Devotions

There, right in your face, is a door that seems to be continually locked. This closed door I am speaking about is some issue, situation or need you’ve been praying about for a long time. It may be a crisis that requires nothing less than a miracle. I don’t know what your closed door may be, but you’ve prayed for the door of opportunity to open, yet everything you try seems to fail. The doors simply don’t open.

For many Christians, it seems both the windows and doors of heaven are closed. The heavens seem like brass, and you haven’t yet received an answer to your fervent prayers and petitions to the Lord.

In Revelation, scripture says, “These things says he who is holy, he who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens’” (Revelation 3:7, NKJV). This was in a letter sent to the believers in ancient Philadelphia, a church the Lord complimented for having kept the Word and never denying his name. In their most trying times, these people stood faithfully on God’s promises. They did not accuse the Lord of neglecting them or turning a deaf ear to their cries.

Evidently, Satan had come against them with lies. His principalities and powers of darkness, lying spirits pouring out of the very bowels of hell, said that God had shut every door and that he wasn’t worthy of worship and faith. These believers, whom Jesus said were of little strength, kept on trusting and waiting patiently for God to put the key in the door and open it.

Here is what the Lord promised them, and it is our promise as well: “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

Because you still trust his promises and are willing to die in faith even if you do not see the promises fulfilled, you will be kept from this worldwide temptation to fall into unbelief. God has heard your cry, and he knows the very hour to open all doors. So never give up. Stand on his promises. He will not fail you. He holds the key to every shut door, and he alone sets before us open doors.

I know what it’s like to hear the promise of God that you’ll have a victorious, overcoming life, and I know what it’s like to not see that promise fulfilled. In those moments, I’ve felt defeated, overwhelmed and discouraged by the enemy.

I know what it’s like to hear the promise of God that says that he’ll show us the heights and the depths and the breadth of his love, but I also know what it’s like on the other hand to still feel unloved or like I have to earn God’s love and strive to make him happy with me. I know the promises of God that he gives us unspeakable favor as his children, but I also know what it’s like to ask the question, “Is he really for me? He seems distant and cold like a harsh taskmaster sometimes.”

I know what it’s like to have all these promises of God – the overwhelming joy, victory, power, contentment, peace, prosperity, grace and life abundant — and I know what it’s like to feel like I’m not experiencing them in my own life. Every promise of God for me is a goal. I want it all. How many of you would just like half of what God has promised? How many of you would like three-quarters? How many of you would like all of it?

Proverbs says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick...” How many of you know the next part of that scripture without looking? Most of us know the first part, but many of us don’t realize that the second half of that verse says, “...but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).

Does the hope of having dreams realized float down from heaven? Is it a gift-wrapped package from God, or are there things that he asks of us, steps that you and I can take to see our hopes realized?

The problem is not that God isn’t faithful to fulfill his promises. The problem is our ability to realize his promises by incorporating principles and practices, devotions and commitments to the Lord that open the windows of heaven, so to speak. Once our heart's in the right place and submitted to Christ, we can see the promises of God realized in our lives.

Jeremiah was young, only about 20 years old, when God gave him a prophetic calling. He entered into that calling like many of us do in our youth, not really knowing what the years ahead would hold. All he knew is that he had a relationship with God. He had surrendered his life to the Lord. He was saying, “Not my will, but your will be done.” He was going to serve in the role of a prophet.

Today is very different, at least from what I can tell. I know there are true prophets still, but a lot of the prophets I see today are all about “Lights, camera, action!” They have jokes; they can prophecy, and things don't come to pass. Not even a notable percentage of their prophecies come to pass, and they just make light of it and move on.

By contrast, Jeremiah had a soberness in his message. He had a reality to him because God's truth weighed so heavily upon him. Jeremiah had to bear under the knowledge that God was setting the nation on a course of either choosing God or rejecting God.

The Lord tells Jeremiah, “For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13, NKJV). God looked at the whole of society, and he boiled down all of society’s issues to two evils. First, they had forsaken God, the fountain of living waters; and second, they had made broken cisterns that could hold no water, basically trying to replace God’s presence with their own resources.

How much we need to hear this today. There are so many voices with social media and the internet. We've got global news 24/7. It's always at our fingertips. You can be overwhelmed by looking at all the facts and all the features of our society and trying to figure out what’s going wrong. God narrows it down for Jeremiah, and he is narrowing it down for us today.

God is saying to us today that there are two evils in this world: We have forsaken God, and we have put ourselves in place of God, trying to sustain ourselves. We must reject these two lies if we want to set our nation on a course of choosing God.

I have a message for those who are experiencing a painful, overwhelming situation. I am not speaking to those who now enjoy a time of rest from suffering, who are not in any kind of pain or sorrow. Thank God for those times of quiet rest.

I receive so many letters from precious followers of Jesus who are living with incredible inner sorrow and crisis situations: divorce, children on drugs or in jail, the death of a spouse. A woman who is so in love with the Lord grieves over the death of three of her children who all suffocated in a fire. A pastor grieves for his wife who left him and their children for a lesbian lover. It goes on and on as so many godly people are burdened with grief and pain.

I have a message for you who live with pain. In the psalms, David cried, “For innumerable evils have surrounded me…. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 40:12-13, NKJV), and “Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you… But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me; you are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God” (Psalm 40:16-17).

I have been so blessed and comforted by this one line: “The Lord thinks upon me.”  Imagine that. The Lord God who created all things, the God of this universe, is thinking about me.

Even at this very hour, his thoughts are about you in your hour of need.

When Israel was captive in Babylon, mourning over the loss of homes and families, God sent word to them through his prophet: “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” (Jeremiah 29:11). God said to his people, “Your nightmare is going to end. I have only good, loving thoughts toward you, and if you seek me with all your heart, you will find me” (see Jeremiah 29:11-13).

God is not mad at you. Saintly people do get afflicted, so do not waver in your trust in him. In times of stress and feelings of loneliness and regrets, go to prayer. Pour your heart out to the Lord. He is thinking of you, and he is at work for you.

After reading Psalm 13, I wanted to send you a few words of encouragement that I gleaned from this blessed chapter.

King David penned, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily?” (Psalm 13:1-2, NKJV). It sounds as if David felt that God had altogether left him to suffer, to wake up each day with a black cloud hanging over him. For a season, David spoke out of despair, “God, will this feeling of isolation go on forever? When will my prayers be answered?”

When troubles assail us, we sink under the pressure. Right now, someone reading these words is sinking under the awful pressure of a situation that seems to be unsolvable. They are on the verge of total despair, hoping for even the briefest break from their trial. They have formed one plan after another, trying to devise ways out of their trouble, but all those arrangements have failed. Now they have nothing else to think of, no workable solution. They are at the end of it all.

How upsetting it is to see a ray of hope, a bit of sunshine but then have despair once again set in. Keep in mind, David experienced the same struggles, and he was a man after God’s heart. David testified of having great trust in the Lord, yet he went through hard times too, as he describes in this psalm.

How did David arise from this pit of despair?  “But I have trusted in your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:5-6).

Let me share with you reasons to keep trusting God through your present trials. What kind of Father would feed all the creatures of the earth and yet neglect his children?  Jesus exhorted us to “give no thought” to everyday needs and problems, “for he cares for you” (see Matthew 6:25-34). Truly, the Lord loves you, and he will not turn a deaf ear to your cries. Hold on to his promises. Wait on him patiently. He will never fail you.