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Devotions

Honoring the Right Authorities

Jim Cymbala

Here’s a description that Peter was giving of people who are flying toward judgment. “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones” (2 Peter 2:9-10, ESV).

This defiling passion he talked about is the carnal desire of our natural self that is in opposition to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. 

These are the people who say, “If it feels good to me, I do it. I sleep with whom I want. I switch partners when I want. I harm my body if I want. Hey, it’s my body! Don’t tell me drugs are bad for me. It’s none of your business. Don’t be judgmental. I hate the haters.” Underneath it all, these people are saying, “I ain’t giving up having my way. End of story, but I don’t want to say it like that because it sounds bad.” 

God said that judgment is coming on these people. They’ll answer for their lies, hate in their thought-life, racial prejudice. It’s interesting that Peter points out something else about these people, though. They despise all authority, whether it’s the authority of the Bible, their own parents, police officers, government, sexual restrictions, whatever. They want no authority over them because they want to be their own authority. Everyone should be allowed to do whatever they want! Except that would be a real nightmare. 

When we pray, “Oh God, help me follow the desires of the Holy Spirit within me”, that goes against defiling passions. It puts us under the authority of God and his Word. He created us, and in the end, we must see him and stand before him. So why not just listen to him? Saying no makes us like children, and it will cost us for an eternity. 

So let’s take the path of humility today. Let’s not follow the desires of our flesh; it’s a wretch. Let’s submit to proper authority, especially to God and his Word. That will honor God and give us peace and joy. 

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.

At the End of Your Rope

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

Paul wrote “. . . that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9, NKJV). He said, in essence, “The Lord brought me to the end of all human help, the brink of death. It was a place so hopeless, only the God of resurrection power could have rescued me.” What a wonderful place to be, at the end of your rope! 

I have always said that when you hit rock bottom, you bump into God. If you listen to most Christians in the midst of their suffering, though, you hear, “I’ll make it somehow. I’m hanging in there. I just live one day at a time.” Since childhood we have been spoon-fed the concept of self-sufficiency: “Take it like a man! Men don’t cry!” 

How many times have you tried to work out your own troubles? 

Please don’t misunderstand me. I believe God want us to fight the good fight of faith, but he has a way of allowing us to be “pressed out of measure.” Nothing you try works. Suddenly, you are forced into a crisis that obliterates all your trust in yourself. You have no hope except to give up all human hope. You are forced to trust God, and you see that it’s the only way out.

Paul was saying, “I had the sentence of death in me. I was tested beyond measure, at the end of my rope; and it was all so I would no longer trust in myself. I had to turn to God with faith that he alone could save me.”

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

What is this way of escape? It is reaching the end of your own strength and turning absolutely to God. It is saying, as Paul did, “I do not trust in myself anymore” with simple, childlike faith in God. It is trusting him totally to see you through it all, resigning yourself and saying, “God, I put everything on you!”

The Ministry of Consolation

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

The apostle Paul said, “[The Lord] comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4, NKJV).

One of the neediest ministries in the church of Jesus Christ today is that of consolation, comforting others in their trouble and affliction. Many believers simply do not know where to turn when they are hurting.

When I am really suffering, I do not want to read a book outlining ten steps on how to find victory or go to a big-name evangelist who will zap me. None of these is the answer because none will reach the root of my suffering. No, I want to talk to an ordinary person who has suffered heavily and has come through it all praising God, comforted and full of faith!

It is suffering people who receive the consolations and comforts of the Lord. They know the sympathy of Jesus because his voice speaks true comfort to them in their hour of darkness. These sufferers become rich in spiritual resources. They develop a confidence born out of having endured tribulations and testing. Best of all, God gives them influence they could not have attained in any other way.

I think of Corrie Ten Boom and the wonderful experience it was for the thousands of people who sat and listened to her talk about Jesus. Many pastors and leaders all over the United States were comforted and encouraged by this once-unknown woman because her suffering had produced a wealth of knowledge of the Lord. She had an abundance of consolation and comfort from the Holy Spirit, and she used it as an influence for Jesus!

Paul could rejoice in his suffering because he knew it was for others’ benefit. He saw his trials as a kind of schooling he was going through. He could say, “God has a purpose in this because he is training me! There will be people who are going to need the comfort and consolation that I have received in my suffering.” Paul referred to his heavenly Father as “The Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). He saw the glorious, compassionate heart of God. He encouraged us to receive God’s comfort with joy and then to pay it forward.

Knowing the Ways of God

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

We are facing a time when the word “deliverance” will take on a whole new meaning. In the past, Christians have thought of deliverance mainly as physical healing. Soon, however, the greatest deliverance will be from fear and terror.

Deliverance at that time will mean having a “sure word from heaven.” Jesus said that men’s hearts will fail them for fear as they see the awful things coming on the earth (see Luke 21:26).  Indeed, people will clamor to know what God is going to do next. They will turn in all directions, wanting to hear the voice of someone who is calm, peaceful and not going crazy. They will cry, “Please tell me! Is this God’s judgment? When is it all going to end?”

Who do you think is going to have the answers? It will be you, the ordinary Christian who has been shut in with God. You will be full of calm and peace while everything is falling apart because God is with you, and you’re hearing from heaven. He warned you this was coming, and he promised to protect you.

I believe God is going to use his people in these last days to stir multitudes, revive pastors and awaken churches. God will use us to turn people’s hearts back to God by bringing them to repentance through prayer and godly reproof of sin.

When I speak of a holy remnant in training, I do not mean an army of preachers, evangelists and missionaries. I am talking about ordinary lovers of Jesus who, with peace and calm, point others to him. God doesn’t want a professional army trained in man’s methods. He wants men and women who are trained in prayer by the Holy Spirit. He is seeking believers who have spent time with him, preparing their hearts and learning to hear his voice.

Does this describe you? Is your life a witness to a scared and shaken world? I urge you to get alone with God and let him speak to you. Ask him to reveal the sin in your life. Make yourself available to him by giving yourself to prayer. Through time spent with him, you will then be prepared to stand on the front lines and proclaim his love to the world!

The Remedy for Selfish Ambition

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

One simple way to measure whether you love well is to examine how you look out for the interests of others.

As a pastor, I have to forge an unwavering vision to do this. I am charged by God with a call to stir my people to action and to relentlessly pursue the mission he has given us. The truth is that I can go about this in one of two ways: through my own ambition, pushing to achieve my individual goals; or to adopt the heart of Christ and make my mission to love.

If my church grows to ten thousand and I don’t have love as my vision...if our church sends out 1,000 missionaries but doesn’t have love…then we are failing in our calling as a believing body. We are raising up false ambassadors and exporting a weak brand of watered-down Christianity empowered by something other than love.

How about you? Are your prayers or spiritual ambitions locked in a world of your own wants, needs and desires? Are you bothered or irritated when others’ genuine needs interrupt your goals?

There is a simple remedy for selfish ambition. Paul wrote, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Philippians 2:3, NKJV). Paul doesn’t say not to esteem yourself, your vision or your life mission, but he reminds us that others also have vision, purpose and a mission. If you will esteem them, you won’t only be helping them. You’ll also be strengthening them in their calling and perhaps affecting many lives.

Think about the power of Paul’s statement. Imagine what might happen if every Christian radically obeyed this truth. We would all have deep, world-impacting interests in others, and none of us would be immersed in our individual goals. The whole body of Christ would be so other-centered that we would empower one another in our individual callings.

If each of us is looking only to interests of our own making, our testimony will be limited at best. If we all are looking in love to build up others, though, every God-ordained mission will have more than ample support to be accomplished. That is what I call a way to live. It is a campaign I want to start today, living for, being in and serving those around me for the glory of God.