Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Equal Parts of Difficulty and Grace


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” Matthew 6:34 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
In the crucible of His wisdom and the ecology of His grace, God has ordered some trouble for you today. And every day of your life. 

We’ve been blessed with difficulties. Yes, you read right—blessed! The worst thing that could happen to us would be not to have any difficulties. If that were the case, we’d never know our need of the Lord. So God in essence says, “I’m going to give you sufficient difficulty for the day.” 

God gives you enough difficulty to draw you close to Him, but then God gives you enough grace to meet those difficulties every day. 

ACTION POINT:
Is there a difficult circumstance in your life? If so, thank God for sending it your way to make you more like Jesus. Now ask for His grace to be victorious through it!


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Free from the Ghost of Guilt!

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
There are two days that can steal the joy from today. One is yesterday and the other is tomorrow. 

Paul exhorts in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” 

We are to forget the past—the guilt, the glory, the grief, and the grudges. Paul was one who was guilty, along with others, for the stoning of Stephen. He said he was the “chiefest of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). But Paul buried that guilt in the grave of God’s forgetfulness. 

Maybe you’ve done something so horrible that you’re gripped with fear to think someone would find out what you’ve done. Have you repented? Then don’t be haunted by the ghost of guilt. 

ACTION POINT:
Have you done something worse than being an accessory to the murder of one of the leaders of the New Testament Church? If Paul can be forgiven, my friend, you can be forgiven!


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Already There



1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4 And you know the way to where I am going." - John 14:1-4


He is there already, waiting for His beloved, those who trust Him for salvation!!
He said, "if I go I'll prepare a place for you".
Can you believe it? 
The Christ cares for you, even in your flawed sinful state.


6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:6-8


The perfect blameless One who is the Lamb that took away your sin and has granted salvation to those who humbly bow before His throne.
Not by your works, but only by His gift!


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 2:2-9


It's a mystery, it's too wonderful, and it's beyond our human understanding.
It's God's richest sweetest mercy!!


3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. - 1 Timothy 2:3-6


Praise King Jesus who is our redemptive sacrifice to holy God.
Because of His mercy, we are forgiven for eternity!!!


4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 
7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'" 
8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),
9 then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. - Hebrews 10:4-14


13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. - Colossians 2:13-14


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


Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - John 14:6


Time will end in judgement! 
Death ends this life but then eternity begins.
Are you trusting Christ and the power given Him?


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

Monday, March 14, 2016

Pass Along the Gift of Laughter

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” Psalm 32:11 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
A merry heart is the ability to capture and enjoy those wonderful times of life and let it turn to laughter. 

Your sense of humor is a gift from God. Research studies have shown that laughter, along with a well-rounded sense of humor, is one of the sure signs of intelligence. It is also known to produce endorphins in your body that generate feelings of well-being. 

Good, wholesome laughter is a gift from God. Abraham Lincoln said, “God must have meant for us to laugh, or else he would not have made so many mules, parrots, monkeys and human beings. God wants us to laugh.” 

ACTION POINT:
Pass along the gift of laughter today to someone. Tell a good, wholesome joke. Send an email of a funny story to a friend you haven’t talked to in awhile.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Don’t Forget to Wear It!


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” Proverbs 15:13 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What is a smile? Someone once wrote: 

“A smile costs nothing, but creates much good. It enriches those who receive it without impoverishing those who give it away. It happens in a flash, but the memory of it can last forever. No one is so rich that he can get along without it. No one is too poor to feel rich when receiving it. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad and nature’s best anecdote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen.” 

ACTION POINT:
When you get dressed this morning, don’t forget to put on a smile. Wear a smile all day from the inner joy that only Jesus can bring to your heart. Don’t feel an inner joy? Then ask for one!


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Saved By His Life



Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- - Romans 5:12


For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. - Romans 5:10


But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. - Romans 5:15


Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.  - Psalm 68:20


16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:16-21


More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. - Romans 5:11


8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. - Romans 5:8-9


18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. - Romans 5:18-19


20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 5:20-21

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39


3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. - Romans 8:3-4


Think about these words!
God counted you worthy of redemption!
He sent Jesus to die so that the wrath God held against man would be satisfied!
Your sin was covered, your debt to God has been paid in full!
Being reconciled to God, by the blood of Jesus and by the power given Him by God, you can spend eternity with Him.
Is there a purpose to all this? Yes!



God has a mission for us!
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 
2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.  - Psalm 67:1-2

18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20



That mission brings about a chosen race!
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. - 1 Peter 2:9-10


5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." - Revelation 1:5-8


And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. - Revelation 21:3

86,000 Seconds Each Day


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“My times are in Thy hand.” Psalm 31:15 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
God’s greatest gift to you is Jesus. His second greatest gift is time. Every second we have life is a gift from God. 

Has it ever occurred to you that for you to cease living, God would not have to take your life? All God would have to do is stop giving you life. 

Your time is in His hands. You are a steward of the time He has given you. We have 86,000 seconds in the day no more, no less. The difference is stewardship. 

ACTION POINT:
Today is check-up day. How are you redeeming your 86,000 seconds each day to the glory of God? Are you lagging behind God or running ahead of Him?


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers