Thursday, October 22, 2015

Does Your Life Help or Hurt the Cause of Christ?


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
You are either a helper or a hurter when it comes to reaching the world for Christ. Why? Because, like “Big Brother,” the world is watching your “Sunday-go-to-church” behavior and wondering how it compares to your behavior the rest of the week.

Do they see you giving your time and resources to help them when they’re hurting? Do they witness how you treat your family? Or how you entertain your friends? Or do you even know their names?

ACTION POINT:
The greatest argument for Christ and the greatest argument against Christ is the life of a Christian. “Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor fainting struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save” (Philip P. Bliss).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Every Failure—Is a Prayer Failure!



BIBLE MEDITATION:
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.” Ephesians 3:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
One of the grandest privileges you and I have is the privilege of prayer. I believe when we get to heaven, one of the things that will amaze us is that we prayed so poorly, and we prayed so little, while we were here on earth.

I want to tell you: you do not have a failure in your life but what it is a prayer failure. You do not have a need in your life but what prayer could supply that need. There’s not a sin in your life that a proper prayer life couldn’t overcome.

Hymn writer Joseph M. Scriven penned these words, “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” 

ACTION POINT:
Friend, rather than wringing our hands, we ought to be bending our knees.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Season of Doubt


What is a season of doubt?
It's a time of not feeling God's presence.
It's when you are feeling your world come apart.
It's a time of testing and trial.
It's those fiery darts that are cast in your direction!


Just remember these words in times of trouble:
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  - Lamentations 3:22-23

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; 
2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; 
3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; 
5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; 
6 he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. 
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; 
8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; 
9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. 
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; 
11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; 
12 he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. 
13 He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; 
14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 
15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. 
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 
17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; 
18 so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." 
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 
20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  - Lamentations 3:1-21

Can't we all identify with Jeremiah?
What were Jeremiah's last words in this chapter?
I have Hope!
Why?
Because he knew he worshiped a God who is able! 

Jeremiah also knew that God wanted a humbled obedient heart! 


1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 
11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  - Psalm 51:1-11

So what do we take away from this teaching?


There is a time of testing!


There is a time of joy!


God's creation will doubt!!


God is more than able!


Hold fast to your faith in God and His promise of everlasting love and mercy!!!


Do You Feel “Fogged In”?



BIBLE MEDITATION:
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.” Psalm 116:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Imagine you are in a plane, ready for take-off on the runway. The pilot has come on the intercom and announced there’s a delay because of fog. You glance out your window. It looks so gloomy and dark. You wonder if the sun is shining.

The fog lifts enough for the control tower to give the pilot the green light, and the plane takes off. It’s still cloudy, but the plane starts climbing, climbing, climbing. Suddenly, the plane bursts through the clouds, and it is so gloriously bright that you have to blink your eyes. Now, you realize the sun has been there all the time.

That’s the way it is with Jehovah God, the Son of righteousness with healing in His wings (see Malachi 4:2-3). He is always loving, always giving. He is waiting for you to see Him now.

ACTION POINT:
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you today the true condition of the sky—above the clouds. Let Him speak to you about what is really there beyond the fog. Things are not always what they seem. And God has His hand upon you.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Monday, October 19, 2015

Finding Your Way when Human Reasoning Won’t Do



BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.” Deuteronomy 13:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
When we read a command in the Bible, whether we understand it or not, we ought to obey it. The Bible is not first and foremost a book to be explained, it is a book to be believed and obeyed.

So many times we want to tell God how He ought to do things. I can imagine those early apostles when they first met Paul persecuting believers. Those well-meaning Christians could have been praying for God to strike Paul dead, but what did God do? He struck him alive! And aren’t you glad He did?

ACTION POINT:
Don’t substitute human reasoning for obedience. God says, “ 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).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Sunday, October 18, 2015

The Valley, the Shadow, and a Promise



BIBLE MEDITATION:
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.” Psalm 145:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Psalm 23 speaks of the “valley of the shadow of death.” For every shadow, there must be light. Jesus Christ said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). A shadow may frighten you, but a shadow cannot really hurt you.

I dare say that a shadow at one time or another has spooked many of us. But thank God, death is but a shadow if you know the Lord Jesus Christ. If you keep your face toward the light, the shadow will fall behind you. You won’t even see the shadow. God doesn’t bring us to a valley to leave us there. He always brings us through. 

ACTION POINT:
God is never closer than when you are in a dark valley. That’s when He is especially near. In the original language, we’re told Hebrews 13:5 actually has five negatives! The Amplified Bible translates it this way: “I will never, no, not ever, never leave you nor forsake you.” Memorize this verse today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Saturday, October 17, 2015

The Spirit, Our Eternal Life

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.  - Job 33:4


29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 
30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.  - Psalm 104:29-30


14 If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 
15 all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.  - Job 34:14-15


11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. 
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.  - Job 10:11-13


23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28 for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'  - Acts 17:23-28


If you are an unrepentant sinner, you are blinded to the truth of God's word. 
We often ask why a drunk can't stop drinking as we watch him lose everything. 
The same goes for a drug addict, they lose everything because that next fix is more important.
What about the sex addict or someone hooked on porn? 
The same applies to them, nothing is more important than their wicked pleasure.
Satan knows your every weakness and will convince you that nothing is more important than fulfilling your desires. 
It's not just the sins mentioned above but all sin. 
Sin separates man from God, but repentance, faith in Christ and His ability to bring salvation is the only way of restoration!
After the resurrection and the raising of Christ, there began a marvelous and merciful drawing of the souls of all people. 
He is actively pursuing you!
He died for you!
He offers eternal life to you through His sanctifying blood!!! 


1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. - 2 Corinthians 4:1-6


And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." - John 12:32


He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. - 1 John 2:2


15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:15-23


1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:1-9



You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. - John 15:16


No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. - John 6:44


"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. - Ezekiel 34:11


1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." - John 17