[He] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father[.]

Galatians 1:4

[He] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father[.] Galatians 1:4

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #20: To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age.  Here, John Piper describes how believers, "[u]ntil we die, or until Christ returns to establish his kingdom, we live in 'the present evil age.'"  Ensuring a right understanding of what is meant by "deliver us from the present evil age," Piper points us to John 17:15, sharing that believers are not taken from the world but instead protected and preserved from the power and influences of the evil one.  Expanding on this present evil age, "Satan is given freedom to deceive and destroy" - see also 1 John 5:19 and 2 Corinthians 4:4. Those who are not believers in this present evil age, "live in sync" with Satan - see also Ephesians 2:2.  While many may view this description of non-believers as harsh - we should understand how God views all of humanity as sinful and falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and lacking self-awareness if there is no acknowledgement of this gap between humanity and God (1 John 1:8).  The Good News of the Gospel is shared in 1 John 1:9 where it shares that "[i]f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Piper clarifies how easily it is to be blinded by Satan by idolizing money, sex, hobbies, or any other addictive power that is worshiped over the One True God. The devotion then refers us to 2 Peter 2:19 where scripture describes how these sinful influences enslave a person. Believers recognize these sinful influences as offering only folly while the Truth of the Gospel offers wisdom - see also 1 Corinthians 3:8-19, 1:18.  There is hope in Jesus Christ for those who feel enslaved by Satan - repent and believe!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are Truth and You give me the power power to protect myself during this present evil age.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how You arm me to protect myself.  My sin is great and it continues - daily.   Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #19: To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him.  Here, John Piper emphasizes how, from the very beginning (in the Garden of Eden), God designed human life to live forever.  Piper refers us to Solomon's words from Ecclesiastes 3:11 then shares: "[w]e are created in God’s image, and God loves life and lives forever. We were made to live forever. And we will." Yet, at the same time, Piper clarifies how "we" is reserved for believers, while those who treat "God with indifference or contempt" await a far different fate: eternal damnation.  Scripture of course makes this clear as Piper points us to John 3:36 and Matthew 25:46.  Piper then points to Mark 9:47-48 where Jesus warns humanity that the influence of sin is so dangerous in our lives in terms of how it separates us from God that we should treat sin very seriously lest we allow it to carry us into unbelief and subsequent eternal damnation.  Piper then contrasts the eternal damnation to eternal life awaiting believers: "as hell is the worst outcome of this life, so “eternal life” is the best." While eternity in Heaven with Jesus is something believers will not fully comprehend until we die and return to our true home with Him, Piper concludes the devotion by sharing a few remarks about what awaits believers: "all sin and all sadness will be gone. All that is evil and harmful in this fallen creation will be removed. All that is good—all that will bring true and lasting happiness—will be preserved and purified and intensified. We will be changed so that we are capable of dimensions of happiness that were inconceivable to us in this life. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined . . . God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 [see also Isaiah 64:4]). It is true every moment of life, now and always: For those who trust Christ the best is yet to come. We will see the all-satisfying glory of God."  Rejoice in the gift of faith and eternal life - repent and believe!

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My Prayer: Father God, thank You for giving me life now to the full and for eternity with You.  I am not deserving of how You save and bless.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed....That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases."

Isaiah 53:4-5 and Matthew 8:16-17

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed....That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases." Isaiah 53:4-5, Matthew 8:16-17

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #18: To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness.  Here, John Piper points to scripture that offers tremendous encouragement for those of us who suffer from emotional and physical ailments (we all do). Piper starts by sharing that "[d]isease and death were not part of God’s original way with the world. They came in with sin as part of God’s judgment on creation."  We are referred to Romans 8:20 where Paul states that "creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope[.]"  Piper expands on Paul's thoughts by sharing: God subjected the world to the futility of physical pain to show the horror of moral evil. This futility included death. “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). It included all the groaning of disease. And Christians are not excluded: “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit [that is, those who trust Christ], groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23)."  The devotion then pivots to the hope that Christ provides because God sent His Son - and through Christ's suffering and death on the cross - to defeat disease and death.  Jesus' ministry as a man demonstrated his ability to heal - see Matthew 8:16, Luke 6:19 - and Piper shares how this was done as a preview of what is to come when Jesus returns for the second coming during end times where Revelation 21:4 shares that "he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore."  Piper concludes the devotion by first describing how Christ's death on the cross fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53:3 and how Christ's suffering and death purchased "a world without death and disease."  Piper then moves to scripture that describes this new world that will be ushered in when Jesus comes again.  We are referred to 1 Corinthians 15:54, 2 Corinthians 5:4, and Isaiah 65:25. Rejoice in the hope we have in Christ who has already defeated sin, disease and death and believers' rewards await us in Heaven where Christ is saving a place for us!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an amazing God that has defeated sin, disease, and death, and I know You are also saving a place in Heaven for me where I will be reunited with many loved ones and brothers and sisters in Christ and there will be no more disease, tears, etc.  Awesome!  Thank You Father God for my salvation, and for all of the blessings that You pour out for me.  I am totally undeserving of course!  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #17: To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us.  Here, John Piper encourages us to see how Romans 8:32 shares how "[t]he two halves of [this verse] have a stupendously important logical connection."  Paul (and Jesus) use rhetorical questions as a means to engage us and to challenge us to go deeper in our understanding of scripture and doctrine.  This is what Paul does here in Romans 8:32.   Piper wants us modify the second half of the verse from a question to a statement so that it more clearly emphasizes Paul's key point, which is that God did the hardest thing of all by giving up His Son, so we can be assured that if we trust in Him we will see how He will give us everything we need in our life as followers of Him - He did the hard part already so everything else is easy.  Piper then ensures we have a right understanding of what is meant by "give us all things."  He refers us to later in the same chapter 8 of Romans where in 8:36 (quoting Psalm 44:22) Paul describes how Christians are not guaranteed an easy life (on the contrary see also John 16:33). We are then referred backwards in Romans 8 to verse 29 where Paul shares that God seeks to conform us to His image - sanctification - and sometimes this process is painful by design.  Piper describes this as "[God giving] us all things that are good for us."  Piper winds down the devotion by expanding on this by referring us to Philippians 4:19 and sharing: "[i]t’s the same as the other biblical promise: “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”....This promise is clarified in the preceding words: “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12-13). Rejoice in how God provides for all things that are good for us!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an amazing God that provides for all of my needs, including mercies every morning that never cease, and eternal life with You.  Thank You Father God for my salvation, and for all of the blessings that You pour out for me.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

[H]ow much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:14

[H]ow much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:14

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die.  Today I read reason #16: To Give Us a Clear Conscience.  Here, John Piper explores how Jesus Christ is "the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death."  The devotion starts by going back to the Garden of Eden where conscience first became an issue for humanity. Piper describes the scene: "as soon as [Adam and Eve] sinned, their conscience was defiled. Their sense of guilt was ruinous. It ruined their relationship with God—they hid from him. It ruined their relation to each other—they blamed. It ruined their peace with themselves—for the first time they saw themselves and felt shame."  Later in scripture, the Old Testament outlines how God provided a path for His people to atone for their sin.  Yet the devotion rightly shares how this did not cleanse the conscience. At best the animal sacrifices foreshadowed or provided a "taste" of things to come.  The New Covenant based on Jesus shed blood and His sacrifice on the cross does provide a path for a clean conscience. Hebrews outlines how Jesus is better (perfect) vs what God provided as a path to Him in the Old Testament - see Hebrews 9:14 specifically on how only Jesus can cleanse the conscience.  As the devotion winds down, it shares: "Jesus said it is what comes out of a person that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15-23). We are defiled by pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear—and the actions they breed. These are all “dead works.” They have no spiritual life in them. They don’t come from new life; they come from death, and they lead to death. That is why they make us feel hopeless in our consciences."  Rejoice in how God cleanses our conscience to free ourselves from the sting of sin and death!

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My Prayer:  Father God, what an awesome God You are that You cleanse my conscience and and free me from the sting of sin and death.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how You save me and pour out blessings for me. My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified....[H]e has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him[.]....Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Hebrews 10:14, Colossians 1:22, and 1 Corinthians 5:7

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified....[H]e has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him[.]....Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Hebrews 10:14, Colossians 1:22, 1 Corinthians 5:7

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die.  Today I read reason #15: To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect.  Here, John Piper explores the doctrine of sanctification.  First, he points out how some of us - myself - included grow impatient with this process and how we "groan" about it (referring to Paul and how he groaned in Philippians 3:12).  Piper then shares how Paul's statement in Philippians is key - "Christ has made me his own":  "All my reaching and yearning and striving is not to belong to Christ (which has already happened), but to complete what is lacking in my likeness to him."  Piper then describes how all believers should understand and be comforted to press on with endurance: "knowing that in the imperfection of our progress we have already been perfected—and that this is owing to the suffering and death of Christ....(see also Hebrews 10:14)....This is amazing! In the same sentence he says we are “being sanctified” and we are already 'perfected.'"  Piper continues: "[t]he joyful encouragement here is that the evidence of our perfection before God is not our experienced perfection, but our experienced progress. The good news is that being on the way is proof that we have arrived."  Piper concludes the devotion by referring us to 1 Corinthians 5:7 where Paul uses the analogy (also used elsewhere in scripture) of leavened bread and how the leaven represents sin and evil and how Christ's death on the cross brings about sanctification which is both being perfect in God's eyes while we are still being perfected.  Rejoice in how God does this!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God that is at work in me while You already see me as perfect - amazing grace indeed!  I am not deserving of the grace You pour out for me every day, and of course for the grace You poured out for me on the cross where You shed Your blood and died for me. Thank You Jesus!  Of course I am not deserving of my salvation nor any of the mercies You pour out for me.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many....I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.

Mark 14:24 and Jeremiah 32:40

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many....I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. Mark 14:24, Jeremiah 32:40

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die.  Today I read reason #14: To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful.  Here, John Piper provides very insightful commentary on the difference between the Old Covenant (made between God and Israel in the Old Testament and based on the law of Moses in the Pentateuch) and the New Covenant (made for believers in Jesus and secured by the shedding of His blood).  Piper first defines covenant as "a formal, solemn, and binding agreement" between two parties.  He then shares how the Old Covenant was not effective because "it was not accompanied by spiritual transformation."  The New Covenant of course is because it is based on the Spirit and this covenant should be seen as "supremely effective" (of course more so than than the Old) - see also 2 Corinthians 3:6.  OT prophecies pointed to the New Covenant - see Jeremiah 31:31-34.  The New Covenant based on the Spirit is supremely effective because the Spirit is life giving and it brings about heart and life change based on knowledge of and a relationship with Him through study, prayer and other spiritual disciplines.  See also Ephesians 2:5 where Paul talks about how we are made "alive together with Christ."  God not only gives us faith but He also brings about our obedience such that obedience is not seen as a burden - see also Ephesians 2:8, Romans 1:5, and 1 John 5:3.  Piper wraps the devotion by sharing: "When Christ died, he secured for his people not only new hearts but new security. He will not let them turn from him. He will keep them. They will persevere. The blood of the covenant guarantees it."  Isn't it amazing how God works?  Rejoice!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are amazing indeed!  Thank You for not only securing my faithfulness, but also bring about my obedience, and also making it such that I don't see it as a burden....thank You Jesus!  I know there is more work to do as my sin is great and it continues...please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.