“No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:10-12).

The Lord gives many distinct promises to defend and keep his people from evil and harm. However, how many people truly walk in the freedom of these verses? Consider, for example, Psalm 91:5: “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day.”

Often the temptations we must endure occur at the time of our greatest usefulness to the kingdom of God. Suddenly we find ourselves violently opposed in our minds with thoughts trying to push us away from what God has called us to be in Christ. In light of this, bear in mind that in a season when men’s hearts are failing them for fear, it is potentially the Church’s finest hour to rise up for the sake of the kingdom of God. This means that you and I are likely to find ourselves in places that are very undesirable to the flesh — a type of personal wilderness.

Jesus was led into a wilderness place —tempted to abandon the ultimate purpose for his life: “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil” (Luke 4:1-2). Jesus was about three years away from fulfilling the calling that was given to him by his Father — three years away from the greatest event ever recorded in the world, when the Son of God died for the sins of the world. He was so close to the finish line, and that is exactly when the devil tempted him the hardest.

Just as Satan tempted Jesus, we are going to be tempted to abandon the cross and the call of God on our lives. Thank God that Satan did not succeed in diverting Jesus to self-focus in the wilderness. He understood his purpose and did not shrink back from the cross in fear. Likewise, in this time of calamity, this wilderness, you and I must believe in the reality of God’s promises when so many around us will be gripped by fear.

Jesus loved to speak to the crowds in parables. “These things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables … that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘I will open My mouth ins parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world’” (Matthew 13:34-35).
The Bible clearly states there are secrets of the Lord: “His secret counsel is with the upright” (Proverbs 3:32). These hidden truths have been unknown from the foundation of the world, but Matthew tells us they’re buried in Jesus’ parables. They have power to truly set Christians free if they are willing to pay the cost of discovering them.
Let’s look at the parable of the pearl of great price. “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46). The merchant here was also an assayer, one who made his living by evaluating costly pearls for their quality and worth. He represents a very small band of believers and Jesus is the pearl of great price, of incalculable value.
Obviously, the pearl belonged to the Father who possessed Christ just as any father possesses his own son. Indeed, Jesus is the Father’s most valued and treasured possession and only one thing would cause the Father to give up this priceless pearl — love. He and his Son had made a covenant before the creation of the world and in that covenant, the Father agreed to give his Son up as a sacrifice for the purpose of redeeming humankind.
When the chief priests examined this pearl, they greatly devalued him. “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced” (Matthew 27:9). Think of it! The God of the universe had made his precious pearl available to all, yet these men put little or no value on him.
Beloved, God intends his pearl to be found by those who are obsessed with possessing him. It is as if he is saying, “My pearl is available only to those who place a great value on him.” Jesus offers you everything he is — joy, peace, purpose, holiness. He is your treasure, available to you in exchange for your trust, your love, and your faith in his Word.

The word unrelenting means “undiminished, not letting up or weakening in vigor or pace; incapable to being changed, sticking to a determined course.”
This is a marvelous description of the love of God. Nothing can hinder or diminish his loving pursuit of both sinners and saints. The psalmist David expressed it this way: “You have hedged me behind and before … Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:5, 7-8).
David is speaking of the great highs and lows we face in life. He’s saying, “There are times I feel so blessed that I’m lifted with joy. At other times, I feel like I’m in a living hell, condemned and unworthy. But no matter where I am, no matter how blessed I am or how low I feel, Lord, you are there. I can’t get away from your unrelenting love! Even when I’m disobedient — sinning against your truth, taking your grace for granted — you never stop loving me. Your love for me is relentless!”
Consider also the testimony of the apostle Paul. Here was a man bent on destroying God’s church like a madman because of his hatred for Christians. He breathed out threats of slaughter against everyone who followed Jesus and sought authorization to hunt down believers so he could charge into their homes and drag them off to prison.
After his conversion, Paul testified that even during those hate-filled years, God loved him. He wrote, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And through the years, Paul became increasingly convinced that God would love him fervently to the end, through all his highs and lows.
“I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). He was declaring, “Nothing can separate me from God’s love — no devil, no demon, no principality, no man, no angel — nothing can stop God from loving me.”
This is the hope of every believer!

A complaint among Christians all over the world is, “I can’t find a good church anywhere! I need a place where my family can be ministered to and where my children can grow up knowing true righteousness.”

Too many pastors are constantly trying out new things in church — new methods of evangelism, new music, new “revival” movements. There is so much hype and foolishness — all kinds of distractions from the gospel.

What are you looking for in a church? True fellowship? A place for your children to thrive? Good praise and worship? A place where deep needs in your life can be met? If any of these concerns apply to you, I have a very hard question for you: In order to meet these needs, have you searched your heart about being a priest to your family? You claim you can’t find a good church — one that stirs and provokes you and ministers to your children. But have you done the priestly work of mediating for your loved ones before the Lord?

I grew up in a family that observed what used to be called “family altar.” My father believed that the verse in Hebrews commanding Christians not to forsake corporate assembly was meant for families as well (see Hebrews 10:25). When time came for family altar in our home, my siblings and I came in from our activities and gathered around our parents for prayer. My father happily took on the role of priest and shepherd in our home.

What about you? Have you searched your heart about being a priest to your family? When your home becomes a church, all your deepest needs will be met by your Father in heaven. Then you can go to any church, no matter how dead it may seem. Why? Because God will meet you there — and he can even connect you with others seekers who are hungry to know Jesus better.

For centuries, the most powerful witness of God’s people to the world has been the shining forth of Christ through deep suffering in their lives. Christ’s manifest character has touched those around them and ministered to atheists, Muslims, and unbelievers of all kinds.

The apostle Paul said, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Paul knew firsthand the meaning of despair; after all, he wasn’t superhuman. He faced troubled times that he never thought he would survive. He testified: “We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).

Do you understand what Paul is saying? He’s telling us, “We were pressed down beyond all human strength and we were utterly at a loss to understand it. We came to the point of thinking it was all over.”

At that very moment, at Paul’s most trying time, he remembered his ministry and calling. Staring death in the face, he reminded himself, “The whole world is watching me. I’ve preached many sermons on God’s power to keep his servants and now everyone is looking to see if I believe it.”

Afterward, Paul tells the Corinthian church, “It was your prayers that helped us. You enabled us to come through it all with a song of victory.” He writes, “You also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf” (2 Corinthians 1:11).

Never take lightly the matter of praying for your brothers and sisters in need. Paul says the prayers of the Corinthians were a gift to him and, likewise, our prayers can bless others.