Devotions

Our world is full of uncertainty. Chaos and unrest seem to spread hourly, causing fear to run rampant. My prayer each day is, “God help us not to murmur or complain. Teach us that these are signs of impatience and distrust of you, our faithful Lord.”

In Exodus 17, Moses described murmuring as “tempting God.” The children of Israel were at Rephidim and there was no water to drink. Doubt and fear were spreading through the encampment. The people forgot all the times in the past they had been delivered and once again began to doubt that the Lord was with them. “God, why did you bring us out of Egypt? Why didn’t you let us die there instead of bringing us to this place to kill us?” they cried. The murmuring reached a crescendo as they turned their anger toward Moses with calls to stone him.

Finally, in His mercy, God gave them water out of a rock. However, he gave it a name as a permanent reminder of their distrust, murmuring and complaining. “So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not’” (Exodus 17:7 NKJV)? It was to be a place forever remembered in Israel’s future.

We often feel we have a right to murmur and complain because our afflictions are painful and hard to bear. There are times I have been guilty of this, but each time I reread Exodus l7, a reverent fear of the Lord grips my soul. This account emphasizes that God takes our faithlessness very seriously.

God has seen us through so much in the past, and he has proven his faithfulness every time. When will we ever fully trust him? When will we wholly trust his promise to keep us, to love us, and to be our heavenly Father and keeper? If we could understand that everything will end up to God’s glory, we would rest in his Word. We would not complain or fear but would rest in the assurance that all who hold fast to faith will be blessed.

May God help us take this to heart in the testing times ahead. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

The prodigal son needed what the apostle Paul calls a “renewing of the mind.” This wayward son had a mindset of condemnation and was nervous about going back home. These words from the parable, though, show his father’s mindset: “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet’” (Luke 15:22-23, NKJV).

Today we have the same dilemma. Our Father rejoices over us, embracing us with loving arms. Yet we are sure that humility means digging up our past sins rather than accepting his grace. We think guiltily, “He has to be angry with me. I’ve sinned worse than others have.”

When the father’s servants placed his best robe on the son, it represented Christ clothing us in his righteousness. The father placing a ring on the boy’s finger signified our union with Christ. Finally, when they placed shoes on his feet it was a picture of us being shod with the gospel of the peace of Christ. This loving father was showing his child, “Away with those rags of self-effort to please me! I’m going to show you how I see you. You aren’t coming into my presence as a beggar or a slave but as a royal child, my son, who delights me. Come to me with boldness!”

The same is true for us. We must be renewed in our thinking about how God receives us. “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh… let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-20, 22).

The word for “boldness” in verse 19 comes from a root meaning “an emancipated slave.” We no longer live under the law of sin and death but under grace. In short, God's love and mercy qualify us to enter his presence with confidence: “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-13).

We have become a society of people who crave approval. Sadly, this dependence on external validation for our success also exists within the church. I speak to pastors all over the world. As a pastor myself I know that we have a big problem with this. “If the church reaches 500 or 1,000, when we're in the new building, when the budget is strong — then I'll be successful and happy.” Laypeople have the same trouble. Life has become all about the externals.

There is now a disorder informally called social media validation. People get depressed because they compare their following to someone else’s, or they have a false sense of pride over having more followers than their friends. These are relational sins of measuring our worth by the approval of others. That insatiable hunger is powered by the need to repair inner wounds. We say, “I’m broken, and external validation will fix me.”

What truly meets our needs, though, is holiness, living in loving relationship with God and with other people. For that to happen, we must rebuild our lives on our relationship with our Creator. We must relocate the house from the sand to the rock and redefine the meaning of life. Life is love not fame, generosity not conceit or power. It isn’t Facebook likes; it’s living in friendship and intimacy with people we care about.

When people seek professional help with drug addiction, they are first sent through detox. Drugs have caused their brains to release too much dopamine, which gives them a sense of tremendous well-being. They have become addicted to that high and have placed their health and lives at risk.

Studies show the same thing happens with social media. When we get likes on a post, our brain gets a dopamine hit, and we immediately want more. Consequently, just like with other addictions, when we are hooked on external validation, we need to go through a spiritual detox.

It won’t happen overnight. It's a long journey of walking with God and learning to look to him for our worth. We find true contentment when we learn who he meant us to be and when we discover our gifts and use them for his glory. Our loving God cherishes us and places great value on our lives. He wants us to truly enjoy the journey.

I just saw this statistic that 37 percent of all the pastors in America polled say that if you live a good life, you’ll go to heaven.

Now, if we look at Galatians, we read, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is required to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:2-4, NIV). If you go with the law and try to earn it, you are severed from Christ. Christ is not an addendum to your efforts to be accepted by God by the works of the law.

Paul also wrote, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ‘A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.’” (Galatians 5:7-9). A little bad teaching will work its way through the body of Christ and have a leavening effect of spoiling everything. By the way, that’s true in our own lives too. If you permit anything of the enemy, the world, the flesh to come into your life, it’ll lead you down a dark road you don’t want to go on.

Adding anything to Christ demeans the cross and cuts you off from Christ. It can’t be Christ plus anything. Paul went on to say, “The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty” (Galatians 5:10). I want you to notice how serious this is. Someone who brings false doctrine into a church, that’s like dealing spiritual fentanyl. That affects a lot of people.

We live in a day of “I’m okay; you’re okay. Let’s not argue. Just try your best. The good Lord loves everyone.” Totally bogus. Remember, you add anything to Jesus, and you’ve cut yourself off from the source of salvation. Stay close to the Lord. Doctrine is important. What you believe is going to control how you live and your eternity.

_{Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson.}

The most important question facing God's people in these last days is “Do you believe God is able to see you through? Do you believe he can do all that is necessary to answer your prayers and meet your needs?”

Jesus asked these same questions when he was on the earth. In Matthew 9, before healing two blind men who begged him for mercy, he tested their faith. “‘Do you believe I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be to you.’ And their eyes were opened…” (Matthew 9:28-30 NKJV).

Today, he reminds us that our faith and trust in him turn the tide. “Do you believe I can direct and guide you and am still at work on your behalf? Or do you harbor secret thoughts that I have forsaken you and let you down?”

God is not primarily interested in us doing some great work for him. Rather, he wants us to simply trust him. He desires full dependence on him.

God doesn’t want our possessions either. He is not after your house, your land, your car, or any other worldly belongings. He wants your trust! He wants you to be firmly established in your confidence in him. An American soldier in Germany once wrote to me. He offered me his coin collection because he felt it was an idol in his life, and he thought getting rid of it would free him. I wrote him back and said, “God wants more than your coin collection. He wants your trust.”

We keep wanting to do things, to give up things, to sacrifice, work and suffer, when all the while what God desires most is our obedience and trust. His Word is clear that he will be pleased with nothing short of our faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

God has not forsaken you. Your prayers have been heard, and he will work things out according to his perfect will. Have faith and hold on!