[T]hey have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

Mark 4

[T]hey have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. Mark 4:17

As I continue to be in between studies, having wrapped up my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul, I lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotional, which today looks at suffering that crushes faith.  Building on yesterday's post, and similar to my church's sermon from last week, Piper seeks for us to ultimately endure suffering "with firm faith in future grace."  Piper highlights the parable of the four soils where Piper refers to the text where "[s]ome people who hear the word receive it at first with gladness, but then suffering makes them fall away."  He then share how suffering "does not always make faith stronger. Sometimes it crushes faith."  Piper share from Mark 4:25 where Jesus effectively warns us against a weak faith that is crushed by suffering.  We are called to endure such that as Piper writes "our faith might grow stronger and not be proved vain" as written in 1 Corinthians 15:2. Piper then shares as he wraps the devotion that "[k]nowing God’s design in suffering is one of the main means of growing through suffering.  If you think your suffering is pointless, or that God is not in control, or that he is whimsical or cruel, then your suffering will drive you from God, instead of driving you from everything but God — as it should. So, it is crucial that faith in God’s grace includes the faith that he gives grace through suffering."

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves us and who is in control of all details of our lives...even when things go bad we know You still love us, will never leave or forsake us, and are saving a place in Heaven for us!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love and blessings.  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 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 spouse 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. 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

James 1

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1:2-3

As I continue to be in between studies, having wrapped up my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul, I lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotional, which today looks at how suffering results in the sharpening of our faith.  Piper uses the analogy of working out to illustrate the role suffering plays in our lives.  "Faith is like muscle tissue: if you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker. That’s what James means here. When your faith is threatened and tested and stretched to the breaking point, the result is greater capacity to endure."  Piper continues by pointing us to 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, where Paul and his companions were so overwhelmed with suffering where they completely surrendered to God, recognizing that even in death God would prevail and demonstrate how we should be utterly dependent on Him.  Piper writes that "[God's] aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that he himself will be all we need."  Piper wraps today's devotion by pointing us to Psalm 73:25-26, where the Psalmist writes how he gains his strength from God, even when everything else in his life, including his health, fails.  Piper wants us to see how God works in our suffering.

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are SO good - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of the blessings You pour out for me.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me.  Help me turn from and overcome such sin and turn 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.   

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Revelation 6

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. Revelation 6:11

As I continue to be in between studies, having wrapped up my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul, I lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotional, which today looks at martyrdom not just as it existed during the first three centuries of the church's existence, but now as well as many continue to suffer this fate today (for more see Voices of the Martyrs ministry).  Piper describes God's role in martyrdom as "a sovereign God who said there is an appointed number of martyrs. They have a special role to play in planting and empowering the church. They have a special role to play in shutting the mouth of Satan, who constantly says that the people of God serve him only because life goes better." Piper refers us to Job 1:9-11 as an example of a man that was entirely in God's hands and protected as Satan incorrectly believed that Job would curse God as he lost his family and wealth.  Job stood firm in the faith - for more of John Piper on job - go here.  Piper wraps his devotion by sharing: "[m]artyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ. It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And this plan will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith in God’s all-sufficient grace."  While most of us will not experience martyrdom as some do, we can do as John Piper seeks for us to respond by (1) affirm with all our hearts the absolute sovereignty of God, (2) let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes, and (3) trust in the goodness of God, and let him be your treasure and your joy.

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who is sovereign and regardless of the trials and suffering I experience I know You exist, never leave or forsake me, and that I am sealed for eternity giving me the confidence to stand firm in my faith.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  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 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.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

As I am in between studies, having just wrapped up my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul, I lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotional, which today looks at where Paul focuses to remain hopeful as he grows old and more feeble.  Piper describes how Paul gains hope by focusing on how his inner self is renewed daily - this is also unseen. Piper then points out how this somewhat contradictory focus is further clarified by Paul in the next chapter of 2 Corinthians 5:7: "for we walk by faith, not by sight." Piper shares that this clarification "doesn’t mean that [Paul] leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.  We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel. We strengthen our hearts — we renew our courage — by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face." Piper wraps the devotion by pointing back to chapter 4:6 where Paul writes: " [f]or God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." This previously unseen knowledge of the glory of God is now seen by us because God revealed it to us - praise God!

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are a great God who loves me and who revealed Yourself to me and gave me the power to see things unseen that provide eternal hope!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings...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 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

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 resume my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul.  Today, I move to chapter thirty - The Pursuit of Pure Doctrine and Passion for the Poor - wrapping use this book.  Here, John Piper points to Romans 8:32 as "the most important promise of his life.*"  Piper first starts by describing how Romans 8:32a and 8:32b construct an a fortiori argument. Thus, God gives us all things (the easier part) because He already gave up His One and Only Son Jesus (the harder part).  Piper then describes how God gave up His Son, sharing that this was the greatest obstacle between us and eternal happiness.  This was clearly the hardest for God to do vs "giving us all things" as Piper describes God's precious love for His Son.  Piper writes: "[n]othing greater or harder has ever happened. Or ever will.*" Piper then emphasizes how giving us all things does not guarantee a trouble free life - au contraire!  We are referred to Romans 8:36 and we can also refer to John 16:33. Piper shares how when God gives us all things He is giving us "all things we need to do his will. All things we need to glorify him. All things we need to move from predestined to called to justified to glorified— that is, to everlasting happiness (Romans 8: 30).*"  Piper then provides us examples from Romans 8 of what God gives us:

•  all things will work together for our good (v28)
• we will be conformed to the image of his Son (v29)
  
• we will be glorified (v30)
  
• no one can successfully be against us (v31)
  
• no charge shall stick against us (v33)
  
• nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (v35)
• in tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword, we are more than conquerors (vv35–37)
  
• neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (vv38– 39)

 Piper wraps the chapter by pointing us to 2 Corinthians 1:20a where Paul share that "all the promises of God find their Yes in him." Amen!  Praise God! 

*John Piper. 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are SO good - providing the hardest thing so You can give us everything!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of these blessings.  My sin is great and it continue...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 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 spouse 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 the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

1 Timothy 6

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. 1 Timothy 6:10a

I continue a short pause my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul to listen to DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion - where John Piper examines what is meant by Paul's text in from 1 Timothy 6:10a. Piper starts by sharing that "[Paul] meant that all the evils in the world come from a certain kind of heart, namely, the kind of heart that loves money."  Piper then continues by defining a heart that loves money as a heart that places its faith in "what you can get from man — other human beings — instead of God."  Piper then pivots God's answer to this heart condition - Piper states that "God deals in the currency of grace, not money[.]"  Piper refers us to Isaiah 55:1 where the text says "[c]ome, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."  Piper continue by sharing that "[m]oney is the currency of human resources. So, the heart that loves money is a heart that pins its hopes, and pursues its pleasures, and puts its trust in what human resources can offer.  So, the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money — belief (trust, confidence, assurance) that money will meet your needs and make you happy. Love of money is the alternative to faith in God’s future grace." He wraps by referring us to Matthew 6:24 where Jesus said that "[n]o one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."  We are encouraged to trust, belief, and have faith in God vs what man can provide (see also Matthew 6:19-21).

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God and only You can provide forgiveness of sin, eternal salvation, Your Word, the church, the Holy Spirit, etc....all blessings that surpass anything that man can ever provide - not even close!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  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 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.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

1 Peter 5

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9

I pause my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul to listen to DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion - which looks at sin and Satan.  Piper starts by bluntly stating that "[t]he two great enemies of our souls are sin and Satan. And sin is the worst enemy, because the only way that Satan can destroy us is by getting us to sin, and keeping us from repenting."  Satan and Sin entered the world at the Fall (Genesis 3) and will remain with us until they are both ultimately defeated at the end of age (Revelation).  Until the end of the age, God keeps Satan on a leash (see also God's providence over Satan and sin) and Piper shares that the "only way he can do us ultimate harm is by influencing us to sin, and keep us from repentance."  Piper quotes scripture that describes how Satan tries to do just this, including Ephesians 2:1-2, 4:27.  Peter does warn us of how sin and Satan are on the prowl, and at the same time Peter tells us to resist Satan by being firm in the faith. Piper wraps the devotion by pointing us to Ephesians 6:10-18.

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My Prayer: Jesus, thank You for washing away my sin and for giving me the whole armor of God to protect me against the battle against Satan and sin.  I am blessed for how You do this and how You save.  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 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.