David Wilkerson Devotions

Not long ago, a wonderful young Christian unburdened his great anxiety to me.

“I feel a calling from the Lord to work with youth and children, but all doors to ministry just keep shutting to me. I pray for other doors to open, but God doesn’t seem to hear my cry. I feel so useless.

“The only ministry I do now is helping with an outreach in one of our slum areas once a week. I serve as a big brother to a preacher’s son because his dad is very sick. But that’s all I’m doing. I have to believe God has more for me.”

Paul wrote many of his epistles to the churches while locked up in a cramped prison cell — bound, despised, cut off from believers and seemingly from all ministry. Talk about painful conditions. Yet Paul never spoke of being a prisoner of his circumstances; instead, he called himself “a prisoner of Christ” (see Ephesians 3:1).

So much distress. So much affliction. So much sorrow caused by sickness, disease and disaster. So many hurting believers. So many people facing financial crises.

The Bible tells us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Psalm 34:19). However, the second part of this verse changes the meaning entirely: “But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”

As you continually reflect on Scripture and commune with Him in prayer and worship, you will become more and more like Jesus. And as you see how loving and merciful He is to you, you will trust Him more and more to see you through all trials. His Word makes it clear: “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Seek Him with all your heart and desire His presence in your daily life. Then you will know and experience His incredible glory.

You may wonder why Moses so earnestly sought a vision of God’s glory and I believe we find the reason in the following verse:

“There I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory” (Exodus 29:43, my italics).

The word sanctified means “made clean.” God was saying, “As you worship Me, I will meet with you and give you My presence. And when you are in My presence I will reveal My glory to you. It will lift you above all your circumstances.”

Some may ask, “What about the disciples’ incredible experience on the Mount of Transfiguration? Wasn’t that a manifestation of God’s glory? There was an overpowering light and the miraculous appearance of Moses and Elijah.”

In that incredible moment, God’s glory wasn’t in Moses or Elijah or even in the spectacular light. Rather, His radiant glory was in Jesus:

It is a wonderful thing to have quality time with the Lord. He promises that as you seek more intimacy with Him, His presence will break forth in your life, working His divine order all around you. Yet something even greater than this will happen: The continual pursuit of God’s presence will lead you into a revelation of Christ’s glory.

Moses sought God for a manifestation of the Lord’s presence “that I may know thee” (Exodus 33:13). Here is how God answered His servant: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest” (33:14).

When God’s presence is missing, everything is out of kilter, with no guidance or righteous teaching. Everyone becomes a law unto himself, doing his own thing. This is a picture of many Christian homes today: everything out of order, with no peace or rest, everyone doing what he or she pleases. The Lord in His mercy grieves over such disorder.

Yet, it doesn’t have to be that way. God’s promises are unchangeable, and His Word pledges, “For the rest of your life, if you will continue to seek Me I will be with you. When you cry out I will be found of you” (see Jeremiah 29:13).

King Asa led God’s people to a miraculous victory over Ethiopia’s million-man army. Afterward he testified that God’s presence had scattered the enemy.

“Asa cried . . . Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us . . . for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. . . . So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa” (2 Chronicles 14:11–12).

Moses was convinced that without God’s presence in his life it was useless for him to attempt anything. When he spoke face to face with the Lord, he stated boldly, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exodus 33:15). He was saying, “Lord, if You are not with us, we’re not going to make it. We won’t take a single step unless we are assured of Your presence.”