Now, What Is Faith?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A nobleman’s son became ill, so he sought Jesus to heal him. When he found Jesus, he asked Him to come to his home. But instead of physically going to the boy’s bedside, Jesus healed him by His word. John 4:50b says, “And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.” 

Not a wonder, not a sign, not a vision, not angels playing tic-tac-toe on his ribs, or cold chills going up and down his spine…the man believed Jesus’ Word and went on his way.

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.

Doubt sees the obstacles; faith sees the way. Doubt sees the darkest night; faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step; faith soars on high. Doubt questions who believes; faith answers, “I”!

ACTION POINT:

Life follows faith like night follows day. There is no life without faith.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Make No Provision for “the Flesh”

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

One of my favorite stories is about a father who leaves his son at home one Saturday afternoon because his son isn’t feeling well. He tells his son, “Don’t go swimming with your buddies.” 

The son says, “Yes sir!”

The dad returns by way of the swimming hole and notices his son frolicking with the other boys. He stops the car, calls his son over and says, “I told you not to go swimming.” 

“But I didn’t intend to go swimming. I just came down to watch, and I fell in,” the boy said. The dad began feeling sorry for his son until he noticed he had his bathing suit on! The son explained, “I brought that along…in case I was tempted.” 

ACTION POINT:

Friend, don’t make any provision for the flesh.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Running the Race—with a Running Partner

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What does it mean that Jesus is the “Author” and “Finisher” of our faith? The Greek word archegos means that He is the Captain, Leader, or Prince of our faith. The Greek for “finisher” is teleiotes, which means He is the Completer of our faith.

Jesus had His eye on the goal—He could see you saved. He paid the price so you could be saved.

ACTION POINT:

Do you want to know how to run the race? Jesus is your example. Keep your eyes on Him. He is the Savior who not only shows you how to run the race, but He lives within you through the Holy Spirit and runs the race through you. Praise God—we are never alone!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

More About the Divine Exchange

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The church is not an organization with Jesus Christ as its president. The church is an organism with Jesus Christ as its head. We are in Him and He is in us. The victory He won on the cross was for us.

When Jesus went to the cross, He wasn’t fighting the battle for Himself. He didn’t need to overcome Satan. He fought it on your behalf. He made the transaction, the divine exchange:

Jesus became the Son of man that you might become a son of God. He took your sins that you might take His innocence. He became guilty that you might become acquitted. He was filled with despair that you might be filled with joy. He took your shame that you might take His glory. He suffered the pains of hell, that you might know the joys of heaven.

ACTION POINT:

“What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest Friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.”

LWF Adrian Rogers

The Divine Exchange

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Jesus suffered like you suffer. But He suffered more than that, because He took not only your suffering, but He also took upon Himself the suffering of the world. The sins of the world were compressed and distilled upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrew scholars tell us that there is an intensive plural in Isaiah 53 that speaks of the death of Christ. They say that it literally means that He “died a thousand deaths.” 

Do you know what that means? It means that Jesus, being infinite, suffered for a finite amount of time what you, being finite, would suffer for an infinite amount of time. A great exchange took place. He suffered upon that cross an eternity of hell for every one of us.

ACTION POINT:

Can you say today with the songwriter,

“What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;

Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.

Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;

Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Making Your Way Clean and Pure

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways.” Psalm 119:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Psalm 119:9 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” That word “way” really means a “rut” like a chariot wheel would make in the road.

Have you ever heard of a one-track mind? The devil plants a thought in our minds, and over time it becomes a belief. Before we know it, he has captured a stronghold. Thank God there is a way of deliverance.

ACTION POINT:

God’s Word will cleanse you (see John 15:3 and Ephesians 5:26). Picture the Lord Jesus walking through your mind, filling up a wheelbarrow full of filth, and carting it out. Hallelujah! God’s cleansing powers can sweep over your soul today. And fresh winds of the Holy Spirit can blow through the temple of your body and make you clean and pure.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

And You Shall Know That I Am The Lord

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is the book of Ezekiel chapter 37. 

It shows the power of God in all His glory!!

It shows the contrast between lowly man and Almighty God!!

God does indeed give knowledge to man but man is so foolish.

Man thinks he has done this and that, instead of praising and glorifying God for the knowledge which He imparts by His mercy! 

Our mission is one of sharing the Gospel. 

We can't save any soul!

We are to share God's word!

It exacts a response from lost man.

Man will be convicted!!

Man will receive mercy!

Man will reject His word as a lie!!

Man will receive God's wrath!!!

God's word teaches His power, mercy, forgiveness and glory!

God's word teaches we must rely on God!!

Hear the word of the Lord!!

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

3 And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD."

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.'

12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."

15 The word of the LORD came to me:

16 "Son of man, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.'

17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

18 And when your people say to you, 'Will you not tell us what you mean by these?'

19 say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand.

20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes,

21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.

22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.

23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

24 "My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.

25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.

26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.

27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28 Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore." 

Ezekiel 37