Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.—1 Peter 5:8

When Hitler invaded the European nations during the early years of World War II, he attacked on a weekend in almost every situation. Hitler knew the various parliaments would not be in session, making it more difficult for a nation’s leaders to react swiftly to an invasion.

The same thing happened to Israel in 1973 on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar. Backed by the Soviet Union, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. But because God had grace on the Israelis, they were able to turn back their enemies. And not only that, they even gained ground.

That is what the devil does in the lives of Christians. He waits for a vulnerability. He waits for a time when our guard is down, when we think it isn’t going to happen, and then he will hit us with everything he has.

Temptation will come at inopportune times, often after times of great blessing. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, God’s Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. It was a glorious moment. But then came the attack as Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness.

Don’t be surprised when, after you have spent time in church studying the Bible and worshiping, you get hit with heavy-duty temptation. That is the way it works. Or sometimes you might lower your guard and think, I wouldn’t give in to any temptation now after spending time in God’s Word.

Yes, you could. You could be very vulnerable. Often temptations and attacks come after mountaintop experiences. Whenever God speaks, the devil will be there to oppose.

Be careful. Even if you have reached great heights in your spiritual life, know this: you’ll never outgrow being tempted.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?”—Psalm 85:6

What is the future of the United States of America? Are we doomed to just go the way that so many other once-great nations have gone? Is America headed to the ash heap of history? Are our greatest days behind us, or could they still yet be ahead? Is there any hope for America?

No one can answer those questions with any certainty, but we know this much: America is not the superpower of the last days. The greatest nation on earth is conspicuous in her absence from the world stage in the end-times scenario given to us in the Bible. America is not the first, nor will it be the last, nation to rise and fall. Every nation’s days are numbered; America is no exception.

Rome was once the mightiest empire on the face of the earth. But she collapsed internally before she was conquered externally. We as a country can be diligent to guard against enemies on the outside, but we would be wise to look within.

Historian Will Durant, in his book on Rome’s history, Caesar and Christ, said, “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals. . ..”

The difference between Rome and the U.S. is that we were founded on Judeo-Christian values. We’ve strayed from the original vision of our founding fathers, the vision that produced “America.”

What was once “freedom of religion” has now become “freedom from religion.” We have succeeded in getting God out of our schools, sporting events, public venues, and workplaces. Instead of Christmas, when we should focus on Jesus, we have Happy Holidays and Winter Solstice. Instead of Good Friday and Easter, we have Spring Break. It seems to me that America has gone out her way of late to turn from God. But America needs God’s intervention.

We saw many turn to the Lord after 9/11. Remember those prayer vigils on street corners and packed churches? Remember the members of Congress spontaneously singing “God Bless America”? These memories give me hope that there could be at least one more great revival in America’s future.

If we do not have revival, I do believe that judgment is inevitable. Peter Marshall, former chaplain to the U.S. Senate once said, “The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration.”

God was able to turn the very wicked nation of Nineveh around in the days of Jonah. We know there have been some great spiritual awakenings in our history as well. Let’s pray that America will turn back to God in these last days.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone–gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!” —Daniel 5:23

When I step onto a scale, I never like what I see. I always weigh more than I want to. In fact, I can’t think of a time recently when I weighed less than I thought I did. On our scales, we typically want to weigh less. But God’s scales are different. On God’s scales, we want to weigh more, because His scales are about the weight of a life, the depth of a life, and the substance of a life.

Daniel 5 tells the story of Belshazzar, the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar, who went out of his way to blaspheme and insult the true and living God. As he and his friends were partying away, they suddenly saw a hand writing on the plaster of the palace wall. It was a message from God himself.

Belshazzar called for the prophet Daniel to interpret the writing, and Daniel told him, “This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end. Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up. Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (verses 26–28).

Daniel was saying to Belshazzar, “You have been put on God’s divine scales, and buddy, you’re a lightweight. There is nothing of substance in your life. And now your number is up.”

That night, the Medo-Persian forces were amassing outside under the leadership of Cyrus, and Belshazzar was killed.

God has given us warnings in the Scriptures just like He gave to Belshazzar. There is a last night for every person. There will be a last meal . . . a last statement . . . a last breath . . . and then eternity.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. —Psalm 115:3

History tells us that on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon stood gazing on the field of battle and described to his commanding officer the strategy for that day’s campaign. Then he declared that at the end of the day, England would be at the feet of France, and the Duke of Wellington, who was leading the British forces, would be the prisoner of Napoleon.

After a pause, Napoleon’s commanding officer boldly said, “We must not forget that man proposes, but God disposes.”

With arrogant pride, Napoleon shot back, “I want you to understand, sir, that Napoleon proposes and Napoleon disposes.”

Commenting on that statement, Victor Hugo said, “After that moment, Waterloo was lost, for God sent rain and hail so that the troops could not be maneuvered as he had planned, and on the night of the battle it was Napoleon who was prisoner of Wellington, and France was at the feet of England.”

Anything that any man or woman accomplishes in life has been given to him or her as a gift from God. No matter what someone may have discovered or invented, no matter how much wealth someone has amassed or how successful they may have been, their lives were given to them by God. Their intellectual capacities were given to them by God. The beat of their heart was given to them by God.

It is good to remember that everything we have is from the Lord. As Deuteronomy 8:18 tells us, “Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”

Fear God. Reverence God. Remember, He has the final word on every subject, no matter what. God will have the last word.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.”—Numbers 32:23

Sometimes we confuse God’s grace with lenience or maybe even ignorance. Because we don’t face the immediate consequences of our actions, we might think we are getting away with it.

But the Bible says, “Your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). If we were to go back and translate that from the original Hebrew, it would say, “Your sin will find you out.” And what that means is your sin will find you out.

When Jonah went and preached to the Ninevites, he warned them, “Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4) Actually there was hope in that message, because the fact they were being warned by God implied there could be forgiveness if they turned from their sin. When God brought His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, there was no warning. There was no prophet Jonah walking through the streets, preaching to them. It came on them unexpectedly. In Nineveh’s case, however, God gave them a chance.

God does give a lot of chances. We might sin and then tell ourselves, “Nothing happened. Maybe God wasn’t paying attention. Maybe God doesn’t care.” Or worse yet, we’ll deceive ourselves into thinking that God is okay with it. God isn’t okay with it. God never will contradict His Word. We are going to face the consequences of our sin, but God may be giving us the opportunity to repent. As Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong” (NLT).

We will reap what we sow, no matter what. It may be ten years. It may be a year. It may be a month. It may be a week. It could be ten minutes. But it will happen. The wheels of God’s justice may grind slowly, but they grind surely.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault, for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.”—Acts 20:26–27

It is difficult sometimes to tell the truth. I think of doctors who run a series of tests and find a spot or a lump or something else. They want to tell their patients that everything is okay. But they have to tell the truth so they can prescribe a course of treatment.

In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we read of a time when Daniel had to reveal the hard truth to King Nebuchadnezzar. He said, “King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper” (4:27). In other words, “Judgment is coming, but there is still hope if you will repent.”

In the same way, as Christians we have to declare the whole counsel of God. Paul told the elders of the Ephesian church, “I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault, for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know” (Acts 20:26–27). Yet sometimes we edit out things we are uncomfortable with, like hell or judgment. We’ll say something like, “Believe in Jesus, and He will make you a happier person and bring you fulfillment. There will be joy and contentment in your life.”

“I don’t want to believe in Jesus,” the other person replies. “What happens if I don’t believe in Jesus?”

We need to give them the truth. However, we don’t say it with smiles on our faces; we say it with tears in our eyes. It isn’t easy to tell someone, “The Bible says there is a judgment, and if we don’t believe in Jesus Christ, there actually is a place called hell.” We must tell the truth.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning. —Romans 14:23

A question believers never should ask is, “Can I do this and still be a Christian?” That is a dangerous thing to be asking. Instead, what believers should be asking is, “As a Christian, what can I do to be closer to God?”

Paul said, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NKJV). It is not so much a matter of whether we can technically do something as Christians and still be saved. Rather, these are the questions we should be asking ourselves: “If I do this thing, is it possible that it could bring me under its power?”; “If I do this thing, is it possible that I could be a bad witness to others?”; “If I do this thing, can I still give glory to God?”

If you have a working conscience and understanding of the Scriptures, then you will know whether a Christian ought to be doing something. You will know there are certain things that you should not do.

Then there are times when one believer will have a conviction that another believer doesn’t necessarily have. The Bible says in Romans 14:23, “If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.” Or, as The Living Bible puts it, “Anyone who believes that something he wants to do is wrong shouldn’t do it. He sins if he does, for he thinks it is wrong, and so for him it is wrong. Anything that is done apart from what he feels is right is sin.”

There always will be the temptation to lower our standards in order to extend our reach. But if you compromise now, you will regret it later.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”—Hebrews 13:5

What do you live for? What gets your heart beating? What fires you up? Everyone lives for something.

The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is” (2 Timothy 3:10). He also said, “For to me, living means living for Christ” (Philippians 1:21). To the church in Corinth he wrote, “For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Paul had a determined purpose in life. What is yours? Is your purpose to have fun? It is for some people. Life is all about having fun. “I don’t care,” they say, “let’s just have fun.” Or maybe they are chasing after pleasure. Or maybe life is all about success. Maybe it is all about making money. Others live for sports. Some live for emotional experiences. Still others live for a relationship. But everyone lives for something.

As Christians, we should not be seeking happiness but holiness. The most unhappy people are people who live to be happy. If we seek after happiness, we will end up being miserable people. But if we seek to be holy—and by that I mean seek to be godly men or godly women—then we will discover that happiness comes into our lives as a byproduct. Don’t seek pleasure; seek purpose. Don’t seek success; seek significance.

That thing you live for, that god you bow before, will it be with you in your hour of need? If it is any god, any idol, anything or anyone else apart from God, it won’t be there for you. But the Lord will. Wherever you go, God goes with you. You have His Word on it.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. —1 John 5:21

A story from the pages of church history tells of a courageous Christian who lived in the days of the Roman Empire. Arrested for being a follower of Christ and a preacher of the gospel, the man was brought before the emperor of Rome, who told him to either give up Christ or be banished.

The Christian replied, “You cannot banish me from Christ, for God says, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ ”

The ruler said, “I will confiscate your property.”

“My treasures are laid up in heaven,” the Christian answered. “You can’t touch them.”

“Then I will kill you.”

“I’ve been dead to the world in Christ for forty years,” the Christian said. “My life is hid with Christ in God. You can’t touch it.”

Turning to other members of his court, the emperor said in disgust, “What can you do with such a fanatic?”

There will come a time in every Christian’s life when he or she is faced with the choice to bow before someone or something. The Bible says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). An idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life. An idol can be a person. It can be a relationship. It can be your car or your house. It can be your career. It can be your physique. An idol is something that is more important to you than God Himself. It is something that you effectively bow before and it causes you to compromise in your faith.

We need Christians today who will make a stand. So often we compromise. We will bend. We will cave in because it isn’t politically correct or popular. But let’s remember that a little with God is better than a lot without Him.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad–for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.—1 Peter 4:12–13

It has been said that Christians are a lot like teabags; you don’t know what they’re made of until you put them into hot water. Maybe you’re in hot water right now. Maybe you’re going through what we might describe as a fiery trial. The good news is you are not the first person to go through it, nor will you be the last. You are not alone in your trial.

And here is something else to consider: going through a trial or a temptation is a confirmation that you are on the right track as a Christian. If you were to say, “You know, Greg, as a Christian I can’t remember the last time I was tempted,” my question would be, “What is wrong with you?” The devil sets his sights on those who are a threat to the kingdom of God.

You shouldn’t be surprised or shocked if you are tempted or tested. In 1 Peter 4:12–13 we’re told, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”

Hardship, temptation, tragedy, and the loss of a loved one will come into our lives one day. Trials and temptations will come too. Take steps now to be prepared for that. Don’t say, “That will never happen to me.”

News flash: It will happen to you. Life is filled with pain. Granted, some have more than others, but every life will have some. We should gather this truth into our hearts so we are prepared when trials and temptations come our way.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” —James 1:14–16

In James 1:14–16 we have the five steps of temptation:

1. The temptation itself. “But each one is tempted . . .”

The evil thought knocks on the door of your imagination. As they say, “Opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats on the door every day.” It happens to the best of us; there are no exceptions. There is no sin here yet. It is not the bait that constitutes temptation, but the bite. There’s still a way out.

2. You are now under its power and enjoying the experience.

“Drawn away by his own desires . . .”

You are now “taking it for a test drive.” It’s been said, “What makes temptation difficult for many people is they don’t want to discourage it completely.”

3. You are almost hooked. “Drawn away . . . and enticed.”

Continue reading Greg Laurie – The Five Steps of Temptation →

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.—Psalm 119:67

Sometimes God will allow suffering and sickness in our lives to get our attention. We may be rebelling against Him, and He wants us to change our direction. He wants it to stop.

We see an example of this in the life of Jonah. God told Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites, but Jonah went in the opposite direction instead. He was disobeying the Lord. And because the Lord loved Jonah, He went after him. God will not let His children run too far. He got Jonah’s attention, turned things around, and turned the prophet around.

As the psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” (Psalm 119:67). Sometimes God will allow a situation in our lives to wake us up to our real need.

Maybe you have had a wake-up call recently. Maybe you’ve received a call from a doctor who said, “I am concerned about these tests. I want you to come back in. I want to run some more.”

Suddenly you’re filled with panic. You’re saying, “God, I love You. I’m going to follow You and serve You. I’m going to go to the mission field. I will do anything.” Then you go in and they run the other set of tests. Everything looks good. You’re okay. And suddenly you’re back to your old ways again. What happened to all of those vows?

If you’ve had a wake-up call, then wake up.

Maybe God is allowing you to go through something that doesn’t make any sense right now. But one day it will make sense.

The Devil can do nothing in the life of the believer without God’s permission. The Lord is ultimately in control. He is in control of all circumstances that surround the life of the believer.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”—Job 23:10

When you go through a hardship, it will make you better or bitter. I have found it is usually one or the other. And guess who decides that? You do. You are the one who decides whether you will be better by trusting in the Lord or whether you will be bitter by turning against the Lord.

Sometimes people who have experienced a tragedy in their lives will say, “I’ve lost my faith through this.” That’s good. Because their faith wasn’t real to begin with. If you are a real believer, your faith will not go away when hardship hits. It will get stronger. The faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. Tragedy reveals who the real believers are.

Suffering helps us grow spiritually and makes us stronger in the faith. It takes our faith from the realm of theory to reality. It reminds me of guys who drive around in their tricked-out four-wheelers. They have done everything to their vehicles, adding massive tires and wheels as well as all kinds of hardware. But ask one of them if he ever takes his vehicle off road, and he’ll say, “Are you kidding? Do you know what I’ve spent on this thing? I’m going to the car wash.” He would never consider taking his four-wheeler off road, even though that is what it was designed for.

In the same way, it’s easy to talk about our faith. But it’s another thing to live by it. A lot of us will boast about the number of years we have known the Lord and how many verses we have memorized. That is all good. But when your faith is tested, we will find out what you are really made of.

Suffering does not create character; it reveals it.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”—Job 38:1–2

Whenever I post on my Facebook page about our son Christopher going to be with the Lord, I’m amazed at the number of responses I receive. Every time I talk about this, I’m reminded there is a massive community of people who are in pain around the world.

One person wrote me and said, “My son would have been sixteen years old this year. It has been fifteen years since his death, but he was the person who brought me to the Lord. Because of his death, I received my salvation. . . . I have found salvation through God’s Son because of the loss of mine.” I found that to be powerful.

Basically a horrific tragedy brought this person to Christ, but I am not saying that is the reason it happened. I think we make a big mistake when we connect dots like that. Do we think God could not reach a person without the death of another? Here is what I will say: This death happened. It is tragic. It is hard. But despite this tragedy, God worked and brought someone into His kingdom.

Let’s not try to explain the mysteries of God. We don’t know. I’m convinced that when I’m in Heaven, the things I thought were good in this life may be perceived as bad. Things that I perceived as bad in this life may be perceived as good.

We might say that good in this life is having everything go our way. But what if everything is going our way and we have no time for God? What if those bad things that happened in our lives brought us into a relationship with God? We would actually look at them and say they were good. Until that day, we simply need to trust God.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”—Job 38:4

Had greeting card companies existed back in Job’s day, they definitely wouldn’t have hired Job’s three friends to write for them. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar initially had it right as they wept with their friend Job through his suffering. But then they started rambling on, basically offering the same lame explanations that people still offer today about suffering.

A card from Eliphaz would have read, “Sorry you are sick. . . . You got what you deserved.”

Bildad’s card would have said, “Hoping you get well soon.” But then the inside would have read, “But if you were really as godly as you claimed to be, this would not have happened.”

Zophar’s card would have been the most brutal of all. The outside would have read, “I hope you get worse.” But Zophar wouldn’t have stopped there. The inside of his card would have said, “You will die. No one will remember you. You will be thrown away like dung.”

As we move further into the book of Job, we see Job asking the question why five times in chapter 3. By the way, there is nothing wrong with asking why when you’re suffering. Even Jesus cried out at Calvary, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). It isn’t wrong to ask why. It isn’t a lack of faith to ask why. But don’t expect an answer. Quite frankly, if God gave you the answer, you wouldn’t understand it anyway.

Even if the Lord did tell you why things happen the way they do, would that ease your pain or heal your broken heart? Does reading the X-ray take away the pain of a broken leg? It comes down to this: We live on promises, not explanations. We should not spend too much time asking why.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie