Devotions

Let me tell you how God brings people into his house, speaks to them and saves them. He does it through life. 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 life.

Christ’s life produces light in homes, neighborhoods, cities and workplaces. How is this life obtained? It comes down to every saint living 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. Paul spoke of servants who “know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness” (Romans 2:18-19, NKJV).

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

These women were heavenly candlesticks, placed in their jobs by Jesus. They lit up the entire workplace. How? They had the life of Christ in them. Their boss recognized it as something beyond what this world has to offer.

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 lived out daily by two humble women.

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

My dear friend, never limit God’s forgiveness to you. There is no limit to his forgiveness and longsuffering. Jesus told his disciples, “If he [your brother] sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Luke 17:4, NKJV).

Can you believe such a thing? Seven times a day this person willfully sins before my very eyes then says, “I’m sorry,” and I am to forgive him continuously. Jesus did not say, “Forgive your brother once or twice, then tell him to go and sin no more. Tell him that if he ever does it again he will be cut off. Tell him he is an habitual sinner.” No. Jesus called for unlimited, no-strings-attached forgiveness. How much more will our heavenly Father forgive his children who come in repentance to him! Don’t stop to reason it out, and don’t ask how or why he forgives so freely. Simply accept it.

It is God’s nature to forgive. David said, “For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you” (Psalm 86:5). God is waiting right now to flood your being with the joy of forgiveness. You need to open up all the windows of your soul and allow his Spirit to flood you with forgiveness.

John, speaking as a Christian, wrote, “He himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). According to John, the goal of every Christian is to “sin not.” That means the Christian is not bent toward sin but instead leans toward God.

What happens, though, when that God-leaning child sins? Scripture assures us, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1), and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Lay down your guilt, my friend. You don’t need to carry that load another minute. If you ask, if you repent, you are forgiven. God forgives you over and over again, and this knowledge should unlock a graciousness in our own hearts towards our brothers in Christ. As forgiven saints, we are called to forgive over and over again.

I've never met somebody who is content their whole life. The ‘happy pagan,’ people who claim to be entirely satisfied without God or religion, tend to think, “Things are working well in my life, so I’m happy.” The problem is that this is a superficial happiness because it’s based entirely on circumstances. This kind of happiness will never last long and can’t endure any kind of suffering.

As for believers, we will always get this holy dissatisfaction, if we’re actively seeking the Lord. I believe that this is a gift from the Holy Spirit. My grandfather, who was a pastor and minister, called this the ‘Holy Ghost miserables.’ He would actually pray for his family members and his children, if they got to the place of being so content in life that they felt like they didn’t need God, that they would get miserable because that tends to be when we look for God. Now some people say, “Well then, isn't God just a crutch? Isn't he just for people who are weak and hurting?”

Everybody's weak and hurting. Refusing to face that fact is the epitome of arrogance. Everyone is weak in some area. Everyone has gone through pain at some point in their life. Everyone has endured sorrow over a loss.

There are people listening right now who are facing the most difficult season of their life, and they may be asking, “Oh, God, why? Why am I going through this? Am I cursed? Why aren't I being blessed like others?” Well, maybe there's a blessing in disguise in that pain. C. S. Lewis wrote, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

God calls to us through our pains, saying, “Come deeper into your knowledge of me. Draw closer to me. Learn to depend on me entirely.” In times of pain and difficulty, I find myself becoming hungry for more of Jesus. One of the things I'm also learning through faithfully seeking God in the midst of suffering is how to continue wanting God when things are going well too. I still want to know him more when everything seems to be falling in place. That’s where we truly find joy unspeakable.

It’s not your job to qualify yourself for heaven. Jesus delivered us from the power of darkness at the cross. He has invited us to an inheritance of the saints and the light.

All the same, it can be difficult to walk with God in the culture that surrounds us. Imagine what the world was like 2,000 years before Christ; that was where Abraham lived. He had no Bible to read; he had no church to attend. Nevertheless, he was called the father of faith, and the Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:5-7, ESV).

We are in a culture where Christians are no longer the majority anymore. If you think we live in a Christian nation, I’m sorry to break it to you but that day has passed. Our culture is actively going against the God of heaven.

Here’s the thing; God did not just save you to be a good person in the world. He called you to be a man and woman of faith. He’s called you to a revelation of who he is. When the Lord of heaven and earth touches our lives, that changes us from a ‘good Christian’ into someone who has an impact on the world around us. God wants to awaken our souls!

No doubt this was in Paul’s heart for believers when he wrote, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:9-11, ESV).

We are the offspring of Abraham because Abraham is the father of faith. We have been saved by grace which is God’s unmerited favor. Our uncertain future belongs to God whom we can trust. God has qualified us by his righteousness, and that should transform our hearts, minds and lives.

^{John Bailey is the COO of World Challenge Inc. and the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. John has been serving the Lord in pastoral ministry for 35 years, ministering the gospel in over 50 nations, particularly as a pastor and evangelist in Cork, Ireland.}

Guilt is dangerous because it destroys faith. The enemy of our soul is not at all interested in making Christians into adulterers, addicts or prostitutes. He is interested in one thing only: turning Christians into unbelievers. He uses the lusts of the body to bind the mind.

Satan wants you to be so crushed with guilt so you let go of your faith. He wants you to doubt God’s faithfulness and think that nobody really cares, that you will live in misery and heartbreak, that you will always be a slave to your lust, that God’s holiness is unreachable, that you are left alone to work out your own problems, that God no longer cares about your needs and feelings. If he can get you to the point of despair, he can flood you with unbelief, and then he has succeeded in his mission. The three simple steps toward atheism are guilt, doubt and unbelief.

Guilt can eat away at the spiritual vitality of a Christian like a raging cancer. It causes a person to lose control of life; it leads to a desire to quit or retire from spiritual activity; and, finally, it brings on physical pain and disease. Like cancer, guilt feeds upon itself until all spiritual life is gone, and the end result is weakness and a sense of shame and failure.

The way to get rid of guilt is to get rid of sin, which sounds simple, but it is not. You don’t just make up your mind to “drop” that third party that has entered your life. Many have tried and found it didn’t work. You don’t just walk away from things that bind your heart.

The most important move you will ever make in your life is the move you make right after you fail God. Will you believe the accuser’s lies and give up in despair, or will you allow yourself to receive the forgiving flow of God’s love?

Do you fear asking his forgiveness because you are not really sure you want to be free from that thing that binds you? Do you want the Lord yet secretly long for something that is not lawfully yours? God is able to answer sincere prayer, to make you want to do his perfect will. Ask him to make you want to fulfill his will.