Blessed Is the Man Who Trusts in the Lord
Pastor Adrian Rogers
"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psalm 34:8
The Lord Jesus Christ gives us beatitudes - attitudes that ought to be. They are not platitudes. They are attitudes that deal with Christian character.
Your reputation is what others think about you, but character is what God knows about you.
The beatitudes do not say, "Blessed are what you have," or "Blessed are what you do," but "Blessed are what you are." Most of the people in the world are doing what? They are seeking happiness. If you seek happiness you'll never find it. But if you get right with God, blessedness will find you.
Have you been finding your self-worth in what you have or what you do? Confess it before the Lord and meditate on the attitudes you ought to have in Matthew 5:3-11.
For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.
Preparation for Spiritual Warfare
Dr. Charles Stanley
Ephesians 6:10-13
Believers are caught in a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, but the Lord has provided everything we need to stand firm against the forces of evil. Why, then, do Christians fail so often and give in to temptation and sin? I think there are a number of reasons.
We are unaware of the battle. Even if we know about spiritual warfare, during everyday life, it's easy to forget an invisible war is raging around us. Our inattention makes us prime candidates for an attack.
We are ignorant about the Enemy. Satan is free to bombard us with one scheme after another when we don't recognize his tactics or understand his goals.
We are untrained for warfare. Believers are soldiers whether they want to be or not. God's Word is the training manual that gives instruction for discerning deception, resisting temptation, standing firm in faith, and walking in integrity.
We allow Satan a foothold. The primary battleground for Christians is the mind. If we begin to listen to the Tempter and consider the benefits of his suggestions, he will gain a foothold into our thoughts, feelings, and desires. Left unchecked, the foothold will become a stronghold, and we'll soon find ourselves mired in sin.
The time to prepare for warfare is now. You cannot afford to be complacent and unaware of your Enemy, or you will quickly become his victim. Begin filling your mind with God's Word, and obediently listen to the Spirit's inner warnings. That's the way to experience the joy of victory in Christ
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit http://www.intouch.org/.
Looking through the Mirror
Dr. R. C. Sproul
When Paul declared the mysterious and breathtaking promise that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8: 28), he was musing in teleology. He was dealing with the realm of the remote rather than the proximate. This suggests that the proximate must be judged in light of the remote.
Our problem is this: We do not yet possess the full light of the remote. We are still looking in a dark mirror. We are not utterly devoid of light, though. We have enough light to know that God has a good purpose even when we are ignorant of that good purpose.
It is the good purpose of God that gives the final answer to the appearance of vanity and futility in this world. To trust in the good purpose of God is the very essence of godly faith. This is why no Christian can be an ultimate pessimist.
The world in which we live is not a world of chance. Its beginning was not an accident, its operation is not an accident, and its telos, or goal, is not an accident. This is my Father's world and He rules it without caprice. As long as God exists, vanity is a manifest impossibility.
Coram Deo: Living in the Presence of God
Spend some time reflecting on the goodness of God. In what specific ways is His goodness being manifested to you right now?
For Further Study
1 Corinthians 13:12: "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."
Romans 8:28-29: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
The mission, passion and purpose of Ligonier Ministries and Dr. R.C. Sproul is to help people grow in their knowledge of God and His holiness. For more information, please visit www.ligonier.org
The Face of God
Bayless Conley
The psalmist says in Psalm 30:7,
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
One thing we should never want to experience is for God to hide His face, because the face of God represents His favor, friendship, and fellowship.
Now there is only one thing that causes God to hide His face from us. It is found in Isaiah 59:1-2,
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
Sin is the one thing that causes God's face to be hidden. The Bible says we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, which means the sin of mankind had hidden God's face.
But that is not the end of the story, thank goodness! In Isaiah 50:6 we are told,
"I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting."
Because Jesus did not hide His face from shame and spitting, because He took your place and died for your sins, God's face can shine upon you.
He could have hidden His face; He could have avoided the whole crucifixion, but He didn't. He bore a shame that was not His as God the Father laid the sin of the world on Him.
Because Jesus did not hide His face, the face of God need not be hidden from any of us. The light of God's countenance can shine upon every one of us, and we can indeed be the friends of God.
Thank you, Jesus, for what you did!
Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
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