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“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). To delight in God’s presence, set your heart and your mind on Christ. Never take your eyes off of Him. If you want to fail miserably in delighting in God—keep your eyes on others. Chase their acceptance, emulate their successes, critique their weaknesses. When I was about 18 years old, the man who was then discipling me taught me this repeatedly. He said, “If you ever want to fail and fail miserably, keep your eyes on church leaders. The bigger they are, the greater your fall.” I have never forgotten that. No matter what direction you take, what temptation surrounds you, or what obstacles are in your path, the Bible gives clear instructions for success: Keep your focus on Jesus (see Hebrews 3:1; 12:2). Look to Him alone as your example, your guide, and your […]

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8). To delight in the presence of God, you must first taste and see that He is good. Over and over again in the Bible, God draws near to the people He loves so much. He walks with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:8). He speaks to Moses from a burning bush (see Exodus 3). And, ultimately, He puts on flesh, becoming one of us (see John 1:14). Over and over again, God draws near to us and invites us to taste and see—to experience Him for ourselves. God calls each one of us to come to Him and develop a firsthand understanding of His love and kindness. No one else—no pastor, spouse, or parent—can do this for you. You must personally experience His presence and learn what it means to delight in Him. How do you […]

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Jesus came to open our spiritual eyes. When we walk by faith and not by sight, we’ll have the strength to weather any storm. Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Recently, I had a conversation with my neighbor who is not doing well physically. I asked him, “How are you?” and he answered, “Well, I’m just trying to prolong my life—one day at a time.” I wanted to weep for him because I have already shared Christ with him, and he has not responded. He is just barely scraping by, living without real hope. I pray regularly that God opens his spiritual eyes. Each day, we must trust in realities that are unseen—looking not to our bank accounts or our health or our earthly relationships for assurance, but fixing our eyes on […]

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Sometimes God calls us to work that requires us to give up something we hold dear. Other times He asks us to step out of our comfort zones in order to share His Gospel with others, whether one-on-one with a neighbor or by speaking to a large group. It is natural to feel some resistance to the difficult and self-sacrificing tasks that God calls us to, but in the end, we must obey God. Read Genesis 6 and 7. Can you imagine the concerns and questions that Noah had when God told him to build the ark? Regardless of any misgivings Noah may have felt, Scripture clearly tells us that “Noah did all that the Lord commanded him” (Genesis […]

“Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. . . . the world was not worthy of them” (Hebrews 11:36, 38). Courage is one of the greatest manifestations of faith. Courageous faith is confident that God cannot and will not make a mistake. Courageous faith knows that God cannot be wrong. Courageous faith is confident that God can never be defeated. n Hebrews 11:30-40 we are told of several Biblical heroes who demonstrated great courage: . . . who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. (Hebrews 11:33-34) Sometimes courageous faith leads to dangerous situations. The people listed in this passage did not always conquer the enemy without any injuries: Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and […]

“[Moses] regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:26). God’s Word is filled with the stories of His saints suffering greatly for their faith. But far from discouraging believers today, these lives lived out in enduring faith emit a sweetness that draws us to the Lord Jesus each day. The author of Hebrews wrote: I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. . . . There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better […]

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13). Goodness grows out of righteous integrity. The person who manifests God’s goodness thinks good thoughts, speaks good words, and performs good deeds. What the person thinks lines up with what he speaks, and what he speaks lines up with what he does. He is consistent in the integrity of his life. Through self-justification and excuse-making, Satan attacks our integrity and tempts us to disguise our sins so that we fool ourselves about what is truly good. Whether it is the woman who justifies leaving her husband because she is unhappy or the alcoholic who explains away his drinking as stress relief, these people are not experiencing goodness—they are living a lie. The problem is that our flesh prefers the lie—but this is the way to destruction. Writing to the Galatians in the middle of the […]

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). Are you content with how your life has turned out? Are you happy with the career path, spouse, or home you have chosen? Are you enjoying this stage of your life for the blessings you have, or do you compare yourself to others and succumb to envy and self-pity? Most everyone experiences discontentment on occasion—that wistful wishing that life was different. Unfortunately, discontentment often leads to sin as we begin to crave something that does not belong to us and become dominated by covetousness, greed, and envy. Covetousness says, “If only I were him or her and had his or her career, spouse, and lifestyle, then I would finally be happy. If only, if only, if only . . .” But these desires only lead to self-pity […]

“Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them” (Mark 4:15). In Middle Eastern farming, there is a pathway between two fields. It is the boundary. It is the place where hard-packed earth is found. It is the strip in the field where the soil is not prepared for receiving the seed. The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 tells us that Jesus is the sower and your heart is the soil. Satan seeks to ruin the soil on which the seed of the Word is planted. If he can, he will harden the soil of your life. Often, he does this by getting you to substitute human wisdom for God’s Word. Then he succeeds in snatching away the good seed of the Gospel before it can seep into the soil and bring life. To keep the […]

“They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for ‘people are slaves to whatever has mastered them'” (2 Peter 2:19). Satan will entice you to use your freedom to sin. But true freedom means we are free from sin—free to serve Christ and live holy lives. Read 2 Peter 2:17-22. One of Satan’s cleverest tactics is to entice us into slavery by giving it a new name: freedom. Schooled in the art of seduction, he will keep at it until he overpowers the voice of the Holy Spirit—if we let him. In verse 19, Peter warns us that false teachers will promote a false, unbiblical ‘freedom’ that actually gives us license to sin. They will twist the Truth, saying we are free to sin because God’s grace will cover it. If Christian freedom is not properly understood, it can be easy for us to fall into this trap. But here is the Truth: When the Bible speaks about […]