Devotions

We all know the story well. King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, summoned every leader from his far-flung empire to gather together to honor false gods. The king erected a huge, golden image and the lavishly attired leaders — governors, princes, magistrates and officials of the provinces — along with all the people of the land were to conform to the king’s decree and bow before the image. And if they did not? An instant sentence of death.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three exceptional young Hebrew men, had been taken captive and brought to the palace, trained in the language, and appointed as leaders in the government. When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that everyone bow before his false god, these young men refused. Jealous leaders immediately reported them to the king who flew into a rage and had them brought before him. He thundered, “How dare any member of my own government stand against me in disobedience!”

In those days, violators of the king’s decrees were cast into a burning oven. The king ordered the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual and challenged Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego again: “Who will deliver you from my hands?” They answered, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:17).

You can be sure these three young men could feel the heat of the white-hot furnace and I’m certain they didn’t want to die. But they had an incredible faith placed in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and they were stalwart, unbending. The king and the royal party watched as the men were bound and thrown into the furnace.

Imagine their amazement when they saw the men walking about on top of the coals — and a fourth Man in the fire! Their bonds fell off and they raised their hands, praising God! Jesus was with them in their crisis and they walked out of the fire as a testimony to all.

The Bible makes it clear that demonic powers are at work laying traps for Christians. Satan is absolutely determined to overthrow every believer who walks in holiness and complete devotion to Jesus Christ. Now understand, Satan is not omnipresent — he cannot be everywhere at once — and he does not know all things. But he does have at his command multitudes of demonic beings, principalities and powers of darkness. And these powers of darkness are laying traps for you. “The wicked have laid a snare for me” (Psalm 119:110). “They have secretly set a snare for me” (Psalm 142:3).

Beloved, the devil is setting a trap for you that you cannot see. Therefore, you must be on guard at all times. He may use wicked people, he may use temptations of the flesh, or he may even use other Christians, but you can be sure Satan is out to trap you into sin. 

If you have fallen prey to his trap and now are living in bondage, you must realize your fall was most likely not premeditated. The devil knew of a weakness in you and he snared you in it. You may continually blame yourself, thinking, “How could I have done such a thing?” But beating yourself up is an absolute waste of time! You will never be able to figure out how you could have been so foolish, blind and reckless, so set your mind back on Jesus because I have incredible news for you. You are about to be set free!

If you have been trapped by the enemy in any way and fallen into his snare, yet you know you love God with your whole heart, the Lord will not allow you to remain the enemy’s victim. Read the Word of God with renewed devotion and ask the Holy Spirit to give you discernment. There is power in the name of Jesus and he will deliver you and protect you!

God takes the matter of worship very seriously. It is not a light thing to come into God’s house, a place blessed with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified’” (Leviticus 10:3).

The Lord was saying, “I will not be treated as an ordinary person. If you are going to enter into my presence, you must come before me carefully and responsibly because of my glory and majesty.” So many mental distractions can take place during prayer and worship, especially when we are in the house of God. Jesus actually called people hypocrites who came into his presence mouthing words of praise but whose minds and hearts were preoccupied. He spoke directly to them: “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me’” (Matthew 15:7-9).

What about you? Most likely you are present in God’s house for at least an hour every week. So your body is in church but where is your mind? Your lips say, “I worship you, Lord!” but where do you allow your thoughts to take you during praise and worship? To family problems? Business matters?

You may argue that everything your mind focuses on is God’s business — your family, your obligations. Yet, keep in mind that the people Jesus addressed were worshipers who drew near to him with their lips, maybe even raised their hands and praised loudly. But where were their hearts, their minds, as they worshiped? If they were distracted in thought, then their worship was hypocritical — and worthless!

Do not take lightly his holy presence! We need to be mindful of the sanctity of God’s house and enter with a reverent heart.

In John 20, we read the story of Mary Magdalene, who epitomizes the Bride whose heart is totally given to Christ. Apparently a woman of means, she ministered to the needs of Jesus with love and affection along with the other Mary’s in his life. She did this out of sheer gratitude, for the Bible says Jesus had cast out seven demons from her (see Luke 8:2).

As far as the world was concerned, Mary Magdalene was not an intellectual, and when the male disciples discussed deep theological things, she probably kept her thoughts to herself. Women of that day rarely spoke openly of spiritual matters in the presence of men. But Mary had something these learned intellectuals did not have — yes, something even deeper than Jesus’ disciples. She had a revelation!

“On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1). Mary had gone to the tomb very early in the morning, while the others were still asleep. When she found the tomb empty, she ran to find Peter and John, but after a while, when they saw that Jesus was no longer there, they went back to business as usual (see 20:2-10).

But not Mary! She wept as her spirit cried, “This world is intolerable without Jesus! I can’t go home without knowing where he is.” She was determined to stand there, gazing into the tomb, until her breaking heart was satisfied. “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him” (20:13).

Mary would not let go. Her devoted heart could be satisfied only by Jesus — he was her life! And sure enough, her devotion brought a wonderful revelation. While the other disciples rested in their homes, Mary had a visitation of the divine, seeing things nobody else could see — because her heart was given to Jesus (see 20:11-17).

The New Testament is so exciting — it shows us that Jesus was the exact representation of the Father and when we see Jesus, we see exactly what God is like. So full of love, grace, mercy, power, truth and righteousness! The Word of God tells us that we have taken on his divine nature because of the presence of Jesus in us.

“His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Can you imagine living a life without ever experiencing fear or terror at night? Or shame, guilt, condemnation, or a sense of unworthiness? What would your life be like with no stress or anxiety? Just think of it — and then grasp the truth that you are free from the bondage of these things because of who you are in Christ.

We are meant to live like Jesus. When we sin, it grieves the heart of the Father, of course, but the Holy Spirit convicts us and when we repent, Jesus forgives us and breaks every chain! We may not be walking in total victory at all times, but we are “pressing toward the prize” because Jesus dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).