Devotions

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Many think that Jesus is issuing an invitation to throngs of hurting people in this verse, but this is much more than an invitation. He is telling us — commanding us, in fact — to come to Him because He alone can supply the rest our souls need. 

Is it even possible for us to “come to Him” on our own? According to Jesus, it is not: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Why would Christ command us to do something we are unable to do?

He is giving us an important lesson here, one that is critical to the Christian life. When we are given a command, we cannot just charge ourselves up and say, “I can do this. I’m your man, Lord!” If we do that, we are in trouble before we begin. A command in the gospels exposes our inability. God does this on purpose because as He reveals to us His will, He also shows us our inability to achieve it on our own.

How wonderful that Jesus follows every impossible command with a promise. After He says, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him,” He immediately adds, “And I will raise him up on the last day” (verse 44). God will draw us to Himself but He will also raise us up into new, resurrection life. New life comes only through Him.

“Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:21, my emphasis). I love how the King James Version translates the last part of this verse: “That his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” 

God is fashioning the work in us. As soon as He reveals our inability, He reveals His ability and willingness to accomplish it all. 

Jesus confronted the Laodicean church, which represented the Church of the end times. He gave her this warning that reaches out across the centuries to speak to you and me today: “If you don’t repent, I will spew you out of My mouth” (see Revelation 3:16). What incredible words!

What is the crime, the unimaginable sin committed by the modern Church? Listen to the words of the One who, above all, seeks our faith, trust and surrender:  “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. . . Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and dine with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:15, 19-20).

This passage of Scripture, so often quoted, is not addressing a lost world in need of “letting Jesus in.” Rather, it directly and solemnly is a call to modern believers who are lazily lying on the bed of indifference, quite happy with themselves and the portion they have.

This generation has been diabolically blinded to the spiritual revelation that without a burning faith it is impossible to please Him. Jesus is literally and dramatically standing outside the door of a self-sufficient Church that trusts in methods, strategies and “cutting edge” paradigm shifts and tactics borrowed from the secular marketplace. He is crying out, “Let me in! Repent! Turn away from these broken cisterns that offer no living water! I am calling for a people who will walk in faith, whose trust and confidence will hold solely to My promises. I long for a people whose faith will allow them to see the invisible, believe the unbelievable, and receive the impossible!”

Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.

Idolaters live in deception — believing a lie to be the truth!

“For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself” (Ezekiel 14:7).

This passage of Scripture means, “Because you are hardened in your sin, with no desire to turn and repent, every word you hear from now on will confirm you in your iniquity and deception.”

We see a picture of this with King Ahab, who was probably the most idolatrous king in the history of Israel. At this time, he had aligned himself with King Jehoshaphat to go into battle against Ramoth-gilead.

^“And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so” (1 Kings 22:20-22).

Consequently four hundred prophets stood before Ahab, encouraging him to move forward with the attack. Can you imagine the scene? There stood a horde of flattering men, all mouthing words that fed Ahab’s idolatry. They were all lying to him, confirming his sin.

What a horrible tragedy. Ahab could not hear God’s voice because of the idols rooted in his heart. So God sent him a strong delusion — one that would destroy him. 

“They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this [reason] God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11). 

“And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me . . . but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 14:10-11).

God is telling us in tender terms, “Whatever it takes to get you away from your idols, I’m going to do. I will lovingly woo you to Myself, but if that doesn’t work, I will bring the necessary punishment.”

“When ye see their ways and their doings . . . ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done” (verse 23). The Lord is saying, “You’ll know that My strong dealings with you are for a reason. I simply will not let you go!”

Do you have a stumbling block or a besetting sin in your heart? Is there a bondage that could destroy you? If so, and you find yourself under conviction from this message, there is hope for you.

It doesn’t matter what your idol is, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to it. He will soften your heart to His convicting word and you will begin to hate your sin. Determine in your heart that you will make no peace with it!

Cry out to Him now, “Lord, don’t leave me blind. If there is any delusion or deception in me, expose it. I don’t want to believe any more lies. I want to hear only Your voice and have Your power and authority rule my life.”

There is deliverance for you if you truly want it. But God will wait for you to turn away from your idols. Then, the moment you are ready to surrender them to Him, He will empower you by His Spirit — no longer a slave to bondage but a child of God set free by truth!

In the first-century church at Jerusalem, the Greek widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. They sought the help of the leaders in the church but they didn’t feel right about giving up their time of prayer and the study of God’s Word to oversee this administrative task.

The apostles called together the church body and said, “It is not [good] that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables” (Acts 6:2). As a result, seven men of “good report” were appointed to handle all the church’s business affairs. In the meantime, the apostles pledged, “We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (6:4). This arrangement resulted in the word of God increasing and the number of disciples multiplying (see 6:7).

Very few pastors today make this kind of sacrifice. A minister once looked me in the eye and said, “There are so many demands on my time that I simply don’t have time to pray.” Another pastor confessed to me, “I haven’t prayed in months. I meditate and have quick devotions occasionally but I can’t bring myself into the discipline of prayer.”

I will not condemn any hardworking, devoted minister of God, but the fact is, every servant rises and falls to his own master. Many preachers today are not aware that they have become victims of a satanic conspiracy of interruptions. Some of them are constantly on the run, bogged down by an avalanche of duties and details.

I thank God we are never at the mercy of Satan or any of his devices. We can expose his tactics, speak the word of truth, and in Christ’s name stop every interruption. By the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we can clear our path to the Lord’s gates and come boldly to His throne of grace to receive help in our time of need. That is what the Lord wants for all of us!