How to Let Go of Yesterday and Live Today

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

There are two days that can steal your joy and rob you of the fulfillment God has for you today: One is tomorrow; the other is yesterday. Both are days we Christians should refuse to live in.

So many of us have never learned how to separate ourselves from yesterday. We are still dragging it around with us and it is stealing our joy. Paul could have lived there in the realm of guilt, but he refused.

ACTION POINT:

Maybe you, like Paul and countless others, have committed some horrible sins. But friend, what God has called cleaned, let no man call unclean. If you have sinned and given it to God, it is buried in the depths. Don’t let it contaminate your day. Learn to live in the present.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

An Unshakably Happy God

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)

God is absolutely sovereign.

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

Therefore, he is not frustrated. He rejoices in all his works when he contemplates them as colors of the magnificent mosaic of redemptive history. He is an unshakably happy God.

His happiness is foundationally the delight he has in himself. Before creation, he rejoiced in the image of his glory in the person of his Son —  Then the joy of God “went public” in the works of creation and redemption.

These works delight the heart of God because they reflect his glory. The heavens are telling the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works” (Psalm 104:31) He does everything he does to preserve and display that glory, for in this his soul rejoices.

All the works of God culminate in the praises of his redeemed people. “Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!” (Psalm 150:2). The climax of his happiness is the delight he takes in the echoes of his excellence in the praises of the saints. “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:10–11).

But our praise is not only God’s delight, as an echo of his excellence; it is also the apex of our joy. Praise is the consummation of the joy we have in seeing and savoring the greatness of God.

Therefore, God’s pursuit of praise from us and our pursuit of pleasure in him are the same pursuit. This is the great outcome of the gospel of the glory of the grace of God in Christ!

John Piper

Who Are You Burning Your Candle For?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Romans 8:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

We preachers are fond of saying, “Get right with God. You may die!” It is far better to say, “Get right with God. You may live!” The greatest joy in life is living for Jesus. Why waste more time? There’s a life to live!

Friend, the best thing you can say about a life lived without Christ is that it’s a wasted life. Billy Sunday, a revival preacher from the 1920s, said repenting and accepting Christ on your deathbed is “burning the candle of life for the devil, and then blowing the smoke in God’s face.”

Don’t choose to live and die like that!

ACTION POINT:

If you’re not saved, it’s not too late. If you want to be saved—wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you’ve done—Jesus wants to save you. Repent and believe and you will be saved.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Jesus Is Who You’re Looking For

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

The last chapter of Matthew is a window that opens onto the sunrise glory of the risen Christ. Through it you can see at least three massive peaks in the mountain range of Christ’s character: the peak of his power; the peak of his kindness; and the peak of his purposefulness.

All authority is his — the right and the power to do his will. And he uses this power to pursue his unwavering purpose to make disciples from all the nations. And in the process he is personally kind to us, promising to be with us to the end.

We all know in our hearts that if the risen Christ is going to satisfy our desire to admire greatness, that is the way he has to be. Great in power. Great in kindness. Great in purposefulness.

People who are too weak to accomplish their purposes can’t satisfy our desire to admire greatness. We admire people even less who have no purpose in life. And still less those whose purposes are merely selfish and unkind.

What we long to see and know is a Person whose power is unlimited, whose kindness is tender, and whose purpose is single and unflinching.

Novelists and poets and movie-makers and TV writers now and then create a shadow of this Person. But they can no more fill our longing to worship than this month’s National Geographic can satisfy my longing for the Grand Canyon.

We must have the real thing. We must see the Original of all power and kindness and purposefulness. We must see and worship the risen Christ.

John Piper 

Are you a slave to any of these?

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Romans 6:22

When Jesus Christ comes into your life, He changes you. Maybe you have a problem with drugs or alcohol. Maybe you struggle with lust, fear, doubt, or self- pity. Maybe you’re a slave to public opinion or perfectionism. But I want to tell you that the Jesus Christ who set Adrian Rogers free is the Jesus Christ who will set you free.

Our freedom in Jesus Christ isn’t the privilege to do what we want. Instead it is the glorious, abundant, supernatural power to do what we ought.

It is saving grace that sets us free. It is sustaining grace that keeps us free.

Bow before the Lord and thank Him for the freedom you’ve been given through the great price of Calvary.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What the Resurrection Means for Us

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

What does it mean to “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead”? Satan believes that God raised Jesus from the dead. He saw it happen. To answer this question, we need to ponder what the resurrection means for God’s people.

The meaning of the resurrection is that God is for us. He aims to close ranks with us. He aims to overcome all our sense of abandonment and alienation.

The resurrection of Jesus is God’s declaration to Israel and to the world that we cannot work our way to glory, but that he intends to do the impossible to get us there.

The resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God’s power to lead us in paths of righteousness and through the valley of death.

Therefore, believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact. It means being confident that God is for you, that he has closed ranks with you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy.

Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life and hope and righteousness for which it stands.

It means being so confident of God’s power and love that no fear of worldly loss or greed for worldly gain will lure us to disobey his will.

That’s the difference between Satan and the saints. Oh, might God circumcise our hearts to love him (Deuteronomy 30:6) and to rest in the resurrection of his Son.

From “Believe in Your Heart that God Raised Jesus from the Dead”

John Piper 

How to have God’s Peace and Joy in Suffering

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps. 1 Peter 2:21

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Christ suffered for you.

“But I don’t want to suffer for Him.”

You’re going to suffer anyway—whether you are saved or lost. That’s life in a fallen world.

When you submit to Jesus Christ and obey the Word of God, He is going to arch a rainbow of hope over your suffering. He is going to write Romans 8:28 over what you are going through. You will know that your current trial is for your good.

ACTION POINT:

Surrender and submission to God are the only way to get His grace and power over your life. Joy, peace, and worry-free days are ahead for the one who lays his life down for the glory of God. Suffering will come, but joy will follow.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers