Devotions

One of the most influential people in my ministry was a man named George who used to be in the Hells Angels. They used to call him “Doc” because he dealt the drugs for the group, but now he has a doctorate of divinity, so obviously, God has done a great work in his life. Church is not always the friendliest place for people who are coming in from a hard life, though, and George experienced some church hurt.  

He tells this story. Somebody had invited him to church, so he rode over on his motorcycle. Sitting on the little hill overlooking the church, he paused and prayed, “God, I’m going to walk into this church, and if one person looks at my leather jacket and tattoos and beard and they judge me and sneer at me, I’ll walk out and never be back.”

So he walked in, and it was a really small, country church, and there’s these older ladies who give him hugs and welcome him in. He says, “The work that this moment did to heal me was supernatural.” 

Good preaching and good doctrine are important; no one is denying that, but ultimately, the call of believers is to love God and love other people. That’s what gives our words real power when we share the gospel. In the earliest moments of the church, we see Peter get up on the day of Pentecost and give his sermon, and thousands of people were saved. That’s great, but we might forget what came next.  

“All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:44-47, ESV).

They had healthy community where people loved each other and took care of each other. That caught the attention of a Roman and Greek world that couldn’t care less about some Jewish teacher who claimed to be the Savior of the world. The sacrificial love of the church was and still is what will make a dying world sit up and pay attention.

^{John Bailey is the Vice President of World Challenge Inc. and the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. John has been serving the Lord in pastoral ministry for 35 years, ministering the gospel in over 50 nations, particularly as a pastor and evangelist in Cork, Ireland.}

It is important that we understand the motive out of which our obedience springs. If the spring is not pure, everything that flows out of it will be polluted. We must always be careful to check our motives.

The sad truth is that many Christians in these last days obey God only because they are afraid of going to hell. They fear the Lord’s anger, and they only want to make sure that their obedience is “legal.” They have no genuine desire to please him.

Jesus did everything out of love and a desire to bring pleasure to his heavenly father. “Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him” (John 8:28-29, NKJV). 

This was the rock, the foundation upon which Jesus built his life of obedience. It was the spring or the motive out of which the flow of his obedience came. It is to be our rock as well.  

Jesus shut himself up in prayer on the mountaintops in quiet places, often all night long in fellowship with his father. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me”(John 6:38). His one great prayer was “Father, what do you want? What will bring you pleasure? What can I do to fulfill the desire of your heart?” 

That is the attitude of a person who has the Spirit of Christ. It should be our attitude that we might be one who builds on the rock. Our every decision needs to reflect a consciousness of God and a desire to please him. 

The foundational motive of all our obedience must be “I do all things because I want to please my Lord; I want to bring him great pleasure.”

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27, NKJV).

Jesus is saying that only things established on a rock foundation will hold up in the coming storm. One man built his house upon a rock “…and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:25).

The builders of these houses represent two classes of Christians in these last days: the wise and the foolish. They built two different kinds of houses and had two very different experiences when the storm hit. 

On one hand, it is encouraging to know there will be a body of believers who will not fall. They will be able to withstand every onslaught that comes out of hell when the storms rage. Jesus wants us to know from this parable that a person who builds his house upon a rock will survive everything that is coming. 

Sadly, there will be another group of Christians, people of whom Jesus says, “Their fall will be great.” This means a total, complete, devastating collapse of everything. 

At this point, you may be wondering, “What does it mean exactly to ‘build a house’?” It is important to know that the house Jesus is talking about here is our walk with him. We are building a foundation of getting to know Christ, of understanding his ways. We’re building into our faith certain characteristics that will determine how we react under pressure.

When a sleeping child must be awakened, a loving parent takes him by the shoulders and gently shakes him. If the child doesn’t wake up immediately, the shaking becomes a bit firmer. The parent insists because he knows the child will suffer if he doesn’t wake up on time.

That is precisely what God is doing right now, both to America and the world. At first, he shook us very tenderly; but now his shaking has become violent because he has not succeeded in awakening us.

The Lord began to literally shake the earth with earthquakes in the late 1980s. A quake in Armenia wiped out almost that entire province. A quake in Japan measuring 6.9 nearly destroyed an entire city. Then came the horrible quake in San Francisco with more following almost daily in that area. Quakes hit the West Coast constantly, from northern California to San Diego and down into Mexico.

Isaiah prophesies that God will one day rise up and shake the whole earth. “Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty…distorts its surface… All joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone… When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree” (Isaiah 24:1, 11, 13, NKJV). God is going to shake the earth as if it were an olive tree until every bit of fruit falls. 

Ezekiel says that when God’s fury arises, he will shake all that can be shaken. “All men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at my presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground… And I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 38:20, 23). 

The writer of Hebrews says, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven… That [only] the things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27). God is going to shake everything in sight so that he is revealed as the only unshakable power.

The book of Daniel mentions several benefits for those who have a repentant heart. Indeed, for all who acknowledge their sin, God does the miraculous. One such benefit is a new and clearer image of Jesus. Read what happened after Daniel’s repentance prayer in Daniel 10. 

“I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision…” (Daniel 10:5-7, NKJV). 

Who do you think Daniel saw in this vision? It was Jesus! What a wonderful benefit the Holy Spirit opened to Daniel when he confessed his sin. He was given a clear, unobstructed view of Christ in all his glory.

Please understand that Daniel was not looking for a vision. All he was doing was confessing and mourning over his sin. Jesus took it upon himself to come to Daniel; he initiated it. When we repent and make things right with God and others, Jesus will manifest himself to us.

Daniel had friends who were also godly because he walked only among the righteous, yet scripture tells us none of them saw the vision he did: “The men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone” (Daniel 10:7-8).

A truly repentant heart never has to hide from the Lord because there is no longer any fear of judgment. If you acknowledge your sins with godly sorrow and make restitution, you can look confidently into the master’s face. You do not have to quake with fear when you hear reproof. All you will see before you is Christ in all his love and glory.