Devotions

What is it that our Lord wants most from those who claim to be devoted to him? What would bless and please him? Shall we build him more churches? More Bible schools? More homes and institutions for hurting people? These are all worthwhile and needed, but he who dwells not in buildings made by hands wants much more than that. Solomon thought he had built an everlasting temple for God, but within years, it was in decay, and in less than four hundred years, it was destroyed.

The one thing our Lord seeks above all else from his people is communion at his table. He desires a place of oneness and time of intimacy, a continual coming to him for food, strength, wisdom and fellowship.

This generation has a limited revelation of the Lord Jesus because so many are missing from the feast of communion with the Lord. Few know the grandeur and majesty of such a high calling in Christ Jesus.

We mistakenly get our spiritual joy out of service rather than communion. We are doing more and more for a Lord we know less and less about. We run ourselves ragged, burn out and give our bodies to his work, but we seldom keep the feast. We are too casual about the Lord's table, not serious enough about taking our place to learn of him.

Paul speaks of spending three separate years in the Arabian desert. They were glorious years, sitting in the heavens at the table of the Lord. It was there that Christ taught Paul all he knew, and the wisdom of God was made manifest in him. Conversion was not enough for Paul. A one-time supernatural vision of Christ and miraculously hearing his voice from heaven was not sufficient! He had caught a fleeting vision of the Lord, and he wanted more.

Something in Paul’s soul cried out, "Oh, that I might know him!" No wonder he could say to an entire Christian system, "For I am determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2 NKJV). He was saying, “Let the Jerusalem Judaizers keep to their legalism. Let others argue their points of doctrine. Let those who seek to be justified by works wear themselves out. But as for me, I want more of Christ!” Beloved, we should have the same desire.

Help yourself! I am not speaking of the godless self but the regenerated self, possessed by Christ. One of the most important verses in God's Word is John 4:14: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (NKJV).

This life-giving water is for us. Here is proof that everything you need in this life was given to you when Christ came into your heart.

• “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37-38).

• “As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue…” (2 Peter 1:3).

• “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17).

• “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Ephesians 1:19).

• “Make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever…” (Hebrews 13:21).

• “Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us...” (Ephesians 3:20).

• “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man...” (Ephesians 3:16).

• “[He has] raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus “ (Ephesians 2:6).

• “But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

There is a great, indescribable power within me! I sense it. It is a feeling that an explosion of greatness can break forth. This power is the Holy Spirit, and he knows and sees all. He alone has all the answers we need. Everyone who calls Christ Lord and trusts in him has the Holy Spirit in him to help make life abundant and glad!

In the New Testament, the apostle Jude says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt” (Jude 1:20-22, ESV). Jude is saying, “Be gracious toward people who are struggling with doubts.”

The enemy wants to use our doubts to shame us, but don’t be ashamed. Satan’s lies and shame will deter you from honestly seeking after the truth. There is a difference between a doubting, unbelieving heart and a seeking heart that searches after God and experiences doubts along the way. What is that difference? The doubting heart – one that adheres to an obstinate unbelief which challenges any kind of change – is the one that Jesus came to confront.

When God created the world, he brought order to chaos, but Jesus also brought chaos to order. He upended the false beliefs of people like the Pharisees who were entrenched in them. His message challenged centuries-old, man-made ideologies and doctrines that had lost sight of God. In contrast, the seeking heart is one we want to embrace.

During Paul’s second missionary journey, he and Silas preached to citizens of a city called Berea. The Bereans are remembered in part because of their response to the gospel message. They were effective doubters who applied a healthy skepticism to what they were taught. They compared the teachings of Paul and Silas with Old Testament scriptures and examined them. Because they had seeking hearts, they continued to thrive in their faith.

This is healthy spirituality. Whenever I preach or teach, I always love it when people who are truly listening say, "I need to challenge that assumption in a good way. I want to know more so I can better understand this.”

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Don’t let your doubts harden into unbelief. Instead, lift them up before God so he can use them to deepen your faith. May we always live with childlike honesty before God. He has promised to walk alongside us every step of the way and give us a spirit of discernment as we examine our doubts.

I think Leonard Ravenhill had the best definition of revival that I've heard. Ravenhill said this: “Revival is when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented that he shows up himself”, and I think that's what revival is.

Now we should delineate between revival and awakening. I think awakening is what happens when the Spirit moves in the world; revival is so much harder because it’s when God has to pry away what’s easy from his church.

What I see in revival is God is coming back to do something in his church first. I think it's when God comes back first to his church to make sure that it’s a place where there is a harvest and the seed can be thrown out from that good ground. He's doing something through both conviction and exposure. I think it is what we've seen happening interdenominationally. We see it happening all over.

When God comes back to his house and starts cleaning it up, it’s for a reason. It is disciplinary, but it is also preparation. When all of a sudden we have plastered across the news that there are atrocities happening within certain denominations and that certain high profile people have fallen into sin or been revealed in sinful lifestyles, my heart breaks for that. I grieve for those churches and the people who have been hurt in those situations.

That said, there's also something in me that thinks, “God, this is not just disciplinary. This is preparation because you want this church to be a place for people to come when you start bringing in a harvest of people.” This calls to mind Paul’s cry to the church. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2, ESV).

I'll tell you what; seeing this, while it sometimes hurts my heart, also makes me excited when I think about what God is doing in the church today and what he’s preparing us for. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

_{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.}

Jesus said that when the prodigal son came home, he was welcomed back into his father’s house. He received a new robe, ate at his father’s table and had full forgiveness. But that didn’t make him an angel.

On the contrary, I believe the prodigal’s father experienced a lot of problems with him before it was all over. However, the one thing this son had to know was that he was secure in his father’s love. He had to know his father would bear with him, work with him and love him.

That’s how our heavenly father is with us. He loved us before we were even born! Yet, we keep telling ourselves, “One of these days, I’m going to be so perfect and right before God that it will be easy for him to love me.”

No. He loved you when you were a sinner, a reprobate, an enemy to him. How much more does he love you now that you’re reconciled to him? God has already said to you, “I loved you when you were an alien to me, when you were in rebellion and sin. Will I not love you even more now that you have committed to sonship?”

We don’t rest confidently in his love as we should. The Lord says of himself that he is love. John wrote, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:15-18 NKJV).