Devotions

Everywhere we turn in the last days, we will see God’s glory breaking forth in a last revival. Christ’s Church will stretch beyond all former limitations to spread the good news.

“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” (Isaiah 54:2–3). Simply put, the Church will gain strength and raise up multitudes in Christ.

As we look more closely at Isaiah’s prophecy, we see it is meant not only for the Church Body but also for individuals. I know godly servants, friends of mine, who have laid hold of this prophecy as a personal word from the Holy Spirit. And they have built up their faith by its promises: “Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more” (Isaiah 54:4). Isaiah makes it clear in this verse: God’s Church will not go out under reproach.

Yet just a few verses down, we read this warning to the last-days Church: “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires” (Isaiah 54:11). We are told that we will be afflicted and storm-tossed. Yet we are also promised a foundation made of sapphires. What does this mean, exactly?

When God declares, “I will lay thy foundations with sapphires,” His message is, “When everything in the world is being shaken, you will not be moved. The foundation I’m laying underneath you is as solid as these stones. What I’m doing in you cannot be shaken.”

These sapphires represent spiritual knowledge and wisdom, insights into the very heart of God. We know that those who endure suffering come out armed with greater insights into God’s mercy. You may be tempted, tossed, afflicted and alone, but through it all He is forming underneath you a rock-solid foundation. It is all so that you may comfort others in their trials.

Here’s the really good news! Jesus wants to put in you the same Spirit that lives in Him — the same Spirit that gave Him the power to pass right through the enemy’s plans to cast Him off the edge of the cliff (see Luke 4:29-30).

Perhaps addiction has crushed you; the habits of sin have led you to failure; fear and anxiety have caused you to fall into despair. But when Jesus puts “the same Spirit” within you, you can pass right through and declare, “This thing won’t touch me. I might be in a fire but I won’t be burned. I’m coming out alive. I’m coming out on the victory side. I’m not going to be pushed off into things that God doesn’t have for me. I’m going to stay in the firm place where He has set me.”  

You may feel pressure all over you but the Lord has given me a word to give to you. And attached to it is a prophetic promise. I said to the Lord, “I’m going to be very cautious about this because sometimes false prophecies come forth that say everything is going to be rosy and bright.” So I’m not saying that to you. There will be difficulties and pressure. There may be plans formed against you, pushing you toward the cliff, toward the edge, but I have an assuring word for you.  

If you trust in Jesus, if you wait upon the Lord, if you will hear His message and not listen to the enemy’s voice, you will pass right through the storm in complete victory. You will pass right through the fire. You will pass through every pressure, everything that comes against you — in the name of Jesus.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2, ESV).

God’s covenantal promises are as real and secure as any truth we can imagine. When God makes a promise to us, it is not only certain but irrevocable. And He loves making covenants with His children.

But God’s promises demand action on our part. He doesn’t make covenants with idle, double-minded people. He wants people who will trust Him, obey Him, engage with Him on a daily basis. God wants to speak with us, and He wants us to speak back. To listen, to ask questions, and to answer when He speaks. God isn’t passive, and He doesn’t want passive followers!

If we listen we can hear God talking, trying to engage us. Trying to get a message through and a response back. But so often we miss it. Either we are not hearing, or we don’t believe that God is really interested in talking with us.

When God speaks, He wants us to respond. To do something. To acknowledge His voice and speak back.

And He only speaks to people who are willing to listen.

Too often we spend our days in lifeless, passionless pursuits. We live day to day, aimlessly waiting for God to give us some direction, some guidance, some word of prophecy. We want to follow God, but we have no idea where He is leading us.

I see this every day—in people, in churches, in businesses, in ministries, in every area of life. So many long to hear God and to engage with Him in a covenantal relationship, but nothing ever happens. God’s voice never comes. His leading never becomes clear.

We serve a God of passion—a God of action. A God who longs for servants obsessed with obedience, preoccupied with discovering His will, completely enamored with the thought of living and dying in God’s holy presence!

That’s what God is looking for. And when He finds it, He always takes notice!

 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13, NIV).

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run. 

In these last days, the Lord’s eye is not fixed on world powers but on the church of Jesus Christ. God is not focused on the economy, on the rise of world religions, on the roaring of the heathen. According to Isaiah, the nations are to God “as a drop of a bucket” (Isaiah 40:15). They are all under His sovereign rule and reign.

God knows all about terrorist threats, wars and rumors of wars. His Word warns that the heathen will rage, secular powers will try to outlaw Christianity, and fast-growing, anti-Christ movements will boast they’ll rule the world and destroy Jesus’ followers. The Bible says this about it all:

“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:2–3). In short, “Let’s cast away all moral hindrances, all moral landmarks of the past.”

Here is God’s reaction to these earthly powers and demon-influenced men: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (2:4). No matter how desperate things look, everything remains under God’s full control.

I’m thankful for this word from the Psalms. More and more, we hear reports of secularism wiping out the evangelical church in Europe; of Islam being the fastest growing religion in the world; of homosexuals hijacking entire denominations; of Christ’s church growing so weak it no longer has any impact on society. Yet God’s Word declares, “On Christ the Rock God will build His church.”

“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Nothing from the bowels of hell can hope to destroy Christ’s church. His eye is always on His people, and through everything He warns Satan and his hordes, “Do not touch the apple of My eye.”

“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake” (Isaiah 54:15). Do you see what God is saying here? “The devil is going to come at you. Enemies out of hell will gather together against you. But Satan will not succeed.”

What is ahead for the church of Jesus Christ? This is a question of great concern to believers worldwide. As cataclysmic events take place all over the globe, many are wondering, “Is the Holy Spirit going to revive the Church before Jesus returns? Will Christ’s Body leave this world with a whimper or with a shout?”

The New Testament is filled with predictions of a last-days falling away. False prophets will rise up and lead many astray. Wolves will come in sheep’s clothing, bringing powerful deceptions to “deceive, if possible, even the elect of God.” Wickedness will abound, causing once-hot believers to lose their first love. With the flood of iniquity to come, the love of many will grow cold.

Jesus prophesied these very things and His warnings were meant to challenge our faith. As overwhelming iniquity floods the earth, He asks: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

Christ knew everything we would be witnessing today: horrifying school shootings; the rise of militant homosexuality; terrorist acts taking place throughout the world. In the midst of these things, He asks us, “Will you continue to believe, though things wax worse? Will you faint in your confidence when things don’t happen as you thought they would? Or, will you continue to trust in Me?”

Despite the rise in iniquity and the occurrence of great calamities, Jesus knew there would be a great last-days revival. The Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah’s prophecies, and He knew full well about the prediction of a revival as the end draws near.

Isaiah said there would be a great, worldwide awakening just prior to Christ’s return. This prophecy is found in Isaiah 54 and is summed up in these verses: “Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” (54:3).

I believe with a number of Bible scholars that Isaiah’s prophecy has a dual application. It speaks not only about natural Israel after captivity in Babylon, but also about the spiritual Israel that was to come: the Body of Jesus Christ, the Church of the New Jerusalem. Paul quotes from Isaiah 54 when he refers to the “Jerusalem which is above . . . the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26). Paul saw Isaiah’s prophecy as directed “to the children of promise,” those in Christ by faith.