Devotions

In the Old Testament times, when they made the anointing oil, they took it through three different presses. The first one crushed the olives, then the second one squeezed the juice out, and then the third one took the olive skins and squeezed them one more time. The result was very pure oil. That's like the process of sanctification. The Holy Spirit acts like those oil presses with our hearts. 

The Lord has been dealing with my heart for the past few weeks. The Lord's been trying to teach me about being humble, about not comparing myself to other ministries, not comparing myself to people down the street. Have you ever thought you didn’t struggle with certain things, but suddenly, the Lord puts a spotlight on it in your heart? Things you didn't even think were there, you find as God points it out. By the loving kindness and mercy and grace of God, he's wanting to squeeze that thing out of our hearts.

This process of squeezing, crushing and pouring us out is a long process. Sometimes when he’s doing this, it can cause us frustration. “God, why are you always on my case? Why are you always critical? Why do you seem to introduce hardship and struggles into my life? Why don't you just tell me I'm a good person?”

So maybe we go out and find a church, and they tell us how good we are. If you have a church or friends who only tell you what a good person you are, run. You and I need people in our lives who are willing to be like the prophet Nathan when he said to King David, “Thou art the man, the murderer, the adulterer.” There's this sin in your life that God is putting his finger on. He wants to press, purge and remove it from your heart and character. The apostle Paul described this in his letters, saying, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6, ESV).

We can allow this long process to frustrate us, or we can receive it as the grace it is intended to be. When we find ourselves once again in this pressing process, let’s say, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for the mercy of correction.”

Why do so many Christians whose souls are eternally secure fail to experience the abundant life God has promised to those who believe? Jesus promised us many things: forgiveness, rest, refreshment, comfort, hope, fruitfulness, friendship with God, and eternal life. However, few believers thoroughly enjoy these. Why?

I think it’s because most Christians fail to move past the do’s and don’ts of Christianity, or they turn salvation into a binary proposition. In the first case, they’re focusing on the wrong things, and in the second, they never grow into a fuller understanding of what God is offering. Both of these are based on bad theology.

I was raised in a religious context that focused on the don’ts almost exclusively. In a fear that people would respond inappropriately to grace, they never taught it. As you might imagine, this approach to faith leads to either fear or, in my case, a rejection of faith altogether. It wasn’t until I understood that there was nothing I could do to separate myself from the love of God that I was drawn into a life-giving relationship with my Heavenly Father that led to me enjoying all of the promises mentioned above.

I lived for so many years like everything was up to me. Much of this was related to the lousy theology described above. After all, orthopraxy (right actions) seldom flows from a lack of orthodoxy (correct belief). If you fail to understand that God has done and continues to do for you what you couldn’t do for yourself, you’ll spend the rest of your life working for something already accomplished. God set a pattern for rest in creation, and the writer of Hebrews connects the sabbath to the rest we’re called to enter into through Jesus’s work on the cross. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

Many American Christians have associated abundant life with the American dream rather than depending on God’s grace and provision. While I’m grateful for the abundance we experience, the truth is that it probably does more to separate us from the joy and rest that we’re promised than it provides these things.

When we begin to truly know God and his grace, we understand that there is no problem too big, no pain too great, and no need that surpasses his ability to meet.

_{Mark Renfroe and his wife, Amy, have been involved in field missions work for 30 years. Mark served as the area director for Assemblies of God World Missions and currently serves as the chief missions officer for World Challenge.}

Let me share some very healing thoughts about faith and love. I believe God works miracles in answer to the prayer of faith, and I believe every promise in God’s Word. Through much suffering and tears, I have discovered something wonderful about the way God works. What you are about to read should help renew your confidence in the Lord and set you free from the bondage of trying to figure out faith.

If you cannot give God perfect faith, give him perfect love. “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Perfect love is the rest God has for his people. He wants us to rest in his love, trusting that he will always come to our aid as a father to a hurting child in spite of our inadequate faith.

Stop evaluating or grading your faith. Stop trying to figure out faith. The Bible says, “Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). If you are going to specialize in anything, specialize in love; faith works by love.

If God does not answer certain of our prayers, we can be sure he has some great eternal reason for not doing so.

It boils down to this: God has all power and can do anything. Nothing is impossible to him. He has promised to answer every prayer in Christ’s name, so we must ask in full assurance of faith, expecting an answer. However, should God delay that answer or choose another path for us, he must have a mighty good reason for it all. We must believe that whatever God permits in our lives will one day all work to our good (see Romans 8:28).

Our heavenly Father knows exactly where we are going and what we need. He will give us what is best in proper Holy Ghost timing (see Matthew 7:11).

God will not permit you to be overcome by your trials. You may come to what you think of as your breaking point, yet you will survive and live to tell of his faithfulness if you will not harden you heart but fall into his arms, trusting his everlasting love.

God describes himself this way: “I taught Ephraim [Israel] to walk, taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them” (Hosea 11:3, NKJV). In the original language, this verse reads more like “I came to them in their despair and tenderly nursed them through foul, rugged places. I held them in my arms as a nurse.” However, Hosea 11:7 says, “My people are bent on backsliding from me.” The word ‘bent’ here means “hanging in suspense, hanging in doubt.”

Israel was not sure of the Lord’s love and tenderness, and God was saying to Hosea, “My people are doubting my love for them. They do not really know me, and they are unsure of my love.”

It was true! Israel could not believe God still loved them. They were idolaters, backsliders and doubters; and they were probably thinking, “We brought God’s displeasure on ourselves. We sinned willfully, and he will surely judge us.” All of this despite God saying, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? …My heart churns within me; my sympathy is stirred” (Hosea 11:8).

Listen to his words of comfort and healing for you.

“For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I have made” (Isaiah 57:16). The Lord was saying, “If all you saw in me was anger, your spirit would fail because it would be too overwhelming.”

“For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners” (Isaiah 57:17-18). Does this sound like God gives up on his people when they fail?

You may be going through deep waters right now. I do not mean temptation or trials necessarily. I am talking about overwhelming events that are being thrust on you that you cannot understand. Winds and waves of all kinds are flooding you, things beyond your comprehension. They are coming to your home, your church, your job, on all sides; but God wants to carry you through it all. He wants to restore you to spiritual health. If all you can believe right now is that he loves you in spite of all your stubborn ways, that he begs you to see him as your divine nurse, then that is enough!