Devotions

I was counseling someone who was having problems in his marriage. Truth be told, he was acting obnoxious, and he was verbally abusing his wife. I finally said to him, “Do you respect me? Are you willing to listen to me?” He responded, “Do I respect you? I’ve been coming here nine years. Everything I am I owe to you!”

I put my head in my hands. “Oh no. Don’t tell me that.” God got me off any high horse I was on, but God also ended that counseling session with a breakthrough, and he’s going to use that man and his wife to do something good for him. 

Peter the apostle knew something about breakthroughs. He wrote, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3, ESV). When Peter said ‘knowledge’, he meant intimacy not intellectual knowledge. What’s a godly life look like? It’s Christ-likeness, worshiping, thankful, careful, reverent. These things happen through knowing Jesus better! The more we get to know him, the more we will see new ways that we’re not Christlike, and change happens.

Maybe you’re protesting, “You don’t know where I live! You don’t know my mother-in-law. If you knew who I live with or where I work…” Peter said that God has given us everything we need to live a godly life. What you need today, God has it for you. Whether you and I appropriate it is another matter.

You know when people get depressed, sometimes they stop eating. That’s the way some of us are when it comes to the power and grace and equipment God is offering us to live a godly life. Spend time with the Lord! Put your hand up and say, “God, you know what I need today to live a godly life. I don’t want to get distracted. I don’t want to get tempted and pulled away. I want to be like Jesus today.” You think if we pray that way and ask to be like Christ, that God would ever say, “No. I don’t like that request.”? Absolutely not.

When you and I come to God and say, “I want to live a life that pleases you, but I can’t do it on my own.”, God says, “I have everything you need.” Let’s do it in Jesus’ name!

_{Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson.}

Peter said, “[We] are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5, NKJV). I see in this a prophecy that in these last days God is once more going to reveal his keeping power to his people.

Christ prayed to the Father concerning his disciples, saying, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). The disciples were sustained by a mighty power outside of themselves. They could not have made it a single day without Christ's keeping power.

What a glorious prayer Christ prayed on our behalf! “I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

In the Greek, the work ‘kept’ is very expressive. As used in 1 Peter 1:5, it means “to establish a military outpost, to guard, hem in, protect with a garrison, to establish a fortress with a full military line, with full military apparatus, to discern the enemy far in advance and protect from danger.” Not only is the Lord a strong tower, but he establishes in us a fully-manned military base. We actually become a powerful outpost with armies of soldiers and weapons ready for combat and with a lookout who sees the oncoming enemy far in advance.

Jesus prayed, “Keep them from the evil...” The Greek word for ‘keep’ means “deliverance from the effect or influence of anything bad, evil, grievous, harmful, lewd, malicious, or wicked” and “deliverance from Satan himself and all that is corrupt or diseased.”

Put it all together, and it seems almost too good to believe. We are God's military outpost, protected by a fully-equipped spiritual army in full battle array, completely informed of every enemy plan and device, wholly defended against Satan and every evil power. We can now understand what the scripture means when it says, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Old Testament saints knew God in a way we know very little about. They knew him as the Lord of hosts! God is referred to by this name more than 200 times in the Old Testament. This majestic title resonates throughout the psalms.

 - “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:7, NKJV).

 - “O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds you” (Psalm 89:8).

 - “Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer” (Psalm 84:8).

 - “Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory” (Psalm 24:10).

The Hebrew word for ‘hosts’ is tsbaah; it means “an army ready and poised for battle.”

In 2 Chronicles, the Assyrian army comes against King Hezekiah and Judah. Hezekiah is unmoved when surrounded by a ferocious army and says to God's people, “’Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah” (2 Chronicles 32:7-8).

The Old Testament saints rested in their vision of an almighty God who assembled an army for their protection. David boasted, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them...” (Psalm 68:17).

We will never keep ourselves from evil by our own power; we do not do battle with Satan in our own strength. The Lord of hosts must do the keeping. David said in Psalm 121:5, “The Lord is your keeper,” and he recalled God’s love and protection that gives every believer hope: “He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. he delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me” (Psalm 18:16-17).

Throughout scripture, we are assured, "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).

A thrilling Old Testament story in 2 King 6 best illustrates what it means to be kept by the power of God. Ben-hadad, king of Syria, declared war on Israel and marched against them with a great army. As his forces advanced, he often called his war counsel together to plan the next day's strategy. However, the prophet Elisha kept sending word to the king of Israel, detailing every move of the enemy troops. In fact, on several occasions, the Israelites escaped defeat because of Elisha's warnings.

Ben-hadad was furious and assembled his servants. “Who is revealing our plans to the King of Israel! Who is this traitor?” The servants replied, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom” (2 Kings 6:12, NKJV).

Ben-hadad immediately dispatched a band of horses, chariots and soldiers to capture Elisha. “Go and bring him to me,” he demanded. They went that night and surrounded the city, intending to take the old prophet by surprise. Elisha's servant awakened early, and when he saw that “there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots" (see 2 Kings 6:15), he ran to Elisha in terror and cried, “Alas, my master, what shall we do?”

Smiling confidently, Elisha replied, “’Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:16-17).

Like the psalmist, Elisha could stand in the midst of crisis and say with absolute assurance:

- “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (Psalm 3:6).

- ”Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Psalm 27:3).

- “He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me” (Psalm 55:18).

Let us pray as Elisha did, “Lord, open our eyes that we may see the mountains filled with horses and chariots of fire, an army of the Lord of hosts!”

David tells us in the psalms that it is God who makes wars to end and adds, “Be still and know that I am God...” (Psalm 46:10, NKJV). The Hebrew word for ‘still’ is raphah, which means to cease, let alone, become weak, feeble. It is from the root rapha, which means to mend and be made thoroughly whole by the hand of a physician.

How thoroughly consistent the Word of God is. He brings conflict to an end. Until he finishes his work, we are to stop our self-righteous efforts, trust everything into his hands, confess our weaknesses and trust our future restoration into the hands of Christ, our great physician.

Is your inner conflict tearing you apart? You may be buffeted by Satan, but he cannot hurt or destroy you. Most likely you are being refined in preparation for a deeper understanding of the cross of Christ so you can be made ready for greater service.

Peter was stripped of everything before going to Pentecost. We see this great man of God at rock bottom, wandering aimlessly over the Judean hills. Peter had walked on water and participated in the miraculous feeding of multitudes! He was a blessed, prominent, useful, Christ-loved servant. Nonetheless, he sinned grievously, failing the Lord as few others did. Afterward he wept and grieved, thinking he had lost his salvation and his ministry.

"What is wrong with me?" he must have asked himself over and over. "Why did I have no power or strength when tempted? Why no moral reserves, no will to resist the enemy? How could a man of God do such a horrendous thing to his Lord? How could I have preached to others when I have no power in a crisis?"

God did not cause Peter's failure, but great good came out of it. In his mercy, God allowed it to reveal what was rooted deep in the inner man. Only failure could expose the pride and self-sufficiency. It revealed to him his need for absolute dependence on his Lord for everything, including his purity and righteousness.

It is through this personal understanding of Jesus’ utter sacrifice for us on the cross that we endure our greatest temptation and failures and then break through to resurrection.