Devotions

In the book of Daniel, three Hebrew men went into the fire with their bodies already dead to the world. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18, ESV). They were able to offer their bodies joyfully as living sacrifices, and Jesus literally met them in their crisis.

What do you think they said to Jesus when he showed up in the furnace? “Thank you for not letting us feel the pain. Thank you for giving us another chance, for a few more years.”

No! I believe they said, “Lord, take us with you! Don’t leave us here. We have touched the ecstasy, the glory, and we don’t want to go back. Walk us home to be with you.” They surely would have preferred to be with him. Jesus knows this kind of heart, and it is to such that he commits himself.

Are you able to say, “Lord, walk me home”?  Perhaps you’ve never learned to commit your body, your business, your marriage and your crises into God’s hands.

Yes, we are always to pray in faith, believing that God will answer; yet we are to trust him completely with our situation, saying in our hearts, “But if not, Lord, I’m still going to trust you. Lord, you are able to deliver me from this fiery furnace. But if not, I will still believe. Even if I have to go on in this horrible trial, if I have to face more suffering, more testing, I commit everything to you. Just come and walk through it with me.” Can you pray this prayer?

I promise you that Jesus Christ will come into your crisis. He will take you by your hand and lead you through the fire. I consider the coming of Christ into my crisis to be the greatest possible answer to prayer. When he comes, his presence lifts me above all my pain or confusion. When Jesus appears at your side, he takes you by the hand and makes you stand strong.

If you go into a lot of churches today, you would hardly be able to tell the difference between the pastor and Sigmund Freud or Oprah Winfrey. With some of the worship we have in our churches today, you would hardly be able to tell whether it's church or America's Got Talent. It's a performance or an entertainment center. Those things are far too anemic to contend with the giants that we have in our land today.

In my lifetime — I’m 63 years old now — there's never been such moral depravity as there is right now. There's never been a time where there's been such sexual perversity. There was sin in our nation certainly when I was younger, but I've never seen it openly flaunted like it is today.

It's like what Paul wrote, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:9-10). It could be easy to feel like we’re under the sentence of death, to give up this promise that our nation, our churches and our hearts will be delivered.

Scripture warns us about this. “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:3-4, ESV emphasis added).

If we're going to contend as Jude calls us to, we can’t contend for some type of faith that’s not entirely biblical or a portion of faith that is your tribe's favorite parts of scripture. If you're going to contend for that most holy faith, then it must be something more than watered down, lukewarm Christianity. It has to be a faith filled with fire and the Holy Ghost. Our churches have been delivered before, and they can be delivered again. We must hold to that great hope for God’s deliverance.

When we read about King David’s life, it’s easy to wonder how he became such a strong man of God. The faith he had is astonishing, especially when we read passages like the one where he meets Goliath. He says something so incredible right before that fight.

“David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’” (1 Samuel 17:34-36, ESV).

In this passage, David is probably about 15 years old, and he’s already been dealing with wild lions and bears. When I was younger and would go camping, I was worried about having to deal with racoons and snakes, much less a bear. Isn’t it striking to you that this boy has such a powerful faith? He knows God will be with him because something was forged into his life earlier.

He would’ve only been about 12 or 13 years old when he was anointed as king. At that time, though, little boys tended sheep. Can you imagine taking your child at that age and putting them on the side of a mountain all alone with a hundred sheep that are basically snacks for the bears and the wolves? Imagine David as a boy sitting by his campfire at night, listening to every twig snap and wondering, “Is that a lion?”

Where did David learn to have such great faith and a fighting spirit? It was on that mountainside as a little boy. He learned to trust God in moments of darkness, frailty and hardship. All of us have been through times like that. Those are the moments that God can forge something really deep in your life.

When you enter a moment of frailty where you feel like you can’t handle what’s going on, you have to trust in God. That’s when we experience the glory and presence of God. That’s when God can do a deep work in your heart to strengthen you for future battles.

Paul wrote to the church, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, NKJV). He is saying, “Suffer the wrong. Lay it down and move on. Get a life in the Spirit.”

However, if we refuse to forgive the hurts done to us, we have to face these consequences:

• • We’ll become guiltier than the person who inflicted our wound.

• • God’s mercy and grace toward us will be shut off. As things begin to go wrong in our lives, we won’t understand them because we’ll be in disobedience.

• • Our persecutor’s vexations against us will continue to rob us of peace. He’ll become the victor, succeeding in giving us a permanent wound.

• • Because Satan succeeds in driving us to thoughts of revenge, he’ll be able to lead us into deadlier sins. We’ll commit transgressions far worse than unforgiveness.

The writer of Proverbs advises, “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression” (Proverbs 19:11). In other words, we’re to do nothing until our anger has subsided. We should never make a decision or follow through with any action while we are still angry.

In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus told his followers, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

We bring glory to our heavenly Father whenever we overlook hurts and forgive the sins done to us. To do so builds character in us. When we forgive as God forgives, he will bring us into a revelation of favor and blessing that we have never known before.

Scripture gives us a sobering reminder of what God truly desires from us. “So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22, NKJV).

Obedience is better than sacrifice. I say it is also better than blessing. This is the deepest meaning in the story of Abram offering Isaac on the altar. God said, “Go and do this.” He obeyed. Did Abram leave that altar saying, “God changed his mind”? I don’t think so. God wanted obedience, and Abram obeyed.

I have experienced that. God told me to negotiate and then gave me every evidence that I should claim a certain thing. I did everything in my power to obtain it, but I didn’t get it! What now? Shall I question God? Should I doubt that he spoke to me? Will I believe that Satan hindered me? No. I sought the Lord diligently. He said, “Do this,” and I did it. I will rest in the peace of obedience. That makes it better than blessing. God shows you only one side of the coin: obedience.

The servant must obey without question. When a master commands his servant to go, he goes. That, too, is faith.

Can a man purpose in his heart to trust God when it appears that the Lord is breaking a promise? Can a man still speak the language of faith when all his leadings “blow up” in his face? The giants of faith did! They said, as Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him” (Job 13:15). Men of great faith faced the fieriest trials.

God has peculiar ways of developing faith. The deeper into God you go, the more peculiar your testing will be. Do not fall into the temptation of believing that afflictions are proof that you are displeasing the Lord. Miracles are produced only amidst impossibilities. If you desire to be a child of faith, ready yourself for a life of most peculiar tests. Faith comes by using what you have. Don’t wait for obstacles to be removed. Go forth anyhow! The most critical part of faith is “the last half hour.”