Pray When You Don’t Feel Like It

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many times we pray trying to impress someone in our group, but the early Christians weren’t trying to impress anybody. They were desperate. They prayed with intensity, fervency and specificity. They prayed to God, not to impress one another. 

What have you learned about intense prayer? When you’re in a crisis, you learn how to pray with intensity, don’t you? 

Many of us prayed this morning, but if I were to ask you, you couldn’t tell me with specificity what you prayed for. It was just a general prayer with no real intensity. I love Jeremiah 29:13, where God says, “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Sometimes we don’t feel like praying, so we say we’ll not pray. 

ACTION POINT:

Don’t feel like praying? Continue in prayer until you do feel like it. Friend, if there’s ever a time that you need to pray, it’s when you don’t feel like it. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Fellowship of Prayer

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it will be done for them of My Father which is in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:19-20 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God is pleased when His children pray, but God is more pleased when His children pray in fellowship. There’s nothing that will bind us together as a church more than praying. If you’ve ever had a prayer partner, you know that your hearts are linked together. 

There are times when God comes, when the church prays, and it is glorious and wonderful. It’s what we call “the fellowship of prayer.” This prayer is the prayer we see happening in Acts 12 when the church came together to pray for Peter.

ACTION POINT:

Gather together with other believers to pray this week.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Do You Have the Heart of an Edomite?

For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.  - Isaiah 34:5

9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. 

10 Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.  - Isaiah 34:9-10

What is the spirit of the Edomite and what is its origin?”)

It originates from Esau and his spirit of rebellion towards God and the hatred of his brother Jacob.

I know we are all born into sin (rebellion) because one man (Adam) sinned and through him sin came to all mankind.

But, there is this thing called repentance! That is to say, you turn from sin and rebellion and toward God through Christ for a new life. 

But, even before repentance, there is mercy!

Mercy and forgiveness is offered through Christ by God.

However, there are some who deny God's power and the power of the blood of Christ and stay in their rebellion.

They are devoted to destruction and will spend eternity in Hell.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9

Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.  - Obadiah 1:10

The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.  - Obadiah 1:18

11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad-in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls-

12 she was told, "The older will serve the younger."

13 As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!

15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"

20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"

21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-

24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? - Romans 9:11-24

Life Is a Mystery to be Lived

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever stood and watched a painter paint a picture? He starts putting his colors on canvas. He’s just splashing on the colors, mixing this one and that. You can almost hear him thinking, “A little more yellow here….” 

And we say, “He’s so good—how does he do that?” Then suddenly he’ll get some colors and go swoosh! across the canvas. We say, “Oh, you ruined it! You’ve really messed up. Let’s see how you get out of this!” And then all of a sudden it just comes together. It’s a masterpiece! 

Sometimes we look at what God does as God puts His colors on the canvas and say, “Lord, you’re really doing well.” Then all of a sudden God goes swoosh. “Lord! You’ve messed things up! How did You let this happen?” Have you ever felt that way?

Now it doesn’t make sense to me when I watch that painter. It doesn’t make sense to me, but it makes sense to him. And just because things are not making sense to you, do not think that they don’t make sense. In Acts 12 we see Herod’s ungodly power, James’ death, then Peter’s release. Yet all of these things are working together. We call that the sovereignty of God, the providence of God. 

ACTION POINT:

In Acts chapter 12 in your Bible, write in the margin Romans 8:28, “And we know, we k-n-o-w, that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

How Do You Handle A Crisis?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And he [Herod] killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.” Acts 12:2-3

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What do you do in times of crisis? One thing we all must do, before we panic or sin against God, is respect the mystery of God’s providence.

Throughout the pages of His Word, you’re going to see the hidden hand of God...working in mysterious ways, in inexplicable ways. God is in the shadows arranging things, moving things people cannot see. That may be true in your life right now. God is working, but you cannot see Him working. 

You may be in the middle of chaos right now. Nothing seems to be making sense. Everything you thought you had nailed down is coming loose, and the devil is pulling nails.

Just because it doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. Many of us have questions. As we look at Acts chapter 12, we say, “Well, how could God let a rascal like Herod be the king anyway? Isn’t God, God? If I were God, I’d turn him into a frog. And why should James be killed and Peter released? Does God have favorites? Has God lost control?” 

ACTION POINT:

We do not live by explanations. Life is not a problem to be solved; it is a mystery to be lived. Sometimes we must back off and simply see what I call the hidden hand of God. Just because today you cannot see the hand of God working doesn’t mean God is not working.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

What Did You Pray For This Morning?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And…he proceeded further to take Peter also…. And…he put him in prison….Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him….And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him….And the angel said unto him, “Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals…and follow me.”… And…he came to the house of Mary the mother of John…where many were gathered together praying….Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.” Acts 12: 1-5, 7-8, 12, 16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Peter was in prison and the church was praying. They had no other recourse. They couldn’t petition the government to release him. They had no political influence, no money to bribe Herod. But they could pray. The world might have laughed, but friend, the devil didn’t laugh. 

Someone wisely said, “The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” They offered focused prayer to God, and God controls the universe. 

Notice that “Prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (v. 5). They prayed for Peter not only with intensity but with specificity.

What did you pray for this morning? Many of our prayers, like “Lord, save the lost,” are so vague, if God were to answer them we wouldn’t know it, and if God didn’t answer them we wouldn’t have to admit it. 

ACTION POINT:

Stop praying vague, general prayers. Get specific. When they prayed for Peter and the answer came, they knew it was an answer to prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

What You Might Miss Out On

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Isn’t it wonderful to know that the works of God are perfect? That God’s ways are perfect? And that His will is perfect? Now, someone reading this may think, “But I don’t know about God’s will. I don’t want to give myself completely to Him or He might send me to a remote desert as a missionary.”

Let’s set the record straight. God’s will is not so much something that you surrender to as it is something that you get in on. God will choose for you what you would choose for yourself if you had enough sense to choose it!

ACTION POINT:
Let your prayer today be, "Help me, Lord, not to fear what I'll miss if I do Your will; help me to fear what I'll miss if I don't."

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers