Bible Study

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. 

18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.  - Psalm 25:17-18

14 If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. 

15 If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.  - Job 10:14-15

Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.  - Isaiah 3:11

18 "Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me 

19 and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. 

20 Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer 

21 before I go-and I shall not return- to the land of darkness and deep shadow, 

22 the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness."  - Job 10:18-22

Do You Live in Victory?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.”

Deuteronomy 6:23

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Can you imagine a young Israelite boy born in the wilderness, born during their forty years there? He hears people talk about Egypt, what it used to be. He hears about Canaan, what it ought to be. His folks have come out of Egypt, but God brought them out that He might bring them in…to Canaan. But now for forty years, they are going around in circles! This kid looks around—his mom and his dad are not living in Canaan; they’re not living in victory. What is he to think?

What about in your home? In your life in Christ, are you just circling around? Stuck in a rut? Off in the ditch? Or do your children see a vibrant, personal relationship with the God who parted the Red Sea and is answering your prayers today? Do your children catch you on your knees?

ACTION POINT

I’m convinced the reason the devil ensnares kids from good Christian families is, the parents have come out of Egypt, but they’ve never gone into Canaan. They’re stopped in the desert, going ‘round and ‘round in circles. Live in the victory Jesus died to give you. Make sure your children see you living in victory.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Will Trample All Our Enemies

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24)

How far does the reign of Christ extend?

The next verse, 1 Corinthians 15:25 says, “He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” The word all tells us the extent.

So does the word every in verse 24: “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.”

There is no disease, no addiction, no demon, no bad habit, no fault, no vice, no weakness, no temper, no moodiness, no pride, no self-pity, no strife, no jealousy, no perversion, no greed, no laziness that Christ will not overcome as the enemy of his honor.

And the encouragement in that promise is that when you set yourself to do battle with the enemies of your faith and your holiness, you will not fight alone.

Jesus Christ is now, in this age, putting all his enemies under his feet. Every rule and every authority and every power will be conquered.

So, remember that the extent of Christ’s reign reaches to the smallest and biggest enemy of his glory in your life, and in this universe. It will be defeated.

John Piper 

Bible Study

13 "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 

14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.  - Daniel 7:13-14

25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 

26 But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. 

27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.'  - Daniel 7:25-27

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. - Ephesians 1:19-23

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

27 For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.

28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. - 1 Corinthians 15:25-28

You Must Be Filled

BIBLE MEDITATION

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”

Ephesians 5:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

What will it take to heal our world? I’m convinced we’re facing one of three things: revival, ruin, or the return of Jesus Christ. I pray God it will be either spiritual revival or the return of the Lord Jesus. But if it is a spiritual revival, how will it come about?

“Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” And what is the will of the Lord? “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:17-18)

People have tried everything. There is only one answer for a world in the need our world is in. The will of the Lord is that the church of the living God be filled with the Spirit of the living God. This alone is the answer.

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? It implies continuous control by the Holy Spirit. The emphasis is on “be filled,” not “get filled.” “Be” implies a continuous control by the Holy Spirit. The fact that you were filled with the Spirit doesn’t necessarily mean that you are filled with the Spirit.

ACTION POINT

Oswald Sanders said, “There is no such thing as a once-for-all fullness. We may, and should, be filled with the Spirit again and again.” Yesterday’s experience is no good for today. Being filled is a day-by-day experience. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Shadows and Streams

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. (Psalm 104:31–34)

God rejoices in the works of creation because they point us beyond themselves to God himself.

God means for us to be stunned and awed by his work of creation. But not for its own sake. He means for us to look at his creation and say: If the mere work of his fingers (just his fingers! Psalm 8:3) is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty, what must this God be like in himself!

These are but the backside of his glory, as it were, darkly seen through a glass. What will it be to see the glory of the Creator himself! Not just his works! A billion galaxies will not satisfy the human soul. God and God alone is the soul’s end.

Jonathan Edwards expressed it like this:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. . . . [These] are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the ocean.

This is why Psalm 104 comes to a close in verses 31–34 with a focus on God himself. “I will sing praise to my God while I have being. . . . For I rejoice in the Lord.” In the end it will not be the seas or the mountains or the canyons or the water spiders or the clouds or the great galaxies that fill our hearts to breaking with wonder and fill our mouths with eternal praise. It will be God himself.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  - Isaiah 5:20

O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!  - Amos 5:7

They make night into day: 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'  - Job 17:12

34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. - Luke 11:34-35

3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,

4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. - Romans 13:3-5

13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,

14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. - 1 Peter 2:13-16

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21

Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. - 3 John 1:11