Do You Worship in Spirit?

PRAY OVER THIS

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:24

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever thought about what the Bible commands you to do? How are you going to do what the Bible commands? You don’t have the strength to do it. For example, Ephesians 5:19-20 says, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But the reality is, none of us will live like this in our own strength. In our worship lives, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God is Spirit and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Have you ever been in a worship service where people are trying to worship God in the flesh? It’s just some kind of a circus, and it’s a program. How tedious and how tasteless that is. But you’ve also been in worship services where those who are leading the worship are filled with God’s blessed Holy Spirit, and the people are singing praises to God, and they’re worshiping God in spirit and in truth. The only way you can truly worship God is to worship Him in the power of His Spirit.

How would you describe the difference between worshiping God in the power of the Holy Spirit and in your own power?

Reflect on different experiences you’ve had with both of these.

PRACTICE THIS

Take a walk outside today, asking God to fill you with His Spirit and to lead you to worship Him as you observe creation all around you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Our Good Is His Glory

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God — that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. We endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.”

But we have learned from the Bible (and from Edwards!) that God’s interest is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us — to us sinners, who desperately need him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives, is never above God’s interest and God’s happiness and God’s glory, but always in God’s. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him — in him!

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6:6, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” this is a reward he wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn’t have! But this reward — this joy — is the overflow of turning away from human praise, and going into our closet to seek God.

Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory. They put their happiness in God himself and discover the glorious truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Matthew 6:9-15

[9] Pray then like this: 

    “Our Father in heaven,

    hallowed be your name. 

    [10] Your kingdom come,

    your will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven. 

    [11] Give us this day our daily bread, 

    [12] and forgive us our debts,

        as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

    [13] And lead us not into temptation,

        but deliver us from evil.

    [14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Acts 21:14

[14] And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Matthew 4:17

[17] From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mark 1:14-15

Jesus Begins His Ministry

[14] Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, [15] and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

What Does Satan Want From You?

PRAY OVER THIS

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

 

PONDER THIS

What does the devil war against primarily? You may say the devil tries to get you to commit adultery. Not primarily. The devil tries to get you drunk. No, not primarily. The devil tries to get you on an ego trip. Not primarily.

Primarily, the devil wars against your spirit. What is your spirit? What is the difference between your spirit and your soul? Your soul is the sense of self-consciousness. Your spirit is the sense of God-consciousness. You know God through your spirit. Plants have a body, but they don’t have a soul. Animals have a body and a soul. That means they have self-consciousness, but no animal has a spirit. Only man has a spirit.

That’s what makes man more than an animal. Man can know God. And the Bible says, “God is Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God (see Romans 8:16). The spirit in man is the vehicle of communication, worship, praise, and spiritual knowledge. What does the devil want to do? The devil wants to cut you off from God. He does this primarily by attacking your spirit.

Think about the temptations listed at the beginning of today’s devotion. How are these all symptoms of the devil attacking your spirit?

How does the condition of your spirit guide the way you think and act?

PRACTICE THIS

Have a conversation with another person today about the importance of a person’s spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Power of a Superior Promise

I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts. (Psalm 119:45, my translation)

An essential element of joy is freedom. None of us would be happy if we were not free from what we hate and free for what we love.

And where do we find true freedom? Psalm 119:45 says, “I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts.”

The picture is one of open spaces. The word frees us from smallness of mind. “God gave Solomon . . . breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29). The word frees us from threatening confinements. “He brought me out into a broad place” (Psalm 18:19).

Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The freedom he has in mind is freedom from the slavery of sin (John 8:34). Or, to put it positively, it is freedom for holiness.

The promises of God’s grace provide the power that makes the demands of God’s holiness an experience of freedom rather than fear and confinement. Peter described the freeing power of God’s promises like this: “Through [his precious and very great promises] you become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4).

In other words, when we trust the promises of God, we sever the root of corruption and sinful desire by the power of a superior promise.

How crucial is the word that breaks the power of counterfeit pleasures! And how vigilant we should be to light our paths and load our hearts with the word of God!

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Psalm 119:155

    [155] Salvation is far from the wicked,

        for they do not seek your statutes.

Job 5:3-4

    [3] 

    I have seen the fool taking root,

        but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. 

    [4] 

    His children are far from safety;

        they are crushed in the gate,

        and there is no one to deliver them.

Psalm 119:92-94

    [92] If your law had not been my delight,

        I would have perished in my affliction. 

    [93] I will never forget your precepts,

        for by them you have given me life. 

    [94] I am yours; save me,

        for I have sought your precepts.

Proverbs 4:10-12

    [10] Hear, my son, and accept my words,

        that the years of your life may be many. 

    [11] I have taught you the way of wisdom;

        I have led you in the paths of uprightness. 

    [12] When you walk, your step will not be hampered,

        and if you run, you will not stumble.

No Victory Without Opposition

PRAY OVER THIS

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Romans 8:37

 

PONDER THIS

I used to play football. My team would work and practice and hit and do all these things to take a bag full of zipped-up air across a pasture and over a white line on that field. It actually sounds kind of dumb when you think about it. But when you finally get that piece of pigskin over that white line, they call it a touchdown, and everybody goes bananas. That’s the goal, but there’s a group of fellows on the other side that says, “You’re not going to do that.” That’s what the game’s all about.

But let’s say I have figured out a secret to victory. We need to come out on the field at about 2:00 a.m. when the other team is not there. And then we can take that ball and shove it over that white line as many times as we want. Right? Well yes, theoretically. We could do that, but why don’t people do that? Because that’s no victory. If there’s no opposition, there’s no victory. God has not called you to a life of ease, but He has called you to a life of victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be unto God who causes us always to triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does today’s illustration help you understand what it means to have victory in Jesus?

Who or what is the opposition you face each day as a follower of Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Journal about the opposition you are currently facing in your walk with Jesus. Pray over these thoughts and thank God for the promised victory in Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers