May 5, 2023
I believe Jesus is coming soon. We see the Lord moving in astonishing ways around the world, and events are rapidly moving toward the day of his return.
“So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors! But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:33,36, NKJV).
Those who know the scriptures have a Holy Ghost inner sense of the Lord’s return. We hear the call of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, crying, “Even so, Lord Jesus, come.” Jesus said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns” (Matthew 24:42,44, 46).
Beloved, do you feel or sense that these are the last of the last days? Do you share the longing for his appearance? You are in good company! There are millions of people around the world who are also looking up, waiting with great anticipation for our Lord’s return.
Until then, God wants us to stand out as believers, as messengers of hope in our hopeless world. We do not despair because we know that Jesus Christ’s triumphant return will bring an end to the evil and hopelessness that have poisoned mankind since the serpent spoke to Adam.
When the Lord comes back to earth, he wants to find us hopeful, ready and working hard to spread his message of hope to the world. Even though we don’t know the day or hour, we know he can come at any time. Let us gather the harvest with joy as we await that great day.
What a day that will be! “The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). Look up, and be encouraged; our redemption is drawing near.
May 3, 2023
There is little purpose in prayer if we do not fully believe God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
I am persuaded that God delights in generously pouring out blessings upon his beloved children. David the psalmist insisted that God is bountiful and inclined to compassion, that his mercy is great and that it is impossible for him to reject any who implore him for his help.
The Lord rejoices in pardoning sins; he is always propitious. Webster’s Dictionary defines propitious as “kind, gracious, merciful, helpful.” It also says propitious means “favorable as a propitious breeze.” For the Lord’s children, this means “I am the God of ‘yes,’ of hope, help, favor and goodness!” This is the glorious, loving God that we serve.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is “Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man; you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues” (Psalm 31:19-20, NKJV).
Think of it! First, God says we must believe he is a rewarder of faith. Then the psalmist tell us, “Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you…who trust in you.”
Think of that storehouse of great goodness! It is goodness laid up for God’s people, not only in heaven but now in our daily walk.
I pray this every day: “Lord, you promised to reward my faith if I will trust you before the sons of men, but I need what you promised. I need fresh strength and new hope, more of the peace that passes all understanding. Lord, I ask only for what you have promised. It is the highest goodness to have a fresh manifestation of your sweet presence. This is what I desire as my reward.”
May 2, 2023
On April 9, 1680, the great Puritan preacher John Owen spoke the following message to his congregation: “You know that for many years, without failing, I have been warning you continually of an approaching calamitous time, and considering the sins that have been the causes of it… I have told you that judgment will begin in the house of God, that God seems to have hardened our hearts from his fear…and that none knows what the power of his wrath will be. In all these things, I have foretold you of perilous, distressing, calamitous times… These all now lie at the door and are entering in upon us.”
God did send his awful judgments on that society. John Owen lived to weep over a fiery catastrophe that engulfed London.
Before these disasters took place, though, Owen faithfully cried out from his pulpit, “I am going to show you how we ought to deport ourselves in and under the distressing calamities that are coming upon us and may reach, it may be, up to the very neck.” We live in such a time today, and there is only one response to the coming storm: “The just shall live by faith!”
Owen tearfully admonished his people, “Get you an ark. Prepare an ark for the safety of you and your families. The ark is Jesus Christ. There is no other way… For Isaiah, the prophet, said of our Lord, ‘And a man [Christ] shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadows of a great rock in a weary land.’ That is our ark! Blessed are they that trust only in him… I know of no safety, no deliverance, in the trials and afflictions coming upon the earth but in believing Christ as our only refuge.”
We may see dangers on all sides, but we have a fiery guard of angels surrounding us and a God who is under oath to carry us through any adversity.
Do you want to face the coming storm with quiet confidence and peace of mind? Don’t try to save yourself. Rather, commit your life wholly to God’s care. He is our loving shepherd who is faithful to see us through! Fix your eyes on Jesus. He alone is our hope.
Apr 29, 2023
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NKJV).
I climbed the steps to the platform, constructed on the roof of a concession stand overlooking multiple soccer fields. As I looked out over the sea of Nigerian faces, I could not see the edge of the crowd in any direction. I cued our praise band, and as it and the choir struck their first note, a tremendous wind suddenly hit the stage. Lightning flashed around us, and above our heads torrents of rain came at us from all four directions at once.
A large partition behind the choir risers came crashing down in the wind and injured several people. I turned and saw the havoc that was happening in the choir and the fear that was sweeping over the platform as the wind, rain and lightning continued under a clear starry night sky.
Our entire team did the most important thing that we could ever do: we prayed. There was no doubt that we were engaging in a spiritual struggle with the powers of darkness. As the storm raged, I asked Michael, an American missionary our church supported, to step up to the one working microphone and rebuke the storm.
“In the name of Christ Jesus,” Michael cried out, “wind and rain, stop!”
The moment Michael shouted those words, the wind, rain and lightning stopped as suddenly as they had begun. I was told a witch came into the crowd not far from the platform where I was to speak and began to curse the people who had come to worship. Rather than succumb to fear, the believers cried out to God. God, I am told, responded by paralyzing the witch where she stood and striking her dumb. Still in an attitude of prayer, the believers around her then led her to Christ.
After preaching a message of pure salvation for over an hour, I issued a challenge: “If you want forgiveness for your sins…simply raise your hand.” No fewer than one hundred thousand people raised their hands to receive their Savior that night.
Back in my hotel room hours later, I got on my knees to thank the Lord. I had barely begun to pray when I heard the Lord say, “Don’t limit me. Don’t limit what I can do.”
This devotional is drawn from Carter Conlon’s book It’s Time to Pray.
Apr 28, 2023
The Bible declares emphatically that not one tear of his children falls to the ground. David wrote, “You number my wanderings; put my tears into your bottle; are they not in your book? When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me” (Psalm 56:8, NKJV). The tears of the godly are so precious to him, he preserves them. If God preserves my tears, will he not preserve me?
It is almost too fantastic to take it all in. What strikes me in such a word is that if he counts every tear of mine, then how precious is my blood to him, my livelihood, my needs? Christ assured his disciples, “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).
Until we are persuaded in our minds that God takes special notice of each and every affliction which we endure, it is impossible we can ever obtain such confidence so as to believe that he would put our tears into his bottle. Can we believe that truth — that the God who numbers every hair on our heads and bottles every tear — will he not then interpose on our behalf? Hear this word in your spirit: Every tear you have shed over past sins, every tear shed in times of afflictions and stress, every tear shed over lost souls is written in his book.
You may say, “I don’t weep. I seldom shed tears.” I believe in soul tears, which only God sees, inward, silent tears shed often in times of trouble and need. Not one of your tears has been wasted. Not one is in vain.
Even at the end of time, God will attend to our tears once more. “I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’” (Revelation. 21:4). To believe in God is to believe this incredible truth!
Apr 26, 2023
When I speak of our servanthood to God, some people protest. Would you remind me that you are a son, and not a servant? Then I would kindly remind you that Paul commanded the church, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7, NKJV). He could have come the first time with a sword on a white horse, trampling every foe, yet Christ chose to come as a humble bondservant, fully committed to his Father’s interests.
For a dedicated servant such as we are called to be to our Lord, there is no dilemma. This is what Paul meant when he said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ.” Paul’s decision was never in doubt. His master was his whole world, and he was bound to him with an eternal bond of love. He could not possibly leave his master or his house.
A servant’s life revolves around his love for his lord, so Paul considered all else as “dung” that he might win the master. He was the kind who would be willing to be accursed if others could come to know the love of his lord. He valued intimacy with his master above any earthly blessing. Who cares for flocks, for corn, wine and oil, or any earthly wealth when you could have endless communion and fellowship with Christ?
This is how Jesus told his disciples, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). In essence, he was saying, “If you love me, you will obey me.”
Christ is enough! Nothing in this world is worth losing the sense of his presence. All the wealth and prosperity of the entire earth is not to be compared to a single day spent with him. The pleasures at his right hand far exceed any ecstasy known to man. To know him, to be where he is seated in heavenly places, is more than life itself. To serve him, to be led by him, to come and go as he alone commands is life on the highest plane. Love makes it easy to obey from morning to night.
