What Cancer Cannot Do

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

ROMANS 8:37-39

 

PONDER THIS

Today’s passage is a reminder that nothing can separate us from God. Paul did not say hardship would not happen. Rather it is in these things, not in the absence of these things, that we’re “more than conquerors.” You will have struggles, but you do not need to lose hope if you are in Christ.

Take cancer for example. Many people will have cancer before they die. This disease is terrible on the human body, but I want to tell you some things that cancer cannot do. Cancer cannot cripple love. Cancer cannot shatter hope. Cancer cannot corrode faith. Cancer cannot eat away peace. Cancer cannot destroy confidence. Cancer cannot kill friendship. Cancer cannot shut out memories. Cancer cannot silence courage. Cancer cannot evade the soul. Cancer cannot reduce eternal life. Cancer cannot quench the Spirit of God. And cancer cannot lessen the power of the resurrection. That’s how limited cancer is. Whether you are going through a terminal diagnosis, a hard season at work, or anything else, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

What are some things that feel like they can separate you from God’s love? How can we remind ourselves that this isn’t true?

What changes when we remember that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Show God’s love to someone who is going through a hard time and may be feeling alone.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Separated To Christ?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.” Romans 1:1

 

PONDER THIS

Paul was separated to the Gospel of God. Christians are to be separated. Christians are to be different. We are to stand out. Now the kind of separation Paul had already been practicing was the separation of a Pharisee. The very word Pharisee implies separation. Paul was separated. Some people say, “Well, I live a separated Christian life. I don’t smoke; I don’t chew; and I don’t go with the girls who do. I am separated.” Well, a fence post doesn’t smoke or chew or go with girls who do. So, you don’t have any more religion than a fence post if that’s what your separation is. And quitting those things will not make you more like the Lord Jesus Christ. You can walk the straight and narrow, and say, “I don’t do this. I don’t do this. I don’t do this,” and you’ll be a proud, bitter Pharisee. That’s what Paul was before he met the Lord Jesus Christ. He was already a Pharisee. He was already separated from, but he became separated to, and that is the difference.

The word separated here is the word in Greek from which we get our word horizon. Have you ever been up on a tall building and looked as far as you could see until the earth dips over? That is the horizon. And your horizon changes when your center changes. And when Jesus Christ is the center of your life, then your entire horizon has changed.

What has changed since Jesus became the center of your life?

What is the difference between being separated from the world and separated to Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with someone the testimony about how Jesus changed your horizon and perspective on life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Grieving the Spirit?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know you can only grieve somebody who loves you? Let me illustrate, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. The neighbors’ kids may frustrate you; your own children grieve you. What’s the difference? Grieve is a love word. The Holy Spirit of God loves you, but you can so grieve Him when you disobey the commandments of God that the Holy Spirit just closes up. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Do you know what the word “quench” means? It means to pour cold water on a fire. The Holy Spirit is like a gentle dove, like a glowing ember. You can frighten away that dove, and you can pour water on that ember.

If you willfully, knowingly, and deliberately disobey God, you grieve the Spirit, you quench the Spirit. You may even wonder, “Am I saved?” I’ve met many people who doubt their salvation that I believe are truly saved, but they’re living in direct disobedience to God, and as a result, they do not have the manifested presence of God.

How does it make you feel that God grieves when you are apart from Him?

How does it give you hope to have the Holy Spirit—the presence of God—in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider where you might be grieving the Spirit. Where do you need to make changes to stop this? Take action today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Cup of Punishment: Incomprehensible Separation

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear”...

(Isaiah 59:2)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When Jesus prayed at Gethsemane, He was not merely contemplating the pain of intense scourging, the loathsome walk to the cross, and the agony of Golgotha. Jesus knew that He was going to suffer the very fires of hell. Jesus was going to baptize His soul in hell. Jesus was going to walk the burning halls of the damned. Jesus was going to receive the thunderbolts of God’s wrath, and Jesus Christ, the eternal Son who had been in the bosom of the Father from eternity was going to be now separated from God on that cross. He was going to cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” The answer is that the chief attribute of God is not love; it is holiness. And in His holiness, He has sworn sin will be punished. God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and God the Father had to turn His back on God the Son.

ACTION POINT:

Have you ever seen a little child do something wrong and hide from his parents afterward? Even small children understand that “sin separates.” Run to Gethsemane and fall on your knees. Meet the suffering Servant. He endured incomprehensible separation in order to be reunited with you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers