Devotions

“We should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). The apostle Paul wrote those words when he had hit rock bottom. He was saying, in essence, “The Lord brought me to the end of all human help. It was a place so hopeless that only the God of resurrection power could rescue me!”

God sometimes allows you to be driven to the very end of your rope, into deep suffering, so that you will lose all confidence in your ability to save yourself. What a wonderful place to be — at the end of your rope. But it doesn’t sound so wonderful, does it? Especially in a culture that has been spoon-fed the concept of self-sufficiency. We have countless volumes written on how to handle trouble, loneliness, sorrow, temptation. But it is all focused on our flesh, our ability to extricate ourselves from our difficulties.

Beloved, how many times have you tried to work out all your troubles by yourself? Maybe you have been flooded with temptations that overwhelmed you to the point that you cried out, “Oh, God, you know I love you with all my heart but I’m being sorely tempted. I despise this, Lord. I just don’t understand!”

I have learned a precious lesson through all my trials: I found the way of escape! “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 coming to the end of your own strength and turning absolutely to God. It is saying, “I do not trust in myself anymore. God, I put everything on You and I trust you totally. I know you will end my suffering in your time and in your way!”

After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, they hid from God when they heard him walking in the garden in the cool of the day (see Genesis 3:8). And after David sinned with the wife of one of his chief warriors and then arranged for the man to be killed in battle so he could marry that same woman, we see David retreat into himself. He refused to go to battle and hid in the palace instead. He had lost all his fight and was afraid to have to face God with unconfessed sin.

David never thought he had gotten away with sin; on the contrary, he was a very troubled, guilt-ridden man who wrote out of the anguish of his heart: “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:11-12). 

In the case of Adam and Eve and also David, God’s abundant blessings had been evident, yet sin entered in. They hid from God out of guilt but their loving Father pursued them out of his great love and brought them back into fellowship with him.

Likewise, if you are running from God because of unconfessed sin, he sees your agony and grieves over it. He takes no pleasure in seeing you in pain and he will make the first move to reconcile you to his heart. He may send somebody to rebuke and challenge you, as he sent the prophet Nathan to King David (see 2 Samuel 12:1-15), or he may use another means. But his love for you will not allow him to just sit by and let you go.

The mercy of God is completely beyond me! But when you are broken before him, even though there may be painful consequences to your sin, his grace enables you to come out of the shadows and renew your fellowship with him.  

One of the ministries most needed in the Church today is that of consolation — comforting others in their time of trouble and affliction. Many believers simply do not know where to turn when they hurt.

The apostle Paul was as godly a servant of the Lord as ever walked on the earth, yet he endured suffering so overwhelming and powerful that he was utterly at a loss. In fact, at times he was so distraught that he thought death was at the door. Yet he referred to our heavenly Father as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). He said further in the same chapter, “We were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life” (1:8).

In referring to God as “the Father of mercies,” Paul was showing that he had learned from his sufferings. He was even able to rejoice in all his tribulations because he knew they were a kind of schooling for him. He had learned to say, “God has a purpose in this! People are going to need my influence, my comfort and my consolation.” In his sufferings, Paul had learned the valuable lesson of drawing consolation from the Lord. 

When you suffer in your body, you become very patient with others who are suffering. You gain a newfound empathy for others. When you suffer and yet you dearly love the Lord (and are not hiding sin), you no longer look at another’s suffering and say, “I wonder what they did to deserve that.”

People who have endured suffering and come through faithful to God become strong, mellow and patient. They also possess the gentleness of Christ. It is encouraging to be around such people!

If you are suffering, trust God to see you through it. People will see you gain victory and consolation through the power of God alone and they will be attracted to what you have.

The familiar Scripture describing Jesus’ purpose on earth is found in Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 

Wherever Jesus went, his heart was touched by the needs of the people. Whenever he saw someone in need of healing, he would stop and heal them. In fact, he would go out of his way, if necessary, to find those in need. When people got hungry, Jesus fed them. He had great compassion for the hurting, the crippled, the blind, those who were like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus was not an itinerant healer, although he healed wherever he went. He was not an itinerant social advocate, although he showed compassion. Primarily Jesus was a preacher! “Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark1:14). He came to set the captives free, to preach the good news of his saving power, to communicate the gospel.

If each of us could capture the same vision Jesus had, his primary mission on the face of the earth would also become our primary mission. We would be so full of the love of Christ that nothing could keep us from proclaiming it. People around us would not be able to escape the name of Jesus being mentioned to them. And believe me, words are necessary! Actions are good but there is no true proclamation of the gospel without words.

Don’t be ashamed to speak about Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit empower you in such a way that the words just flow through you naturally. Jesus wants us to use the gospel to communicate truth and life to others.

Growing old in the world is fearful but in the Body of Christ, power is given to old age — a power beyond prophesying and seeing visions. At the end of life, the people whom you love, the ones closest to you, and those whom God has put under your care are the most important.

When you get old in the Body of Christ, you do not have to curl up and die. You can start living! Our cry must be, “Oh, God, turn our hearts to the children of this generation. No matter how far away they might seem, give us the courage to speak into their lives and leave a lasting impact.”

Perhaps in the past your words were not what they should have been, but this can be a new day. Despite our flaws and frailties, God remains faithful and will empower us to speak to the next generation.

It is amazing when you realize that you have the power of speech to make a difference in somebody’s life. I remember as a young Christian, I went through a season when I felt like a failure and I ended up under this cloud of despair for a couple of months.

One day I was out with an older police officer named Doug, a Christian, and he asked me, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m so discouraged,” I explained. “I feel like a failure. I want to be different, but it’s just hopeless.”

He looked at me and said, “That is just the devil trying to condemn you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I know you want God, so let’s just put that attitude away.”

To this day I still remember the words that he spoke over my life! They were not especially profound but they were spoken by an older man into a younger man’s life. And they enabled me to get up again.

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.