Are You Seeking God Diligently?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

 

PONDER THIS

God wants us to be diligent. When I was growing up and playing with my friends, we would sometimes go ring a doorbell and run away. The person would come to the door, and there’d be nobody there. I think sometimes we do that with God. Too often, before God ever gets there to answer the prayer, we’re gone.

Some of our prayers are easily offered and soon forgotten. No wonder we don’t inherit the promise. Some of our prayers are wandering generalities rather than specific requests. This means many of us could not even remember what we’ve prayed for—whether or not God has answered our prayer.

God wants us to be diligent and devoted. The writer says we are to diligently seek Him. Often we are seeking the blessing rather than seeking the Lord, the Blesser. We are called to seek His face, who He is. We’re not to only seek His hand, the things we can receive from Him. We are to hold onto God, even when the promise does not seem to come right away.

How difficult do you find it to be diligent in prayer?

What is the difference between seeking God’s face and merely seeking His hand? Why is it important to make the distinction between the two?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider your recent prayer requests; evaluate what you have been seeking from God and how diligent you have been in seeking Him.

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

1 Chronicles 28:9

David’s Charge to Solomon

[9] “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Jeremiah 29:12-14

[12] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. [13] You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. [14] I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

John 4:24

[24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 9:35-37

[35] Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [36] He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” [37] Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”

Are You Steadfast as You Wait on God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36

 

PONDER THIS

Endurance means the ability to bear up under trials and difficulties. Many people fail to receive because they fail to endure. This is really the language of athletics. For a time, I ran track, and I would run distance races. In those distance races, if you run a mile and you’re a hundred yards ahead but you quit running, you’re going to lose the race, no matter what.

Now, what is patience? Patience is more than waiting. It is more than passive resignation to trials. The word patience from the Bible does not have a good English synonym. The word in the Greek language literally means “to abide under.” It has the idea of steadfastness. It has the idea of constancy. It has the idea of staying in power. Patience is the bridge between doing the will of God and receiving the promise.

You need patience so that you might inherit the promises of God. Remember yesterday’s provision. He saw you through then. He’ll see you through again. Remember, it is not patience that solemnly waits in the dark; it is patience that gloriously anticipates the dawn. And then, rest in tomorrow’s promise. I encourage you to take hold of the Word of God and never let it go.

How have you actively pursued God when you needed to be patient?

When you think about the future, do you most often look with joy or despair? Why?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider areas of your life in which you need to practice pursing God as you are patient.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Great Exchange

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. (Romans 1:16–17)

We need righteousness to be acceptable to God. But we don’t have it. What we have is sin.

So, God has what we need and don’t deserve — righteousness; and we have what God hates and rejects — sin. What is God’s answer to this situation?

His answer is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died in our place and bore our condemnation. “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he [God] condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Whose flesh bore the condemnation? His. Whose sins were being condemned? Ours. This is the great exchange. Here it is again in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in him. And in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates his righteousness and imputes (credits) it to us. Our sin on Christ; his righteousness on us.

We can hardly stress too much that Christ is God’s answer to our greatest problem. It is all owing to Christ.

You can’t love Christ too much. You can’t think about him too much, or thank him too much, or depend upon him too much. All our forgiveness, all our justification, all our righteousness is in Christ.

This is the gospel — the good news that our sins are laid on Christ and his righteousness is laid on us, and that this great exchange becomes ours not by works but by faith alone. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Here is the good news that lifts burdens and gives joy and makes strong.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Mark 8:38

[38] For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

1 Corinthians 1:18

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

[18] For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Acts 3:26

[26] God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Psalm 40:9-10

    [9] I have told the glad news of deliverance

        in the great congregation;

    behold, I have not restrained my lips,

        as you know, O LORD. 

    [10] I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;

        I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

    I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

        from the great congregation.

Do You Have Dangerous Zeal for God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:5-7

 

PONDER THIS

There is a zeal that is divisive, destructive, and deadly. You can take a hammer and build a house with it, or you can cause someone harm with it. Anything taken to an extreme can become bad. We need to learn the difference between zeal and moderation. Let your moderation or your gentleness be known unto all men. Zeal and moderation are not enemies; they're friends.

That doesn’t mean we compromise our beliefs, but we need to learn to live by grace. The cause of Christ has been hurt by misguided zeal many times. When Jesus was in Samaria, the Samaritans were mistreating the Lord Jesus Christ. James and John were with Jesus, and they became very zealous for Jesus. They said to Him in Luke 9:54, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But Jesus turned, and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:55-56). The manner of spirit they had was that of a misguided zealot. They saw the way the Samaritans were living, and they said “Lord, let’s get them.” The cause of Christ has sometimes been hurt far more in the house of its friends than in the house of its enemies.

What is an issue that easily riles you up? How can you guard against misguided zeal?

When have you been tempted to take justice into your own hands?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to another Christian who knows you well and ask where you tend to have misguided zeal. Ask your friend to keep you accountable for submitting those things to God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers