Jul 12, 2023
“We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 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 4:16-17, NKJV).
Note the last part of this passage. John tells us we are now living as the Lord lived, forgiving and loving our enemies. There is nothing left in us of revenge, grudges or racial prejudice, so we can now fully receive the love of God toward us.
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).Do you see what John is saying? Our love for God is a given, but perfect love also means knowing and believing his love toward us.
There must be no fear or doubt in this love. If we doubt, we’ll live in torment: “Fear involves torment” (see 1 John 4:18). Believing in God’s love means knowing he is patient with our failures day in and day out. He hears our every cry, bottles every tear, feels our anguish of heart and is moved with compassion.
This aspect of God’s love is vividly illustrated in Exodus, where the Lord sought to reveal his loving nature to his people. He told Moses, “I am going to deliver Israel,” and scripture says, “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God” (Exodus 2:23).
“And the Lord said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land…to a land flowing with milk and honey’” (Exodus 3:7-8).
Do you believe God sees your need just as he did with Israel? We often glibly say, “Christ is all,” yet when we face a crisis we succumb to fear. Let us embrace the knowledge that God never forsakes his children in their time of anguish, even when things seem absolutely hopeless. We can trust him!
Jul 11, 2023
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Comforter.” It is one thing to know the Holy Spirit as our comforter, but we must also know how he comforts us, so we can distinguish what comfort is of flesh and what is from the Spirit.
Consider the person who is overcome with loneliness. He prays for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and expects that comfort to come as a feeling. In fact, he imagines it as a kind of sudden breath from heaven, like a spiritual sedative to his soul.
This feeling of peace may actually come to him, but the next morning it is gone. As a result, he starts to believe the Holy Spirit has refused his request. No, never! The Holy Spirit doesn’t comfort us by manipulating our feelings. His way of comforting is vastly different and is clearly outlined in scripture. No matter what the problem, trial or need, his ministry of comfort is accomplished by bringing truth. “When he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13, NKJV).
The fact is that our comfort springs from what we know, not what we feel. Only truth overrules feelings! The comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with this foundational truth: God is not mad at you; he loves you.
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). The Greek meaning here is even stronger than the translation suggests, saying that the love of God is made to “gush forth” into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
You may be carrying an unbearable burden caused by fear, shame, sorrow, afflictions, temptations or discouragement. No matter how it happened, comfort is needed. This is the moment when a voice is heard, echoing through every corridor of your soul. It is the voice of the Holy Spirit declaring, “Nothing can separate you from the love of God.”
Once you believe it, this truth quickly becomes a fountain of living water, sweeping away every stumbling block. “But the Helper [Comforter], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
Jul 9, 2023
Everybody loves the story of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. We’ve got all of the plagues and these dramatic signs of God’s power, then nearly two million slaves are set free. The pharaoh of Egypt changes his mind about letting them go at the last minute and chases them to the Red Sea, then God splits the sea in half, and his people escape through it only to have these walls of water smash in on the Egyptian army pursuing them.
There’s an important verse before all of that, though, which we often miss. “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8, ESV). Joseph was an Old Testament archetype of Jesus Christ, and here we have a nation’s ruler who didn’t know him. It’s a hint that there’s a whole generation of people who didn’t really know Joseph and, through him, the God that he served. We’ll come back to that. It’s important.
So the nation of Israel is set free in epic style, but then the narrative gets a little confusing for some people. God promised all of these people who had been slaves all of their lives a beautiful land that would be their own. He promised to lead them to this place; they wouldn’t even have to find it on their own. Before that, however, he made them wander in the desert for 40 years.
You see, he needed to get the culture and spirit of Egypt out of his people before they came into the place he’d promised them. If he hadn’t, the Israelites would’ve walked into the promised land with all of the habits and culture and beliefs of a generation who had forgotten Joseph and didn’t know God’s nature.
The same is often true for us as modern day believers. This life of the Holy Spirit is the life that we’ve been called to as followers of Christ. However, if we try to bring the lifestyle and ways of pharaoh and the world into our dealings with God, we’re going to run into trouble. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the early church applies to us just as much today: “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness…” (Ephesians 5:8-11).
Jul 6, 2023
A triumphant church is rising up today, coming out of great trials of faith. This last-days church is emerging from long days of affliction and adversity. The Holy Spirit is at work bringing his people out of a reliance on themselves so that he can show himself strong.
Even if you’ve been walking with Jesus for years, you may today be facing a time of severe testing in your life. Things coming at you seem to be overwhelming, things that only God can do something about, and you realize that only he can bring you through. This is exactly where God wants you and where you will find peace. You are strongest when you let him take control.
We can rejoice in the knowledge that God is training and equipping people everywhere to be defenders of the faith. He needs people like you and me who have surrendered ourselves wholly to him. He is calling people who are fearless in the strength of the Lord and who will stand for righteousness.
As the Bible prophesied, nations are fighting against nation. Many even have factions within their borders that have been at war continuously for years, destroying the morale and hope of the people. In many countries, God’s people are experiencing suffering, afflictions and torture. I am certain there is a divine eternal purpose in the intensity of these spiritual and physical battles now being endured in the body of Christ, but these people need our prayers. They need us to call upon God to rescue them from the enemy.
God will go to war on our behalf, but he does not use conventional warfare. He has never established armies of vengeful, hate-filled warriors, and he has never used carnal weapons. Instead, he pulls down strongholds by his mighty lovingkindness and tender mercies. His battle plan is simple. He wins hearts and minds with tender, merciful love.
When we storm heaven to deliver us from peril, he will answer! We can then stand together and say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3, NKJV).
Jul 5, 2023
We can find dry spells plaguing the lives of godly men and women throughout the Bible. This low period in the spirit comes mostly to those whom God intends to use. Indeed, it is common to everyone he trains to go deeper into his ways.
As you look back on some of your own dry spells, ask yourself if those times followed a renewal of the Spirit in your life. Maybe you had experienced a fresh awakening, asking the Lord, “Touch me, Jesus. I feel lukewarm. I know my service to you isn’t moving forward as it should. I’m hungry for more of you. I want zeal to do your work, to pray for the sick, save the lost, bring hope to the hopeless. Renew me, Lord. I want to be used for your kingdom in greater measure.”
Because you got serious with God, your prayers began to get answers and you started to hear God’s voice clearly. Intimacy with him was wonderful, your passion was increasing, and you had a strong sense of his movement in your life.
Then one day you woke up, and the heavens seemed like they were made of brass. You were cast down and didn’t know why. Prayer seemed like agony, and you didn’t hear God’s voice as you once did. Your spirit felt dry and empty. You had nothing but faith.
Beloved, if this has happened to you, do not panic, and don’t beat yourself up! I personally know this kind of plunge from the mountaintop to the lowest pit seemingly in an instant. Peter speaks of it specifically, advising us not to think that some outlandish thing is happening to us: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12-13, NKJV).
The Lord allows our dry spells because he is after something in our lives. Be encouraged! Rejoice and praise him even though you may not feel like it!
Jul 3, 2023
In Galatians, the Apostle Paul wrote, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14, ESV).
The crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord is the unique, incomparably central point for all of mankind and all of history. All of history is split before Jesus and after his work on the cross. It radically changed the whole world. However, it not only changed the world, it also radically changed us. So for how many of you is the ‘before and after Christ’ not just a historical thing but also a personal BC and AD in your life? The realization of the cross and Jesus’ presence changes everything.
The cross is not only the unchanging reminder of God’s eternal intentionality but also his invitation into an eternity with him. Nothing before that invitation is comparable to what comes afterward. Everything that has been ruined and broken by men can be restored at the cross of Jesus Christ, and you would never want to go back.
No one was better equipped to talk about the power of the cross than the Apostle Paul. Very few people had the level of formal training in religious matters and scripture than him. On top of that, very few people had a deeper revelation of the nature of God, salvation and grace; yet Paul also was a man who experienced some of the most incredible manifestations of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, visions, healings and visitations. He even talked about being transported in the Spirit to the third heaven.
Despite all that, he declared that his message, ministry, mind, soul, heart, passion, priorities, convictions and preaching would all be fixed on the cross. The world and all of his achievements and accomplishments in it had been crucified to him. It was dead. That’s how much it was worth to him, compared to the cross. The glory of the gospel and his Lord Jesus Christ crucified on the cross and raised from the grave eclipsed every other thing in Paul’s life.
Do we also live and think that way about the cross? Do we truly grasp how beautiful and powerful God’s work there was? Let’s be crucified to the world and everything it offers to give us value. Let’s fully embrace the cross and the glory of Christ!
