Showing Genuine Love for Others

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great.” Psalm 18:35

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Can a person donate to the poor and not have love? Can a person work in a soup kitchen for the homeless and not have love? Yes. You say, “A person wouldn’t do that!” Oh yes, they would…if they had a guilty conscience. Sometimes it is neater to write a check or donate some used things than to give of our time.

Do you know what the world needs? Not more money, though I’m sure they’d be glad to take it. First Corinthians 13:3 says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving of yourself to others.

ACTION POINT:

Ask God to show you the ways you can show His genuine love to others. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Accusation vs. Conviction: Learn to Tell the Difference!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:7-8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The devil accuses you of sin. The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin. Do you know the difference? The devil accuses you to drive you from Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts to draw you to Christ.

The devil wants you to get under a load of guilt so you’ll say, “I’m no good. I can’t live the Christian life. There’s something wrong with me. God doesn’t hear my prayers. It doesn’t do me any good to go to church.”

When you believe those lies, you let the devil drive you away from God! He accuses you to destroy you.

The Holy Spirit convicts you to reclaim you. He is trying to correct you and bring you back, that you may know the fullness of joy. The Holy Spirit draws you to Christ that you may confess your sins and be cleansed!

ACTION POINT:

Confess, be cleansed, and go your way rejoicing!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Shake Off Fear—Embrace Blessing!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Did you know that fear can cause you to forget things? Now, I’m not talking about forgetting a phone number or someone’s name, though it may cause you to forget things like that. Instead, I’m referring to fear that causes you to forget the blessings, the anointing, the power of God—all these possessions you have because you are saved!

It happened to Timothy, who was mightily gifted and graced by God for the ministry that God had given him.  Yet he forgot this in the midst of fear, and Paul had to remind him (see 2 Timothy 1:6). He had taken his eyes off of God and focused on fear so much that he couldn’t see anything else.

Let me tell you something friend: You are tremendously blessed! If you get your mind distracted by fear, then you will fail to see your blessings in Christ. Fear will blow out every light in your soul, take the blue out of your sky, and the joy out of your life.

ACTION POINT:

Friend, wake up and count your blessings. Rejoice, for you are in Christ!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Warning of the Wicked

17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

18 If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.

21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul." - Ezekiel 3:17-21

As a Christ follower, you are intimate with God.

You know His word.

You are to repeatedly warn of what God says about sin.

Notice I said warn!

Not through acts of physical violence but with stern words!

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. - 2 Timothy 4:2-4

As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. - 1 Timothy 5:20

Belief in Christ as Lord and Savior is everything!

We have nothing to offer God to satisfy His wrath.

He demands a spotless sinless lamb, which is Christ the Lord!

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins." - John 8:24

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

30 I and the Father are one." - John 10:28-30

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, - 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

A warning about denying God:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. - Romans 1:18-21

Are you listening to the devil? 

 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 

2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. - Genesis 3:1-6

See how easy Satan leads man to sin?

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. - 1 Peter 5:8-10

God's word is a warning!

God's word is a lifeline to eternity.

Be faithful!! 

Go And Sin No More

Your sins are forgiven!

And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." - Luke 7:48

Go and sin no more!

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]] - John 8:10-

These words hold a miracle paid by Christ on your behalf!

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. - Romans 3:21-26

A time of judgement is coming!

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." - Acts 17:30-31

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. - Hebrews 10:26-27

Wisdom filled words that are precious to a forgiven sinner!!

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. - Ephesians 1:7-10

The Pain and Struggle Of Mourning

God's Plan

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  - Genesis 1:27

God's Power

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. - 1 Corinthians 15:40

Spirit and body connection

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. - Ecclesiastes 12:7

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

45 Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. - 1 Corinthians 15:42-49

God's order of death and life

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 

55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 15:53-57

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak,

14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:13-18

Praise be to God for He alone is worthy!!

He made you in His image.

When sin perverted His marvelous creation, He made a way, through Christ, to redeem your soul!!!

Yes we mourn the loss of precious loved ones!

Yes we suffer as we die.

Sin is the cause of death and suffering.

If you believe Christ died and has risen and that He alone is your only hope for redemption, thank God, shout Amen and praise Him!! 

Christ is coming soon to receive His church, be ready!!

No More Running from Bugaboos!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God has endowed us with His power and enriched us with His love. Not only that, He has enlightened us with a sound mind. Now, this phrase “sound mind” does not mean the opposite of insanity. It actually means discipline and self-control. Along with that, it is the ability to discern between truth and falsehood.

So often, the devil gets us running from bugaboos. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.” Have you ever heard of phobias? This is what this verse is talking about.

ACTION POINT:

We must pull back the mask of darkness from the devil’s ploys and expose them for what they are and see the things that count in eternity. God has given you a sound mind by trusting in His Word, not in the devil’s schemes.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers