The “I Will” of God

“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zechariah 2:4–5)

There are mornings when I wake up feeling fragile. Vulnerable. It’s often vague. No single threat. No one weakness. Just an amorphous sense that something is going to go wrong and I will be responsible.

It’s usually after a lot of criticism. Or maybe after a lot of expectations that have deadlines, and that seem too big and too many.

As I look back over about 50 years of such periodic mornings, I am amazed how the Lord Jesus has preserved my life. And my ministry. The temptation to run away from the stress has never won out — not yet anyway. This is amazing. I worship my great God for this.

Instead of letting me sink into a paralysis of fear, or run to a mirage of greener grass, he has awakened a cry for help and then answered with concrete promises.

Here’s an example. This is recent. I woke up feeling emotionally fragile. Weak. Vulnerable. I prayed: “Lord help me. I’m not even sure how to pray.”

An hour later I was reading in Zechariah, seeking the help I had cried out for. It came.

“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zechariah 2:4–5)

There will be such prosperity and growth for the people of God that Jerusalem will not be able to be walled in any more. “The multitude of people and livestock” will be so many that Jerusalem will be like many villages spreading out across the land without walls.

Prosperity is nice, but what about protection?

To which God says in verse 5, “I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord.” Yes. That’s it. That is the promise. The “I will” of God. That is what I need.

And if it is true for the vulnerable villages of Jerusalem, it is true for me a child of God. That is how I apply the Old Testament promises to God’s people. All the promises are yes to me in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). There is a “how much more” after every promise for those who are in Christ. God will be a “wall of fire all around” me. Yes. He will. He has been. And he will be.

And it gets better. Inside that fiery wall of protection he says, “And I will be the glory in her midst.” God is never content to give us the protection of his fire; he aims to give us the pleasure of his presence. I love the “I wills” of God!

John Piper 

Are You Standing on the Edge?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Isaiah 54:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Sometimes the grandest revelations come through confrontation. Why did God bring the Israelites to the Red Sea? You might think it was solely to escape Pharaoh’s horsemen, hot on their trail. In a practical sense, yes. But more so, it was for the Israelites to have a confrontation with Him and discover His greatness and deliverance.

Many times the things we think are tragedies and problems are God’s way of drawing us to Himself. God shuts this door; God shuts that door…it seems that there’s no way out.

That’s when we must cling to the fact that God makes Himself known to us in the storm and He plants His footsteps in the sea.

ACTION POINT:

Are you standing at the edge of your “Red Sea”? Have you stopped to consider that this could be your Father drawing you to Himself by the only way He knew He could get your attention? The God who parted the Red Sea and stilled the surface of Galilee is the One Who is your Shepherd.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Ready at Any Given Moment?

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Winston Churchill was speaking to the House of Commons one day when he gave this advice, “We must always be ready to meet at our average moment, the thing that any possible enemy could hurl against us at his selected moment.”

Satan could hurl a deadly temptation at you at any given moment. The phone could ring with terrible news about a friend. A police officer could knock on your door to inform you of a tragedy in your family.

Trials can come with such a force that they blow you off course. Temptation can strike at your backside and almost give you whiplash!

It is not God’s will that you have fewer temptations or trials, but that you have victory in temptation and trials.

Are you ready at this moment to meet either what the devil may throw at you or what God may allow to come your way? If you’re not sure, you can get ready by spending time in His precious Word today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Devastated and Delighted

“The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

What would the doctrines of grace — the old Puritan term for the Calvinistic teaching of God’s sovereign grace in our salvation (TULIP) — what would those doctrines of grace sound like if every limb in that tree were coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight (that is, “Christian Hedonism”)?

Total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to God’s beauty, and deadness to the deepest joy.

Unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed, as the overflow of God’s joy in the fellowship of the Trinity.

Limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for God’s people by the blood of the new covenant.

Irresistible grace is the commitment and the power of God’s love to make sure we don’t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights.

Perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God not to let us fall into the final bondage of inferior pleasures, but to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of fullness of joy in his presence, and pleasures at his right hand forevermore.

Of those five, unconditional election delivers the harshest and the sweetest judgments to my soul. That it is unconditional destroys all self-exaltation (that’s the harsh part); and that it is election makes me his treasured possession (that’s the sweet part).

This is one of the beauties of the biblical doctrines of grace: their worst devastations prepare us for their greatest delights.

What prigs we would become at the words, “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6), if this election were in any way dependent on us. But to protect us from pride, the Lord teaches us that we are unconditionally chosen (Deuteronomy 7:7–9). “He made a wretch his treasure,” as we so gladly sing.

Only the devastating freeness and unconditionality of electing grace — followed by all the other works of saving grace — let us take and taste such gifts for our very own without the exaltation of self.

John Piper 

Discipleship 101 part 2

Make disciples!

Love people!

Share Jesus!

Four commitments for a Disciple of Jesus

1. Realize you must make a choice.

The testing of your faith!

Be obedient and faithful!

We follow God and He alone changes the world!

In this world you will never be perfect!

Just be a light in darkness! 

Just love people!

4 And the herald proclaimed aloud, "You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,

5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace." - Daniel 3:4-6

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." - Luke 9:57-58

59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

60 And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

61 Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home."

62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." - Luke 9:59-62

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. - 1 Peter 1:6-7

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. - John 14:15

His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' - Matthew 25:21

2. Reject demonic attacks!

Satan has demons that attack!

They are real!

But, you belong to God, resist him!

God alone fights Satan by His mighty power!

8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.

9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever!

10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.

11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace.

12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." - Daniel 3:8-12

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. - 1 Timothy 4:1-5

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder! - James 2:19

And the demons begged him, saying, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs." - Matthew 8:31

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. - Ephesians 6:10-11

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. - Ephesians 6:12-13

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. - Revelation 12:10

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. - 1 John 4:4

3. Resolve the issue before it arises.

The battle is won before the battle has begun!

The world can't satisfy!

"Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else."

Charles Spurgeon   

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.

14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?

15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?"

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." - Daniel 3:13-18

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

67 So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"

68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." - John 6:66-69

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars." - 2 Chronicles 16:9

4. Remember God and God alone deserves the praise!

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.

20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace.

22 Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king."

25 He answered and said, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods."

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.

27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.

28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way." - Daniel 3:19-29

Thank you Pastor Kevin!

He Does All That He Pleases

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

This verse teaches that whenever God acts, he acts in a way that pleases him.

God is never constrained to do a thing that he despises. He is never backed into a corner where his only recourse is to do something he hates to do.

He does whatever he pleases. And therefore, in some sense, he has pleasure in all that he does.

This should lead us to bow before God and praise his sovereign freedom — that, in some sense, he always acts in freedom, according to his own “good pleasure,” following the dictates of his own delights.

God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced.

Even at the one point in history where he did what in one sense was the hardest thing for God to do, “not spare his own Son” (Romans 8:32), God was free and doing what pleased him. Paul says that the self-sacrifice of Jesus in death was “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). The greatest sin, and the greatest death, and the hardest act of God was, in some profound way, pleasing to the Father.

And on his way to Calvary, Jesus himself had legions of angels at his disposal. “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18) — of his own good pleasure — “for the joy that is set before him,” as it says in Hebrews 12:2. At the one point in the history of the universe where Jesus looked trapped, he was totally in charge doing precisely what he pleased — dying to glorify his Father in justifying the ungodly, like you and me.

So, let us stand in awe and wonder. And let us tremble that not only our praises of God’s sovereignty, but also our salvation through the death of Christ for us, hang on this: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases.”

John Piper 

Can We Completely Understand God?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and He weighs the waters by measure. Job 28:24-25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

There are certain things God is not going to reveal. And that is good news. Who wants to believe in a God that they can put in a box and completely understand? Not me.

We can know God. Through Jesus Christ, His Son, we can know Him. And we can know Him through what He has revealed in His Word. You can take a bucket down to the ocean and dip out a bucket full of water. Everything in that bucket is ocean, but not all the ocean is in the bucket. And with our bucket-size minds, we are never going to know all there is about God. I’m not. You’re not. Nobody is.

ACTION POINT:

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

 LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers