David Wilkerson Devotions

On his way to Jerusalem, the apostle Paul made a stop at Ephesus where he called for a special meeting of all the leaders of the church. He told those Ephesian believers solemnly, “This is the last time I’ll see you and this will be my final message to you” (see Acts 20:25).

In his last message to the Ephesians, Paul told them, in essence, “I’ve been with you before and you know what I stand for. I have served you with humility and tears. I’ve preached in your church and from house to house — all under great trials and persecution. And I have kept nothing back from you.”

A precious missionary wrote to our ministry about quitting his post. He explained, “I felt as if God had brought me into a wilderness and then left me twisting in the wind. I left the ministry in utter dismay and became bitter. I now see what my problem was. I didn’t put down any roots of trust during my testing time. When the trials came, I didn’t rely on what I knew of God’s Word and his faithfulness. I forgot his promise that he would never fail me.”

Jesus’ church is a place where sinners repent of sins, with their heart and their mouth. Indeed, the apostle Paul attests: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:8-10).

The apostle Paul says of God, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9).

 “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness” (Isaiah 58:9).

The reason we pray, fast and study God’s Word is to be heard in heaven. But the Lord attaches a big “if” to this. He declares, “If you want me to hear you on high, then you have to look at the issues of your heart. Yes, I will hear you — if you quit pointing a finger at others, if you stop speaking about them disrespectfully.”

The story of Job and his calamitous suffering is well known. At his deepest point of despair, Job stated, “He laughs at the plight of the innocent” (Job 9:23). In so many words, Job was saying, “It doesn’t pay to be holy or walk uprightly. God treats the wicked and the pure the same. We both suffer, so why labor to be upright?”

“So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians … Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying, ‘I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!’” (Exodus 14:30; 15:1).

God wants you to come out of your storm a worshipper! He had made a way for you in your dark night and he has a plan to bring you out as a shining example to the world of his faithfulness to his people.

Undoubtedly, this generation has taken the sin of unbelief too lightly and right now, we are seeing the tragic results. Many believers are in depression and unrest; of course, some suffer for physical reasons, but many others endure such suffering because of their spiritual condition — often brought on by unbelief.

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light … He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light” (John 1:6-8).

We are told that Jesus is the light of the world, “that all through him might believe” (1:7). Yet, we read, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (1:5, 11).

In generations past, God touched and anointed particular men and women in a powerful way. These followers of God became enraptured with the Lord and his cause and rose up in faith. They awakened and changed the destinies of entire nations — and one such man was Daniel.  

“Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession” (Daniel 9:3-4).