Devotions

God begins the process of surrender by knocking us off our high horse. This literally happened to Paul. He was going his self-assured way, riding toward Damascus, when a blinding light came from heaven. “He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” (Acts 9:4, NKJV).

Paul knew something was missing in his life. He had a knowledge of God but no firsthand revelation. Now on his knees, he heard these words from heaven: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 9:5). The words turned Paul’s world upside down. Scripture says, “He, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’” (Acts 9:6). Paul’s conversion was a dramatic work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit into the surrendered life. He had no other ambition, no other driving force than this new life. “Indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

By today’s standards of success, Paul was a total failure. He didn’t construct any buildings. He didn’t have an organization. The methods he used were despised by other leaders. In fact, the message Paul preached offended large numbers of his hearers. At times, he was even stoned for preaching it.

When we stand before God at the judgment, we won’t be judged by our ministries, achievements or number of converts. There will be but one measure of success on that day. Were our hearts fully surrendered to God? Did we lay aside our own will and agenda and take up his? Did we succumb to peer pressure and follow the crowd, or did we seek him alone for direction? Did we run from seminar to seminar looking for purpose in life, or did we find our fulfillment in him?

I have but one ambition, and that is to learn more and more to say only those things the Father gives me. Nothing I say or do of myself is worth anything. I want to be able to claim, “I know my Father is with me because I do only his will.”

When Martin Luther talked about a ‘theology of glory,’ he wasn’t talking about the glory of God or when believers honor and exalt the Lord. Luther was talking about man-made glory which focuses on the self. It’s a mentality of “I’ll make something of myself. What humanity lost in the garden, I can recover by living a glorious life.”

The church codified this lie in the prosperity movement, saying that believers can have glory through materialism. Claim that new house, new car, better job, success — whatever you claim and how it brings you glory proves that you have God’s blessing. Luther foresaw this mentality of self-glory in the church. It’s not that we want to sit here and point fingers at the prosperity movement, though, just because most of us are probably not in that movement.

There’s another type of theology of glory we often see in the church today, and it’s one that we’ve probably been touched by at some point. It’s the glory in our churches. Again, this is not the glory of God’s presence coming, but rather it’s a frame of mind that says, “I want my church to be a venerated place, a place of glory that awes people because my pastor is really impressive” or if we’re a church leader, “I want the glory of leading a really great church. I want the name of my church to be known because it’s a hip place to go.” The focus of the church shifts from God to people, and it seeps out in teachings that are more pop-psychology than scripture. The teachings become more about affirmations that people are worthy and wonderful, and people stop talking about how we’re sinners desperately in need of God’s grace.

Luther said that the only way to true glory is to go to the cross, take up each of our own crosses, and to suffer and die with Christ. It doesn’t end there, though; that would be pretty hopeless. The theology of the cross points to the resurrection and eternal glory in God’s presence.

The glory in this theology is Christ’s, not our own. “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way…always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10, ESV).

Paul wrote two moving and fascinating passages that I want to look at here. “You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first” (Galatians 4:13, ESV). “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this [thorn], that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12.8-9).

The apostle Paul, man of God, power preacher, church planter, author of two-thirds of the New Testament, was also a person suffering terribly from what is pictured in the Bible as a thorn in the flesh. What could it be? For two millennia, theologians have remained divided on the exact manner of this infirmity. Was it a physical disability, an emotional problem, a spiritual problem? Was it chronic depression or medical issues caused by intense persecution? We will probably never know.

However, I would like to suggest that the nature of Paul's thorn in the flesh was deliberately left vague. That way, we can consider our own major challenges and make God's promises our own. The ‘thorn’ represents the father who has inherited a generational vulnerability to alcohol or other addictive substances. It is the mother who grew up in a home where depression reigned and who worries that she’s also at risk. It is the stroke that sweeps away a parent’s autonomy in an instant and upsets the balance of an entire family. It is sterility for a young couple. This is the eating disorder of a young teenager. These are panic attacks. It is the illness of a young child that blurs the future of a family. It is the rebellion of a young adult that undermines the hearts of his parents. It is the abuses of childhood that haunt your adult life.

Personalize it: my thorn in the flesh is __________. Take up the promise that God gave Paul! “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God revealed to Paul, and to each one of us, that he is not limited by our faults, struggles or wounds. On the contrary, he will use our thorns to glorify himself and accomplish his plans for our lives and loved ones.

_{Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.} 

The Holy Spirit gave David the key to deliverance from his sorrows. David could say, “The reason God delivered me is that I am precious to him. My God delights in me!”

“He also brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19, NKJV).

In Song of Solomon, the Lord says of his bride, “How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights” (Song of Solomon 7:6)! In turn, the bride boasts, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me” (Song of Solomon 7:10). These same thoughts are also found throughout the psalms. “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he will beautify the humble with salvation” (Psalm 149:4).

You may think “That’s sweet, but it’s only a lovely concept.” No, this truth is much more than that. It is the key to your deliverance from every battle that rages in your soul. Until you lay hold of it, you won’t be able to withstand the trials of life.

Isaiah wrote of God’s great delight in us. “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you’” (Isaiah 43:1-2).

Isaiah wasn’t talking about literal natural disasters. He was referring to what we go through spiritually and mentally. These were all Satan’s attempts to overwhelm and destroy God’s people. Isaiah’s words were a message of mercy to Israel. The people were in captivity because of their own stupidity and foolishness, but God sent them a brokenhearted prophet who said, “You belong to God.”

The Lord does not always calm the waters, but he does promise this: “I will walk with you through it all. This trial or circumstance will not destroy you. Walk on! You’ll come out on the other side with me beside you.”

“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14, NKJV). We show the measure of our Christ by what we ask in his name. We are told to ask large and to expect great things. We show forth the greatness of Christ by the greatness of our requests. We have so little of Christ because we ask so little.

We limit our petitions to material things. It’s true that we are to make our needs known, but to ask only for food and shelter is to diminish our vision of his greatness.

The kingdom of God is “joy and peace in the Holy Ghost!” We serve a triumphant Christ, and we are called to share in the triumph. Do you have joy and peace in the Holy Ghost? Do you go to his throne and ask the Father “in the name of Jesus?”

God wants us to think big and ask big. Asking “in Jesus’ name” is an invitation to share in God’s great goodness laid up for those who believe.

What about the hungry crowd of 5,000 in the New Testament when Jesus asked his disciples what they should do? He said, “Show me your plan to feed them. What can be done to meet this crisis?” Jesus already had a plan, but he was testing their faith. Who could have conceived of feeding that mass of people with five loaves of bread and two fish?

God will not tell us what his plan is. He will not even give us a hint. He insists on our having faith in his promises, his majesty, his past miracles on our behalf. His word to us is “Believe!” Your Lord has a way prepared, and he has the power to fulfill his plan.

Faith is evidence that cannot be seen. There can be no rest for us in our fiery trials until we believe he stands ready to do the unthinkable, the impossible. Our part is to simply trust that he will perform what he has promised.