Devotions

Let’s go to Exodus 4. Moses has seen this burning bush and talked with God. Shoes have come off; he’s standing on holy ground; he’s seen two miracles. Now God gives him an assignment to go back to Egypt, and now the 80-year-old senior citizen is about to go into the journey of his life and enter the annuls of Christian history.

Now what’s interesting to me is that the moment that he leaves that mountain, Moses begins to do everything right. Let me read this to you. “Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, ‘Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.’ And Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in peace.’ And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.’” (Exodus 4:18-19, ESV).

I think this passage is significant. Think about this: Moses talks to God personally. He hears the voice of God. There’s no doubt about this; he’s seen the miracles of God take place in the wilderness before he even sees the Ten Plagues take place in Egypt. Even after hearing from God, he still presents it to his leadership. Moses still goes to Jethro and says, “Would you approve this for me to go?” Jethro puts his stamp of approval on this call. Notice what happens here. Once Moses did this, the Lord spoke more instruction to him.

Think about that for a moment. Many of us have heard less, thought less, and we go on our own and never get any confirmation from the people whom God has put over your life. The reason why that’s difficult is that we are so easily moved to go do something without any accountability. So many people today went but were never sent. Most people go without full instruction because they won’t submit it to leadership.

This is why scripture says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (Hebrews 13:17) and “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise….submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:15,21).

^{After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.}

I believe that prayer mixed with faith is the answer to everything. Paul said, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6, NKJV).

“In everything” means “Pray about everything, and give thanks that your requests will be heard and answered.” We are told to pray as our first option, not after we have tried everything else in vain. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

So many Christians today are being plundered by Satan. Their homes are in turmoil; they are plagued with fear and guilt; they face trouble on all sides. The problems our ministry reads about in letters from Christians are overwhelming.

To be truthful, though, few believers who are facing difficulties turn to the Lord in fervent prayer. Few today have consistent, quality time alone with God in prayer. Despair sets in because they do not go to the secret place, to unburden their souls and cry out their sorrows to the Lord. Instead, they tell all of their problems to friends, pastors, counselors; and they neglect the Lord who waits to have them all alone. We pray as a last resort.

Could God be grieved with this generation the same way he was with Israel? He said of them, “My people have forgotten me days without number” (Jeremiah 2:32).

God is pleased when we run to him first, when we make special time to be alone with him, pouring out our innermost feelings and laying our petitions before him. We have no right to say we love the Lord if we don’t spend time with him on a regular basis. He will hear your prayers and answer, but he needs you alone so he can speak to you in a quiet moment.

As I go into the Lord’s holy presence each day, my most consistent petition is that the Holy Spirit will open God’s Word to me so I can be a true oracle of him. May you make quality time for him, trusting him with your petitions.

There are four expectations believers should have because they are based on absolute promises the Lord has made to us. Our God is a promise-maker and a promise-keeper!

Expect to be rewarded as you diligently seek the Lord. “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, NKJV). You can ask in faith for a token from the Lord to encourage and rekindle your confidence. Expect him to keep his promise to reward you now when you are in greatest need. God has said he rewards those who diligently seek him, so seek him daily.

Expect to see evidence of a progressive miracle in your life. “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). I have written about instantaneous miracles and progressive miracles. Progressive miracles start in unseen, quiet ways and unfold little by little, one small mercy at a time. Expect to see God working in mysterious ways, unseen to the human eye. You can say, “I don’t know how it will come to pass, but I believe God set into motion an answer to my prayers the very first hour I asked.”

Expect to enter into God’s promised place of rest. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God…. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9, 11). The recent year has been one of the most stressful for many believers. God never intended for his children to live in fear and despair. We need a reckless faith, a trust in him in the face of fear and trouble. Now is the time to lay it all on Jesus.

Expect the Holy Spirit to be always in his temple. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit abides in the heart of every believer. He is omnipresent throughout the world and universe. He desires that you expect him to make his presence manifest to you, and more so each passing day.

Believe these promises. Lay hold of these four expectations, and you will see marvelous things in your life.

Satan is trying to plant lies in your mind in your time of weakness and trouble. He will try to convince you God is not with you. If you believe that lie, you can never escape Satan’s trap.

If you quiet yourself before the Lord and call on him in secret prayer, the Holy Spirit will tell you clearly that God is with you. He has not forsaken you. He sees you and is waiting for you to step into his plans for your life. The Bible tells us that when the disciples were doubtful and confused, “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:20, NKJV).

You are loved, and you are needed. Satan is a liar, hoping you will give in to despair by believing you are alone in your struggle. No, you are not ever alone. The Holy Spirit is interceding for you in your time of need. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

You are going to come out of your trial victorious, but you must believe God has heard your cry. Just lean on the Lord.

This is God’s heart to his people in the midst of their trials while they were captive in Babylon: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

The following word is for those who need an answer to prayer, who need help in a time of trouble, and who are ready and willing to move God’s heart according to his Word.

Lay hold of the covenant promise in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” The phrase “very present” means always available, immediately accessible. Faith must rest in the assurance that God’s Spirit abides in you all hours of the day and night. Because he inhabited you, he listens to your every prayerful thought and cry.

We know that if he hears us, he will grant our petitions. Indeed, the Holy Spirit will move heaven and earth for any child of God who takes time to pour out his heart to the Father with unrushed, unhurried time in his presence.

In Psalm 62:5-7, David offered a prayer that touched God’s heart. He said, in essence, “Wait on God only. Expect help from no other source. He alone must be your provision, your only hope and defense. Only he can supply you with the strength to keep going until your answer comes.” When you become wholly dependent on the Lord alone – when you stop looking to man for help and trust God for the supernatural – nothing will be able to shake you. David declared, “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved” (Psalm 62:6).

Here is the heart of it all, the secret to prevailing prayer that every saint throughout history has learned: the pouring out of the heart before the Lord. “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:8). Hannah is our example. Desperate for a child, she “poured out” her soul to the Lord, and scripture says, “Her face was no longer sad” (1 Samuel 1:18).

God will hear and answer you when he sees that you’re willing to shut out all worldly voices for a season. Cry out the contents of your heart; pour out your soul before him, and trust he will respond. The time has come for brokenness before the Lord and for a faith born out of contrite intercession.