Devotions

A number of years ago on the opening night of a crusade in London, England, the crowd that gathered was a diverse one — hippies, punk rockers, addicts, goths, hookers, homeless people, and more. Everywhere I looked were kids with purple, green and orange hair. Most were wearing black clothes emblazoned with satanic symbols, and their bodies were pierced in just about every conceivable place. I had never seen so many confused and broken young people.

My wife, Gloria, had a seat on the front row of the auditorium. As I was preparing to go on stage, I looked over in her direction and saw a young man sit down in the seat next to her. He looked frightening — a Goth with all the trimmings! As he shifted to one side, I noticed something crawling over his lap. I looked intently and realized it was a black rat on a small leash.

Gloria is terrified of rats and at first she didn’t notice; I hoped it would continue that way. But when the young man turned his head away from her, I saw her glance in his direction, just in time to see the rat crawling across his lap.

Gloria knows that I love her and would never allow anything happen to her, but I would not kick a person out of a crusade, especially someone so obviously in need of Jesus. So catching her eye, I motioned for her to stay calm. I’m not sure she got the message but she remained in her seat, stiff as a board throughout the whole service — a real trouper.

Later, during the altar call, this young man was the first to step forward and receive Christ. He stood down front with the rat in his hand and his head bowed. Tears rolled down his face as a volunteer worker laid hands on him and prayed with him to receive Christ.

“And then He told them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone’” (Mark 16:15, NLT).

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. 

When Moses heard the voice of God come from the burning bush, he was surprised at what God asked him to do: “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). God tells every Christian today the same thing He told Moses: “There is only one ground upon which you can approach Me and that is holy ground. You can have no confidence in your flesh because no flesh will stand in My presence.”

Why did God focus on shoes in the Exodus passage? What does that have to do with putting off the flesh? Our feet are tender parts of our body and shoes are a protection of our flesh. They protect us from the elements, from stones, from snakes, from filth and dust, from the hot pavement.

So to Moses, God was using an everyday, ordinary thing to teach a spiritual lesson, just as Jesus did later using coins, pearls, camels and mustard seeds. God was saying, “Moses, you wear protective garb to keep your flesh from injury but no amount of fleshly protection will be able to keep you. Where I am about to send you will require a miracle of deliverance.”

Where was God sending Moses? Into Egypt — that den of iniquity — to face a hardened dictator. Moses had to put aside all reliance on his flesh: his meekness, zeal and humility. All his abilities would be worthless unless God sanctified them. Moses had to put his total trust in God’s name and power.

Indeed, Moses faced all kinds of tests and trials. He was about to lead some three million people into the desert where there was no place to buy food or no place to obtain water. He would have to depend wholly on God for everything!

God would ask the same question to us as He asked Moses. Are we willing to put down our own abilities and ambitions and trust wholly in Him? Will we put all our confidence in Him instead of in our own gifts and plans?

I believe every episode or story in the Old Testament is full of truth for New Testament believers. Whenever I have difficulty understanding a New Testament truth, I turn back to its foreshadowing in the Old Testament. One such example concerns Moses at the burning bush. I believe this particular story is full of profound New Testament truth regarding holiness.

Alone on Mount Horeb, Moses was herding the sheep of his father-in-law when suddenly a strange sight caught his attention. A nearby bush was burning brightly — yet it was not consumed!

“Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush” (Exodus 3:3-4). Going in for a closer look, Moses heard God call out to him from the bush — living proof that God was present, a visual representation of His holiness. Indeed, wherever He is, that place is holy!

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). In other words, “It is written, recorded, settled once and for all that we are to be holy, even as our God is holy.”

“For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7). God has not called us just to salvation, or to heaven, or to receive His pardon. Rather, these are benefits of our one true call — which is to be holy as He is holy. 

Every believer in Jesus Christ is called to be holy — to be pure and blameless in God’s sight. So, if you have been born again, holiness must be the cry of your heart: “God, I want to be like Jesus. I truly want to walk holy before You all the days of my life.”  

“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:12).

This passage from Revelation tells us that Satan has declared all-out war on God’s people. It also mentions that the devil has a deadline to complete his work: Because he knows that he has a short time.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are constantly to be aware that the devil is out to destroy us. Therefore, Paul says that we need to know as much as we can about the enemy’s tactics and plans: “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). This does not mean the devil is hovering in the cosmos somewhere giving orders to his demonic hosts. We know that Satan was cast down to earth when Christ defeated him at the cross. Thus, the devil’s kingdom is limited to the here and now (see Revelation 12:12).

Some Christians believe that Satan is omnipotent (possessing all power) but he has been defeated by Jesus and stripped of all authority. And Satan is not omniscient (he cannot read minds!) nor is he omnipresent. He cannot be everywhere at one time.

But Satan does have principalities and powers stationed throughout the earth and these hosts of demons feed him intelligence at his beck and call. They hear you when you pray, and they see your obedience to God. That is what stirs up Satan’s wrath against you!

When the Word says the devil has only a short time, it is not referring to the time he has before the return of Christ. It is about continual deadlines, a series of short times he has in which to accomplish his work and make war against God’s saints.  

Sincere Christians have asked me, “Whom do we believe? I have read the works of many ministers through the years who seemed convinced that the end was very near. Yet over and over they’ve missed it. I think some were just trying to sell their book while others truly thought God was telling them the end was upon us.”

At times I have been utterly broken before God, loudly crying out to Him, “Lord, for many years I’ve been preaching that judgment is at the door. I’ve delivered warnings about a coming economic crisis, yet I only see the opposite happening. I see America prospering and going cheerfully on its way while killing babies in the womb, sliding into the pits of filth, and pushing you out of every institution. How long, Lord?”

Jeremiah spent years faithfully prophesying events that had not yet been fulfilled. He cried out, “O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, ‘Violence and plunder!’ Because the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily” (Jeremiah 20:7-8).

But Jeremiah could not stop warning God’s people. Even though his prophecies seemed to be unfounded, he kept prophesying. I feel the same fire burning in my soul that Jeremiah felt and I’m more convinced than ever that God has “set His face” against this nation for its bloodshed and arrogance against His name, and His judgment is due!

On the other hand, I thank God for the many promises in His Word to protect and bless His people in and through all storms. God’s praying people do not need to fear, nor should we worry or fret.

“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You” (Psalm 9:9-10).