Devotions

Have you ever felt that something is missing in your prayers—that somehow they are not as deep or as effective as they ought to be? After all, there is a great difference between prayer that is driven by human effort and prayer that is divine and truly lays hold of God. For example, consider the prayer of the famous Scottish reformer, John Knox, who stood on a mountaintop and cried, “God, give me Scotland or I die!” Before long, people began to come out into the streets under the conviction of God.

I want to pray that kind of prayer! I want something that goes beyond merely coming into God’s presence every day with a list: God, bless my home, bless my finances, bless my mother, bless my father, bless my children. I want to pray prayers that will move men toward God; prayers that will bring the Church of Jesus Christ back to life! I want the kind of prayer that God instructed Ezekiel to pray: “Call out to the breath of God to breathe upon these dry bones and raise the dead back to life” (Ezekiel 37:9). Those are the type of prayers I want to pray!

We see in the Scriptures that Jesus’ own disciples had a similar yearning. One day as Jesus was praying, their hearts were stirred. “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1).

Keep in mind that the disciples were no strangers to prayer. They had seen Jesus pray and miraculously multiply loaves and fishes. Some were even with Jesus as He prayed on a mountaintop and they saw His countenance completely transfigured. Without a doubt, the disciples themselves also prayed as they personally walked with Jesus. However, this time they saw Jesus go into a certain place to pray, and it caused them to conclude that there was still something they had to understand about prayer. I can picture the disciples getting together and nudging each other, “You ask Him!” “No, you ask Him!” There was something in Jesus’ prayer that made it evident that prayer was much deeper than they had experienced up to that point.

“Lord, teach us to pray!” one of His disciples finally implored Him. So Jesus began to teach them, saying “When ye pray, say, Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil” (Luke 11:2-4).

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 at the invitation of the founding pastor, David Wilkerson, and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. A strong, compassionate leader, he is a frequent speaker at the Expect Church Leadership Conferences conducted by World Challenge throughout the world.
 

Hair! Every hair on our heads is counted by our Father in heaven. Between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs blanket the human head. God made hair on our heads for insulation during summer and winter, not just for appearance. Our eyebrows keep sweat out of our eyes, and eyelashes protect our eyelids when dust or tiny insects get too near. Tiny hairs in the ears and nostrils filter incoming air of particles.

If we could know what an awesome creation a hair is, how full of life, we would never doubt that God numbers what He has created.

It’s no wonder David said, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . . that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).

In Matthew 10:28-33, Jesus was teaching the disciples not to fear. He had created every sparrow, formed every human body and numbered every hair. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . . All things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17). But the disciples still did not understand. Oh, how Jesus must have longed to take them into such intricacies of how He made the wings and bones of the sparrows and how He designed the hair. No mere carpenter could figure it all out for it was so fearful and amazing!

He could have said, “Peter, what if I told you that you have 127,550 hairs on your head? Now, since you know I have numbered every hair on your head, won’t you trust Me with every detail of your life? Won’t you believe that I know every step you take?”

“Not one sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of your Father in heaven” (see Matthew 10:29). Knowing this, will you now be “careful for nothing”? Will you now trust Him to take care of all your needs? Will you now give no thought to what you shall eat or drink? Will you now believe that your heavenly Father knows what you need and will gladly supply it? Will you now trust Him to house you, feed you, clothe you?
 

While walking up a country road in New Jersey, I had a good talk with my Lord. “Lord, I can't live with fear and worry of all kinds. I want to face whatever the future holds with rest, joy and simple trust!”

The Holy Spirit quickened to me: “One of the keys to freedom from all fear and worry is found in the word sparrows. Remember that I told you, ‘One of them [sparrows] shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered’” (Matthew 10: 29-30). It sounds so elementary, so very simple—but what Jesus tells us here is very profound.

In the Old Testament, King David could boast, “[He] delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). How did David find such freedom from fear? By obtaining a vision of the greatness of “Him who made heaven and earth.” When David had his eyes on the Creator of all things, he discovered how big God is!

I want to be like David—an example of a shepherd who has learned how to be free of fear and worry, able to lead a people into that same freedom.

I did a study on sparrows and began to get a revelation of David’s immense Creator God who was interested in every tiny detail of His creation!

Sparrows! Like all birds, sparrows are wonderfully made. Their thin, small bones are strong and specially equipped for flying. Modern science still cannot copy the intricate wing system that allows them to migrate two and three thousand miles. Each sparrow has from 1,300 to 2,600 feathers. How intricate and detailed they are! Our Creator God designed them perfectly. He designed every bone, every feather—and He counted every one of them.

Most sparrows build their nests in the ground and during Christ’s time they were trapped with trip nets into which they fell while preparing their nests. In Jerusalem Jesus saw sparrows being sold on a skewer, two for a penny. They had all been trapped with trip nets because Jews could not eat those that died by themselves.

Of these birds Jesus said, “Not one of them was trapped without My Father's knowledge.” He knew where each one of them was until its little lungs took its last breath. He fed them. He knew every sparrow—even those on the skewers.
 

Paul introduced the possibility of falling into a satanic setup in his letters to Timothy. He understood the dangers of a satanic trap or snare: “Lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7). But he also gave a recovery from that satanic trap: “That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).

The Greek word for “snare” used in both of these Scriptures means a setup, the preparation of a noose for the neck. It refers to a well-conceived trap. “The proud have hid a snare for me . . . they have set [traps] for me” (Psalm 140:5). It is clear that Satan is building a gallows.

Years ago The New York Times had a front-page picture of a fallen evangelist in handcuffs. He was weeping! Incoherent! Chained! Satan had set a trap, a well-conceived, well-planned snare for this brother.

I don’t care who you are, how holy and pure you are, how long you’ve walked with God, or how old or young you are. I don’t care how much you insist you couldn’t do anything like that—beware! The devil is out to trap you, too. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).

Do you know that all of us have the capacity to fall just as low, just as far into horrible sin with all its deception, cover-ups, lies and uncontrollable lusts?

When I saw the fallen evangelist’s picture I did not ask, “How could he do such foolish things with his eyes wide open?” Instead, I wept, saying inwardly, “Lord, that could have been me! We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Looking back I can see where the devil laid numerous well-planned and intricate traps for me because he wanted to destroy me. I can say with David, “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped” (Psalm 124:7).
 

The Lord desires a people who will keep faith even if they suffer the loss of all things.

“But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions . . . and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance” (Hebrews 10:32, 34).

This is speaking of God’s people who had been greatly afflicted “after they were illuminated.” They had seen the light! Their goods were lost, but faith made them joyful because their eyes were on a more “enduring substance.”

If you lost all your earthly possessions, would you cast away your confidence?

Paul kept the faith in good times and bad times. In his final days he could boast, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). He could say, “Satan sent messengers to fight me in Jerusalem, Damascus, Asia, Ephesus, Antioch, and Corinth. But I kept the faith! Five times the Jews beat me with thirty-nine stripes. I’ve been cast into prison so many times, beaten with rods three times, stoned, robbed, even by my own countrymen—but I kept the faith!

“I’ve been so weary at times, full of pain, hungry, thirsty, cold and naked, loaded down with cares of all kinds, yet I kept the faith. I’ve been troubled, perplexed, distressed, persecuted, but never cast down, never destroyed, never shaken in my faith.”

These words will sustain us in the days ahead: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord” (Psalm 112:7).

“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” (Psalm 121:7-8).

“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

“Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50:15).