Devotions

When I was young, I went to a church that had a bishop, and everyone in the audience had to stand when he entered the room. Now I remember that and think about how Jesus went down on his knees to wash his disciples’ feet.

Let’s look at one of Peter’s letters to the church. He was writing to believers scattered throughout Turkey who were probably under persecution and opposition from the Roman Empire who wanted them to kneel and worship Caesar. “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:1-2, ESV).

There were two words in the New Testament for ‘servant.’ One was a person who had some basic rights but was under the authority of the person who owned them. The other word was ‘bondslave,’ someone who only looked to their master for what to do.

Which word do you think Peter used? That’s right, the bondslave. He was saying, “I’m sold out. I’m a bondslave of Jesus. I said goodbye to my will and plans a long time ago.” He was reminding people that he was sent out with authority from Christ but that he was also the Lord’s slave. He’s writing to people who, because of God’s justice and love, have obtained the same precious faith that Peter had. That faith means that our sins are not only forgiven but also wiped completely off the record in heaven. This faith in Christ pardons us of our rebellion and wrongdoings and makes us new creations. Christianity isn’t about earning anything.

Ministers who walk around like they’re somebody special, so many times it’s with such fake grandeur. Whatever happened to being Christ’s bondslave? People these days think, “Well, I don’t want to be anyone’s slave! I don’t want to have to obey someone else like that.” Trust me, the happiest life you can imagine is to be owned and controlled by our Lord and Savior.

_{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.} 

God has a preordained plan to deliver us out of our fiery trials. No matter what you are going through, he has a plan tailored for every difficulty, one that could never be conceived by the human mind.

For example, take the trials that Israel faced in the desert. There was no bread or food of any kind. What committee could have come up with this idea? “Let’s pray that tomorrow we wake up and discover white flakes of food with a taste of honey covering the ground.”

There was no water either, and the hot desert parched their lips. We’re talking about a group of people the size of a small nation. It was a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of weeping wanderers, facing imminent death.

Who could have imagined the solution? Who would have pointed to a big rock and told Moses, “Go. Strike it, and a river of water will flow out.” God imagined it!

It was one thing after another. At one point God said, “Go back to the Red Sea.” What? This didn’t seem like a smart plan at all. The Red Sea was impassable for that many people. Pharaoh’s cruel army was already racing toward them, eager to overpower them and return them to captivity. They were trapped. Impossibilities! Hopelessness!

God, however, was way ahead of them. He had a plan. What looked like an unwise move turned out to be their salvation. They needed to learn to depend wholly upon him, to trust and obey the God who had daily proven that he would take care of them completely.

“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6, NKJV).

The Lord had brought the children of Israel out of bondage, and he would lead them into the promised land. In his perfect timing, he acted on their behalf, and he will do the same for you. He will fight your battles, miraculously provide for your needs and make a way where there is no way.

Today I want to speak to believers who are overwhelmed by accumulating afflictions. You are not alone. In the psalms, David tells of being nearly crushed by unbearable troubles. “My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me” (Psalm 55:4-5, NKJV).

Search the scriptures, and you will not find anyone who speaks more than David about trusting God. No one opened up more about seeking and waiting on the Lord for strength in times of need.

However, a series of deep and painful distresses fell upon David that shook his faith. At one low point, he cried, “All men are liars!” He was speaking from a place of overwhelming pain. At that moment he was filled with despair, and words of encouragement alone weren’t working. He was buckling under an all-out attack on his faith and was looking for an escape. “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness” (Psalm 55:6-7).

When I speak about being overwhelmed, I know what I speak of. At one point in my life, our daughter Debi had just been operated on for cancer, and our 29-year-old grandson Brandon was undergoing chemotherapy for Stage 4 cancer. David was right when he wrote, “Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me.”

What does the believing child of God do in these overwhelming hours? We do as David did.

“As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me” (Psalm 55:16-18).

Go to prayer and get into the Lord’s presence. Even if you do it quietly, cry out your pain and ask for peace to come upon you. We must do more than trust. We must stay in God’s Word and pray the promises back to him. Through every trial, my family and I have walked in faith and relied on God’s promises. He is good!

Faith is a command. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. It is written, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38, NKJV).

Unbelief is a bottomless pit of fear and discouragement. It begins with fearing what we cannot see. One fear leads to another, then we begin fearing everything present and future. The result is uncontrollable anxiety and despair. This is not a small issue with God. It is a matter of life and death.

Today, if you are tormented by fear, I have a word for you. The opposite of fear is faith, and faith is an invitation to partake of the great goodness of the Lord. I refer you to one of the most encouraging promises in God’s Word. Let it sink deep into your soul.

“Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man; you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues” (Psalm 31:19-20).

Hold tight to your faith! God has a bold and glorious promise: “Trust me and I will pour out my goodness upon you. I will hide you in my presence and will not allow strife and fear to overwhelm you.”

It is also written, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward” (Hebrews 10:35), and “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). The rewards of faith are strength, peace and calm in the storm. God rejoices in our faith, and the decision is ours to make. Right now it is within our power to choose to trust him in our present and future trials.

May God help us all hold fast to our faith. Do not give up. We are too close to the end of the race.

“You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye” (Psalm 32:7-8).

God has embedded in me a dread of unbelief. This dread is the result of searching the scriptures for examples of the dire consequences of unbelief. I thank him for revealing to me the harm and ruin caused by unbelief. We believers have taken this matter too lightly, thinking that God overlooks the doubt of those facing great affliction and hard times.

I once thought the Lord should cut some slack to those facing dire situations, like the disciples in a sinking ship in a raging storm. “Lord, they were just human and overwhelmed and afraid. It looked hopeless; theirs was just a human response.” Jesus nevertheless reprimanded the disciples’ meager faith.

Yes, there is a time to weep. We are sometimes overwhelmed or grieving, and we cry, “Where are you, Lord?” Our loving Father understands and is deeply moved by our feelings. He wants us to bring our misery to him.

Yet we dare not linger on our fears and passing doubts. We must “trust in the shadow of his wings” (Psalm 91:4, NKJV). God has no pity for unbelief, and the whole of scripture bears this out. It may sound harsh, but he will not accept any excuses. He grants no other option but faith.

Israel was given ten opportunities to trust God during their crises in the desert, and they failed. The consequence of their unbelief was forty years of hopelessness, confusion and grief. That generation was even forbidden to enter the promised land. God calls unbelief evil. “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).

What causes unbelief? In my experience, it is mostly the result of neglecting God’s Word. Faith is impossible without a constant input of scripture and a clinging to the promises. He says to feed daily on his Word, pray with confidence and believe with all your heart that God loves you.

Whatever you are going through, God promises to be with you. Today, take a stand and start trusting. Your unbelief changes nothing, but faith opens the door to deliverance.

“Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men” (Psalm 31:19)!