Devotions

Let me tell you how God brings people into his house, how he speaks to them and how he saves them. The Lord builds his church through the testimonies of light shining forth from those who love him. He’s able to do this not because these servants use the right methods but because they live the right life.

Christ’s life produces light in homes, neighborhoods, cities and workplaces. How is this life obtained? It comes down to every saint living right, beyond reproach, as examples of God’s mercy. Such servants deal with others honestly and selflessly, with no dark part in them. They lead lives wholly devoted to Jesus and are ready to serve others at all times.

This is the kind of life that Paul exhorted the Ephesian church to have. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2, ESV). He says a little later, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

Let me give you an example of such light. Once, the CEO of a company in New York called our church. Pastor Neil took the call. The CEO told Pastor Neil about two women from our church who worked for him. He said they weren’t like the others in his office. These two women were always courteous, helpful to others and never complained or gossiped. “There’s something different about them,” he said. “I would like to meet with you to find out what the difference is.”

That CEO was Jewish. Do you think he would have responded to an invitation to a revival meeting? Would he have read a packet of materials produced by a church? No, he would have tossed it all into “File 13” and never looked at it again. This man responded to a light born of lives hid in Christ and being worked out daily by two humble women.

We are only able to bring light to our communities when we are full of Christ’s life ourselves. We have to live out the message we bring if we want to preach it with any power. God help us to remember that the light shines through in the little things of life.

I believe the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 came home because of his history with his father. This young man knew his father’s character, and he must have received great love from him. Why would he return to a man who might have been angry and vengeful, who might have beat him and made him pay back every cent he’d squandered?

The prodigal surely knew that he wouldn’t be condemned for his sins. He probably thought, “I know my father loves me. He won’t throw my sin in my face. He’ll take me back.” When you have that kind of history, you can always go back home.

Now, the young man was intent on offering a heartfelt confession to his dad because he rehearsed it all the way home. When he faced his father, though, he didn’t even get a chance to fully confess. “When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20, NKJV). The father was so happy his son was back that he covered him with kisses, essentially saying, “I love you, son. Come home and be restored.”

The father did all of this before his son could complete his confession. The young man was able to blurt out the beginning of his speech, but his father didn’t wait for him to finish. To him, the young man’s sin had already been settled.

Notice how the prodigal’s father “prevented” him from punishing himself or lowering himself with the blessing of goodness. The father’s response was to order his servants, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:22-24). Sin wasn’t the issue to this father. The only issue on his mind was love. He wanted his boy to know he was accepted before he could even utter a confession.

That is the point God wants to make to us all. “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). God’s love welcomes us home.

I often think of Abraham’s example as he prayed over the wicked city of Sodom. The Lord answered him, saying, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes” (Genesis 18:26, NKJV).

When Abraham heard this, he began to negotiate with the Lord. “Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” (Genesis 18:28). Abraham whittled the number down until he finally asked what God would do if there were only ten upright people who sought him. Would he spare the city? God answered Abraham, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten” (Genesis 18:32).

This passage tells us something about the Lord. He is willing to save entire societies if he can find even a small band of righteous people who seek his face for the sake of their nation.

God goes even further on this issue than he did with Abraham. In Ezekiel, God speaks of searching for one praying believer who will stand in the gap. “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:30).

At the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy, Israel was polluted spiritually. The prophets were profane, violating God’s law left and right. The people were oppressed, vexed on all sides, full of lust, robbing one another. Not one person among them cried out to the Lord. Nobody stood in the gap to intercede. God would have saved the entire nation for the sake of just one intercessor.

When Paul writes of his journeys, he mentions not only Timothy and Titus as his helpers but also Lydia and the other precious women who aided him. These were all devoted servants whose assistance helped touch entire nations with the gospel. We are to assist those who have given themselves to go to the nations. If you cannot be a missionary, you can be part of the support body of intercessors.

You can go “in the Spirit” to any nation on earth. You can touch an unreached people while on your knees. Indeed, your secret closet may become the headquarters for a movement of God’s Spirit over an entire nation.