Devotions

Many people grew up hearing teaching on the verse that says, “For bodily exercise profiteth little” (1 Timothy 4:8, KJV). This phrasing was often interpreted to mean that taking good care of one’s physical health was at the bottom of the list in terms of overall well-being.

However, let’s take a closer look. In this epistle, the church was being established. Paul was constantly on the move, laying the foundation and raising up leaders. He had placed young Timothy in charge of the Ephesus church. Timothy had his hands full with teaching, refereeing doctrinal differences and developing other leaders. Paul was encouraging Timothy in his difficult task of dealing with these practical issues.

The point of verse eight is simply to remind the faithful that our spirits live on, therefore spiritual health is paramount. However, Paul wasn’t demoting physical health to a footnote. In fact, he promoted holistic health throughout his epistles. He was saying, “Timothy, make sure you teach them how to keep their priorities straight and live a balanced life.”

Physical health is a key part of that balance, and the facts should give us pause. In many countries, large population groups live sedentary lives. Since COVID-19, remote schedules are becoming the workplace norm; employees can sit at home and do a full day’s work practically without moving. Today, you can obtain a university degree online and have your groceries delivered while you study. 

All of this, however, comes at a price. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases says that more than 42 percent of American adults are obese. David Bush, author of The Body Gospel, says that obesity is 10 percent higher in the church.

Our physical vigor impacts our spiritual walk. Prayer, fasting and all manner of spiritual disciplines require energy. If our bodies aren't cooperating, we may miss out on opportunities to enhance our spiritual growth. Frankly assessing our physical health, and taking the steps we can to improve it, expands our ability to serve.

Bush says it well: “I want to be able to enjoy more of God, and I can do that when I'm eating right and exercising and I'm at a healthy weight. I want to be able to love on my family as well as strangers who need the Lord. I want to be able to engage them at their point of need. I do that better when my physical body is under control.”

In Matthew 13, Jesus shares the well-known parable of the sower. The seed is the unchanging Word of God from heaven. The culture and values of this world are constantly changing from culture to culture and generation to generation, but the Word of God is eternal. The seed sometimes falls by the wayside in stony places or thorns, and it never produces a harvest.

The seed that produces a harvest is the seed that goes into fertile soil. There, the Word goes deep, the roots go deep, and the fruit multiplies.

Of course, the sower and the seed are critical. However, the Word can be proclaimed in truth; but if the soil is not able to receive the Word, there will never be thirty-, sixty- and hundred-fold harvests. After the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds, Jesus bluntly told his disciples, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age….The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace…. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:37-39,41-43, ESV).

Individuals can show up every week to church; they can hear biblical messages delivered by men of God, but if the soil of the heart is not soft, tender and able to receive the Word, there will never be the fruit of a changed life.

What creates good soil in a heart is a culture of repentance. Sadly, that element is often lacking in the Western church and many other places in the days we live. As believers, it is vital that we cultivate an atmosphere of humility, sincere desire for God’s Word and an awe of his presence so that the soil will be soft. The Old Testament prophets cry out “Break up the fallow ground” (see Hosea 10:12; Jeremiah 4:3). It is in proper soil that God can produce supernatural results. A culture of repentance will create soil that can receive the Word and produce eternal fruit.

^{John Bailey is the Vice President 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.}

The seventh chapter of Micah contains one of the most powerful messages on the new covenant ever preached. In this incredible sermon, Micah is speaking to the people of Israel, yet he is also speaking to the church of Jesus Christ in these last days. He begins his sermon with a heartbroken cry, one that is still being heard from spiritually starved believers around the world today: “Woe is me! . . . There is no cluster to eat” (Micah 7:1, NKJV).

Micah is describing the effect of a famine in Israel, a famine of food and of God’s Word. His message echoes the words of an earlier prophecy by Amos where the Lord says, “Behold, the days are coming . . . that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall . . . run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it” (Amos 8:11–12).

It was harvest time in Israel, and the vineyards should have been bursting with fruit, but there were no clusters hanging from the vines. Micah watched as people went into the vineyards looking for fruit to pick and finding none. In his prophetic eye, Micah saw multitudes in the last days running from place to place, seeking to hear a true word from God. He envisioned believers scurrying from church to church, from revival to revival, from nation to nation, all seeking to satisfy a hunger and thirst for something to nourish their souls. The cry is still heard, “Woe is me. There is no cluster!”

There is also a great famine in our world today. In spite of huge numbers of people running about looking for spiritual food, those who truly desire God’s Word comprise only a small number (see Micah 7:14, 18). This is certainly as true today as it was in ancient Israel. Few Christians today truly hunger to hear the pure word of the Lord. Instead, the majority fatten themselves on Sodom’s apples, feeding on the straw of perverted gospels. We must awaken to a true desire for the Word! We must share the holy truth of scripture with those who are desperate and hungry.

I believe God has to accomplish a work in us before we can lay claim to any covenant promise. What is this precedent work upon which all others depend? Jeremiah tells us. “I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me” (Jeremiah 32:40, NKJV). God’s foundational work of the covenant is to put his fear into our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah is speaking here of the provisions of God’s new covenant, not the old one. God tells us very clearly how this first work of the covenant will be performed. “I will put my fear in their hearts.” He is letting us know we cannot work up a holy fear by the laying on of hands or the strivings of our flesh. No, the only way this holy work can be accomplished in us is if God’s Spirit performs it.

God is telling us through this passage, “I am going to do marvelous things in you. I will send my very own Spirit to abide in you and give you a new heart.” He will empower you to mortify all fleshly deeds, and he will guide you into total freedom from the power of sin. Finally, he will cause you to will and do his good pleasure.

However, there is one work the Spirit must perform in you before any of these others. He is going to put in you the true fear of God concerning sin, a deep reverence for him and for his Word. He will implant in you a profound awe of his holiness so that you will not depart from his commands. Otherwise, your sin will always lead you away from him.

Very simply, the Holy Spirit changes the way we look at our sin. He knows that as long as we continue to take it lightly, we will never be set free. How does the Holy Ghost do this? By using the convicting Word of God, the piercing arrows of holy truth.

Ezekiel 37 is all about God’s desire for us to lay hold of the promises of his new covenant, learning how to truly live by entering into the blessing of the covenant.

We have all heard the story of the “dry bones” told by the prophet Ezekiel. It is important to note that these old bones lying lifeless on the ground were under the covenant. You see, the Lord had told them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” (Ezekiel 37:4, NKJV). God made this covenant promise: “I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live” (Ezekiel 37:14).

Even though these dead bones had the new covenant promise preached to them, they were not yet able to enjoy its blessings. Many believers today know of God’s new covenant, yet they can hardly believe it because it sounds too good to be true. They say, “I know God has given us the Holy Spirit to live within us, and I know the Spirit takes it upon himself to cause us to obey Christ. I want that blessing badly, but how can I obtain it for my life?”

Here is what we must do first. Ezekiel writes that God told him to prophesy, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live’” (Ezekiel 37:9). Scripture says that Ezekiel prophesied as God had commanded, “…and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).

What a sight! There suddenly stood before Ezekiel a great army, alive and breathing! The Holy Spirit had filled all those dead bodies with life, and now they were prepared to do battle. In an instant, they had entered into the full enjoyment and blessings of the new covenant. “’Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the Lord’” (Ezekiel 37:17). God’s Spirit had taken his rightful place in them, and he was bringing about all the promised changes.