Devotions

Whenever we receive a great deliverance from God, we thank him with our whole heart. And then we make him this sincere promise, “Lord, from now on, I won’t go anywhere or do anything until I inquire of you. I’m going to pray about everything.” But when a new crisis arises, we think we can rely on our old plans and successes and we end up taking matters into our own hands.

We reason, “God has given me a good mind and I’m supposed to use it. He wants me to figure things out.” Well, that’s true, but only after seeking his direction in prayer. We can never obtain the mind of God by relying on our own reasoning. The Lord may allow our self-made plans to work momentarily, but eventually we end up in total confusion.

The apostle Paul tells us that the carnal mind cannot understand the spiritual mind: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:5-7).

It is possible that in spite of your righteous walk, your devotion and worship, you are going your own way. If this is true, turn your eyes back toward God for his discernment and guidance. Cry out to him and trust in his faithfulness. “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand” (Psalm 121:5). Your Father longs to be the one who watches over you, guards you, and protects you.

How wonderful to know that our Lord is vigilant, protective, and he takes great joy in keeping and preserving his children. 

The Old Covenant consisted of a set of rules that said, “If you do this or that, God will give you life, but if you don’t, you’ll miss God’s blessing.” Of course, the people constantly fell short of God’s standard because his law was holy, and as a result, their lives were dogged by guilt and despair. When God gave us his New Covenant, however, he did not set up a new system with a new set of rules. Instead, he sent us a person.

God’s Old Covenant did not need to be changed in any way because Jesus himself came as the covenant — the blessing of grace! As the embodiment of the New Covenant, he shows us the impossibility of our ability to keep God’s law; in fact, his first act of ministry on earth was to make God’s law even more difficult for us. He did this in order to show us how we could never keep it without his grace and power.

In what is commonly known as The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke regarding the commandment not to commit murder: “Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22). He did the same regarding adultery: “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (5:28). But in this same sermon he explained what it looks like to walk as his followers and live a life of blessing and victory.

Under the New Covenant, God’s law was no longer an external standard to strive for. Instead, his law would be written on our hearts, through the Holy Spirit: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). We are filled with the Holy Spirit — the very life of God himself — and because of his great gift, we are enabled to live for him without guilt or shame.

Some of you who have known the Lord for a season may have gotten to the point where you feel like you are being passed over. You possess vast biblical knowledge, you know the Hebrew meanings of words, and you have a history with God. But next to you is an excited Christian who simply believes that all things are possible with God. He has perhaps a quarter of your knowledge yet he is pressing into something that has long eluded you — something that God told you but you had a hard time believing. 

Well, you have a choice to make! I don’t know about you, but I choose to live and die on the side of faith. I choose to believe that God can do exceedingly more than we can ask or think when we pray to Him. And I choose to believe that if we will walk humbly before God, He will do something in and through us that will touch this generation!

Has God planted something inside of you? Has the Holy Spirit been whispering to your heart? Perhaps the Lord has told you something — something that He desires to do through your life. You know it, God knows it, and now is the time to agree with it. After all, there comes a time in our walk with God when there is no longer any excuse for unbelief.

There comes a point when we must trust God, determined not to sit on the sidelines in silence and unbelief. Instead, we must allow God to be God in us — doing what only He can do, leading us where only He can take us, bringing honor to His name.

That is how the Church started, and that is how the Church will finish before Christ comes to take us home! We have come to the threshold of His return and we want to finish strong, walking in faith and longing to see Him! Hallelujah!

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. 

The Word of God reveals how God delivers us from the pursuit of sin in our lives.

“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

What a wonderful, freeing truth! God comes to us in our deluded, bound condition with powerful promises of full and complete deliverance. He says, “I pledge to deliver you and keep you from sin and I will give you a heart to obey me. Now let my promises lay hold of you!” 

We are led out of our sin as we lay hold of God’s promises. Think about it for a moment. Peter is saying that the believers he was addressing in this epistle had “escaped the corruption that is in the world.” These Christians escaped sin because they were given divine power — life and godliness — through their faith in his promises!

Beloved, your Father wants you to know fullness of joy in Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to go into the depths of your being and remove everything that is unlike Christ. Then that joy will break out! 

Pray to the Lord right now: “Oh, Father, I agree with you about my sin. The stench of my compromise has reached into heaven and I know it has to go immediately! I receive your loving, divine ultimatum and I lay everything before you. Set fire to anything in me that is wicked and let your promises take hold of my heart.” 

God’s people have an important question facing them in these last days. Do you believe God is able to see you through while the foundations of the world are shaking? Satan is roaring like a maddened lion, and everywhere there is confusion, violence, and uncertainty.

Those who trust in the Lord, fixed and established in their confidence in him, will stand still and see God’s salvation — with hearts and minds totally at peace. They will enjoy rest, untouched by violence and fear, and sleep unafraid of conditions around them, rejoicing in hope!

The Lord asked two blind men who begged him for mercy and healing, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). When they answered in the affirmative, their eyes were opened (see verse 29).

And today the Lord asks us, “Do you believe I am able to direct and guide you? Do you believe I am still at work on your behalf? Or do you harbor secret thoughts that I have forsaken you and let you down?”

Several verses of scripture should bring great comfort and assurance to our hearts:

• “Whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).
• “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever” (Psalm 125:1).
• “Trust in Him at all times, you people . . . God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).

God’s Word is full of glorious promises for all who trust in him! We keep wanting to do things, to give up things, to sacrifice, to work and suffer. And all the while what he desires most is our complete trust. His Word is clear. God is pleased with nothing short of our faith: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).