October 2022 - Make No Provision

“Send today into eternity in clothes it will wear forever.” || Adoniram Judson

by Alan Sharpe October 14, 2022

At night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked.

by Alan Sharpe October 14, 2022

A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity… The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever… Each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny… How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness! It is too late to mend the days that are past. The future is in our power. Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked.

Excerpted from The Life of Adoniram Judson. Randolph & Company, 1883. Adoniram Judson

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Prevention

75 Biblical Ways to Resist Sexual Temptation

by Alan Sharpe October 13, 2022

If you want to resist unwanted sexual urges and overcome sexual temptation, here are 75 ways from the Bible (including the Bible) to overcome sexual temptation.

by Alan Sharpe October 13, 2022

If you are a Christian and if you are even remotely healthy, you face sexual temptation on occasion. If you want to resist these urges so that you do not fall into sin, here are some biblical ways to overcome sexual temptation (including the Bible).

1. Count the Cost
Sexual sin comes at a price, in this life and in the next. For one thing, adulterers and the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom (Galatians 5:19-21). That’s the eternal cost—your soul, punished forever, in the lake of fire. But there’s also a price to pay in this life if you give in to sexual temptation. Think sexually transmitted diseases. Unwanted pregnancy. Divorce. Loss of custody of your kids. Getting fired. Scandal. Loss of your testimony. Jail time. Your name on the Sexual Offender Registry.

2. Clea

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Consecration
“He sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us.” || Samuel Rutherford

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by Alan Sharpe October 12, 2022

Oh, we under-bid, and undervalue that Prince of love, who did overvalue us; we will not sell all we have to buy him.

by Alan Sharpe October 12, 2022

Oh, what love! Christ would not intrust our redemption to angels, to millions of angels; but he would come himself, and in person suffer; he would not give a low and a base price for us clay. He would buy us with a great ransom, so as he might over-buy us, and none could over-bid him in his market for souls. If there had been millions of more believers, and many heavens, without any new bargain his blood should have bought them all, and all these many heavens should have smelled one rose of life; Christ should have been one and the same tree of life in them all. Oh, we under-bid, and undervalue that Prince of love, who did overvalue us; we will not sell all we have to buy him; he sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us.

Excerpted from The Trial and Triumph of Faith by Samuel Rutherford. Public domain.
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Faith
Peter Walked Back to the Boat | Matthew 14:22-32

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by Alan Sharpe October 11, 2022

Let other disciples sit in the boat, observing the action. You belong out on the water with your Savior, doing the impossible.

by Alan Sharpe October 11, 2022

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
Matthew 14:32

Listen to enough sermons about Peter walking on the water to Jesus and you will hear a familiar refrain. Peter sank into the water because he took his eyes off Jesus. Peter sank into the water because he was afraid. Peter sank into the water because he saw that the wind was boisterous. Peter started sinking beneath the waves because he lacked faith, and doubted.

All of these observations are valid. Peter was afraid. He did start to sink because of unbelief. And he did do the correct thing in crying out, “Lord, save me!” But the lesson doesn’t end there. Most preachers focus on Peter’s sinking. They fail to mention what happened next.

Read of the account in Matthew 14 and you discover that, when Peter and Jesus got back into the boat, the wind stopped. But how did Peter and Jesus get from where they were on the sea back to the boat? T
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Consecration
“God saw me and said, ‘She’s willing.'” || Gladys Aylward

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by Alan Sharpe October 10, 2022

I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done in China…I don’t know who it was…it must have been a man

by Alan Sharpe October 10, 2022

I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done in China…I don’t know who it was…it must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…and God said, ‘Well, she’s willing.’

Excerpted from Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman. Gladys Aylward. Public domain.

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Consecration
“We must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world.” || A. W. Tozer

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by Alan Sharpe October 10, 2022

Let me present a brief summary of these conditions as taught by the Bible and repeated through the centuries by the holiest, sweetest saints the world has ever known:

by Alan Sharpe October 10, 2022

The Knowledge of the Holy is difficult because there are conditions to be met and the obstinate nature of fallen man does not take kindly to them. Let me present a brief summary of these conditions as taught by the Bible and repeated through the centuries by the holiest, sweetest saints the world has ever known:

First, we must forsake our sins. The belief that a holy God cannot be known by men of confirmed evil lives is not new to the Christian religion. The Hebrew book, The Wisdom of Solomon, which antedates Christianity by many years, has the following passage: “Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good heart, and in simplicity of heart seek him. For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and showeth himself unto such as do not distrust him. For froward thoughts separate from God and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise. For unto a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject to sin. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are withou
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Sanctification
Who Will Deliver You? | Romans 7:24-25

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by Alan Sharpe October 8, 2022

Who will deliver you from your body of death? God will. Who will deliver you from your sexual sin? God will.

by Alan Sharpe October 8, 2022

Are you like the Apostle Paul? Do you ever cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Do you find that the things you want to do, you don’t do? And that the things you shouldn’t do, you do? Can you say along with Paul, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice?” (Romans 7:19). Do you wonder who will deliver you?

Then Paul has good news for you. Or, rather, God has good news for you, communicated through His servant, Paul, in the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome. In chapter seven you see Paul’s predicament and yours laid out. With your mind you serve the law of God, but with your flesh you serve the law of sin. You have God’s Spirit, and you want to follow His leading. But you also have your sinful flesh, and you want to follow it, too.

This is why you have such conflict with pornography as a Christian man. Men in the world who consume pornography don’t struggle. They enjoy their sin. But you, i
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Consecration
Conquering Porn Is Not Either/Or | Romans 8:13

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by Alan Sharpe October 7, 2022

This is great news if all of your self effort has delivered few lasting results up to today. And it’s also good news if you have been waiting passively for God to intervene to deliver you from your sexual immorality.

by Alan Sharpe October 7, 2022

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:13

There are two mistakes you can make as a Christian man wanting to break free of pornography. There might be more than two mistakes, actually. But there are two big ones that you must avoid.

The first mistake is thinking that your sexual purity is entirely up to you. You believe you are responsible for your sin, and therefore you are responsible for forsaking it. So far, so good. But you also think your victory is up to you. You must read your Bible more. You must pray more often and more fervently. You must mortify your flesh more thoroughly. In other words, you think conquering sexual lust is all up to you. This is a mistake.

The second blunder is to think that your victory over porn is entirely up to God. You believe that you are “powerless over your addic
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Consecration
“Forgiveness cost the agony at Calvary.” || Oswald Chambers

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by Alan Sharpe October 6, 2022

We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

by Alan Sharpe October 6, 2022

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict
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Sanctification
“You cannot sneak into heaven without a cross.” || Samuel Rutherford

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by Alan Sharpe October 6, 2022

Crosses form us into His image. They cut away the pieces of our corruption.

by Alan Sharpe October 6, 2022

The greatest temptation out of hell is to live without trials. A pool of standing water will turn stagnant. Faith grows more with the sharp winter storm in its face. Grace withers without adversity. You cannot sneak quietly into heaven without a cross. Crosses form us into His image. They cut away the pieces of our corruption.

Lord cut, carve, wound; Lord do anything to perfect Your image in us and make us fit for glory! We need winnowing before we enter the kingdom of God. O what I owe to the file, hammer, and furnace! Why should I be surprised at the plough that makes such deep furrows in my soul? Whatever direction the wind blows, it will blow us to the Lord. His hand will direct us safely to the heavenly shore to find the weight of eternal glory.

As we look back to our pains and suffering, we shall see that suffering is not worthy to be compared to our first night’s welcome home in heaven. If we could smell of heaven and our country above, our crosses would not bite us. Lay all your loads by faith on Christ, e
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Sanctification
You Need a Willing Spirit Plus a Subdued Body | Matthew 26:41

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by Alan Sharpe October 5, 2022

When your spirit is willing and your body is under your control, you win. And you please your Lord.

by Alan Sharpe October 5, 2022

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41

Victory over sexual sin doesn’t come just spiritually, and it doesn’t come with human effort alone. Your victory isn’t all up to God, and it isn’t all up to you, either. To forsake pornography and any other sexual sin, you require a willing spirit and a subdued body.

When the disciples fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked them for having willing spirits but unwilling bodies. Jesus asked the disciples to stay awake and to watch with Him as he prayed. But they fell asleep. Their spirits wanted to stay awake, but their bodies wanted to sleep. Their bodies won the battle, they fell asleep, and they disobeyed their Lord.

The lesson for you and me is that we must bring our bodies into subjection if we are to obey our Lord. We must subdue them, discipline them, make t
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Consecration
Lessons Learned After 11 Months Porn-Free

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by Alan Sharpe October 4, 2022

As a Christian with a Bible, I knew that watching porn was wicked. I longed to be free, but now I realize that I wanted more than that. I wanted to be holy.

by Alan Sharpe October 4, 2022

I looked at pornography for the last time on November 4, 2021. That was the day I purposed before God to leave my sexual sin behind me and to pursue holiness. That’s also the day I started writing these daily devotionals. My goal was to chronicle my journey, to discover what God’s word has to say about sexual sin, how to avoid it, and how to live a victorious life in Christ Jesus.

The primary lesson I have learned, and it’s taken me 11 months to get here, is that freedom from pornography and masturbation is really just the start of the change I am looking for in my life. As a Christian with a Bible, I knew that watching pornography was wicked. I longed to be free of its grip, free of the temptation to seek it out and to watch it. But now I realize that I wanted more than that. I wanted to be holy.

I don’t mean holier-than-thou holy. Or so holy that they name a seminary after me. I mean holy in the sense that I am set apart unto God. Set apart as his vessel, his instrument, to use as He pleases. I realize today that,
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Prevention
Have You Seen His Playbook? | Ephesians 6:11

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by Alan Sharpe October 3, 2022

Knowing how and when I will be attacked is one thing. Having a divine defense against those attacks is even better.

by Alan Sharpe October 3, 2022

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Ephesians 6:11

The devil has a playbook. The devil has a pre-set way of tempting you to sin sexually. You likely know this from bitter experience. But you also know it from God’s Word. In the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul tells the believers to put on the whole armor of God so that they can stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles means schemes. Schemes means a playbook.

The word “wiles” is methodeía in the Greek, properly, a “predictable (pre-set) method used in organized evil-doing (well-crafted trickery)” (Strong’s). It derives from the word methodos, a way of searching after something, an inquiry; a method. It means scheming, craftiness. This is why you and I need armor—to defend ourselves against predictable weapons and predictable methods of attack. That’s what armor is for, to prot
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Sanctification
“It is good for us to have trials and troubles.” || Thomas à Kempis

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by Alan Sharpe October 2, 2022

When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts.

by Alan Sharpe October 2, 2022

It is good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men.

Excerpted from The Imitation of Christ by by Thomas à Kempis. Public domain.

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