Devotions

What is well-being? Can it be achieved by simply taking care of oneself? Not entirely. True well-being includes relational love, intimacy and connection with people. You cannot have well-being on your own.

There are more than fifty Bible verses that talk about loving and cherishing and caring for one another. Give to one another. Put others above yourself. The wounded soul that hasn’t torn down its barriers can’t effectively do that. Larry Crabb said that two unhealthy people in a marriage are like two ticks with no dog. They are sucking the life out of each other; there's no source of life. They desperately need one another, but neither has anything to give. 

Well-being begins with us saying, "Holy Spirit, this drive in me for approval from others isn’t love. It's the opposite of love. Nourish me from within and dissolve the barriers that I’ve put up. Enlarge my heart.”

In America, we have an individualistic mentality that says, "I'll fix myself, spirit, soul and body! I’ll go to the gym, eat well, read inspirational books and will myself to success.” There's good in that, but it isn’t sufficient. We have a God-shaped hole in our hearts, but there is also a people-shaped hole in our hearts. There is a classic book written in the 1600s titled The Practice of the Presence of God. I would like to write a book called “Practicing the Presence of People.” Both the soul and the body need people around them. You have to change to have well-being in community, but you need community to change.

The prophet Jonah was a loner, and there’s an important lesson in his story that is often overlooked. He spent a lot of time running from God and distancing himself from other people, and the impact of his ministry was sorely affected by all that isolation. Just like Jonah, when we keep people at arm’s length, our ministry can be sorely affected as well. Our faith is lived out in community; people are not impacted unless they're loved.

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Do you want true well-being? Seek him first. Practice the presence of God, then seek out good relationships with other people. This is good, healthy soul-care.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7, ESV).

The Lord desires to bestow his favor and blessing upon you to lift you above what limits you, so that you become the person he sees in you. There is a call that only you can fulfill on this earth, in your generation and within your family. To achieve this, the Lord is ready to pour on you a special grace and his strength on a daily basis.

However, another force acts in us and opposes this process. It is our pride. God's favor is blocked by your pride, for God resists the proud as the Bible tells us. The expression ‘resist’ comes from the Greek word antitassomai and means to line up in battle against or oppose someone. In other words, when we choose to stand in our pride, we are literally going to war with God. When we choose pride, we reproduce on a small scale, Satan's rebellion against God.

The secret thoughts of pride that led Lucifer to his downfall are revealed in Isaiah 14:12-14: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God… I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

To choose pride is to elevate our own ‘thrones,’ rights, opinions, plans, desires and decisions above those of our husband or wife, our children or grandchildren, above even God. Therefore, we abort the divine process of elevation that he intended to accomplish in us. Dear friend, I plead with all my heart and might, stop choosing pride, stubbornness, arrogance, harshness, coldness, self-centered bitterness and unforgiveness. Stop denying your part, blaming others, wallowing in self-pity, elevating your suffering or disappointment above God's promises and infinite redemptive ability.

Choose instead to walk in humility before God. Choose to be honest about your sins with yourself, God and other people. Choose to have the courage to ask for forgiveness. Recognize your need for God to break that pride that has kept you limited for too long. God desires to lift you up.

_{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.} 

As Jesus spent his last hours with his disciples, he said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you” (John 16:23, NKJV). Immediately following this, he told them, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).

What an incredible statement. As this scene took place, Christ was warning his followers that he was going away, and he wouldn't see them for a short time. In the very same breath, though, he assured them that they had access to every blessing of heaven. All they had to do was ask in his name.

The disciples had been personally taught by Jesus to knock, seek and ask for the things of God. They were taught firsthand that all of the blessings of the Father — all grace, power and strength — were found in Christ. They'd heard Jesus declare to the multitudes, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:12–14).

Christ's words to his disciples convict me: “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). As I read this, I hear the Lord whispering to me, “David, you haven't claimed the power I've made available to you. You simply need to ask in my name.”

Here is what I believe grieves God's heart more than all the sins of the flesh combined. Our Lord is grieved by the ever-growing lack of faith in his promises…by ever-increasing doubts that he answers prayer…and by a people who claim less and less of the power that is in Christ.

No matter how much you have asked of the likeness of Christ, it is nothing compared to the resources of spiritual wisdom still awaiting in his storehouse. Ask largely! Ask for wisdom, ask for guidance, ask for revelation. It must be asked in faith, though, without a whisper of doubt.

The Holy Spirit gives us strength when we release all our needs into God's hands and trust in his might. Ruth is an example of this kind of trust. After her husband died, Ruth lived with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi was concerned about Ruth's welfare and future, so she advised Ruth to lie down at the feet of the wealthy Boaz and ask him to fulfill his obligation to her as her kinsman.

That evening, after the day's winnowing was finished, Boaz lay down “at the end of the heap of grain” (Ruth 3:7, NKJV) and pulled a blanket over himself. The next morning, he woke up startled, finding a woman lying at his feet.

Ruth said to him, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative” (Ruth 3:9). She was saying, in essence, “Will you take on the obligation of a relative for me? Will you provide for me?” This was no manipulative scheme. Ruth and Naomi had done everything in divine order. We can be sure of this because Christ's lineage came through Ruth. When Ruth returned home Naomi asked her, "Is that you, my daughter?" (Ruth 3:16). She was asking, in other words, “Shall I call you ‘engaged’ Ruth? Or are you still ‘widowed’ Ruth?”

Ruth told Naomi all that had happened. Listen to Naomi's godly advice: “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day” (Ruth 3:18). Naomi had no doubt prayed about the matter, seeking God's direction, and God had given her counsel. He must have reminded her about the law of the kinsman-redeemer, which was a type and foreshadowing of Christ. Naomi was confident that she and Ruth had done their part. Now it was time to sit still and trust God to perform what he had promised. She was saying, “It’s all in the Lord's hands now, Ruth. Just relax and be calm.”

A calm and peace settled over Naomi's house. Nobody was in a frenzy, biting fingernails and wondering, “Will God do it? When will it happen?” These two faithful women could relax, sing and praise the Lord for his goodness.

Have you prayed? Have you trusted? Are you ready to sit still and “see the salvation of the Lord”? He has everything under control!

Suppose you came upon Jesus on day forty-one immediately following his temptation in the wilderness. His face is shining. He’s rejoicing, praising the Father, because he’s won a great victory.

You see Jesus exuding life and confidence. Now he’s ready to face the powers of hell, so he sets off boldly for the great cities that lie in darkness. He preaches the gospel, sure of God’s Word. He heals the sick, knowing his Father is with him.

Now, as you examine your own life, you see just the opposite. You’re still facing your own dry wilderness experience. You’ve endured fiery attacks from Satan, and your soul is cast down. You can’t help thinking, “Jesus never went through trials like mine. He was above all this.” You may see a minister who appears strong in faith; he sounds so assured of God’s presence that you think, “He’s never had any problems like mine.”

If you only knew! You were not there when God called this man to preach and then led him into a wilderness to be tempted sorely. You weren’t there when he was reduced to nothing, cast down in despair. You don’t know that often his best sermons have come out of the testings of his own life. Paul himself warned believers not to measure their righteousness against what they thought was another’s. “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12, NKJV).

We can’t read the hearts of others. Who would have known on day forty-one that Jesus had just emerged from a long, horrible temptation? Who’d have known that the glory they saw in him sprang from a struggle worse than any they would ever endure? We are to look only to Jesus. We’re to rely only on his righteousness, his holiness. He has given us all equal access to it.

God loves you in your testing times. His own Spirit has led you into the wilderness. His own Son has already been there, and he knows exactly what you’re going through. Let him complete his work of building into you utter dependence and trust in him. You’ll come out with confidence, godly compassion and strength to help others.