Devotions

“Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble; you will prepare their heart; you will cause your ear to hear” (Psalm 10:17, NKJV).

In this verse, David outlines a simple three-step plan for knowing the Lord’s mind and will for your life.
1.     Petition him (pray)
2.     Prepare your heart to hear his voice
3.     He will cause you to know (the Holy Spirit will speak to you)

Very soon, God is going to pour out the greatest measure of his Spirit the world has ever seen. Holy Spirit conviction will come upon your neighbors, coworkers and unsaved family members. People everywhere are going to be hurting. They’ll turn from their dead churches and desperately look for someone who knows God.

God will use ordinary servants for his end-time work of people-to-people ministry. Are you preparing your heart right now for his work to be done, both in you and through you?

I urge you to pray earnestly and dive into God’s Word every day. There is revolutionary power in the preparation of your heart. It is through this preparation that you will find meaning and fulfillment in your life. Your feelings and temperament will change, and power will be released in you. When God sees you are ready, he will bring you many opportunities to do his work. You won’t even have to leave your house; God will bring the needs right to your door!

The mighty God we serve is preparing his people for his greatest work. “The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; he shall stir up his zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; he shall prevail against his enemies” (Isaiah 42:13). Prepare your heart to meet him! Become a ready servant, equipped and prepared for his final outpouring, and his glory will come alive in you.

I believe the gospel should be accompanied by the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost, working wonders and proving the gospel is true.

Paul boldly stated, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4, NKJV). The Greek here means “with proof.” Paul was saying, “I preach the gospel with proof. God and the Holy Spirit are backing me up with signs and wonders.” Hebrews says that God did confirm Paul’s message. “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will” (Hebrews 2:4). 

The New Testament believers had one prayer: “That signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:30). These apostles went everywhere fully preaching the gospel. “Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles” (Acts 2:43). “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. …And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5: 12,14).

Here is one of the most conclusive of all verses proving that a fully preached gospel must include the evidence: “They stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). The apostles first ministered for a long time, preaching grace and repentance. God then allowed signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

God’s last-day believers will go “out and [preach] everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20). That is what God envisions for us.

The miracles will be genuine, indisputable, undeniable, and yet they won’t be well known. Instead, they’ll come from the hands of ordinary, holy, separated people who know God and are intimate with Jesus.

This small, prepared army of faith will emerge from the secret closet of prayer with no other desire than to do the will of God and glorify him. They will be fearless and powerful in prayer. They will open entire nations for the gospel, and God will confirm his word through their actions.

I believe God’s vision for his last-day church is based on his revealed Word. The Bible clearly outlines what the church of Jesus Christ will be like just before he returns.

The church in America is far from what God envisioned it to be. For the most part, entire denominations today operate without the Holy Spirit. They are devoid of the presence of Jesus and bankrupt of spiritual gifts. They practice a form of religion without any power, conviction or saving message. They are cozy with the world and are more political than spiritual. They appease sin and ridicule the supernatural without teaching about heaven, hell, repentance and judgment.

The New Testament believers made devils tremble. They prayed prison doors open and made rulers cringe in fear. They believed in the supernatural; they opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears and healed all manner of diseases. They even raised the dead!

I believe that God’s last-day church will be even greater than the first-century church. It will be stronger with a greater understanding of Jesus. God always saves his best wine for last. The prophet Daniel confirms this. He said that certain prophetic truths were locked up, only to be revealed in the last days. “For the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. …And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:9-10, NKJV).

Today the Holy Spirit is revealing these things to spiritual, discerning believers. “It is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.’ But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

The Lord is preparing a humble yet powerful army of shepherds after his own heart and a church of hungry sheep who have turned away from the deadness and sin of the modern church. The scene is being set for that church which will be hot, not lukewarm; and it will rock the very foundations of hell. No power on earth will be able to ignore or despise it.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me’” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV).

How often in your life have you just bowed your head in desperation and said, “Lord, please help me. Please.” I’ve done it hundreds of times, probably thousands. During those times there was so much fear, so much unknown, that I couldn’t do anything but pull the emergency cord.

If we only understood that the no-strength-left giving up of all our own abilities is exactly where God wanted us in the first place. When we’re in a state of such weakness that we can’t even formulate a proper prayer, we are actually in a place of great promise. It’s where God can help us the most.

I wish I had learned this superpower of helplessness when I was young. I would have had so much more peace and confidence. I would have had more faith, more inner strength and more grace for others if I’d truly comprehended that everything comes from God. My job as his child is merely to walk with him, lean on him, obey the Bible, and trust that he will always take care of me and my loved ones. It is to be content even though I can’t see past the headlights.

The Lord’s words “My power is made perfect in weakness” are to be taken literally. What a concept! Normal thinking says, “I have to get desperate with God, or he won’t take me seriously.” God says, “I take you seriously when you let go of yourself and reach for me.”

Think of a specific time when you were out of options and had to utterly lean on God. Do you remember the feeling? This is where God desires us to be every day, to live with a level of trust that acknowledges, “You alone are in control, and I trust you without reservation.” Proverbs says to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). There is no better advice and no greater promise: “Trust me all the time, for everything. I will take care of you.”