Devotions

Many believers don’t want to believe that they will suffer hardship or know pain, but scripture has a very different word for us.

• “Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up…Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good…and do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble” (Psalm 69:15-17, NKJV). Clearly waters of affliction flood the lives of the godly.
• “For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.… We went through fire and through water” (Psalm 66:10-12). Who brings us into a net of afflictions? God himself does.
• “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I keep Your word…. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:67, 71). These verses make it perfectly clear. It’s good for us—it even blesses us—to be afflicted.

Consider the Psalmist’s testimony: “I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications…. The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!” (Psalm 116:1-4). Here was a faithful servant who loved God and had great faith; yet he faced the sorrows of pain, trouble and death.

We find this theme throughout the Bible. God’s Word loudly declares that the path of the faithful is through the floods and fires: “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth…. I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2). “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13).

This last verse holds an important key: In every wilderness we face, our Father is holding our hand, yet only those who go through the wilderness get this hand of comfort. He outstretches it to those who are caught in raging rivers of trouble.

Putting on our new self is really important for Christians. It will affect the way we live our lives. It will affect the way that we receive the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. It has an impact on every aspect of our lives. Putting on the new self is the way to live out that new life that God gives us.

This is critical because it shows that a real meeting with God has taken place and the transformation of our hearts has begun.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:2-5, ESV).

Some people read this verse and set to work trying to put on this new self with their own efforts. If we do this, though, we’re going to be disappointed. Rules, regulations and ‘self-made religion’ cannot help us put on this new self.

This is what Paul meant in Colossians 2:23 when he said, “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body…” Paul is telling the Colossian church to be careful that they don’t try to move themselves to the kingdom of light in their own strength.

Trying to be spiritual and putting on this new self in our own strength will fail eventually. Instead, every day when you wake up, ask God for the grace of the new self. Ask for him to give you a soft heart toward his will and the good of others. 

According to Paul, we who believe in Jesus have been raised up from spiritual death and are seated with him in a heavenly realm. “Even when we were dead in trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6, NKJV).

Where is this heavenly place where we’re seated with Jesus? It is none other than God’s own throne room, the throne of grace, the dwelling place of the Almighty. Two verses later we read how we were brought to this wonderful place: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (2:8).

This throne room is the seat of all power and dominion. It’s the place where God rules over all principalities and powers and where he reigns over the affairs of men. Here in the throne room, he monitors every move of Satan and examines every thought of man.

Christ is seated at the Father’s right hand. Scripture tells us, “All things were made through Him” (John 1:3) and “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). In Jesus resides all wisdom and peace, all power and strength, everything needed to live a victorious, fruitful life; and we’re given access to all those riches that are in Christ.

Paul is telling us, “As surely as Christ was raised from the dead, we’ve been raised up with him by the Father. As surely as Jesus was taken to the throne of glory, we’ve been taken with him to the same glorious place. Because we are in him, we are also where he is. That’s the privilege of all believers. It means we are seated with him in the same heavenly place where he dwells.”

Paul says that all spiritual blessings are bestowed in the throne room. All the riches of Christ are available to us: steadfastness, strength, rest, ever-increasing peace. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

When I talk about a great awakening, I mean what Paul describes as a revelation and enlightenment: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:17-19, NKJV).

Paul was telling the Ephesians, “I pray that God will give you a fresh revelation, that he’ll open your eyes to the calling he’s given you. I’m asking him to give you new understanding about your inheritance, the riches in Christ that belong to you.”

According to Paul, “[God’s mighty power] which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,” is the same “exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe” (1:20, 19). For this reason, Paul exhorts, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

How are we to examine ourselves? We do it by measuring ourselves against the awesome promises of God. We’re to ask ourselves: “Do I access Christ’s power to overcome sin? Do I live continually in the joy, peace and rest Jesus has promised to every believer without exception?”

Your personal “great awakening” comes the day you look at your life and cry out, “There has to be more to life in Christ than this. All my plans have unraveled, all my dreams have been shattered. I’m living as a slave to my fears and fleshly lusts. But I know the Lord has called me to more than this defeated life. Oh, God, is there actually a place where you’ll supply me with strength to live victoriously?

“Is it really possible for me to have continual intimacy with you? Is it true I don’t have to slide into apathy anymore or struggle to please you? Help me find the place of rest in you where I’ll never again need revival because my faith remains steadfast!”

“As 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” (2 Peter 1:3, NKJV).

For years, I’ve claimed to be filled with the Spirit. I have testified that I’ve been baptized in the Spirit. I’ve preached that the Holy Spirit empowers me to witness and that he sanctifies me. I’ve prayed in the Spirit, talked to the Spirit, walked in the Spirit and heard his voice. I truly believe the Holy Spirit is the power of God.

I can take you to the place where I was filled with the Spirit at eight years of age. I’ve read everything that scripture says about the Holy Spirit. Yet lately, I’ve found myself praying, “Do I really know this incredible power that lives in me? Or is the Spirit just a doctrine to me? Am I somehow ignoring him? Am I not asking him to do for me what he came to do?”

The fact is you can have something very valuable and not know it. You can’t enjoy what it is you have because you don’t understand how valuable it is.

There’s a story about a farmer who worked his small farm his whole life. For decades he tilled the rocky soil, living poor and finally dying in discontent. At his death, the farm was passed down to his son. One day, while plowing, the son found a gold-streaked nugget. He had it appraised and was told it was pure gold. The young man soon discovered that the farm was full of gold. Instantly, he became a wealthy man. That wealth was lost on his father, even though it was on the land his whole life.

So it is with the Holy Spirit. Many of us live in ignorance of what we have, of the power that resides in us. Some Christians live their entire lives thinking they have all the Holy Spirit brings, yet they truly haven’t received him in fullness and power. He isn’t accomplishing in them the eternal work he was sent to do.

Dear believer, don’t let this be you! Plead with God to make you aware of the full measure of his Spirit.