Body

Devotions

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.

Why Should They Know God?

Gary Wilkerson

When a baby is born, the parents say, “Ah, a new generation!” They stare in wonder at this little treasure, taking in the scent and soft skin of brand-new life. A parent never forgets those first moments in the presence God’s latest, adorable creation.

Then, it’s a blur! The years race by; sleepless nights, diapers and first steps turn into sports, music lessons and graduations. Suddenly, childhood is over. You step back and say, “Wait… What did we teach them?”

Every new generation is a blank slate. What is placed in their hearts and minds, layer by layer, is there because someone taught it to them. I use parents as an example, but it’s true for all of us. No matter who you are, you can teach; and the love, grace and magnificence of God can be taught anywhere, anytime. It’s important to ask ourselves if we’re doing this.

As a parent, mentor, teacher or pastor, do you make sure that God is known to those you teach? Do you teach pop psychology or scripture? God’s splendor doesn’t need a bestselling book, a TED Talk or a counseling session to be known. It only needs to be unwrapped and shared. His attributes are so magnificent that they apply to everything we do, yet we often barely scratch the surface in our teaching. People need the knowledge of God so they can navigate life. They need to know where to turn when they hit a wall. We all need to view God in the light he intended us to see him.

Consider some of his names and how they bring immeasurable peace and comfort: Immanuel (God with us), Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord our healer), Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord our provider), Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord is peace). There are many more. He is holy and righteous; yet he is right next to us, listening for our voice. The next generation needs to hear!

Knowing God and understanding his attributes are the greatest life skills we can have. Still, they must first be taught and then retaught to ensure that we don’t get rusty. Deuteronomy tells us, “When you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7, ESV).Every day, at every opportunity, show them again the God who loves them without end, and show them how to find him.

The Painful Power of Forgiveness

Carter Conlon

George Müller once said, “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” 

Theresa and I went to Burundi not long after the great ethnic conflict there between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. We could feel the tension the moment we arrived in Burundi. I noticed that there were no dogs as we had seen running freely in other African nations. When I asked about it, I was told that they had all been shot because they had started eating human bodies in the streets. That starkly reminded me of how fresh the wounds were in this country.

The first public speaking I did was to a national pastors gathering of several thousand Hutu and Tutsi pastors. I spoke to the truth of scripture where it says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21, NKJV).

I went on. “You have the obligation to model the cross of Christ and teach forgiveness, even for those who have killed your loved ones and would kill you.” There was a stunned silence as I opened the altar for those who were willing to forgive. 

Suddenly, one of the pastors knelt and began to wail. His wail was like nothing I had ever heard before. All I could think was this must be the sound of a person coming home to find his family murdered. This haunting cry and the sobbing after it spread like fire throughout the crowd. 

Then from the depths of the grief, an incredible joy broke out. The sobbing gave way to dancing and shouting and hugging. It was astonishing to watch. God had broken down the barriers between them that would have been impossible to dismantle in the natural. 

If we do not love other people, the Bible says we are not yet perfected in God. Where do we get the power to do this, to forgive like this? It comes from God and faith in his power to turn our hearts from old things to his truth. 

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. In May of 2020 he transitioned into a continuing role as General Overseer of Times Square Church, Inc.

The Power of Belonging

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

“Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power” (Luke 9:1, NKJV).

Jesus gave his disciples power not because they were ambitious but because they were his. Belonging to Christ is a nonnegotiable to receiving his power. Power is birthed out of belonging. Belonging brings real power.

So many Christians lead powerless lives with habitual sin practices, a poor testimony and a weak spiritual life. A lack of a fervent, radical prayer life will thwart answers to their prayers.

Do you feel powerless? The verse above, although short, is loaded with words of power. Let’s look at them. 

“Called” — meaning not our own agenda, direction, self-will or resources of power.

“Disciples” — those who abandon all to follow the life, teaching and direction of the teacher.

“Together” — that power is not to be contained in singular vessels but expressed in community and in work toward kingdom purposes.

“Gave” — showing we can do nothing unless Jesus gives us power to do it.

“Power” — it is not what we desire, work for or strive after. It comes only and exclusively through God who gives it. We never outgrow this part of our history as Christians. 

Every follower of Jesus is commanded to wait until we are given power from on high.

Think of it this way. Your car battery is dead, and you’re stranded alone on the side of the road. You stand there, staring at the battery, willing it to come alive. “Come on!” you cry. “This can’t be happening!” You pound on the battery, wiggle the connections, turn the key a dozen times. Nothing. The battery is dead, and only external power will bring the juice it needs to start your car. This is you and me without the power of God. We are utterly dependent upon him for our spiritual life.

Are you lacking power? There is no other way to obtain it than to have it given to you by the one you belong to. Jesus has power to give to those who are totally and fully his. Don’t strive for power. Desire to belong fully, passionately, humbly, ambitiously, to the one your heart yearns for. Then power will come to you beyond what you can imagine.

The Holy Spirit Church

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

You should never go to church without praying, “God, give me Holy Spirit ears to hear. Help me to hear, understand and apply your Word to my life.” Just as the Holy Spirit anoints a pastor’s tongue to speak, he also has to anoint our ears to hear. In a Holy Spirit church, you will always hear a gut-wrenching cry of repentance. In fact, you cannot be a Holy Spirit person until you “cry out from your guts” yourself. 

King David’s church wasn’t perfect; in fact, it was a type of Corinthians church. David committed adultery; he killed an innocent man; he walked for a season in horrible deception. After David sinned, though, he uttered this agonizing cry from his innermost being: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight…. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:2-4,11, NKJV).

A cry from the heart is the mark of a Holy Spirit church. Of course, there are people in this church who fail and live in deception. True believers, like David, have become so sensitive to the work and moving of the Holy Spirit, however, that they don’t always need a prophet to tell them they have sinned. They repent before a prophet even comes to them because they feel wounded by their sin.

David said, “The sorrows of Sheol [hell] surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God…. 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” (2 Samuel 22:6-7, 17-18).

God is going to bring the Solomon church to ruin and resurrect David’s church from out of the ruins. “After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16). This church will have a godly sorrow for sin. It will cry out in anguish and repentance and be wholly dependent upon the Holy Spirit!