Don’t Be Like the Mule

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. (Psalm 32:9)

Picture God’s people as a farmyard of all sorts of animals. God cares for his animals, he shows them where they need to go, and supplies a barn for their protection.

But there is one beast on this animal farm that gives God an awful time, namely, the mule. He’s stupid and he’s stubborn and you can’t tell which comes first — stubbornness or stupidity.

Now the way God likes to get his animals into the barn for their food and shelter is by teaching them that they all have a personal name and then calling them by name. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8).

But the mule will not respond to that sort of direction. He is without understanding. So God gets in his pick-up truck and goes out in the field, puts the bit and bridle in the mule’s mouth, hitches it to the truck, and drags him stiff-legged and snorting all the way into the barn.

That is not the way God wants his animals to come to him for blessing and protection.

One of these days it is going to be too late for that mule. He’s going to get clobbered with hail and struck by lightning and when he comes running, the barn door is going to be shut.

Therefore, don’t be like the mule. “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle.”

Instead, let everyone who is godly come to God in prayer at a time when he may be found (Psalm 32:6).

The way not to be a mule is to humble ourselves, to come to God in prayer, to confess our sins, and to accept, as needy little farmyard chicks, the direction of God into the barn of his protection and provision.

John Piper

When you should declare bankruptcy...

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? Jesus is talking about being a beggar. He is saying, “Blessed are the beggars.” He’s not talking about finances here. He’s talking about a person being poor spiritually.

That is, blessed are those who see their spiritual need, who see they’re bankrupt in the sight of a righteous, holy God, who are broken over their sins, repent and turn from their sins, for they will be truly blessed.

Before a person can enter into the kingdom of heaven, he must first admit that no matter how much he may have in the material realm or psychological realm, he is absolutely and totally spiritually bankrupt and a beggar before God. If he doesn’t see that, he will never, ever get into the kingdom of heaven.

ACTION POINT:

It’s time to realize that without Jesus Christ, we are totally bankrupt before God. I’ve often said I’m just one beggar showing another beggar where to find food. Do you see yourself as a beggar in need of the Bread of Heaven? 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Way the Spirit Comes

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. - Ecclesiastes 11:5

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." - John 3:8

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 

5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 

6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.  - Ecclesiastes 1:4-6

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.  - Psalm 139:13-16

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. - 1 Corinthians 12:11

God has shared some of His marvelous mysteries through the Gospel.

Yet many of them are still hidden. 

A few that stick in my mind;

1. Where the Spirit abides that gives life.

2. Where the wind comes from and returns to. 

3. The secret place souls are kept.

Too many wonderful thoughts come to mind about the Creator, His omnipotent power, His unsearchable wisdom and the depth of His mercies.

Do you intimately know Him?

Are you humbled by His majesty?

Will you surrender to the grace freely given by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross?

There is no other way to be reconciled to God, to have His forgiveness, to be eternally in heaven and to be truly free!

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 2:4-9

14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. - 1 Timothy 1:14-17

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Romans 5:1-2

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. - Romans 3:21-25

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21

Pray for His Fame

Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’” (Matthew 6:9)

Dozens of times Scripture says that God does things “for his name’s sake.”

“He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)

“For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt.” (Psalm 25:11)

“He saved them for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 106:8)

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger.” (Isaiah 48:9)

“Your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.” (1 John 2:12)

If you ask what is really moving the heart of God in all those statements (and many like them), the answer is that God delights in having his name known and honored.

The first and most important prayer that can be prayed is, “Hallowed be your name.” I used to think this is an acclamation. Like, “Hallelujah! The Lord’s name is hallowed!” But it’s not an acclamation. It’s a petition. Actually a kind of imperative or command. Lord, let it be! Cause it to be. May your name be hallowed. This is my request, my prayer. I am urging you to this: Cause people to hallow your name. Cause me to hallow your name!

God loves to have more and more people “hallow” his name. That’s why his Son teaches Christians to pray for it. In fact, Jesus makes it the very first and paramount prayer. Because this is the first and great passion of the Father.

“Lord, cause more and more people to hallow your name,” that is, esteem, admire, respect, cherish, honor, reverence, and praise your name. More and more people! So, you can see it is basically a missionary prayer.

John Piper 

Who are you when no one's looking?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” Psalm 34:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In Matthew chapter 5, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us beatitudes—attitudes that ought to be. Not platitudes—they’re attitudes that deal with Christian character. Really, they are a blueprint for happiness, a blueprint for your character. They’re foundation stones for building your home and your life.

The beatitudes don’t say, “Blessed is what you have,” or “Blessed is what you do,” but “Blessed is what you are.” Your reputation is what others think about you, but character is what God knows about you.

Friend, all of us are going to die, and when you do, you'll leave behind all that you have and all that you've done. But you'll take with you all that you are. It's character that is so important. That's why it's more important that you seek blessedness than happiness.

It has well been said that a child rejoices in what he has, a youth rejoices in what he does, but an adult rejoices in what he is. The more mature you are as a Christian, the more you will rejoice, not in what you have or what you do, but in what you are through the Lord Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

Have you been finding your self-worth in what you have or what you do? Confess it before the Lord and meditate on the attitudes you ought to have in Matthew 5:3-11.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are you following this very bad advice?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Psalm 23:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Sometimes I hear advisers tell young people, “Make all the money you can, just so you make it honestly.” That’s not good advice.

If you make all the money you can, you’re going to be making money when you should be doing something else. You’re going to be making money when you ought to be with your family, your spouse, your children, in community with other believers—and above all, alone with God.

I’m not against making money. I’m simply saying we need to stop and prioritize our lives. Do you know what I think God does with some of us? He makes us to lie down. We won’t do it unless He makes us. Don’t let it come to that.

ACTION POINT:

Why not stop right now and pray, “Lord Jesus, You don’t have to make me lie down. I’d rather slow down. I want to be still and know that You are GOD! Show me how.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Talk to Your Tears

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5–6)

There is nothing sad about sowing seed. It takes no more work than reaping. The days can be beautiful. There can be great hope of harvest.

Yet the psalm speaks of sowing “in tears.” It says that someone “goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing.” So, why are they weeping?

I think the reason is not that sowing is sad, or that sowing is hard. I think the reason has nothing to do with sowing. Sowing is simply the work that has to be done, even when there are things in life that make us cry.

The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter, we must get out in the field and sow the seed, whether we are crying or not.

If you do that, the promise of the psalm is that you will “reap with shouts of joy.” You will “come home with shouts of joy, bringing [your] sheaves with you.” Not because the tears of sowing produce the joy of reaping, but because the sheer sowing produces the reaping, and you need to remember this even when your tears tempt you to give up sowing.

So, here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears, “Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, sermon to be written).”

Then say, on the basis of God’s word, “Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So, go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe — though I do not yet see it or feel it fully — I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And my tears will be turned to joy.”

John Piper