What to do for your country

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.

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?

It’s one thing to protest that our children cannot pray in school. But 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 

How Christ Conquered Bitterness

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:23)

No one was more grievously sinned against than Jesus. Every ounce of animosity against him was completely undeserved.

No one has ever lived who was more worthy of honor than Jesus; and no one has been dishonored more.

If anyone had a right to get angry and be bitter and vengeful, it was Jesus. How did he control himself when scoundrels, whose very existence he sustained, spit in his face? First Peter 2:23 gives the answer: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

What this verse means is that Jesus had faith in the future grace of God’s righteous judgment. He did not need to avenge himself for all the indignities he suffered, because he entrusted his cause to God. He left vengeance in God’s hands and prayed for his enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Peter gives us this glimpse into Jesus’s faith so that we would learn how to live this way ourselves. He said, “You have been called [to endure harsh treatment patiently] . . . because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

If Christ conquered bitterness and vengeance by faith in what God, the good Judge, had promised to do, how much more should we, since we have far less right to murmur for being mistreated than he did?

John Piper 

Only superheroes can turn the tide?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable and right in the sight of God our Savior. 1Timothy 2:1-3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When I was a boy in Florida, we lived at the seaside. I love the water and one of the things that always intrigued me as a boy was the changing of the tide. As we’d go out fishing, my brother and I would always be cognizant of the tides because we would come and go by the tides. The tides were important to us.

There are tides in nations too. America saw a tide of revival sweep in twice—in the First and Second Great Awakenings. But today we’ve seen a different tide. At this lowest point, when the tide is as low as it can get, may God grant that we see the tide begin to turn back the other way, back to decency in America, back to standing up for the unborn.

ACTION POINT:

We need to look up. Only God can help us. We need to confess up and turn from our wicked ways. We need to speak up and we need to stand up for what is right. Go back to today’s verse, 1Timothy 2:1-3, and pray this for our leaders.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Give God Your Revenge

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

Why is this such a crucial promise in overcoming our bent toward bitterness and revenge? The reason is that this promise answers one of the most powerful impulses behind anger — an impulse that is not entirely wrong.

In many cases, real wrongs have been done to us. Therefore, it is not entirely wrong to feel that justice should be done. What’s wrong is to feel that we must make it happen and that we may feel bitter until it does. This would be a deadly mistake.

During my seminary days, Noël and I were in a small group for couples that began to relate at a fairly deep personal level. One evening we were discussing forgiveness and anger. One of the young wives said that she could not and would not forgive her mother for something she had done to her as a young girl.

We talked about some of the biblical commands and warnings concerning an unforgiving spirit.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

If you do not forgive others . . . neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:15)

But she would not budge. So I warned her that her very soul was in danger if she kept on with such an attitude of unforgiving bitterness. But she was adamant that she would not forgive her mother.

The grace of God’s judgment is promised to us here in Romans 12 as a means of helping us overcome such a deadly spirit of revenge and bitterness.

Paul’s argument is that we can be sure that all wrongs will be dealt with by God and that we can leave the matter in his hands because vengeance belongs to the Lord. To motivate us to lay down our vengeful desires he gives us a promise: “I will repay, says the Lord.”

The promise that frees us from an unforgiving, bitter, vengeful spirit is the promise that God will settle our accounts. He will do it more justly and mercifully and more thoroughly than we ever could. He punishes all sin. Nobody gets away with anything. He punishes it either in Christ on the cross for those who repent and trust him, or in hell for those who don’t. Therefore, we can back off and leave room for God to do his perfect work.

John Piper 

How can I get God to notice me?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer, and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. Daniel 9:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Only prayer can hold back the floodtide of sin in our nation and the floodtide of judgment. Only prayer can release the cleansing and healing hand of God. And not just any prayer. It’s not the arithmetic of our prayers; that is, the number we pray. It’s not the geometry of our prayer, how long it might be. It’s not the rhetoric of our prayer, how eloquent it may be. It’s not the music of our prayer, how sweet our voice. It’s not the logic of our prayer, how eloquent we become. It’s not the method of our prayer, how methodical we are. But it’s the faith and the fervency of our prayer that counts with God.

ACTION POINT:

James wrote, “The effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16). Read Daniel chapter 9 today and see this in action. Then follow Daniel’s example and pray.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When Will I Be Satisfied?

“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

Imagine being able to enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbounded and increasing energy and passion forever.

This is not now our experience. Three things stand in the way of our complete satisfaction in this world.

Nothing in this world has a personal worth great enough to meet the deepest longings of our hearts.

We lack the strength to savor the best treasures to their maximum worth.

Our enjoyment of things here comes to an end. Nothing lasts.

But if the aim of Jesus in John 17:26 comes true, all this will change. He prays to his Father about us, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” God does not love the Son the way he loves sinners. He loves the Son because the Son is infinitely worthy of love. That is, he loves the Son because the Son is infinitely lovely. Which means that this love is totally pleasure. Jesus prays that this pleasure that God has in his Son will be the same pleasure we have in the Son.

If God’s pleasure in the Son becomes our pleasure, then the object of our pleasure, Jesus, will be inexhaustible in personal worth. He will never become boring or disappointing or frustrating. No greater treasure can be conceived than the Son of God.

But add to this what Jesus prays for; namely, that our ability — our energy, our passion — to savor this inexhaustible treasure will not be limited by human weaknesses. We will enjoy the Son of God with the very enjoyment of his omnipotent Father.

God’s delight in his Son will be in us and it will be ours. And this will never end, because neither the Father nor the Son ever ends. Their love for each other will be our love for them, and therefore our loving them will never die.

John Piper 

Is God to blame for wicked rulers?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And He changeth the times and the seasons; He removeth kings and raiseth up kings…. Daniel 2:21

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The prophet Daniel declares here that God is the one who removes kings and God is the one who sets up kings. Romans13 teaches that the “powers that be” are ordained of God. The Word of God teaches that God has ordained human government.

But what about wicked governments? Did God set them up? It may surprise you to learn, yes, He did. That does not mean they are God’s will. God would much rather have righteousness throughout a land, and certainly in its government. However, by and large, people get the kind of government they deserve. God has made us free to choose. Wicked leaders are God’s consequences for a wicked people.

So what is our responsibility as a church? What is our responsibility so far as government is concerned? First of all, we are to pray for our government. We need to pray for leaders even if they are wrong“For this is good and acceptable and right in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:3).

ACTION POINT:

I am calling upon you to confess your sins personally and our sins nationally. And I am calling upon you to pray for America as Daniel prayed for his people—in the power of the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is prayer time in America.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers