Devotions

Jesus was traveling by boat with His disciples (Mark 5:1-18), when He took them across the Sea of Galilee to the region of Gerasenes, a land inhabited by Gentiles. When Jesus got out of the boat, a demon-possessed man ran toward Him and fell to his knees. The demons shouted at Jesus, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God!” And the demons begged Him to have mercy on them.

Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?” But his answer came again from the demons within him: “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

A herd of pigs was feeding nearby, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to enter into the animals. The demons knew that they had no authority and power in the presence of God’s glory. Satan loves to taunt and ridicule helpless people, but when Jesus shows up, the devil quickly turns into the weak and pathetic loser he really is.

That is another aspect of life that has not changed. Only today, Satan is forced to cower and hide not just at the sight of Jesus but of any follower of Christ. The name of Jesus in the mouth of a believer has awesome power!

Giving the demons permission to enter into the body of a bunch of nasty pigs was a fitting irony, and Jesus let them do it. At once the pigs plunged off a nearby cliff to their deaths. To me, this has always seemed a perfect foreshadowing of what Satan and his demons have to look forward to on the Day of Judgment.

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run. 

I have a short message for those who are experiencing a painful, overwhelming situation. I am not speaking to those who now enjoy a time of rest from suffering, who are not in any kind of pain or sorrow. Thank God for those times of quiet rest.

Rather, I receive many letters from precious followers of Jesus who are living with incredible inner sorrow and crisis situations: divorce, children on drugs or in jail, the death of a spouse. A woman deeply in love with the Lord grieves over the death of her children, who suffocated in a fire. A pastor grieves for his wife, who left him and his children for a lesbian lover.

I have a message for you godly people who are suffering. In Psalm 40, David cried, “Innumerable evils have surrounded me. . . Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 40:12-13). “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You. . . But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God” (40:16-17). 

I have been so blessed and comforted by this one line in verse 17: “The Lord thinks upon me.” Imagine that! The Lord who created all things, the God of this universe, thinks about me. Even now, in your hour of need, His thoughts are about you.

When Israel was captive in Babylon, mourning over the loss of homes and families, God sent word to them through Jeremiah: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). God said to His people, “Your nightmare is going to end. I have only good, loving thoughts toward you, and if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me.”

Pour out your heart to the Lord. He is thinking of you!

The Holy Spirit prompted me to read Exodus 12, which contains the account of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.

On the door of every Israelite home, the blood of a lamb was stricken on the two side-posts and lintel. This was to protect God’s people from the passing angel of death. When the day came, a multitude of Israelites marched out of captivity, including 600,000 men plus women and children. “On that very same day . . . all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:41).

In the next chapter, I stopped at verse 3, which reads: “For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place” (13:3). God’s people were delivered by the Lord’s strength alone, not by human means.

David declares, “God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect. . . He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. . . He is a shield to all who trust in Him” (2 Samuel 22:33, 17, 18, 31).

Our faith and strength may grow weak, but in our times of weakness God has given us marvelous promises to renew and strengthen us.

Beloved, do you believe our God is strong? If He is strong, no power can stand before Him. Therefore, commit everything into His mighty hand of strength and power. He will make a way. Most of all, believe this word: “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul” (Psalm 138:3).

God love and bless you!

Jesus said to His disciples, “The fields are white, ready to harvest.” The harvest is an ingathering of souls in the last days and the law of the harvest is that the darker the days, the whiter the harvest. Right now, many souls are ripe for harvest all over the world.

But there is another harvest in these last days. The Lord was speaking prophetically about what He foresaw coming in our time: a harvest of golden-ripe faith in the hearts of His people. Our Lord wants a tested, suffering people who will rise up in the midst of distress and trouble and proclaim, “I trust my God!”

Jesus does not expect faith from the worldly crowd. When He wondered aloud, “Will I find faith on the earth when I return?” He was not speaking of sinners. But we who love Him are also told, “He who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him” (Psalm 32:10). God promises that His goodness is “laid up . . . for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men” (31:19).

I can say with the Psalmist David, “I have known trouble, much suffering, financial need, the sorrow of the death of loved ones, the slander of those I loved who turned against me. I have known personal pain. There were times I thought things were hopeless. Times of temptation. Times of weeping until no tears were left.”

Some of my suffering was self-imposed, caused by ignorance or foolishness. But now I can boldly testify: God has never failed me. Through all the trouble, pain and sufferings, I have come through with joy and a strong trust in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. Here is the testimony He desires to hear from all of His tested children: “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice . . . and shout for joy, all you upright in heart” (32:11).

We rejoice in the faithfulness of our Lord. 

Growing numbers of Christians are no longer fully satisfied with Christ. The Lord is being dethroned by what He Himself called thorns — which He defined as the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things entering into the heart. Christ said these are the thorns that choke the Word and cause it to become unfruitful (see Mark 4:7).

Is the Lord more on your mind today than a year ago? Do you spend more time in His presence today than a year ago? Is your passion for Him growing or withering?

Many of those who were once passionately in love with Christ now run about pursuing their own interests. They’re burdened down with stress and problems, chasing after riches and the things of this world. They have grown cold or lukewarm, and they have less and less time for Jesus. The Lord and His church now get only an hour of their time — on Sunday mornings.

Jesus said, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered” (John 15:6). In other words, that person is drying up, no longer drawing life from the true vine. He is deceived by thinking all is well, because he still speaks the language of the intimacy he once enjoyed with Christ.

The Holy Spirit is calling people back to their first love. Back to hungering and thirsting for more of Christ. Back to spending quality time in His presence; loving His Word; casting all cares upon Him; depending on Him for guidance.

Christ yearns for His beloved to return to Him with love and obedience. The Holy Spirit is stirring our hearts to draw us closer to Himself.