Are you praying the wrong prayer?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 16:18b-19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many of us praying for our unsaved friends, family, and neighbors are directing our prayers in the wrong way. We’re saying, “Oh God, help them to see.” But they are blind—they cannot see!

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 explains what’s going on: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

First, we must bind the one who is blinding them. We’re not in a battle of flesh and blood. We’re in a battle with Satan himself, and we will never successfully invade his territory until we first bind him (see Mark 3:27).

Jesus gave us “authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19).

ACTION POINT:

We must begin to exercise our authority in Christ over the demonic hosts of hell set forth against us, our loved ones and the church. Daily resist him and every demonic spirit in the name of Jesus, through His shed blood, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, and command him to leave.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Can Do Nothing

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

John Piper 

Judgement Is Without Mercy

Christ is our mercy.

He suffered, died and has risen.

His blood cleanses from unrighteousness.

Forgiveness brings us to repentance.

Christ alone gives salvation.

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  - Psalm 103:8

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. - James 2:1

49 "'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 

50 Did not my hand make all these things?' 

51 "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." - Acts 7:49-53

Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? - Jeremiah 23:29

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live." - Ezekiel 18:32

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9

This World Grieves Me

Wicked people! 

Our crude talk!

Our hateful actions!

An air of entitlement.

Lack of integrity!

Liars!

Drug users!

Alcoholics!

Sexual predators!

Abusers!

No adequate punishment for crime!

Political opponents willing to do anything for power!

No wonder there is so much turmoil!

Guns are blamed.

But it's the wicked ones behind the guns.

Mentally ill running loose without meds because of privacy concerns, just plain irresponsible.

Satan has had his way, and the world is clueless.

Witness opportunities are abundant!

Let us share Christ to the lost.

Knees are for praying.

Mercy is there, but only by repentance.

There is no free ride, change is waiting for those who will fall before His throne of grace.

Will you repent?

Trust Christ today for salvation!

"Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.  - Jeremiah 14:7

For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.  - Psalm 25:11

23 "Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away?

24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. - Jeremiah 23:23-24

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? - James 4:1-12

pray without ceasing, - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Best Passage Ever

God put [Jesus] 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. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25–26)

Romans 3:25–26 may be the most important verses in the Bible.

God is wholly just! And he justifies the ungodly! Really? A just judge acquitting the guilty!

Not either/or! Both! He acquits the guilty, but is not guilty in doing so. This is the greatest news in the world!

“[God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He takes our sin. We take his righteousness.

“By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Whose flesh? Christ’s. Whose sin condemned in that flesh? Ours. For us then? No condemnation!

“[Christ] bore our sins in his body on the tree.” (1 Peter 2:24)

“Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

“If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)

If the most terrifying news in the world is that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory by pouring out his wrath on our sin . . .

. . . Then the best news in all the world (the gospel!) is that God has decreed and enacted a way of salvation that also upholds the worth of his glory, the honor of his Son, and the eternal salvation of his elect. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

John Piper 

Faith sees the invisible and receives the impossible

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A nobleman’s son became ill, so he sought Jesus to heal him. When he found Jesus, he asked Him to come to his home. But instead of physically going to the boy’s bedside, Jesus healed him by His word. John 4:50b says, “And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.”

Not a wonder, not a sign, not a vision, not angels playing tic-tac-toe on his ribs, or cold chills going up and down his spine…the man just believed Jesus’ Word and went on his way.

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.

Doubt sees the obstacles; faith sees the way.

Doubt sees the darkest night; faith sees the day.

Doubt dreads to take a step; faith soars on high.

Doubt questions, “Who believes?” Faith answers, “I”!

ACTION POINT:

Life follows faith like night follows day. There is no life without faith.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Wise Mercy

We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23–24)

Over against the terrifying news that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory by pouring out eternal wrath on our sin, there is the wonderful news of the gospel.

This is a truth no one can ever learn from nature. The truth of the gospel has to be told to neighbors and preached in churches and carried by missionaries.

The good news is that God himself has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of his justice without condemning the whole human race.

Hell is one way to settle accounts with sinners and uphold his justice. But there is another way. God provided another way. This is the gospel.

The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God. There it is. The gospel. Let me say it again slowly: The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God.

And what is this wisdom? The death of the Son of God for sinners! “We preach Christ crucified . . . the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23–24).

The death of Christ is the wisdom of God by which the love of God saves sinners from the wrath of God, all the while upholding and demonstrating the righteousness of God in Christ.

John Piper