Devotions

Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9 NKJV). We must see Jesus not as man teaches, but as the Spirit reveals him to us, as God wants us to know and see him! We are to get God’s vision and testimony of Christ, then we will know God as he desires to be known!

Here is how I believe God wants us to see his Son: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

Jesus was a gift! God wrapped all his resources up in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Christ is God’s good and perfect gift to us, come down from the Father. Do you see Jesus as God’s perfect gift to you? Do you see him as all you need to live joyfully, victoriously, righteously, full of peace and rest?

Ages ago, before you were created, God saw what your hurts and needs would be. He knew ahead of time what you would need to solve all your problems. He did not wrap up his answers and send them to you as a rule book or as an army of “answer men.” No, he gave us all one solution to all our crises and needs: one man, one Way, one answer to everything we need in Jesus Christ.

God says to you, “I don’t want you to live for tomorrow. You’ll only look back and see that today could have been your very best time. Jesus can’t be any better or stronger to you than he is right now. Why won’t you let me be God to you today?”

The glory of God and the worthiness of his Son are involved in his dealings with us. Hence everything that could possibly stand in the way of our eternal blessedness has been disposed of in such a manner as to secure the divine glory and furnish a triumphant answer to every plea of the enemy.

Is it a question of trespass? He has forgiven us all trespasses.

Is it a question of sin? He has condemned sin at the cross and thus put it away.

Is it a question of guilt? It is cancelled by the blood of the cross.

Is it a question of death? He has taken away its sting and actually made it part of our property.

Is it a question of Satan? He has destroyed him by annulling all his power.

Is it a question of the world? He has delivered us from it and snapped every link which connected us with it.

Thus, beloved Christian reader, it stands with us if we are to be taught by scripture, if we are to take God at his word, if we are to believe what he says. If it be not thus, we are in our sins, under the power of sin, in the grasp of Satan, obnoxious to death, part and parcel of an evil, Christless, godless world and exposed to the unmitigated wrath of God, the vengeance of eternal fire.

Oh, that the blessed Spirit may open the eyes of God’s people and give them to see their proper place. May they see their full and eternal deliverance in association with Christ who died for them, and in whom they have died, and thus passed out of the power of all their enemies!

Excerpt from the writings of J.B. Stoney used in David Wilkerson’s personal devotions.

For anyone to enjoy settled peace, he must cease from self and harken to God’s Word and rest without a single question on its pure, precious and everlasting record. God’s Word never changes. I change; my frame, my feelings, my experience, my circumstances change continually, but God’s Word is the same yesterday and today and forever.

It is a grand and essential point for the soul to apprehend that Christ is the only definition of the believer’s place before God. This gives immense power, liberty and blessing. “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17 NKJV). This is something perfectly wonderful!

Let us ponder it; let us think of a poor wretched, guilty slave of sin, a bondslave of Satan, a votary of the world, exposed to an eternal hell. Such an one is taken up by sovereign grace and delivered completely from the grasp of Satan. He is freed from  the dominion of sin, the power of this present evil. He is pardoned, washed, justified, brought nigh to God, accepted in Christ and perfectly and forever identified with him so that the Holy Ghost can say, “As Christ is, so is he in this world!”

All this seems too good to be true. Most assuredly, it is too good for us to get, but blessed be the God of all grace and blessed be the Christ of God, it is not too good for him to give. God gives like himself. He will be God in spite of our unworthiness and Satan’s opposition. He will act in a way worthy of himself and worthy of the Son of his love.

Excerpt from the writings of J.B. Stoney used in David Wilkerson’s personal devotions.

There are two types of doubt. There’s the unhealthy, skeptical doubt that leads to unbelief. Then there's the healthy doubt that questions assumptions we have made that need testing. We've been told to believe certain things, but in our hearts, in the recesses of our minds, we aren’t sure. That courage to question is good.

The disciple Thomas, sometimes known as “Doubting Thomas,” is probably the most maligned apostle besides Judas. He often comes up as a cautionary tale to believers, the ultimate example of faith strangled by unbelief. What if Thomas was simply the one who said what everyone else was thinking?

Thomas represents a fight almost every believer faces in their walk with God: conflating worry with unbelief. We think if we ask questions, it means we have no faith; but Jesus loved Thomas’ questions and leaned into his doubt. Throughout the Bible, believers are encouraged to question what they’re told about God. In Acts 17, Paul praises the Bereans for carefully comparing his messages with scripture before believing him.

Doubt is defined as a tension between two competing ideas. There are only two ways to deal with them: Face them head-on and come to a resolution, or bury them in denial and say, “A good Christian doesn't think those thoughts.”

I often doubt; it’s one of my favorite tools. I grow more through doubt than I do through anything else. I know it sounds odd for a Christian leader to say, but  I take great joy in my doubts. The great biblical scholars, contemplative prayer warriors, thinkers, and men and women of God who have made an impact throughout history all dared to question and test what they had been told. They put the truth through rigorous quality control and left behind rich legacies and examples for us to follow.

Many churches today have sermons like “Three Steps to Prosperity” or “Five Steps to Contentment in Your Job.” If you preach only those kinds of sermons 52 Sundays a year, ten years later you're going to have a church full of shallow Christians. Your church may be a mile wide, but it will be only an inch deep. Your congregation’s spiritual roots won’t be deep enough to withstand the storms of life and the tests of its faith.

Having doubts doesn’t mean you don’t believe. It means you’re hungry for the truth and honest enough to settle for nothing less.

It’s one thing to invest in people who have never hurt us. It is another thing to be moved with compassion toward people who have wronged us.

Consider this biblical story. “Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, ‘Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, “We will enter the city,” the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians…’” The lepers came into the Syrian camp and found that God had put all the soldiers to flight. They started to enjoy food and drink that had been left. “Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.’” (2 Kings 7:3-9, ESV).

In the case of the four lepers, think about how tempting it would have been for them to neglect, and thus get vengeance on, a city that had subjected them to incredible pain and rejection. Perhaps today you find a similar sentiment deep within your heart. You thought a measure of kindness would be extended to you, but you instead found yourself being pushed to the side as everyone else passes you by.

As a Christian in this last hour, you are going to discover incredible provision from heaven. You must be careful, however, lest the thought enter your heart, This is for me and me alone. I am going to eat my morsel by myself, here in my little corner of security. When this all blows over, I am going to emerge as the one whom God provided for. Who cares about my neighbors? What have they ever done for me?

Thankfully that was not the reaction of the four lepers. These men were moved with compassion, and consequently they exemplified the heart of Christ. As we see in their situation, this will often require that we walk in forgiveness. We must be willing to go back into a city that has caused us pain, willing to go back to neighbors or coworkers who were unkind to us.

_{Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. In May of 2020 he transitioned into a continuing role as General Overseer of Times Square Church, Inc.}