Faith Without Works Is Dead

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When you ask God for something, do you just sit back and do nothing and say, “Well, I’m going to show my faith by doing nothing.” To the contrary, you will show your faith by doing something. For faith without works is what? Dead! (see James 2:20) Do you want a house? Pray for it. Then say “Amen” with a hammer and saw. Do you want a wife? Pray for one. Then go shave, put on some cologne, learn some manners, and learn how to be thoughtful and loving.

ACTION POINT:

What have you been praying earnestly about the last week? What is your heart’s desire? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you can put feet to that prayer. Then, walk the talk!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Window of the Heart

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3)

One of the most remarkable capacities of the human mind is the capacity to direct its own attention to something it chooses. We can pause and say to our minds, “Think about this, and not that.” We can focus our attention on an idea or a picture or a problem or a hope.

It is an amazing power. I doubt that animals have it. They are probably not self-reflective, but rather governed by impulse and instinct.

Have you been neglecting this great weapon in the arsenal of your war against sin? The Bible calls us again and again to use this remarkable gift. Let’s take this gift off the shelf, and dust it off, and put it to use.

For example, Paul says in Romans 8:5–6, “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (my translation).

This is stunning. What you set your mind on determines whether the issue is life or death.

Many of us have become far too passive in our pursuit of change and wholeness and peace. I have the feeling that in our therapeutic age we have fallen into the passive mindset of simply “talking through our problems” or “dealing with our issues” or “discovering the roots of our brokenness in our family of origin.”

But I see a much more aggressive, non-passive approach to change in the New Testament. Namely, set your mind. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Our emotions are governed in large measure by what we consider — what we dwell on with our minds. For example, Jesus told us to overcome the emotion of anxiety by what we consider: “Consider the ravens. . . . Consider the lilies” (Luke 12:24, 27).

The mind is the window of the heart. If we let our minds constantly dwell on the dark, the heart will feel dark. But if we open the window of our mind to the light, the heart will feel the light.

Above all, this great capacity of our minds to focus and consider is meant for considering Jesus (Hebrews 12:3). So, let’s do this: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

John Piper

Praying, "Thy Will Be Done On Earth"

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.” Matthew 6:9-10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When you pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done . . . on earth as it is in heaven” do you realize that this prayer has not yet been answered, but it will be answered? Jesus Christ is literally, actually, visibly, bodily coming back to this earth. Do you believe that? Do you think that Jesus Christ would have taught us to pray this prayer if it would not have been answered? His kingdom has not come yet on earth. His will is not being done on earth. But it shall be; it will be because our Lord taught us to pray that.

ACTION POINT:

When you read or watch the news today, how do you see God’s will not being done on earth? Ask the Lord that His will would be brought to earth – praying for the people involved in each story for their welfare and their salvation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Command That Creates

Anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

When Jesus commanded Lazarus to rise from the dead, how did he obey that command? John 11:43 says, “He [Jesus] cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’” That was a command to a dead man. The next verse says, “The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips” (John 11:44).

How did Lazarus do that? How does a dead man obey a command to live again? The answer seems to be: The command carries the power to create new life. Obedience to the command means doing what living people do.

This is extremely important. The command of God, “Rise from the dead!” carries in it the power we need to obey it. We do not obey it by creating that life. We obey it by doing what living people do — Lazarus came forth. He rose. He walked out to Jesus. The call of God creates life. We respond in the power of what the call creates.

In Ephesians 5:14, Paul says, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” How do you obey a command to wake up from sleep? If your house has poisonous carbon monoxide in it, and someone cries out, “Wake up! Save yourself! Get out!” you don’t obey by waking yourself up. The loud, powerful command itself wakes you up. You obey by doing what wakeful people do in the face of danger. You get up and leave the house. The call creates the waking. You respond in the power of what the call created — wakefulness.

I believe this is the explanation for why the Bible says paradoxical things about new birth; namely, that we must get ourselves new hearts, but that it is God who creates the new heart. For example:

Deuteronomy 10:16: “Circumcise your heart!”

Deuteronomy 30:6: “The Lord will circumcise your heart.”

Ezekiel 18:31: “Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!”

Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.”

John 3:7: “You must be born again.”

1 Peter 1:3: “God caused us to be born again.”

The way to obey the command to be born is to first experience the divine gift of life and breath, and then to do what living, breathing people do: cry out to God in faith and gratitude and love. When the command of God comes with the creating, converting power of the Holy Spirit, it gives life. And we believe and rejoice and obey.

John Piper

How To Know The Will Of God

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you want to know the will of God in your life? Here’s a test: how much time do you spend reading the Bible? Do you think God really believes we want to know His will when we don’t take even 15 minutes a day to read the one book above all books that God has specifically written to show you His will, to reveal His will to you, to unfold His will to you? Your first step in knowing His will is the surrender principle—surrendering our will to His. Your second step is the scripture principle. Read His word, meditate upon it, share it, and study it. When you bow to His will and read His will, you’ll know His will.

ACTION POINT:

Commit to read God’s Word at least 15 minutes a day for 30 days. When the month is over, reevaluate what you have learned and ask God to help you be obedient to daily Bible reading from this day forward.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Experiential Key

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

We know that faith in God’s future grace is the experiential key to generosity, because in 2 Corinthians, Paul holds out this wonderful promise: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

In other words, if you want to be free from the need to stash away your money, if you want to overflow with an abundance (of grace!) for every good work, then put your faith in future grace. Trust the promise that “God is able to make all grace abound to you” in every future moment for this very purpose.

I just called faith in future grace the “experiential key” to generosity, so as not to deny that there is a historical key as well. There is a key of experience, and a key of history. When talking about the grace they received, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the historical key of grace, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Without this historical work of grace, the door of Christ-exalting generosity would remain closed. That past grace is an indispensable key to love.

But notice how the past grace in this verse functions. It is made the foundation (Christ became poor) of future grace (that we might become rich). Thus the historical key to our generosity operates by putting a foundation under the experiential key of faith in future grace.

Thus, the experiential key to love and generosity is this: Put your faith firmly in future grace — namely, that “God is able (in the future) to make all (future) grace abound to you” — so that your needs are met, and so that you will be able to overflow with the love of generosity.

Freedom from greed comes from the deeply satisfying faith in God’s future grace.

John Piper

God The Father And God The Creator

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…that we may be partakers of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you heard the phrase, “The universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of men”? It sounds warm and fuzzy, but it is cold and barren of truth. God is not the Father of all people; God is the Father of those who are born into His family.

But you say, “But pastor, didn’t God create all human beings?” Yes. “And if God created all human beings, wouldn’t that make God the Father of all human beings?” No, it makes God the creator of all human beings. There’s a difference between fatherhood and creation. God created rats, roaches, buzzards, and rattlesnakes. He’s not their father. God becomes our Father not by creation, but by conception when we’re born into His family.

ACTION POINT:

Read the story of creation in Genesis—making the distinction between the creations of God and the Creator called God. Go on a nature walk and thank God that He rules over creation, causing the sun to shine, the rain to water the earth, and for you to have your next breath.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers