David Wilkerson Devotions

No matter how unsettled the world becomes, God's people can relax and keep their joy flowing because our Lord has promised special protection when it is most needed.

Didn't God have an emergency plan for the children of Israel during the worldwide famine? He sent Joseph ahead to Egypt, promoted him to prime minister and filled the warehouses with enough grain to last out the famine. He then transported his people within walking distance of those storehouses and fed them to the full through the raging famine.

Jesus is not in the drafting business; his army is all volunteer. You can be a believer without carrying a cross, but you cannot be a disciple.

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24, NKJV). However, Jesus could not carry his cross all alone, and neither can you!

One of the most encouraging scriptures in the Bible is “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NKJV). Paul goes on to describe those earthen vessels that are dying men, troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down. Even though never forsaken or in despair, those men being used by God are constantly under the burden of their bodies, waiting anxiously to be clothed with new ones.

Jesus ordered his disciples into a boat that was headed for a collision. “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away” (Matthew 14:22, NKJV). The Old King James says he “constrained [them] to get into a ship…” that was headed for troubled waters where it would be tossed about like a bobbing cork. The disciples would be thrust into a mini-Titanic experience, and Jesus knew it all the time.

Let me tell you how God brings people into his house, speaks to them and saves them. He does it through life. The Lord builds his church through the testimonies of light shining forth from those who love him. He’s able to do this not because these servants use the right methods but because they live the life.

My dear friend, never limit God’s forgiveness to you. There is no limit to his forgiveness and longsuffering. Jesus told his disciples, “If he [your brother] sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Luke 17:4, NKJV).

Guilt is dangerous because it destroys faith. The enemy of our soul is not at all interested in making Christians into adulterers, addicts or prostitutes. He is interested in one thing only: turning Christians into unbelievers. He uses the lusts of the body to bind the mind.

John the Baptist never made it to Pentecost. He saw none of the cloven tongues of fire, nor did he hear the mighty rushing wind. He did not see Jerusalem shaken and multitudes converted, but John still said his joy was fulfilled! He had heard something better than the rushing wind, better than good reports, better than the sounds of a joyful bride. He had heard the Savior’s voice.