Devotions

In a weary moment, Jesus stopped to rest at a well, but there was a lost woman who needed help. Once again, He was energized. His disciples came again to find their Master so relaxed, so refreshed! “He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of” (John 4:32). That is the secret energy of resurrection life!

Often I feel like a drained car battery. If you forget to turn off the light of your car, all you get the next day is that dreaded noise—urr . . . urr—the empty clinking sound of dead machinery.

I know something is wrong among today’s believers, for we have been promised the very same energizing life of Christ. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11).

How clear it is in Scripture that the Holy Spirit dwells in us to bring forth constant life. God has provided His very energy to come into our mortal bodies and give us physical strength. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (made alive) together with him” (Colossians 2:13).

Are you full of the Holy Spirit? Then by faith, lay hold of new life and energy! “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits . . . so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:2, 5). Titus also speaks of this: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 3:5-6).

Thank God for the present greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ! Appropriate it by faith—and walk in resurrection life and power!
 

Jesus has never been more willing to show His power than He is right now because He has never been more powerful than He is right now. Our faith has to go beyond the point of death. It must look into the face of everything that is dead and proclaim, “Jesus never gives up on the dead!” We should never give up on anyone or anything, no matter how hopeless the situation seems.

Notice in the story of Jairus and his daughter (Mark 5:21-43) that the Lord was not interested in showing His power to unbelievers. In fact, He tells them in that room, “No man should know it” (5:43). In other words, “Don't tell them what you saw—the miracle is between us who are in this room.”

Those who hold on in unswerving faith are in for a glorious manifestation of Christ’s resurrection power. Only you and the Lord will know all the intimate workings. He will astonish you; He will thrill you; He will show you His glory!

The present greatness of Christ can be summed up in one powerful verse: “In Him was life” (John 1:4). He was—and is now—energizing life. He possessed life. Jesus was constantly being renewed as He drew on a secret reservoir of that which was never depleted. He never wearied of the crowds pressing in on Him. He was never impatient.

When He called His disciples to come aside for a while to rest, they departed to a quiet place across the lake. But the crowds were waiting there too. Not once did He say, “Oh no! It’s that problem bunch again with their silly complaints and stupid questions. Won’t it ever end?” Instead, He saw the multitudes and was moved to compassion. He was energized by the Spirit and went to work. He had days of toil and nights of prayer—and still He had time for the little children!
 

What a terrible scene occurred at the house of Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue in Jesus’ day. There was confusion, doubt, fear, and wailing when his daughter died.

Mark 5:38-40 reads: “And [Jesus] cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.”

Beloved, let me tell you why there is so much commotion in your life, so much grieving and mourning. It is because you do not believe that Jesus can resurrect what is dead. You do not believe He knows what He is doing. You do not believe He has a life-giving plan. You think He is too late and that things have gone too far. You can't believe Jesus is still at work—when you have already given up.

We are every bit as guilty as those scoffers were. We too cry out to God in our trouble, demanding that He answer us before it’s too late. Then, when the answer doesn’t come, we turn into mourners. We tremble before the power of the devil, as if demons have won the victory—as if Jesus has lost and the devil has won!

Things often go from bad to worse, and finally we say, “That’s it! It’s too late. For some reason or another, the Lord is not going to rescue this situation.”

It is not enough to love, serve, and worship Him only up to the point of hopelessness. What about trusting Him now that all hope is gone? When it looks as if you will never land a job? Or when things pile up on all sides—when it appears humanly impossible to go on?

If Jesus walked into your present situation, what would He find? How would you react to Him? Would you still grieve? Would your heart still be in turmoil? I hope you would say to Him, “Lord, it looks hopeless. I was about to give up, but You are the same today as You were at the house of Jairus. You can bring life out of death and You can heal this problem.”
 

Here is the promise of all promises: “I will never leave you and I will never forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). The promise is just simply J-E-S-U-S. Jesus is my promise and the core of all my promises.

It’s like that old song, I’D RATHER HAVE JESUS.

     I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
     I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
     I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land;
     I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.

I’d rather have Jesus! If we will comprehend the central, singular, soul-conviction that the promises of God are encapsulated in Jesus, then everything else is diminished. Nothing can compare with this one promise! If you have Jesus, then the response to all His other promises will be, “That’s good! I believe that. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for letting me drink from this cup.” Everything pales in comparison to the fact that I get to know Him. I get to walk with Him. I get to love Him. Jesus’ presence is central, better than any other promise any of us could possibly have and He is free for the asking. He is saying, “Just call on My name and I will come.”

If you will just come to Jesus, He will become illuminated in your life. He will become first and be your everything. People who have that centrality of focus on Jesus Christ are the people I see walking in the fullness of their promises. And people who lose sight of Jesus and begin to emphasize the promises more than Jesus begin to struggle. They start to drift and their journey stops because they are not finding the fullness of life that is found in Jesus Christ.

I covet a lot of things for you because I love you. I covet ministries for you that go beyond your wildest dreams.

As the Bible says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added unto you” (see Matthew 6:33).
 

In Genesis 12:1, God called Abraham to “come out of his father’s house.” It is only by reading carefully and understanding the previous chapter and its contextual specific narrative nature that we are able to get the full significance and momentous depth of the call. Genesis 11 reveals to us that Abraham, his father and their entire clan had left Ur in Chaldea for Canaan. Canaan represents, symbolizes and typifies the land of promise, destiny, fulfillment, and the accomplishment of the fullness of blessing God had intended. In fact, it speaks of all God is and wanted to be in their lives—and in ours. The journey was harsh, long and exhausting. They were hit with tragedies, threats and traumatizing experiences. Loved ones passed away, and as they walked through these valleys of grief, the Promised Land seemed far away.

They stopped in a place called Haran, a city located approximately 600 miles west of the Euphrates River in Northern Syria. They had traveled over two thirds of their journey when they stopped there, physically exhausted, but also weary spiritually. The word “Haran” means “a dry place, a place of little fruit.”

Abraham and his father were on their way to Canaan, the place of blessing and fullness. Jesus makes the same promise to us: “I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). It is interesting to consider the Greek word “zoe” that is used when speaking of the life Christ offers and has in mind for us. The word expresses the notion of “being complete, being fulfilled, bearing abundant fruit, true happiness and fulfillment.”

Please understand the correlation. Abraham, his father and family were on a journey to Canaan, but they tragically stopped in the place of little fruit. They should have been pressing forth, moving forward, persevering to fullness and abundance, but they settled for mediocrity.

Faith cries out, “I refuse to die in the place of small fruit! I refuse this small existence with small worship, small sanctification, small change, small transformation and small faith.” I have heard the fierce and passionate cry of men and women, leaders and pastors of every color from many nations declaring, “We refuse to die in Haran!” God calls us to “come out of our father’s house.” That is what He did with Abraham and that is what He is doing with you and me.

Claude Houde, lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada, is a frequent speaker at the Expect Church Leadership Conferences conducted by World Challenge throughout the world. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.