Do you feel defeated about something?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When you were born again you were born to win! Your new birth in Jesus Christ has fitted you for victory. You can detect Satan’s schemes and overcome his world system. You can “march to the beat of a different drummer.” You can live with victory over the desires of your flesh. Habits, attitudes, unclean desires, worries, and dissipation must yield as you exercise authority over your mind, emotions, and will. You can actually put Satan and his demons to flight.  You don’t have to be afraid of him—he will be afraid of you!

ACTION POINT:

Say this out loud, “I was born to win!” Doesn’t that feel good? Now, look in the mirror and say it again! “I was born to win!”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Look to Jesus for Your Joy

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. . . . They love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” (Matthew 23:5–7)

The itch of self-regard craves the scratch of self-approval. If we are getting our pleasure from feeling self-sufficient, we will not be satisfied without others seeing and applauding our self-sufficiency.

Hence Jesus’s description of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:5, “They do all their deeds to be seen by others.”

This is ironic. Wouldn’t you think that self-sufficiency should free the proud person from the need to be made much of by others? That’s what “sufficient” means. But evidently there is an emptiness in this so-called self-sufficiency.

The self was never designed to satisfy itself or rely upon itself. It never can be self-sufficient. We are not God. We are in the image of God. And what makes us “like” God is not our self-sufficiency. We are shadows and echoes. So, there will always be an emptiness in the soul that struggles to be satisfied with the resources of self.

This empty craving for the praise of others signals the failure of pride and the absence of faith in God’s ongoing grace. Jesus saw the terrible effect of this itch for human glory. He named it in John 5:44, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” The answer is, you can’t. Itching for glory from other people makes faith impossible. Why?

Because faith looks away from self to God. Faith is being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus. And if you are bent on getting the satisfaction of your itch from the scratch of others’ praise, you will turn away from Jesus. That is not what he is like. He lives for the glory of his Father. And calls us to do the same.

But if you would turn from self as the source of satisfaction (repentance), and come to Jesus for the enjoyment of all that God is for us in him (faith), then the itch of emptiness would be replaced by a fullness — what Jesus calls “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

John Piper 

What would you think of someone who gave you the secret of life?

BIBLE MEDITATION: 

“And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on Me.” John 16:8-9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What would you think of someone who gave you the secret of life? Do you think you might instantly call him your best friend? You bet!

That’s what the Holy Spirit did for you. The Holy Spirit gave you the secret not only to life, but to eternal life! He convicted you of your sin. He drew you to Christ (John 6:44).

Don’t get the idea that anybody can simply come of his own will and his own volition to Jesus Christ. No one could come. No one would come, except by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has given you the secret of life. And He has drawn you there Himself! That’s some best friend, wouldn’t you say?

ACTION POINT:

Don’t keep quiet about your Best Friend today. He wants to be known and He’s given you the privilege to be His messenger. Share Him with those you care about today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Fixed Day

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.' 

29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

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."

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, "We will hear you again about this." - Acts 17:23-32

God Rejoices to Do You Good

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. . . . I will rejoice in doing them good.” (Jeremiah 32:40–41)

This is one of those promises of God that I come back to again and again when I get discouraged. Can you think of any fact more encouraging than that God rejoices to do you good? Not just does you good. Not just is committed to doing you good — glorious as that is. But that he rejoices to do you good. “I will rejoice in doing them good.”

He doesn’t begrudgingly fulfill the promise in Romans 8:28 to work everything together for our good. It is his joy to do you good. And not just sometimes. Always! “I will not turn away from doing good to them.” There are no lapses in his commitment or in his joy in doing good to his children — to those who trust him.

That should make us so glad!

But sometimes it is hard to be glad. Our situation is so hard to bear that we just can’t muster any joy. When that happens to me, I try to imitate Abraham: “In hope he believed against hope” (Romans 4:18). In other words, you look your hopeless situation in the face and say, “You are not as strong as God! He can do the impossible. And I know he loves to do it for those who trust him. So, hopelessness, you will not have the last say. I trust God!”

God has always been faithful to guard that little spark of faith for me and eventually (not always right away) fan it into a flame of happiness and full confidence. And Jeremiah 32:41 is a great part of that joy.

Oh, how glad I am that what makes the heart of almighty God happy includes doing good for you and me! “I will rejoice in doing them good.”

John Piper

Are you thinking there's more - and you're missing out?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.” Psalm 119:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever thought that if you lived according to God’s laws, you were going to miss out? Truth is, if you don’t live according to God’s laws you’re going to miss out! God’s laws are for your welfare.

God is not a tyrant in heaven making a bunch of laws to make you squirm like a worm in hot ashes as you try to keep those laws. God loves you. Every time God says “Thou shalt not,” God is simply saying, “Don’t hurt yourself.” And every time God says, “Thou shalt,” God is saying, “Help yourself to happiness.” God has something so wonderful for you.

ACTION POINT:

Write the following down on some sticky notes and post them everywhere … “God loves me.” 

“God knows better than I do.” 

“God is in control.” 

“God is good.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God's Sentence Is Final

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. - Ecclesiastes 3:20

What sentence are you under?

There are only two choices. 

Eternal life in Christ or eternal death because of your denial of the power of Christ.

God justifies!

That justification is through the blood of Christ.

God's wrath demands payment. 

Your sin is costly.

There is no other person that is acceptable to satisfy your debt.

In obedience to the Father, Christ died.

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,

8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" - Revelation 12:7-12

7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, 

8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,  - Psalm 49:7-8

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. - Matthew 16:24-27

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 

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 8:31-39

8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 

9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up. 

10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. 

11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.  - Isaiah 50:8-11