Devotions

I love to look at the buildings of Manhattan, especially at night when the lights are all on. It is an amazing sight to see all of those buildings filled with people, activities, and ideas at work, and to know that what is hatched there will not only affect New York City but the entire world. However, regardless of how influential New York City and its people can be, if you take away the electrical power—which happens occasionally during a blackout—the whole thing shuts down. The office buildings become useless, the activity ceases, and the ideas die in the darkness. Without power, all that potential is wasted.

The same is true for us believers. If we don’t have access to spiritual power, how can we accomplish what needs to be done? Power to overcome sin. Power to overcome spiritual enemies that attack us. Power to endure hardship and affliction. Power to speak. Power to pray. Power to witness. Isn’t more spiritual power probably the greatest need we have today?

It’s interesting that the risen Christ’s final words before his ascension concerned spiritual power. “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). It was as if Jesus looked down the corridors of time and knew that even having the right gospel message would not be enough. We would face so many such obstacles from satanic strongholds that we would never evangelize the world effectively without the power that only the Spirit can impart. 

Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson. 

Do you believe God is willing to come quickly to solve your problem? Here is where many Christians fall short. They know God has all they need and they admit he cares. But when he doesn't answer their cry right away, they think of all kinds of reasons why he must not be willing to come to their aid.

On Mount Carmel, Elijah spoke confidently of his God. He taunted the prophets of Baal by accusing their god of child neglect: "[They] called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice; no one answered. . . .  And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.’

"So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom . . . until the blood gushed out on them. . . . But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention" (1 Kings 18:26–29).

Hear these words again: "There was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention."

What Elijah described is exactly how we accuse God. We pray, we cry aloud to God, but we go our way, not believing he has heard us. We walk away from the Lord's presence — away from the secret closet of prayer — wondering if he has paid attention to our cries.

The Lord is always ready to hear and answer our cry for help. I love what David said of him: "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. . . . In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me" (Psalm 86:5, 7).

God is waiting for your heartbroken cry, uttered in childlike faith. 

The Lord asks us, "Do you truly believe I see exactly what you are enduring right now?"

Perhaps as you read this message, you are going through something that calls for him to act on your behalf. The very nature of your problem demands an answer.

Do you believe God gladly monitors your every move, the way a father does with his infant child? Do you believe he is at work as your loving, caring Father — bottling every tear, hearing every sigh, hovering over you?

That is exactly the way the Bible describes him. "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. . . . The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles" (Psalm 34:15, 17).

"As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:13).

The Hebrew word for pity here means "to cuddle, love, be compassionate." Scripture is saying God cuddles in his arms those who fear (believe) him. And he tells you, "I know all your thoughts, all your concerns. I know every battle you must face. And I care about it all."

David wrote a famous passage about this very subject: "O Lord, You have . . . known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off; You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1-4).

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand" (139:17–18).

David is saying, "God knows all about me. He sees my every move, even my thoughts. Everywhere I turn, there he is."

Scripture says of Moses' time: "Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. . . . [They] delighted themselves in Your great goodness" (Nehemiah 9:21, 25).

Do you delight in the Lord's goodness to you? Perhaps you are more likely to whisper within your heart, "God hasn't been good to me. So many things in my life have been left hanging. My prayers aren't being answered."

If God could take three million Israelites through the wilderness safely, do you doubt he can take care of you? You may marvel at the way he protected and provided for Israel but when you look at your own life, you say, "Poor me."

Israel was never convinced they would have all their needs supplied by trusting in God completely. In that respect, they were not a holy people. On the contrary, they were disobedient, impudent and idolatrous. At one point, Moses even told them, "Ever since I've known you, you've been bent on backsliding."

Yet when those same Israelites called out to God, he came and answered their cry. He had mercy on them. Tell me, will the Lord not answer us who have left our idolatry behind and pursued him passionately?

Maybe you find it hard to believe that. Deep down, you aren't convinced God has everything you need and will supply it. You accuse him of having all power and authority to provide for you but that he hides it from you.

It doesn't matter what your problem is or how confusing the maze you're navigating at present. If you will wait faithfully on Jesus, he will give you wisdom, knowledge and grace sufficient for your trial. He has always made a way for those who trust in him fully. And he will do it for you.

Any believer who wishes to please God with his prayer life must first settle this question: "Does God have all I need or do I need to go elsewhere for my answer?"

This appears to be a simple question — perhaps one that doesn't even need to be asked. Most Christians would answer, "Yes, of course I believe God has all I need." But in reality many of us are not convinced! We say we believe it but then a crisis hits and God doesn't seem to answer. Often at such times we don't truly believe he has what we need.

Paul exhorts us, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). The Lord has a storehouse of abundance with which to meet our every need. And servants of faith know this.

God spent forty years trying to convince Israel they would never lack anything. He promised he would be their constant source and supply. "The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7).

God was saying, "There is no scarceness, no shortage with me. I have all you need. And I have given it to you."

"The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land . . . a land . . . in which you will lack nothing. . . . When you have eaten [you shall be] full" (8:7, 9–10).

Today, the Lord has brought us into our Promised Land: Christ! Jesus is to us an abiding place where there is never any lack. He represents the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

In the Old Testament, believers had the shekinah glory of God. But God says he has provided something even better for us and that is the very presence of Jesus himself. He is constantly present in us.