Devotions

You may not want to think about it or even accept it, but if you have determined to follow Jesus with all your heart, Satan has marked you for destruction. And he’s going to flood your life with troubles of all kinds.

The apostle Peter warns, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7). In other words, “This is no time for lightness. You must get sober-minded about spiritual things because it is now an issue of life and death.”

Why be so serious? Because the end of time is near and our enemy has turned up the heat. He is stalking us like a lion, hiding in the grass, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. He wants to devour us — to utterly destroy our faith in Christ.

Some Christians feel we shouldn’t even talk about the devil, that we’re better off just ignoring him. Others try to reason him out of existence entirely. Liberal theologians, for instance, argue that there is no devil, no hell, no heaven.

But the enemy of our souls is real! Few biblical figures have been identified so clearly and extensively and he is not going to go away. He is described as Lucifer, Satan, devil, deceiver, hinderer, wicked one, usurper, imposter, accuser, devourer, god of this world, ruler of darkness, old serpent.

These emphatic descriptions tell me the devil exists and we know from scripture that he wields a very real power. Even now he is at work on the earth — in our nations, cities, churches, homes and individual lives. And we dare not be ignorant of his methods and strategies of warfare. 

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

We read in the book of Mark that a distraught father brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus’ disciples seeking deliverance. The boy wasn’t simply troubled or rebellious, he was full of evil spirits that controlled his every action. His situation was well-known all over the region and he was considered absolutely hopeless. Both deaf and speechless, he spewed out only guttural sounds. Physically he was emaciated, and his father had to hold onto him continually because the demons tried to throw him into the nearest river, lake or open fire. What a horrible situation!

I wonder how many times this father had to leap into a pond and drag his son out in order to resuscitate him. It was probably a full-time job just keeping the child from killing himself. His parents’ hearts must have been broken to see their beloved son in such a terrible condition, with no one able to help.

When the man brought his son to the disciples, Satan caused him to foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth and gyrate wildly. The disciples prayed over the boy, but nothing happened. Soon the doubting scribes began asking, “Why is the boy not healed? Is the devil more powerful in this kind of situation?”

Then Jesus came on the scene! When the boy’s father told Jesus that the disciples could not heal his son, Jesus responded simply, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Then Jesus made the impossible a reality: “He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: ‘Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!’” (9:25). The boy then fell to the ground, “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up” (9:27).

Imagine the happiness in that family! I’m sure the father embraced the clean, freed boy with a heart overflowing with elation. As parents, we can be assured that God can be trusted with our children.

God’s conversation with Abraham regarding his future son is a lesson in faith for us all. The patriarch was sitting at the door of his tent during the heat of the day when suddenly three men appeared before him, standing under a nearby tree. Abraham went out to meet the men and visited with them. During their conversation, the Lord inquired about the whereabouts of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and then he said something incredible: “Behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son” (Genesis 18:10).

Sarah was inside the tent, listening to their conversation, and when she heard this, she laughed out loud. “Impossible,” she thought. Both she and Abraham were beyond the age of having children, but God had spoken. “And the Lord said to Abraham ‘Why did Sarah laugh? … Is anything too hard for the Lord?’” (18:13-14). 

God asks this same question of his children in these present times: Is anything too hard for the Lord? Each of us must face our own difficulties in life and in the midst of them, God asks, “Do you think your problem is too hard for me to fix? Do you believe I can work it out for you, even though it seems impossible?”

Jesus tells us, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Do you believe this word from the Lord? Do you accept that he can perform the impossible in your family, on your job, for your future?    

When we see our loved ones enduring difficult times, we are quick to counsel them, “Hold on and look up! He is the God of the impossible.” Sarah probably would have offered this type of counsel to her friends, yet she had a hard time believing for herself. Likewise, many Christians today boldly proclaim God’s power to others but do not believe his Word for themselves. It’s vital to remember that nothing in your life is beyond God’s ability to fix!

Paul, a pastor, an elder and an apostle, had started a church in Corinth. He cared deeply for the people in his congregation and had a special message for them: “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).

Paul often taught on doctrinal matters but at this time he was speaking directly to “family” — the people who came together locally. He was appealing to them to become healthy believers, and he wanted to assure them that he loved them beyond reason — as they should love one another. The world is full of division and rejection so new believers need to encounter something entirely different in the church.

For some, it is easier to love the inhabitants of Africa or India or China than it is to love one another in your church body. People have problems and they aren’t always faithful and loving and forgiving. So sometimes it is difficult to remain in the love of Christ for them — but that is what God is calling us to do. And that is what Paul is talking about. You can wear yourself out evangelizing in your city with the passion and zeal of a missionary, but if you don’t love those around you, all that is not effective.

We can make converts to Christianity, but in our hearts we must have love for one another. I long for all Christians to have an evangelistic, on-fire passion to reach the lost and poor and needy, but I also long to see them filled with love. The more we seriously strive to be the Body of Christ that Paul is teaching about here, the healthier the church becomes and, likewise, the healthier new disciples become.

Health is contagious just as sickness is contagious so let’s endeavor to spread the love and joy of the Lord to those around us.

I find that most believers don’t change more than five percent from what they believed when they were only two years in the Lord. When confronted with Bible verses and truth uncomfortable to us, we hide behind, “But this is the way we’ve always done it. This is what we’ve always believed.”

When we pick up the Bible and don’t ask for the Spirit’s help, it is like saying, “God, do a new thing in me, but I’m not going to change anything I believe.” That’s an odd prayer, isn’t it? No wonder we grow so little in our faith and see so few converted to Christ.

Often, we get our definitions for important things not by what the Spirit shows us in Scripture, but by what we saw growing up in church. “Oh, that’s what worship should look like, because that’s the way we’ve always done it in the church I attend.” It is difficult for all of us to come to the Word of God and say, “Holy Spirit, teach me, even if it goes against what I’ve been conditioned to believe.” And yet we must.

It takes time for the Holy Spirit to teach us the meaning of a passage. If we don’t wait on the Holy Spirit, trusting him, we can grow cold and fall out of communion with God even while having devotions every day.

The apostle Paul wrote, “‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10, emphasis added).

Every time we open the Bible, let’s stop and pray, whether for fifteen seconds or fifteen minutes, asking the Spirit to teach us. “Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands” (Psalm 119:66). Then our lives will be more like Jesus every day.

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.