there. One of these days it may cause an earthquake. A lot of times, people have moral earthquakes because they have secret faults they fail to recognize are there.

We need to open ourselves up to God and let the Holy Spirit reveal our secret faults. The psalmist was not playing a cover-up game; he opened himself up before God because he wanted to be with God. Let’s do the same.

Why are we prone to hiding, even before God?

What are some of the faults you have hidden or tried to ignore?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Squeaky Clean

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 JOHN 1:8-10

 

PONDER THIS

Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ coming into your life and doing spring cleaning. Imagine Him coming in and cleansing your heart and your mind. He leaves it spotless and squeaky clean. Before you can stay clean, you’ve got to get clean. And to get this clean, you must have Jesus.

Think back on the last time you cleaned your garage, storage room, or whatever room that tends to accumulate things. After a while of letting things pile up, you take a Saturday to pull everything out, sweep it clean, and organize it just right. Once it gets clean, it’s so much easier to keep it clean, but if it’s not clean to begin with, it can’t be kept clean. You must get clean to stay clean, and that begins with admitting your problem.

We must confess that we have a problem that we can’t fix on our own. Bring it to Him. Only He can make you clean.

What are some things God has cleaned out of your heart? How did He do this in a way you could not?

What makes it challenging to confess your sin before God and others?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess your sin to God. Ask trusted believers around you to keep you accountable as you seek to submit these areas to God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s X-Ray of the Heart

“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.’ Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.” ACTS 5:1-5

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know you can’t lie to God? He knows your heart. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” There is the penetrating power of the Word of God. He knows when you’re lying; He can tell when you’re faking it.

I wonder if my heart were on display, what you would notice. Would I want my heart on that screen for you to see? Would you want your heart up there for everybody to see? There’s nothing hidden that will not be revealed. Things that are spoken in secret will be shouted from the rooftops. One day, hypocritical and half-hearted religion and pretended devotion will be made known. Paul said, when our Lord comes, He will “reveal the counsels of the hearts” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Perhaps there are things in your heart you don’t even know are there. Every morning, I put myself at God’s X-ray. We should all do this and pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:22-24).

What are some things in your life that you wouldn’t want people to see?

Have you heard the people around you when they have shown you lovingly an area in which God needs to work?

PRACTICE THIS

In prayer, explore areas of your life you have hidden from God. Tell Him about your struggles, temptations, and hopes.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prepare the Way

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16–17)

What John the Baptist did for Israel, Advent can do for us. Don’t let Christmas find you unprepared. I mean spiritually unprepared. Its joy and impact will be so much greater if you are ready!

So, that you might be prepared . . .

First, meditate on the fact that we need a Savior. Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). If you don’t need a Savior, you don’t need Christmas. Christmas will not have its intended effect until we feel desperately the need for a Savior. Let these short Advent meditations help awaken in you a bittersweet sense of need for the Savior.

Second, engage in sober self-examination. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24). Let every heart prepare him room . . . by cleaning house.

Third, build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of the King’s arrival visible for the children.

Fourth, be much in the Scriptures, and memorize the great passages! “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:29)! Gather ’round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights.

John Piper 

God Wants to Cleanse Not Accuse

PRAY OVER THIS

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.’ But he said to Him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.’ Then He said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.’” Luke 22:31-34

 

PONDER THIS

Why do you sift wheat? To get the impurities out—the sticks and stones. Why does Satan want to do that? Satan wants to get those sticks and those stones—those sins in our lives—so he can accuse us. Why does Jesus allow it? So He can cleanse us! He wants those sticks and those stones out of our lives. He wants us to be pure.

Satan will find sin in your life to accuse you. And what is the result of accusation? Despondency and fear. What is the result of conviction? Repentance, cleansing, and victory. Don’t let the devil condemn you when Jesus Christ wants to cleanse you by convicting you. There is a Savior today in glory praying for you. He wants you to have revival. The Bible says, “He always lives to make intercession for [you]” (Hebrews 7:25). And if, like Simon Peter, you’ve failed—and we all have to some degree—God is a God of fresh beginnings. When that rooster crowed, a new day was dawning for Simon Peter. No matter how you’ve failed, He still has compassion. And no matter your disobedience, He is still committed to you. He will see you through.

What are some impurities and sins recently revealed in your life? How have you responded?

What do you do when you feel convicted about something? What does this show regarding what you believe about God?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess your sin and impurities to God and ask Him to cleanse you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Reveals Your Heart

PRAY OVER THIS

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10

 

PONDER THIS

The heart is the control center for the body. God looks into your heart and searches your heart. Then after God reviews the heart, He reveals the heart. How does He do it? He tries the reins. God allows circumstances to come into your life and sees how you react to those circumstances. Your actions don’t prove what you are, your reactions do.

Have you ever been rude to a person? You say, “Well he made me mad.” The truth is, he just revealed the anger that’s already in you. He didn’t put that rudeness in you. That rudeness was already there; all he did was push the hot button.

As time goes by, God allows circumstances to come into your life, and you may say, “Well I’m surprised at myself. I never thought I could do that.” You didn’t know your heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And you didn’t know that down in that pit called the human heart were all those things. We can mask it so well.

A little girl was in the park, a dog was barking, and she started to cry. Then the dog stopped. And the mother said, “Look, don't cry darling. He stopped barking.” The girl said, “But his bark is still in him.” You may be able to control yourself in many instances, but there will come a time when it comes out and you’ll be surprised.

When was the last time you had a surprising reaction about something? What did that reveal about your heart?

What circumstances are most difficult for you to deal with? How do you react in those situations?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess to another believer the last time you reacted unexpectedly to a difficult encounter. Tell your friend what it has taught you about your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Remedy for Spiritual Poverty

PRAY OVER THIS

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Before people can enter the kingdom of Heaven, they must first admit that in their spirits, they are absolutely bankrupt and beggars before God. If they don’t see that, they will never ever get into the kingdom of Heaven.

When you come to Jesus Christ, you do not strut into His presence. The very word for beggar and for poor comes from a root word meaning, “to cringe, to cower, to shrink back.” There are no peacocks in Heaven. He’s talking here about a person who is totally, completely, devastatingly, bankrupt to the point of being reduced to being a beggar. And when they come to God, they must say as the old hymn, Rock of Ages says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” That’s where it begins. You must know your need to call out to your Savior. Brokenness follows bankruptcy. Broken people will search for the solution to their problem, and that is found in Jesus.

Why is it easy to forget or ignore our spiritual poverty before God?

What does it look like to live as a Christian who understands spiritual poverty?

PRACTICE THIS

Repent for any sin you have been holding onto and confess your spiritual poverty before God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prepare the Way

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16–17)

What John the Baptist did for Israel, Advent can do for us. Don’t let Christmas find you unprepared. I mean spiritually unprepared. Its joy and impact will be so much greater if you are ready!

So, that you might be prepared . . .

First, meditate on the fact that we need a Savior. Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). If you don’t need a Savior, you don’t need Christmas. Christmas will not have its intended effect until we feel desperately the need for a Savior. Let these short Advent meditations help awaken in you a bittersweet sense of need for the Savior.

Second, engage in sober self-examination. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24). Let every heart prepare him room . . . by cleaning house.

Third, build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of the King’s arrival visible for the children.

Fourth, be much in the Scriptures, and memorize the great passages! “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:29)! Gather ’round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights.

John Piper 

You Can Be Cleansed from Sin

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” Ephesians 5:1

 

PONDER THIS

Do you have any unconfessed, unrepented sin? I want to give you a testimony. You may think I’m bragging but I am not. I don’t have any unconfessed sin in my life—none. You say, “Oh, you think you’re a super Christian?” No, I’m a normal Christian. That is the normal Christian life. I would be a fool to stand up here and try and preach without the breastplate of righteousness.

Now, you’re not going to win the war with pornography if all you fight is pornography. What about honesty? What about pride? What about selfishness? You say, “Pastor Rogers, you mean to tell me you don’t have any problem fighting the devil?” I fight him all the time. “You mean to tell me you don’t fail?” I fail. I’m not saying I’m perfect. God knows I’m not. But I’m telling you there’s no reason that any man, woman, boy, or girl cannot be as pure and clean as the driven snow. “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). Why would I want to drag sin around? Why would I want to start the day with the baggage of sin when I can be clean? It’s so simple. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not some, all. Thank God for that.

When was the last time you confessed sin to God?

Why is it important to deal with our sin as it comes up instead of keeping it around?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and talk to God about your sin. Consider all your sins, not only the ones that are most public or obvious.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Can Be Perfectly Clean

PRAY OVER THIS

“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

 

PONDER THIS

I used to pastor in Fellsmere, Florida. There’s a sugar mill there, and I would go witness to the men at the sugar mill. They had a big garage there where they fixed the tractors and other equipment. One of the members of my church ran that big garage machine shop. His shop was not what you would expect. The floors were clean and slick. There was no trash, nothing just laying around. There was no grease. Everything was clean. The tools were all put up in a certain place.

I looked at that place, and I stood in awe of how clean it was because it was a machine shop. Then I noticed something unusual. That man had painted every corner of that machine shop snow white. I asked him about it. I said, “Why are the corners white?” He said, “I found out that if you keep the corners white, you can keep the rest of the shop clean.” He wouldn’t allow anybody to put anything in a corner. Keep the corners of your mind clean. Don’t just try to clean up the main part. Keep it all perfectly clean. Let God make you perfectly clean.

The question is, do you long to be perfectly clean? Would you like to say there is nothing between your soul and the Savior? That is the starting point.

Have you allowed Christ to “clean the corners” of your heart? Why or why not?

What is a corner in your life God wants to clean?

PRACTICE THIS

Have a time of reflection, confession, and repentance, considering what areas of your heart need to be cleaned by Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Can We Be Fully Clean Before God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know your blood cells are not only bringing the things you need but those cells are also hauling away the garbage? Those red cells give you all the stuff you need. Then they pick up all the uric acid, the carbon dioxide, and so many other poisons and toxins and carry them away. They’re carrying them to the lungs to be expelled or to the kidneys to be pushed out. It would be amazing if you could get the delivery truck to be the garbage truck at the same time, wouldn’t it? That’s what God has done. No wonder the Psalmist said, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

The blood not only supplies every need, but it also cleanses constantly. Jesus cleanses us from our sins. Not “it cleansed,” past tense; it is continually cleansing us. I know a lot of people who live painfully because they’ve let toxins build up in their lives: worry, envy, jealousy, fear, pride, bitterness, and doubt! Those things build up. And if you don’t allow the shared blood to constantly cleanse you, you’re going to live a life of pain.

When was the last time you asked Jesus to cleanse you?

When have you been overwhelmed with toxins like worry or bitterness? How does Jesus give freedom from these things?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider what toxins may be building up in your life. Ask Jesus to cleanse you from your sin.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Ask God to Search Your Heart?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.” Psalm 19:12

 

PONDER THIS

Do you want forgiveness? Do you know what I do sometimes in my study? I sit down in my quiet time, and I lay myself open to the Lord, and say, “Search me, O God, and try my heart.”

And sometimes it’s very painful. God will show me things that I say, “No, Lord that’s really not true. You’re wrong, Lord.” No. He says, “You’re wrong, Adrian. I’m right.” I’ll write it on a slip of paper, and sometimes that list will get pretty long. But then I’ll take that list and go one at a time and I’ll deal with it. I’ll name it. I will repent of it. Something on my list may seem like a harmless thing to you. It may not be wrong for you, but it is for me. Or something may be wrong for you that wouldn’t be for me. But I deal with each item on the list, then take my pen and write 1 John 1:9 over the whole thing and tear it up in little pieces. By that act, I’m reminded that I’ve been set free.

What is something God has told you is wrong for you even if not for others?

How have you experienced the freedom that comes through repentance?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time this week to practice the exercise described in today’s devotion. Read and write the truth of 1 John 1:9 over the list God brings to mind for confession.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Looks on the Heart

PRAY OVER THIS

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

 

PONDER THIS

Life is God’s wonderful gift. Therefore, we should enjoy life and choose life. Jesus is the great Life-Giver. Satan is the great life-destroyer. When Jesus referred to, “the thief,” He was not talking about a thief in the general sense; He was talking about Satan. Satan came to steal and destroy; Jesus came to give life.

Our Lord said if we allow hatred in our hearts, we have transgressed against Him. First John 3:15 says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” This includes mental murder. Is there somebody you hate? You may say, “I’m not overtly evil.” Do you hate anybody? Is your heart a headquarters for hate? Any kind of hate is not from Jesus, the Author of life.

When are you most prone to hate? What people or groups of people make you the angriest?

Where have you seen the damage of hate in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and repent from the habits of hate in your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Window of the Heart

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3)

One of the most remarkable capacities of the human mind is the capacity to direct its own attention to something it chooses. We can pause and say to our minds, “Think about this, and not that.” We can focus our attention on an idea or a picture or a problem or a hope.

It is an amazing power. I doubt that animals have it. They are probably not self-reflective, but rather governed by impulse and instinct.

Have you been neglecting this great weapon in the arsenal of your war against sin? The Bible calls us again and again to use this remarkable gift. Let’s take this gift off the shelf, and dust it off, and put it to use.

For example, Paul says in Romans 8:5–6, “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (my translation).

This is stunning. What you set your mind on determines whether the issue is life or death.

Many of us have become far too passive in our pursuit of change and wholeness and peace. I have the feeling that in our therapeutic age we have fallen into the passive mindset of simply “talking through our problems” or “dealing with our issues” or “discovering the roots of our brokenness in our family of origin.”

But I see a much more aggressive, non-passive approach to change in the New Testament. Namely, set your mind. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Our emotions are governed in large measure by what we consider — what we dwell on with our minds. For example, Jesus told us to overcome the emotion of anxiety by what we consider: “Consider the ravens. . . . Consider the lilies” (Luke 12:24, 27).

The mind is the window of the heart. If we let our minds constantly dwell on the dark, the heart will feel dark. But if we open the window of our mind to the light, the heart will feel the light.

Above all, this great capacity of our minds to focus and consider is meant for considering Jesus (Hebrews 12:3). So, let’s do this: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

John Piper 

Is Your Heart Clean?

PRAY OVER THIS

“You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.” Exodus 12:20

 

PONDER THIS

During the Jewish Passover meal, they have a little game. The father will take some crumbs of leavened bread, along with some cookies or cake, and put it on the mantle, on the bookshelf, or under the couch. Then, the little kids will burst into the room to try to find a crumb of leaven in the house. And they say, “Papa, papa, there’s some leavened bread.”

Their father comes in with a feather and a wooden spoon, gets it, carries it to the fire, and throws it in. Why? Because there’s to be no leaven in the house when you take the Passover. What is God saying to us? Leaven is symbolic of sin. When we come to the Lord’s Table, how do we come? With clean hearts—no unconfessed or unrepented sin—because we are celebrating the Lord’s Passover. We’re celebrating what the spotless, sinless Son of God did for us. When we come to the Lord’s Table, we’re not coming to mourn a corpse; we’re coming to hail a conqueror.

What does it look like to come to the Lord’s Supper with a clean heart?

Where is God calling you to confess any sin before Him today?

PRACTICE THIS

Set aside time to prayerfully confess any sin in your life today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How Do We Control Our Minds?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Proverbs 23:7

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

There was a sign in a business that said, “We are not what we think we are; what we think—we are.” What are you allowing into your mind and thereby allowing to control your heart, your actions, and your words? God made you so that you can’t think two thoughts at one time. If you’re thinking what’s right, you can’t be thinking what’s wrong. And as you think, you will become.

Guard your mind. Center your mind upon the Lord Jesus. Use Philippians 4:8 as the filter through which you pass each thought:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Don’t let the devil take away your pure-hearted devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay in love with Jesus and there won’t be any room for those filthy, dirty, wicked, lascivious, lustful, and prideful thoughts that bombard us all.

ACTION POINT

Start today to actively marshal your thoughts. You must be purposeful about this or it won’t happen. Focus on “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers