Devotions

“Hezekiah prospered in all his works. However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chronicles 32:30-31, NKJV).

Often, while in the righteous pursuit of God’s work, the steward of the Lord finds himself apparently forsaken, seemingly left all alone to battle the forces of hell. Every man God has ever blessed has been proved in the same manner. Consider Abraham’s situation. “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him… ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…and offer him there as a burnt offering’” (Genesis 22:1–2). We know the end of the story, that a ram would be provided as Isaac’s substitute, but the patriarch did not know this on his journey up the mountain.

Do you find yourself in strange circumstances? Do you feel forsaken and alone? Do you fight a losing battle with an unpredictable enemy? These are signs pointing to the proving process.

Victory is always the desired result; but should you fail, remember that it is what remains in your heart that God is most interested in, your attitude after you have won or lost the lonely battle. Your devotion to him in spite of failure is his desire. Jesus has promised never to leave us or forsake us, but the record of scripture reveals there are seasons when the Father hides his presence to prove us. Even Christ experienced that lonely moment on the cross.

We have become so preoccupied in proving God that we have not prepared our hearts for the great tests of life whereby God proves man. Could it be that the great trial you are now facing, the burden you now carry, is actually God at work proving you?

Jesus says we are to take up our cross and follow him (see Matthew 16:24). What is that cross? It is the flesh with its frailness and sinfulness. Take it up, move on in faith, and his strength will be made perfect in you.

Over the years, I have read many pitiful letters from believers who are still bound by sinful habits. Multitudes of struggling Christians write, “I can’t stop gambling… I’m in the grips of an alcohol addiction… I’m having an affair, and I can’t break it off… I’m a slave to pornography.” In letter after letter, these people say the same thing: “I love Jesus, and I’ve begged God to free me. I’ve prayed, wept and sought godly counsel. But I just can’t break free. What can I do?”

I’ve spent much time seeking the Lord for wisdom on how to answer these believers. I pray, “Lord, you know your children’s lives. Many are devoted, Spirit-filled saints, yet they don’t have your victory. What’s going on?”

At one point, I studied the biblical passages containing God’s promises to his people. I was reminded that the Lord pledges to keep us from falling, to present us faultless, to justify us by faith, sanctify us by faith and keep us holy by faith. He promises that our old man is crucified by faith and that we are translated into his kingdom by faith.

The one thing common to all of these promises is this phrase “by faith.” Indeed, all of these things are matters of faith, according to God’s Word.

Are you struggling to gain victory by your willpower? Are you fighting the battle in your old nature? Paul points out, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5, NKJV).

Indeed, Paul says there is only one condition attached to God’s promises. “You, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in his sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard…” (Colossians 1:21-23, emphasis added).

Christ surrendered everything to his Father in order to be totally obedient, and we are to do likewise. We are to be totally dependent on the Father, just as Christ was.

Deuteronomy chapter 6 opens with an incredibly important prayer that Moses taught the Israelites. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, ESV). 

Moses had been leading the nation in the wilderness for 40 years by this point. He’d seen the burning bush, then God sent him to the Israelite elders to declare, “The great I Am is here. God is going to move mightily, and your 400 years of captivity and slavery is coming to an end.  As soon as I go to Pharaoh and talk to him, I’ll tell him ‘to let my people go.’ God is on the move!”

Can you imagine this man whose heart’s desire was to see the children of Israel set free from bondage, and instead they complained against God? After that, everyone was sent on a decades long trip through the wilderness. If that didn’t make Moses tempted to be cynical about both people and God, I don’t know what would.

The Israelites complained against God and doubted his promises a lot. I don’t know what kind of family you come from, but if you spend a lot of time in a family that is full of doubt and negative talk, that’s going to wear off on you. That’s when you have to do what Moses did. You have to get away from the crowd and get alone with God and pray, “Protect me in that place and in all of the places where I could be filled with these voices of unbelief.”

When we get in this place of closeness with God, away from the cynical voices, our heart will begin to be filled with joy. We must remember who God is in all of his holiness, and then we will remember our love for him. This is part of what Moses is teaching the next generation in this prayer.

When we purposefully remember God’s nature, the faith that remains in us will begin to be built up in our lives, and we will begin to see once again a confidence in the Lord. It’s this confidence that releases the outpouring of God’s blessing.

In chapters 14, 15 and 16 of Judges, we’re shown how Samson lived his life. Now he knew that he was set apart by God for specific work. The way he lived, however, shows that he struggled with character.

When we go to Hebrews, we see “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions” (Hebrews 12:32-33, ESV).

Samson knew full well that he had a holy calling on his life. He is named in the “Hall of Faith” because he knew that he didn’t have any strength of his own to accomplish these great feats. Despite this, he lived loosely.

There is no evidence in the four chapters about his life that he prayed, except once right before he died. He didn’t settle any disputes between people; he didn’t engage with any rulers; he didn’t lead Israel into battle.

Instead, Samson lived a self-indulgent lifestyle, often revolving around a woman. During his wedding, he killed thirty men and took their clothing to fulfill a bet. He seemingly abandoned his wife, and when he discovered that she’d remarried, he burned several of the Philistines’ fields. Then we find him with his head in Delilah’s lap. The Philistines captured him, cut his hair and put his eyes out. God, in his grace and mercy, still gave Samson supernatural strength once more to defeat Israel’s enemies.

This is the same with us. Who among us has a perfect record? God gives us grace and mercy in our time of need. I believe there was so much more that God wanted to do with Samson’s life, though, if only his character had come into alignment with his calling. His story is a warning for us to be mindful of how we live our lives.

Is your character developing according to your natural self? Are you gratifying your own impulses and desires? Or are you allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you with the character of Christ? Are you producing the fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23)?

We will never completely fulfill God’s purpose for our lives until we become men and women of prayer who seek the will of God wholeheartedly. Oh friends, I pray that our characters grow toward the holy calling of God in our lives.

When the Lord takes up residence in us, he brings with him all his power and resources. Suddenly, our inner man has access to God’s strength, wisdom, truth, peace, everything we need to live in victory. We don’t have to cry out to him to come down to us from heaven. He’s already in us. Paul tells us just how powerful we are in Christ.

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19, NKJV).

What an amazing passage. Paul lists but a few of the incredible treasures the Lord has made available to us. Indeed, all of God’s riches are available to us in Christ Jesus. 

Some Christians have created an image of a self-centered God whose only pleasure is in receiving praise. May that never be said about our Lord because that isn’t at all why he has come to abide in us. He has come to show us that he’s a God who is not far off. The Lord wants us to know he isn’t just out in the dark expanse of the cosmos somewhere. He doesn’t flit in and out of our lives at will. No, he’s very present in us, and he never leaves his abode in us.

This is how Jesus could tell his disciples, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:22-23).

When the Father made his dwelling in our temple, he brought to us a strength in our inner man, a deep rooting and grounding in love, as well as access to ask him for all things. He has made all things possible through his divine power at work in us.