Devotions

There are four expectations believers should have because they are based on absolute promises the Lord has made to us. Our God is a promise-maker and a promise-keeper!

Expect to be rewarded as you diligently seek the Lord. “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV). You can ask in faith for a token from the Lord to encourage and rekindle your confidence. Expect him to keep his promise to reward you now when you are in greatest need. God has said he rewards those who diligently seek him, so seek him daily.

Expect to see evidence of a progressive miracle in your life. “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). I have written about instantaneous miracles and progressive miracles. Progressive miracles start in unseen, quiet ways and unfold little by little, one small mercy at a time. Expect to see God working in mysterious ways, unseen to the human eye. You can say, “I don’t know how it will come to pass, but I believe God set into motion an answer to my prayers the very first hour I asked.”

Expect to enter into God’s promised place of rest. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God…. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9, 11). The recent year has been one of the most stressful for many believers. God never intended for his children to live in fear and despair. We need a reckless faith, a trust in him in the face of fear and trouble. Now is the time to lay it all on Jesus.

Expect the Holy Spirit to be always in his temple. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit abides in the heart of every believer. He is omnipresent throughout the world and universe. He desires that you expect him to make his presence manifest to you, and more so each passing day.

Believe these promises. Lay hold of these four expectations, and you will see marvelous things in your life.

Satan is trying to plant lies in your mind in your time of weakness and trouble. He will try to convince you God is not with you. If you believe that lie, you can never escape Satan’s trap.

If you quiet yourself before the Lord and call on him in secret prayer, the Holy Spirit will tell you clearly that God is with you. He has not forsaken you. He sees you and is waiting for you to step into his plans for your life. The Bible tells us that when the disciples were doubtful and confused, “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:20, NKJV).

You are loved, and you are needed. Satan is a liar, hoping you will give in to despair by believing you are alone in your struggle. No, you are not ever alone. The Holy Spirit is interceding for you in your time of need. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

You are going to come out of your trial victorious, but you must believe God has heard your cry. Just lean on the Lord.

This is God’s heart to his people in the midst of their trials while they were captive in Babylon: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

The following word is for those who need an answer to prayer, who need help in a time of trouble, and who are ready and willing to move God’s heart according to his Word.

Lay hold of the covenant promise in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” The phrase “very present” means always available, immediately accessible. Faith must rest in the assurance that God’s Spirit abides in you all hours of the day and night. Because he inhabited you, he listens to your every prayerful thought and cry.

We know that if he hears us, he will grant our petitions. Indeed, the Holy Spirit will move heaven and earth for any child of God who takes time to pour out his heart to the Father with unrushed, unhurried time in his presence.

In Psalm 62:5-7, David offered a prayer that touched God’s heart. He said, in essence, “Wait on God only. Expect help from no other source. He alone must be your provision, your only hope and defense. Only he can supply you with the strength to keep going until your answer comes.” When you become wholly dependent on the Lord alone – when you stop looking to man for help and trust God for the supernatural – nothing will be able to shake you. David declared, “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved” (Psalm 62:6).

Here is the heart of it all, the secret to prevailing prayer that every saint throughout history has learned: the pouring out of the heart before the Lord. “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:8). Hannah is our example. Desperate for a child, she “poured out” her soul to the Lord, and scripture says, “Her face was no longer sad” (1 Samuel 1:18).

God will hear and answer you when he sees that you’re willing to shut out all worldly voices for a season. Cry out the contents of your heart; pour out your soul before him, and trust he will respond. The time has come for brokenness before the Lord and for a faith born out of contrite intercession.

One of my staff gave a report from somebody who works with us. This team had driven seven hours to come to our conference in Nairobi, Kenya. They were sitting way up in the balcony. It was a rather large arena, and our partner’s wife had these very thick glasses. Even with the glasses, she was nearly blind. Her description was that she could barely see the speakers on the stage, and she knew there was a screen behind us, but the words were just one big blur; she couldn’t see them at all.

We started praying for the sick, and she didn’t come down to the altar; she didn’t get hands laid on or anything. She was just up there in the balcony. Meanwhile, one of the prayers that the Lord put on my heart was “Lord, I’m just going to go radical here.  I’m going to ask you to open up blind eyes. Right here in this auditorium today.”

She closed her eyes, and she started sweating around her eyes. That’s a weird manifestation. I’d never heard of that before, have you? Then she said that her eyes started burning, and she said, “Oh my goodness! I think the Holy Spirit is touching me.” She was so thrilled, and she opened her eyes, and she thought that she’d see me on the stage and the screen and the words behind me. But she didn’t see it.

As a matter of fact, she was frustrated because her vision seemed even worse. She thought, “This is the devil! God wouldn’t do this.” She took off her glasses and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! I can see!” It was her thick glasses that were making her unable to see because her eyes were healed!

When she told us, I thought, “Yes, that’s what church is supposed to be like. That’s what a Christian life is supposed to be like, where we listen to the Spirit and ask him to give power and healing, if he so moves us.”

As Paul wrote to the church, so I pray for you, “And so…we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9, ESV).

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:31-32, ESV).

I remember going for a long jog one morning shortly after our house burned down. At that time, we didn’t even have sufficient clothing for our children. I had previously given away the little savings I had, so I had no financial fallback and no real plan for the future. Yet the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew suddenly came to my mind: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33, KJV).

I said to God, “Lord, according to your Word, I have sought you. I have sought your kingdom, and I have sought your righteousness. You promised that all I need will be added to me, so I am simply going to take you at your Word.”

At that point, I made the choice to put away the fear of tomorrow. Suddenly, peace flooded my heart.

God did exactly as he had promised. He added all things unto me, and he did it sovereignly. I did not say a word to anyone, but the story of our loss somehow spread everywhere, throughout our community and even to communities beyond. Suddenly people began responding, and churches that I had never even been to ended up taking offerings for us.

God gave back to us everything that had been lost, and after the trial was all over, the Lord told me, “I needed to show you that I can take it all away, and I can give it all back. It is all in my hands.” I too have learned that God is my keeper, and I am confident that he will keep you as well. Declare God to be faithful in your trial, and realize deep down that he will never fail nor forsake you. The Lord has tied the honor of his own name to his commitment to keep you.

^{Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. In May of 2020 he transitioned into a continuing role as General Overseer of Times Square Church, Inc.}