Devotions

"You, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 20–21).

As I read these verses in Jude, I heard the Spirit quietly whisper: "David, I want you to enter the fullness and joy of my love. You have the theology right. But you have not yet experienced the true rest of soul that comes with keeping yourself in my love. Up to now, you've only been in it up to your ankles. There is a whole ocean for you to swim in."

The Bible is filled with the truth of God's love. Yet I admit that at times I allow myself to wonder how the Lord could ever love me. It's not that I doubt his love. It's more a failure on my part to keep myself in the knowledge and assurance of his love to me.

The revelation of God's love comes in part when we are born again. If you were to ask most Christians what they know of God's love for them, they would answer, "I know God loves me because he gave his Son to die for me." They would quote John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

It's a wonderful moment when you grasp this truth: "God loved me when I was lost, undone, a stranger. And he proved his love for me by sacrificing his own Son on my behalf."

Understanding God's love is the secret to an overcoming life. Multitudes become spiritually cold because they are ignorant of God's love for them. They don't know that their greatest weapon against Satan's attacks is to be fully convinced of his love, which comes through the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 6 contains a famously glorious passage about Jesus: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). Growing up, my vision of the Lord in my mind was that he was off in a distant place, removed from me, an entity I needed to address in the language of the King James Bible as “Thee” and “Thou.”

Yet what does our high, holy God have to say about us lowly, sinful people who follow him? Isaiah tells us: “Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (57:15). Yes, our Father is holy, majestic and glorious — yet he abases himself to dwell within our humble, sin-stained hearts.

I think every child instinctively knows the difference between hating religion and loving Jesus. One day when my daughter was young, she popped up between the pages of the newspaper I was reading. I was tired and shooed her off, wanting just a few minutes to relax before working on the sermon I needed for the next Sunday. But she kept popping up, saying, “Daddy, I want to tell you something.” I just kept shooing her away, thinking of the clock ticking minutes off my time of relaxation. This back-and-forth stopped when I finally said, “Honey, what do you want to tell me?” She answered, “I love you.”

She knew the difference between religion — my perfectionism as a preacher — and loving Jesus, which she was demonstrating to me. God’s Word makes it clear he wants us to approach him as my daughter did me — calling out to our “Daddy,” Abba, who is nearby, not distant or beyond our reach.

The disciples were eager to start evangelizing but Jesus had instructed them to “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from high” (Luke 24:29). Jesus knew far better than the disciples that the equipment needed for the job was more than keen intellect, human talent, and even a sincere heart. So they obeyed Jesus and waited in the upper room, praying, singing, and praising God.

“When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:1-4).

The Spirit was poured out just as Jesus promised. What the prophet Joel predicted had happened. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). This meant that a new kind of ability was available. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8). This awesome power from heaven was needed on earth to build Christ’s kingdom.

Were those disciples sincere believers in Jesus as they waited in Jerusalem? Yes. Did they have correct doctrine? Yes. Could they have gone out and preached without the Holy Spirit? I am sure they wanted to, but Jesus knew they were not ready. He knew the power of the enemy they would face, the discouragements, and the opposition. If the Holy Spirit’s power was needed then, has anything changed to this very day? Will anything but the Spirit’s power working through us pull down the walls of unbelief and break the powers of sinful behavior as we share the gospel?

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. 

Here is one of the most quoted and oft-sung verses in all of God's Word: "Because Your  lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You" (Psalm 63:3). You may ask, "What does it mean that his lovingkindness is better than life?”

The truth is, life is short. It fades like the grass, which is here one season and gone the next. Yet God's lovingkindness endures forever. A million years from now Jesus will be as tender and loving toward us as he is now. Others can take your life away from you, but they can't take away God's lovingkindness.

Consider this for a moment: God is not mad at you because of your failure. If you are ready to forsake your sin, you can be forgiven and restored at this very moment. The Word of God tells us that nothing can come between our Lord and us — no sin, no guilt, no condemning thought. You can say, "My life is a blessing to the Lord. I am able to rejoice and praise him. I am clean, free, forgiven, justified, sanctified, redeemed."

It does not matter how badly those around us have sinned. God still loves all. That is why he sent his Son. And we should be preaching it to the world!

David said, "I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly" (Psalm 40:10). That is his desire for all of us.

You have a loving, tender Father who cares about you. He has bottled every tear you have ever shed. He has seen your every need, known your every thought. And he loves you! If you could only grasp how tender he is toward you — how patient, caring, ready to forgive you and bless you — you would not be able to contain yourself. You would shout and praise until you had no voice left: "His lovingkindness is better than life!"

Jonah was a prophet who fully understood the lovingkindness of the Lord. But he was a man who could not enjoy or appropriate it. Instead, Jonah turned God's lovingkindness into a burden for himself.

Now God was commanding Jonah to go to the wicked city Nineveh and prophesy its quick destruction. You see, the Ninevites were enemies of Israel. But Jonah ran away in haste when he heard God’s instruction. What prompted his extreme reaction? It was because he knew of the lovingkindness of the Lord. Jonah explained to the Lord, "For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm" (Jonah 4:2).

In other words: "God, you've commanded me to tell Nineveh they have only forty days before destruction comes. But I can't do that because I know you. You are easily touched. Tears and repentance soften your heart and I know what will happen. When you see the Ninevites crying, you'll change your mind. Instead of sending judgment you'll stir their hearts toward you — and I'll end up looking like a fool!"

Finally, Jonah did go to Nineveh, but only by way of the belly of a giant fish, which spit him onto dry ground. Jonah proclaimed God's judgment to Nineveh and, sure enough, the people repented. The sin-hardened Ninevites wept, fasted, mourned and put on sackcloth, even covering their animals with mourning cloths. It was one of the most sweeping revivals ever recorded in the Bible.

Yet in the midst of all this, Jonah became angry. He actually sulked because God spared Nineveh rather than rejoicing that they were made righteous. In short, Jonah didn't enjoy God's lovingkindness.

Beloved, as the people of God, we dare not make the same mistake. We need to thank God for his merciful lovingkindness to us, his church, and to our nation.