Something you actually SHOULD waste time doing...

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth.” Psalm 29:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Some people think it’s a waste of time to simply sit at God’s feet and listen. It is not a waste of time to wait on God any more than a woodsman is wasting time when he sharpens his axe.

In his booklet “Tyranny of the Urgent,” Charles Hummel wrote, “When we fail to wait prayerfully for God’s guidance and strength, we are saying, with our actions if not our lips, that we do not need Him….Prayerful waiting on God is indispensable to effective service. Like the time-out in a football game, it enables us to catch our breath and fix new strategy….The need is not the call. The call must come from the Lord, Who knows our limitations.”

ACTION POINT:

Read Psalm 29. Count how many times the phrase “voice of the Lord” is repeated. Spend at least that many minutes listening for His voice and trusting He will speak His will to you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Why We Must Hold Fast Our Hope

When God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17–18)

God is not inconsistent. He does not exert himself with promises, and oaths, and the blood of his Son, simply to anchor down one end of our security while leaving the other to dangle in the air.

The salvation Jesus obtained by his blood was everything it takes to save his people, not just part of it.

So we are prone to ask, Why does the writer encourage us to hold fast to our hope (Hebrews 6:18)? If our holding fast was obtained and irrevocably secured by the blood of Jesus — which it was (that’s the difference between the new covenant and the old) — then why does God tell us to hold fast?

The answer is this:

What Christ bought for us when he died was not the freedom from having to hold fast, but the enabling power to hold fast.

What he bought was not the nullification of our wills as though we didn’t have to hold fast, but the empowering of our wills so that we want to hold fast.

What he bought was not the canceling of the commandment to hold fast, but the fulfillment of the commandment to hold fast.

What he bought was not the end of exhortation, but the triumph of exhortation.

He died so that you would do exactly what Paul did in Philippians 3:12, “I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” It is not foolishness, it is the gospel, to tell a sinner to do what Christ alone can enable him to do; namely, hope in God.

So I exhort you with all my heart: Reach out and take hold of that for which you have been taken hold of by Christ, and hold it fast with all your might — which he mightily works in you.

John Piper

When you worry guess what happens...

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What happens when you worry? You bring tomorrow’s difficulty into today.

God didn’t give you grace for tomorrow’s difficulties. He only gives you grace for today.

When you reach into tomorrow’s troubles, you overload today’s circuit. Worry doesn’t take the sorrow out of tomorrow, it takes the strength out of today. When you meet tomorrow, you’re out of breath because you’re already overloaded from today. Worry, therefore, does not make you ready for the future, it really makes you unready.

Yesterday is just a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today has all the cash you can handle. Spend it wisely.

ACTION POINT:

Worry will eat your lunch! It’ll eat your breakfast and dinner, too! Confess your worries as sin (because they are). Put your concerns at the throne of Almighty God, trusting Him to provide.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Lord Is God There Is No Other

know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. - Deuteronomy 4:39

And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. - Joshua 2:11

and said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; - 1 Kings 8:23

and said, "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. - 2 Chronicles 20:6

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. - Ecclesiastes 5:2

"There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.  - 1 Samuel 2:2

31 This God-his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 

32 "For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?  - 2 Samuel 22:31-32

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 

6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 

7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.  - Isaiah 45:5-7

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.  - Isaiah 45:18

"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.  - Isaiah 45:22

9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 

10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'  - Isaiah 46:9-10

And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. - Mark 12:32

Prayer’s Exclamation Point

All the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Prayer is a response to promises, that is, to the assurances of God’s future grace.

Prayer is drawing on the account where God has deposited all his stores of future grace.

Prayer is not hoping in the dark that there might be a God of good intentions out there. Prayer banks on the promise of God, and goes to the bank every day and draws on stores of future grace needed for that day.

Don’t miss the connection between the two halves of this great verse. Notice the “that is why”: “All the promises of God are Yes in Christ. That is why (therefore) we pray Amen through him, to God’s glory.”

To make sure we see it, let’s turn the two halves around: When we pray, we say Amen to God through Christ, because God has said a decisive Amen to all his promises in Christ. Prayer is the confident plea for God to make good on his promises of future grace — for Christ’s sake. Prayer links our faith in future grace with the foundation of it all, Jesus Christ.

Which leads to the final point: “Amen” is a full and precious word in times of prayer. It doesn’t mean primarily, “Yes, I have now said this prayer.” It means primarily, “Yes, God has made all these promises.”

Amen means, “Yes, Lord, you can do it.” It means, “Yes, Lord, you are powerful. Yes, Lord, you are wise. Yes, Lord, you are merciful. Yes, Lord, all future grace comes from you and has been confirmed in Christ.”

“Amen” is an exclamation point of hope and warranted confidence after a prayer for help.

John Piper

Your order of trouble is coming right out

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 

Ghost Of Guilt

Guilt definition

Having done something wrong

Guilt over sin can destroy just as much as the actual sin.

Satan uses guilt to goad you into believing that you are not redeemable.

You can be forgiven through Christ.

This forgiveness involves repentance and obedience.

That is why God sent His Son.

We are in need of a spotless Savior.

We are unable to satisfy the debt.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  - Psalm 103:11-12

17 Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. 

18 For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness. 

19 The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.  - Isaiah 38:17-19

"I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.  - Isaiah 43:25

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 

19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  - Micah 7:18-19

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

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."  - Hebrews 8:12

26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; 

27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."  - Romans 11:26-27