Devotions

In many ways, the disciples who were with Jesus seemed to experience crazy situations without warning. In one case, they went out in a boat and a huge storm hit them. “They went and woke him [Jesus], saying, ‘Save us, Lord; we are perishing.’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’ Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?’” (Matthew 8:25-27, ESV). It almost seems as if this came up suddenly like a test for them.

How many of us experienced pop quizzes in school? I hated pop quizzes when I was growing up. I was one of those guys who would study for the midterm and the final. Pop quizzes, though, meant that I constantly needed to keep up and know what was happening.

Think about it. Those quizzes weren’t revelations about the teacher or the material; they were revelations about us. If we were keeping up with what we were being taught in class and knew the material, those quizzes showed it. If we weren’t, they showed that too.

Christianity doesn't work on a midterm and final test basis. It works on pop quizzes that abruptly show up and reveal where we are in our relationship with God. Wild stuff happens, and many Christians today aren’t ready for it any more than the disciples were prepared for that storm. Here comes the revelation. Jesus told his disciples that their poor reaction wasn’t a fear issue; it was a faith issue.

The wind and the waves, the things causing your fear, aren’t the problem. When you have big waves and little faith, you're going to have a fear problem. If you have big waves and big faith, you’ll rest in knowing God's got this. That's where God wants to meet us and help us. So when you’re in a turbulent moment, embrace the pop quiz life. Ask God to increase the faith in your heart. That's what God is asking us to do. Trust him, and grow in your trust of him.

^{After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.}

“Then Jesus lifted up his eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do” (John 6:5-6, NKJV). Jesus took Philip aside and said, “Philip, there are thousands of people here. They are all hungry. Where are we going to buy enough bread to feed them? What do you think we should do?”

How incredibly loving of Christ! Jesus knew all along what he was going to do, yet the Lord was trying to teach Philip something, and the lesson he was imparting to him applies to each of us today. Think about it. How many in Christ’s body sit up half the night trying to figure out their problems? We think, “Maybe this will work. No, no… Maybe that will solve it. No…”

Philip and the apostles didn’t have just a bread problem. They had a bakery problem…and a money problem…and a distribution problem…and a transportation problem…and a time problem. Add it all up, and they had problems they couldn’t even imagine. Their situation was absolutely impossible.

Jesus knew all along exactly what he going to do. He had a plan, and the same is true of your troubles and difficulties today. There is a problem, but Jesus knows your whole situation. He comes to you, asking, “What are we going to do about this?”

The correct answer from Philip would have been, “Jesus, you are God. Nothing is impossible with you. I’m giving this problem over to you. It’s no longer mine but yours.”

God’s holy Word assures us, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Rest in that promise, and then cry out in full faith, “Lord, you are the miracle worker, and I’m going to surrender all my doubts and fears to you. I entrust this entire situation and my whole life into your care. I know you won’t allow me to faint. In fact, you already know what you’re going to do about my problem. I trust in your power.”

Do you know it is possible to walk before the Lord with a perfect heart? If you are hungering for Jesus, you may already be desiring and earnestly trying to obey this command of the Lord. I want to encourage you that it is possible, or God would not have given us such a call. Having a perfect heart has been part of the life of faith from the time God told Abraham, “I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1, NKJV).

To come to grips with the idea of perfection, we first must understand that perfection does not mean a sinless, flawless existence. No, perfection in the Lord’s eyes means something entirely different. It means maturity and completeness.

The Hebrew and Greek meanings of “perfection” include “uprightness, having neither spot nor blemish, being totally obedient.” It means to finish what has been started, to make a complete performance. John Wesley called this concept of perfection “constant obedience.” A perfect heart is a responsive heart, one that answers the Lord’s whisperings and warnings quickly and totally. Such a heart says at all times, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Show me the path, and I will walk in it.”

The perfect heart cries out with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).  

The perfect heart wants the Holy Spirit to come and search out the innermost man, to shine into all hidden parts, to expose and dig out all that is unlike Christ. Those who hide a secret sin, however, do not want to be searched or convicted.

The Lord’s heart-searching are not vindictive but redemptive. His purpose is not to catch us in sin or condemn us but rather to prepare us to come into his holy presence as clean, pure vessels. “Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…He shall receive blessing from the Lord” (Psalm 24:3-5). The perfect heart yearns for more than security or a covering for sin. It seeks to be in God’s presence always and dwell in communion. This means talking with the Lord, sharing sweet fellowship with him, seeking his face and knowing his presence.

The Old Testament is filled with God’s miracle-working power from the parting of the Red Sea, to God speaking to Moses from the burning bush, to Elijah calling down fire from heaven. All these were instantaneous miracles. The people involved could see and feel them happening. They are the kinds of miracles we want to see today, causing awe and wonder. We want God to rend the heavens, come down to our situation and fix things in a burst of heavenly power.

Much of God’s wonder-working power in his people’s lives, though, comes in what are called “progressive miracles.” These are miracles that are hardly discernable to the eye. They’re not accompanied by thunder, lightning or any visible movement. Progressive miracles start quietly, without fanfare and slowly but surely unfold.

Both kinds of miracles, instantaneous and progressive, were witnessed at Christ’s two feedings of the multitudes. The healings he performed were immediate, visible, easily discerned by those present on those days. I think of the crippled man with a gnarled body who suddenly had an outward, physical change so that he could run and leap. Here was a miracle that had to astonish and move all who saw it.

However, the feedings that Christ did were progressive miracles. Jesus offered up a simple prayer of blessing with no fire, thunder or earthquake. He merely broke the bread and the dried fish, never giving a sign or sound that a miracle was taking place. To feed that many people, there had to be thousands of breakings of that bread and those fish, all through the day. Every single piece of bread and fish was a part of the miracle.

This second way is how Jesus performs many of his miracles in his people’s lives today. We pray for instantaneous, visible wonders; but often our Lord is quietly at work, forming a miracle for us piece by piece. We may not be able to hear it or touch it, but he is at work, shaping our deliverance beyond what we can see.

It may be that you are waiting for a miracle. You’re discouraged because things seem to be at a standstill. You do not see any evidence of God’s supernatural work on your behalf. You may be in the middle of a miracle right now and simply not see it.

Jesus prayed for his disciples, “That that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us… And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one: I in them, and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me” (John 17:21-23, NKJV).

Jesus said, in essence, “The glory that you gave me, Father, I have given to them.” What is this glory that was given to Christ, and how do our lives reveal that glory? It is not some aura or emotion; it is unimpeded access to the heavenly Father. What an amazing thought!

Jesus made it easy for us to access through the cross to the Father. “He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17-18). By faith, we’ve come into a place of unimpeded access to God. We’re not like Esther in the Old Testament. She had to wait for a sign from the king before she could approach the throne. Only after he held out his scepter was Esther approved to come forward.

By contrast, you and I are already in the throne room. We have the right and privilege of speaking to the King at any time. Indeed, we’re invited to make any request of him. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Christ said, “I can do nothing on my own. I do only what the Father tells me and shows me” (see John 5:19). Today we have been given the same degree of access to the Father that Christ had. You may say, “Wait a minute. I have the same access to the Father that Jesus did?”

Make no mistake. Like Jesus, we’re to pray often and fervently, waiting on the Lord. In response, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the mind and will of the Father.