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Devotions

HOLY GHOST COMFORT

David Wilkerson

We will never know God’s peace in our time of affliction until His purpose for it has become a settled truth in our souls. We have to understand that our dark hour, our painful testing, has been permitted by the Lord for His own glorious purpose. What is that purpose? Simply put, we are going to be the focus of incredible Holy Ghost comfort.

We are going to come out of the fire cleansed and stronger. And we’ll be given a ministry that is greater even than that of the world’s most famous preachers—the ministry of proven comfort and victory for a hurting people. The result of this ministry will be as Daniel described: “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10).

What an incredible calling we have! We suffer great trials in order to become God’s comforting hands to others.

My daughter Debi and her husband Roger lost their twelve-year-old daughter, Tiffany, to brain cancer. I know the agony they went through, the nights of wondering, “What possible purpose could God have in this?”

Some time ago, Debi was in a mall when she saw a woman sitting on a bench with tears streaming down her face. Debi approached her and asked, “Can I help you at all?” The woman responded, “You could never understand what I’m going through.” Finally, Debi coaxed the woman to tell her about her pain. The woman explained, “I’ve lost a child to cancer.”

At that moment, the sweetness of heaven descended. Debi put comforting arms around that woman, and as my daughter shared her own story, both women found a measure of God’s healing love.

Dear saint, God has not forgotten you in your deep, dark trial. I leave you with this encouragement from the Psalmist: “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:17-19).

LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

David Wilkerson

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). In this very simple instruction, the apostle Paul is telling us in plain terms, “If the Holy Spirit is living in you, let Him have full control of your life. We are all to be led by the Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit was sent to be our constant, infallible guide, and He abides in all who confess Christ as Lord and Savior. The Spirit claims our bodies as His dwelling place, reigning in residence in our hearts.

Most Christians have no trouble accepting that the Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus and that He is continually at work in us, at every moment. Most of us have called on Him countless times for comfort in our times of crisis. We give honor to the Spirit, preach about Him, and teach on His gifts and fruit. We pray to Him, seek Him, beseech Him to rend the heavens and revive His Church. Many Christians have experienced genuine manifestations of the Spirit, but it seems to me that we know very little about what it means to walk in the Spirit.

Understanding the truth about walking in the Spirit could deliver many from confusion, strife, distress, indecision, even the lusts of the flesh. So, what is this truth? Paul has summed it up clearly: “Let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

There are only two ways for a Christian to walk: in the flesh, or in the Spirit.

The flesh has its own stubborn will; it does whatever it chooses, then asks God to bless those choices. It rises up and declares, “The Lord gave me a sound mind, and I can make choices intelligently. I don’t have to wait for His direction. God helps those who help themselves.”

But walking in the Spirit is just the opposite. We surrender our will to the Holy Spirit, and trust His still, small voice to direct us in all things. Indeed, the Holy Spirit was sent to set up the complete government of Christ in our lives. The Bible tells us, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23), and the Spirit does this ordering. He desires to lead and direct our every move.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE RESURRECTION?

Gary Wilkerson

Almost any Christian can tell you, “Jesus died for my sins.” But, surprisingly, few can say what His resurrection means in their daily life. They know certain parts of the story—that Jesus died and rose again—but not enough to apply God’s powerful truths to the way they live and believe. And that makes all the difference in the world.

Christ’s resurrection has radical consequences not just for eternal life but for everyday life. What is the purpose of the resurrection? Most of us associate it with eternal life, not with daily life on earth. How is the resurrection significant in our marriage, our job, our family? How does it affect a life inundated by 200 data messages a day, a life harried with errands, chores, obligations, demands?

Paul reminds us that Christ’s death, burial and resurrection are of first importance. “It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24-25, ESV, my emphasis). What does Paul mean when he says Jesus was raised so that we might be justified?

Justification has to do with newness of life. Without it, we would be stuck in an unchanging cycle of sin and forgiveness. Think about the practical weight that sin carries in our lives. How many times have you lain awake at night grieving over something awful you’ve said or done? Shame, guilt and condemnation come with everyday life; we can’t get away from it. Yet Paul tells us Jesus was “delivered up” to cleanse us of these very things.

So, is it enough to be forgiven of our sins? That’s where the last part of the verse comes in: Jesus was “raised for our justification.” Not only are our trespasses gone, but we are justified—meaning, it’s as if we had never committed those sins. Now we are a delight in God’s eyes. In short, we are resurrected into newness of life—every day!

What a great and powerful truth. Yet, Christians often don’t experience this newness in everyday life. I admit there are days when I say to my wife, Kelly, “Is this really newness of life? I’m frustrated, cranky, disappointed.” Try as we might, we don’t personally possess the power to renew our lives. We can’t simply make ourselves new. That comes from Jesus alone—and it’s through what is called resurrection power.

REACHING THE LOST

Nicky Cruz

Even now my mind is fresh with the faces of helplessness I saw in the heart of the Bronx. Faces of all shapes and colors and ages. Boys and girls, men and women, blacks, whites, Spanish, Asian. So many were lost. So many needed Jesus.

We were in the final stages of a six-week outreach to the inner cities of New York. For weeks we had been evangelizing in the streets, conducting events on neighborhood corners throughout the city, all the while inviting people to our final outreach in the Bronx.

I remember standing on the platform in front of several thousand people. Our stage was set up at the end of a long, narrow street in one of the most drug-infested neighborhoods in all of New York. High rise apartment buildings towered overhead on either side.

For several seconds I just stood, surveying the crowd. Gang colors were everywhere. Prostitutes, pushers and addicts were scattered throughout the crowd, waiting to hear what I had to say. I glanced at the buildings and noticed people hanging out their windows, children crowded together on fire escapes. Teens huddled together as mothers and fathers watched.

I prayed in my heart, “Dear Jesus. Look at them. So many poor and hurting people—people who need You. Open their eyes, Lord. Touch their hearts. Use my words to bring them to You!”

As I began to share my testimony, I sensed a calmness falling on the neighborhood. I couldn’t get over how attentive the people became. The feeling is impossible to describe. It is the presence of God.  It is the wholesale retreat of the enemy as God’s Spirit moves in and settles on a crowd of people.

As I spoke I could feel the Holy Spirit enveloping the crowd, working on their hearts, bringing so many to conviction. Before I had a chance to invite people forward to accept Jesus, dozens streamed toward the stage, falling on their knees to the ground in repentance.

Hundreds came forward to receive Jesus that night. God brought such a wave of conviction that we were overwhelmed by the response. We were completely in awe of the work that God was doing in this hurting, forsaken neighborhood.

“And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following” (Mark 16:20).

 

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

YOUR WORD OF DELIVERANCE

David Wilkerson

Scripture says that during Elijah’s time in the cave when he was fleeing from Jezebel, “A great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind” (1 Kings 19:11). God was not in that message.

 “After the wind [came] an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake” (19:11). Do you expect to hear a fiery word? “And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire” (19:12).

God knows just the kind of word you need to hear when you’re bruised and wounded. And it’s not a word of judgment, not a hard word, not a red-hot sermon. I believe the Lord is telling us in this passage, “When you are bent down by your trials, I will not treat you harshly.” No, Elijah needed to hear a soft, kind voice: “After the fire [came] a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). Some manuscripts translate this phrase as “a gentle blowing,” meaning, “a soft, refreshing breeze.”

This same gentle, still small voice comes to us from the heart of the Father today. And its message is the same: “[Ye] have seen the [outcome] of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11).

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. . . . Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him” (Psalm 103:8–11, 13).

Here is your word of deliverance: Rise up and trust! The time has come for you to believe Jesus is with you in your storm. He will give you the strength to endure it.

Don’t believe the lie that you’re going to be crushed. The devil will not have the upper hand. The Lord has said, “No matter how bruised you feel, I will not allow you to be broken. I won’t let the fire go out. My Spirit is going to blow on the embers, and your flame for Me will come back again.”