Have You Ever Accepted You?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:39

 

PONDER THIS

Most of us have never really accepted ourselves. We’re still struggling and trying to make ourselves acceptable. But we can’t. Just accept by faith that God has accepted you and be at peace. That is real peace.

I hear people say you’re not supposed to love yourself. No, that’s wrong. You’re to love yourself. You’re not to love your faults. I’m not talking about egotism. May I ask you a question? Does God love you? Is it all right for you to love what God loves? What does the Bible say? We are to love one another as we love ourselves. Now, if you don’t love you, you can’t love me. See? How do we love ourselves? We understand we are what we are by the grace of God. We have been born of God. We’re going to God. We have that peace.

Do you love yourself as described in today’s devotion?

How can you love yourself in this way while still honoring God? Why is it not sinful to love yourself in this way?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of ways God loves you. Consider how you are to love yourself so that you can display true love to others.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Fifteen Tactics for Joy

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

In this life of sin and pain, joy is embattled. Just like faith. And Paul says to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). So it is with joy. We must work for it and fight for it. Paul said to the Corinthians, “We work with you for your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24).

How then shall we fight for joy? Here are 15 pointers.

Realize that authentic joy in God is a gift.

Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly. And don’t be put off by the paradox of these first two pointers!

Resolve to attack all known sin in your life, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Learn the secret of gutsy guilt — how to fight like a justified sinner.

Realize that the battle is primarily a fight to see — to see God for who he is.

Meditate on the word of God day and night.

Pray earnestly and continually for open heart-eyes and an inclination for God.

Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself.

Spend time with God-saturated people who help you see God and fight the fight.

Be patient in the night of God’s seeming absence.

Get the rest, exercise, and proper diet that your body was designed by God to have.

Make a proper use of God’s revelation in nature — take a walk in the woods.

Read great books about God and biographies of great saints.

Do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others (your verbal witness and deeds of mercy).

Get a global vision for the cause of Christ, and pour yourself out for the unreached.

John Piper 

Bible Study

1 Timothy 6:11

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

[11] But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 2:22-23

[22] So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. [23] Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Proverbs 15:9-10

    [9] 

    The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,

        but he loves him who pursues righteousness. 

    [10] 

    There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way;

        whoever hates reproof will die.

Jesus Became Nothing For Us

PRAY OVER THIS

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5-7

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus stepped out of Heaven and went from sovereignty to slavery. He humbled Himself. He became obedient. Satan, in contrast, in his pride said, “I will ascend. I will be like the Most High.” He thought, “I’m going up, up, up, up.” But God said, “No, you’re going down, down, down, down, down.” Jesus stepped out of glory and humbled Himself. It is for this reason the Bible says, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9-10).

Many of us fight for reputation. Jesus laid aside His reputation. We like to talk about how we came from nothing to something. Every now and then, you’ll have an evangelist who will travel from place to place. Maybe God saved him in prison and his message is, “From the Prison to the Pulpit.” I’m glad for that, but Jesus came from something and made Himself of no reputation for our sake.

How does it affect you to remember that Jesus made Himself nothing out of something for your sake?

How does this compare to the way you live daily and the goals you pursue for yourself?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider how you might practice humility this week and prayerfully take action in that regard.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Day Is at Hand

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. (Romans 13:12)

This is a word of hope to suffering Christians. It’s a word of hope to Christians who hate their own sin and long to be done with sinning. It’s a word of hope to Christians who long for the last enemy Death to be overcome and thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).

How is it a word of hope for all these?

“The night” stands for this age of darkness and all its sin and misery and death. And what does Paul say about it? “The night is far gone.” The age of sin and misery and death is almost spent. The day of righteousness and peace and total joy is dawning.

You might say, “2,000 years seems like a long dawn.” From one standpoint it is. And we cry, How long, O Lord, how long will you let it go on? But the biblical way to think goes beyond this lament of “How long!” It looks at world history differently.

The key difference is that the “day” — the new age of the Messiah — has really dawned in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the end of this fallen age. That is, the end of this fallen age has, as it were, broken in to this world. Jesus defeated sin and pain and death and Satan when he died and rose again. The decisive battle of the ages is over. The kingdom has come. Eternal life has come.

And when dawn happens — as it did in the coming of Jesus — no one should doubt the coming of day. Not even if the dawn draws out 2,000 years. As Peter says in 2 Peter 3:8, “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The dawn has come. The day has arrived. Nothing can stop the rising of the sun to full day.

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Peter 3:9-10

[9] 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. [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Ezekiel 18:23-24

[23] Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? [24] But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.

Hebrews 10:37-39

[37] For, 

    “Yet a little while,

        and the coming one will come and will not delay; 

    [38] but my righteous one shall live by faith,

        and if he shrinks back,

    my soul has no pleasure in him.”

    [39] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Isaiah 30:18

 Will Be Gracious

    [18] Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,

        and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

    For the LORD is a God of justice;

        blessed are all those who wait for him.

Teach Your Children to Repent

PRAY OVER THIS

“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.”

Mark 10:13-16

 

PONDER THIS

When a child disobeys his parents, do you know what that child has done? He’s sinned against God. It’s not primarily you he’s sinned against; he’s sinned against God. We are making a mistake if our primary goal in disciplining our children is to make them sorry for what they’ve done to us. We are missing an opportunity for discipleship. We should say, “Listen, Daddy’s (or Momma’s) heart is broken because God doesn’t want us to behave that way.” Now, be careful. You cannot be the Holy Spirit. You can pray for repentance in that child’s heart, you can try to lead that child to repentance, but remember the Holy Spirit must do that. But you should continually pray for and guide that child to repentance.

What is the danger of only drawing your children’s attention to human hurt but never to the hurt they cause God?

What are some ways you might make the connection to repentance for your children?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend some time writing out ideas for how you might effectively communicate the idea of repentance to your children (or children close to you) in ways they might understand. Help them receive correction according to God’s grace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers