Devotions

Paul’s last letter was written to Timothy, a young minister he had ordained. Paul said: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6-7, NIV). We get a picture of a fire that’s almost out, embers that need to be breathed on to keep the fire alive. Paul wanted Timothy to fan the flames of the Spirit. He warned Timothy not to neglect them, but to stir up the fire and keep it going. Whatever Timothy did, he was to prevent the fire from being extinguished; he was to give attention to the Spirit’s work in him. Without that anointing, Timothy would never fulfill the purposes of God for his life.

Charles Finney, a nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister and former president of Oberlin College, preached a series of lectures on revivals of religion, which later became a book and is now considered a spiritual classic. In it he describes three key points about the Holy Spirit:

• Jesus promised the Spirit’s fullness. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
• Scripture commands Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit. “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Just as there are commands to love one another and not to steal, “be filled with the Spirit” is no different. It is expressed in the imperative form, meaning it is a command no different from any other biblical command.
• The fullness of the Spirit is a necessity in our lives. When Jesus declared, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), He meant what He said.

When God takes control of a life or a church, He takes control through the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is the Helper Jesus sent to do the job. When we fear giving control to the Spirit, we really fear God’s control over our lives. When we refuse to yield to the Spirit, we miss out on the holy excitement of living beyond ourselves.

Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson. 

“Ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:13).

What a prophecy! This verse speaks of comfort in the Church, of every member of Christ’s Body lovingly nourishing one another. It is an image of God’s people comforting each other’s hurts and entering into their sufferings.

This image is confirmed by Paul in the New Testament: “Blessed be . . . the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4, my italics).

Note that nothing is said here about deliverance from the battle. We are told only that the Holy Spirit gives us comfort to endure and stay steadfast in our trial: “comfort . . . in trouble.”

This comfort, provided by the Spirit in the midst of our troubles, is not simply a temporary lifting of the burden. It is not a sigh of relief, a shutting out of troubling thoughts or fears. Rather, it is comfort that comes to us in our troubles—and it is supernatural. It is a miraculous work, a heaven-sent healing of mind, soul and spirit. Such comfort is the exclusive ministry of the Holy Spirit, and is accomplished by faith as we trust in His love for us.

Dear saint, I ask you: What do you have to give to others in trouble? What has the Holy Spirit done in you that can bring healing to hurting friends and family?

It is not a question of means or charity. Kind words of sympathy are not enough. A grocery basket is not the entire answer. All of these things are good and scriptural, but none of them in themselves are able to heal hearts.

“That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

The Holy Spirit promises a creative miracle.

A mother will stay with her sick child until the cure comes. She will even endure a child’s rejection of her love. That child may fall into sin, disregarding all his mother’s words of guidance and correction. He may become overwhelmed with despondency or unbelief, or become proud, stubborn and rebellious. Yet, through it all, his mother never gives up on him.

Consider this image of a mother eagle. “He kept [you] as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings” (Deuteronomy 32:10–11). Jesus refers to a similar image when He speaks of being “a hen [who] gathereth her chickens under her wings” (Matthew 23:37). In times of storm, such a mother hides her young safely and lovingly under her wings.

We are talking here about the tenderest, most trustworthy love known to human beings. If you were to go into any courthouse and peer into one courtroom after another, you would see young men on trial for every conceivable crime. And who would be watching from the courtroom seats? Mostly mothers.

Go to any prison on visiting days. Who do you see lining up to visit an incarcerated son or daughter? Mothers, heavy-hearted with grief—mothers who seem to have an unlimited capacity to love and forgive.

Many years ago, an old preacher wrote, “I don’t know if the Prodigal Son had a mother, but if he did, I assure you that while the father stood on the roof looking for his son to come home, that mother was shut in her room, praying and weeping. Later, when everyone was dancing at the son’s return, you would find that mother whispering hope and healing into her son’s ear.”

We may not understand why God allows our afflictions to continue; why those we love endure pain and trouble for so long; why so many of our prayers do not seem to receive a response; why so many of our questions go unanswered. But God is not obligated to answer all our questions. Indeed, we may not know any answers until we get to glory.

Yet there is one thing I will never question—and that is my Father’s love for me, revealed by the Holy Spirit who dwells within. 

The love of the Father toward us, embodied in His Son, has been committed to the ministering work of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit has been sent to humankind to reveal the majesty and glory of this everlasting love.

“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. . . . I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit” (Romans 5:5; 15:30). The Holy Spirit is the eternal love of Father and Son. All His works, all His ministry, are ordained to express and manifest that love.

Just as Jesus accepted His mission willingly, so did the Holy Spirit. He was given by the Father to Christ, who in turn sent the Spirit to us on a love mission. Therefore, every work the Spirit does—every comfort and consolation He brings, every revelation, every chastening, every wooing and warning—all proceed from love. It proceeds first from the Father’s love, and Christ’s love, but also the Spirit’s own love, for the Holy Spirit truly loves everyone He lives in.

This may sound elementary to some readers but, frankly, in these days of increasing turmoil, this truth must be fixed in our hearts. To hold fast through the days ahead, our faith must lay hold of the following: If we are not secure in God’s love for us, we cannot grow in steadfastness and confidence. And we will not be able to rejoice when the furious storms are upon us.

The prophet Isaiah likens the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit to the love and comfort of a mother.

“As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 66:13).

In the natural, there is no greater conception of love than that of a tender, caring mother. She is always there for her children, with a nurturing, comforting word in times of distress.

With this maternal image, the Holy Spirit shows us how He fulfills His mission. He is saying to us through Isaiah, in essence:

“As followers of Jesus, you already know something about love. Now let Me show you how tender and longsuffering the love of the Father and His Son is toward you. To understand it, think of a godly, tender mother’s love. This is how I work in you, how I minister to you.”

“Christ . . . a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years” (Hebrews 3:6–9, my italics).

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (3:12–14, my italics).

I believe, with other watchmen, that the days Jesus foretold are now upon us. All over the world, people’s hearts are failing them from fear as they watch the terrifying things coming upon the earth.

Yet, in the midst of all this anxiety and fear, we who trust in the Lord hear His Word telling us, “Be steadfast and confident to the end.”

The fact is, whenever there is mounting fear, God calls for greater steadfastness. Whenever there is great terror and falling away, He calls for greater confidence. Whenever there is gloom and despair, He calls us to increase our gladness and rejoicing.

That is the nature of our heavenly Father. He has made provision for His people to hold fast and retain their joy in the severest of troubled times.

Yet there is a condition attached to this provision and it is a big if:

“We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. . . . Christ . . . whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14, 6, my italics).

Why are we given this cautionary word? It is because there are powerful forces at work today against every believer who would hold fast to his confident faith.