I Don’t Understand, But I’ll Obey

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I read an interesting story about Stephen Grellet, a pioneer evangelist to the lumbermen in the Rocky Mountains. He felt the Spirit of God leading him to a particular lumber camp to preach. When he got there, the place was absolutely deserted. He said, “Lord, I don’t understand, but I'm going to be obedient.” So he opened his Bible without a soul in sight and preached a full-length message. Then he pled for people to come to Christ. He said, “Lord, I don’t know what that was all about but Lord, I was obedient.” Years later, a man walked up to him in England and said, “I was the foreman at a lumber camp. I had come back to the camp to get an ax, and I heard you preaching. I stood behind a pile of lumber and listened. As you preached, my heart was strangely warmed, and I repented of my sin and gave my heart to Jesus Christ. I later witnessed to four other men. Now, all five of us are missionaries preaching around the world.” 

How important it is that we obey completely in small things! Naaman was asked to dip seven times in the river Jordan. At first, he angrily refused. But in 2 Kings 5:13 his servants asked him, “… if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?” 

ACTION POINT:

Do you know why many of us are not obeying God more than we are? Because we're not hearing what God is saying. We're not spending time listening to God. That's the importance of a quiet time, that's the importance of getting somewhere alone with God in a nook with this book and reading and listening.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

For His Glory

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Thy name: for we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God: for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.” Daniel 9:17-19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Daniel is saying, “O God, please forgive us.  Remove the guilt.”  He’s also praying for the restoration of glory.  Notice “for the Lord’s sake.” 

Do you know what so many of us are praying for?  For America’s sake.  That won’t get it done. Or for our denomination’s sake, our church’s sake, or even our family’s sake.  But Daniel is praying for not only the removal of guilt but the restoration of glory (v. 18).    When we get concerned for the glory of God, then we’re going to see our prayers answered. So many times we’re just simply trying to get out of difficulty. Do you pray for the glory of God? 

Do you know what most of us want?  We want revival so we can return to our own ways, once God gets us out of the difficulty we’re in. Do you have a burning, yearning in your heart for the glory of God?  Do you want to see God’s glory spread over this land?  I want to see God do something again that cannot be explained by the pundits on television and the news anchors.

ACTION POINT:

When we get concerned for the glory of God, then we’re going to see our prayers answered.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

All Things New

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." - John 9:1-5

6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud

7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. - John 9:6-7

14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.

17 So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight

19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself."

22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)

23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."

25 He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." - John 9:14-25

33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34 They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

36 He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."

38 He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?"

41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains. - John 9:33-41

Jesus saw this man as he was and then He saw what he could be.

It's true, that man was a sinner.

Through Christ only, there is forgiveness.

Just as you and I are sinners, Christ sees what we could be.

In the Old Testament sin was brought to all by the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

They were in rebellion just as we are.

We must humbly bow before His throne.

We must turn from sin and follow Him.

We must be yielded and still.

We must study His word to know Him.

We were blind because of sin but through Christ we can see.

Jesus makes all things new.

Thanks Pastor Jamin!

The Guilt Removed

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” Daniel 9:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Isn’t it wonderful that to God belong mercies and forgiveness? You see, just as Daniel prayed, the basis of our prayer is the greatness and the mercy of God.   The basis of Daniel’s prayer was the shed blood of Jesus Christ. 

It is impossible to see the greatness of God and the mercies of God and not pray with confidence. 

ACTION POINT:

We need to pray, “God, cleanse us, restore us, revive us, renew us, refresh us.  We need revival in America.  Remove our guilt.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

What God Would Rather Do

BIBLE MEDITATION:

 “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.” Jeremiah 18:7-8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In this passage, God is not just talking about the nation Israel. He’s talking about nations in general. God says, “When I get ready to judge a nation, if that nation will repent, then I will turn from the judgment that I had determined to send upon that nation.” 

Let me tell you something about the great heart of our God:  God is a God of righteousness, judgment, and justice, but God had rather show mercy than send judgment. 

America is ripe for judgment. God says, “When I get ready to judge a nation, if that nation will repent, then I will turn from the judgment that I had determined to send upon that nation.” We are in the eleventh hour, the clock is about to strike midnight, and we need to pray, “Oh God, hold back Your hand of judgment upon America.”

“If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

ACTION POINT:

A church steeple is something that is supposed to point us to God. Have you ever noticed that the closer the steeple gets to the top, the smaller it gets? The closer we get to God, the more we realize how insignificant and sinful we are. This is not a time for finger-pointing in America. This is a time for repentance of personal sin. I’m talking about the people in the pew. The Bible says the time has come that judgment begin at the house of God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Yes, God Is Holding Us Accountable!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.” Daniel 9:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Daniel prayed, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and Thy judgments.” You ask, “Did Daniel do all that?”  No, Daniel simply included himself in his prayer for his nation.

Does God hold me accountable for the abortion in America?  Yes!  Does God hold me accountable for the pornography? Yes!  For the drug addiction, alcoholism, materialism, humanism? Yes, He does. Friend, if the church had done what she ought to have done, and if we would do what we ought to do, then these problems would be healed.  And while we may not commit these sins, they are still our sins. Verse 20 of this same chapter makes it so clear: “While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel….”

Now, people who don’t know God aren’t going to confess the sin of this nation. Like Daniel, we must set our face and pray with reflection and repentance, confessing our sin and the sin of America. Only sin that is confessed is forgiven. 

ACTION POINT:

Have you ever set your face to prayer?  So much of our prayer, I hate to say, is casual prayer, prayer that comes with almost a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.  When are we going to set our face before God with fasting and determination?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Hypocritical Prayer

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession…” Daniel 9:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The greatest thing we can do for America is to pray for America. I am convinced if there were ever a need for prayer, this is the hour. It’s one thing to criticize that our children cannot pray in school. But I think it is unmitigated hypocrisy to carp and criticize about children not being able to pray in school unless we ourselves are prayer warriors, don’t you?  We must teach our children to pray in the home.  We are unvarnished hypocrites to criticize, yet not teach our children to pray—by both gentle instruction and by example. Our children are watching us and will model our behavior. 

ACTION POINT:

Teach your children how to pray in the home. Take them beyond “Now I lay me down to sleep.” We rattle off our little prayers. But have you really set your face to pray?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers