Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Hebrews 12

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Hebrews 12:3

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on how anyone - believer and non-believer alike - can more aggressively, and more actively pursue change in our lives - of course this is through belief in Jesus and a through a hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) that drives us into His arms through daily study and prayer in His Word where we are hearts and minds are transformed (Romans 12:2).  Piper provides the following scriptures for us lean on as we explore this topic:

• Romans 8:5-6
• Colossians 3:2

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who is full of love, grace and power for me - power to change and become more like Yourself...to be sanctified.  Thank You Jesus for these blessings.  I am not deserving of such blessings.  I sin...worry, etc. 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 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. 

...[F[or anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5

...[F[or anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on the power of God to command us to give us rebirth in Jesus. Piper explains that we "first experience the divine gift of life and breath, and then to do what living, breathing people do: cry out to God in faith and gratitude and love. When the command of God comes with the creating, converting power of the Holy Spirit, it gives life. And we believe and rejoice and obey."  We are provided several scriptures that illustrate this process of how God's commands give us new life from our spiritual deadness:

• John 11:43-44
• Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6
• Ezekiel 18:31 and 36:26
• John 3:7 and 1 Peter 1:3 
  

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You gave me new life...a new heart, a heart of flesh - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such a God.  My sin is daily - worry, etc.  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 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.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on generosity (the broader context of 2 Corinthians 9:8) and how God's grace, both in the past and in the future, serves as the motivation for such generosity. Piper refers to the role of past grace by referring to 2 Corinthians 8:9:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

Piper states: "[w]ithout this historical work of grace, the door of Christ-exalting generosity would remain closed. That past grace is an indispensable key to love. But notice how the past grace in this verse functions. It is made the foundation (Christ became poor) of future grace (that we might become rich). Thus, the historical key to our generosity operates by putting a foundation under the experiential key of faith in future grace."

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You grace is amazing and it abounds both historically when You became like us and died on the cross, and in the future - thank You Jesus!  I can no good things without You.  Thank You for Your grace and how it serves as the foundation for good works in my life - I am not deserving of Your grace - not one bit. My sin of worry, etc. 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 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.

What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

Romans 3

 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” Romans 3:3-4

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on truth, an appropriate response to truth, and how truth serves believers. Piper starts by stating: "Not to care about truth is not to care about God. To love God passionately is to love truth passionately. Being God-centered in life means being truth-driven in ministry. What is not true is not of God." Piper then lays out four applications for truth:

1. We see how God is truth - Romans 3:3-4, John 14:6, John 15:26 
2. Not loving the truth is eternally ruinous - 2 Thessalonians 2:10
3. Christian living is based on knowledge of the truth - 1 Corinthians 6:15-16
   
4.  The body of Christ is built with truth in love - Colossians 1:28
   

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are Truth and I am grateful that You give Yourself to me, including the Holy Spirit and Your Word - thank You Jesus!  Thank You for the many blessings that You pour out for me.  I am not deserving of such blessings. I worry, am easily distracted, etc.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sins 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 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.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Revelation 20

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. Revelation 20:12

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on how all believers are to be judged upon Jesus' second coming or on judgement day - either one of us will be face one or the other without fail.  While we see a picture of amazing grace from our Lord Jesus, we should remind ourselves that we are to aspire for treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19) and allow fear of the Lord to serve as a preservative against sin in our lives.  

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who is full of grace for me.  I know that You also saved a place for me in Heaven - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such a God or such blessings.  I worry and I have other sins.  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 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.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

1 Peter 5

 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on how God, as Piper describes how Jesus provides "assurance that he will not delay beyond what we can endure, and that he will abolish the flaws we bemoan, and that he will establish forever what has tottered so long — that assurance comes from the God of 'all grace.'" In the midst of pain, Piper encourages us to hold on and to endure lest we succumb to the fears that threaten our faith.  He points us to Hebrews 10:39 and Mark 13:13:

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Hebrews 10:39

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Mark 13:13

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and strength for me - through all times good and bad.  Thank You Jesus for never leaving or forsaking me.  I am not deserving of such love and grace.  I worry - I know this is sinful - 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 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.  

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Mark 10

 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

This evening, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on encouragement primarily for those in the frontier mission field, but also for those who might work locally among ministries and missions close to home. We are encouraged to be bold - Piper provides two incentives to be bold:

1. Every impossibility is a possibility with God - Mark 10:27
2. Whatever we lose in this world pales in comparison with what we gain now through Christ Jesus and for eternity - Mark 10:29-30 

Piper writes: "[w]hen we follow his missionary prescription, we discover that even the painful side effects work to improve our condition. Our spiritual health, our joy, improves a hundredfold. And when we die, we do not die. We gain eternal life."

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are amazing and Your power is beyond our comprehension - You created the Heavens and the Earth and all that inhabits the universe.  You created me and give me and all others life - and believers life to the full.  You rose from the grave and give believers the same power now and eternal life.  Great incentives to work on Your behalf - indeed!  I am not deserving of the power You provide for me - nor any of the blessings.  I worry and I have other sins.  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 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.