I will never forget the pain I endured when one of my teenage children came to me and confessed, “Dad, I’ve never once felt as if I’ve pleased you. I’ve never felt worthy of your love. I feel like I’ve let you down my whole life. You must be really disappointed in me.”
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV).
If you lived to be 500 years old, you would not live long enough to please God by your own works. It doesn’t matter how hard you may try to clean yourself up. Your flesh is not accepted before God; it can’t even be reformed. All flesh was done away with at the cross. Now a new man has come forth: the Christ man. True faith is having confidence in what Christ has done for you.
When the three Hebrew children were thrown into the fiery furnace, a fourth man was there with them: Jesus! They didn’t get burned. In fact, their clothes and hair didn’t even smell of smoke. That’s the kind of deliverance God wants to bring you in your time of trial.
Isaiah had a revelation of God’s great delight in us. He prophesied, “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you’” (Isaiah 43:1-2 NKJV).
The Holy Spirit gave David a revelation that is the key to all deliverance. David could say, “The reason God delivered me from all my enemies, from all my sorrows and the powers of hell is that I am precious to him. My God delights in me!”
Do you need deliverance from lust, temptation or trial? From a problem that’s mental, spiritual, emotional or physical? The key to your victory is in this verse. “He also brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19). God delights in you. You are precious to him!
God has kept me through my struggles by showing me King David's secret hope.
David, lamenting and complaining, wondered why God was angry with him. He called on God, saying, “Why do you withdraw your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your bosom and destroy them” (Psalm 74:11 NKJV). It seemed to David that the enemies of God were taking control, and in his despair, he prayed, "Oh, do not deliver the life of your turtledove to the wild beast! Do not forget the life of your poor forever” (Psalm 74:19).
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28-30 NKJV)?
Jesus spoke these words near the close of his ministry on earth to warn followers that good intentions wouldn’t be enough to see them through hard times. Many would not have what it took to finish the race!
We are what we eat. It's true. Jesus said his flesh is our meat [food]: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53 NKJV).
People who relegate this eating of the Lord to the communion table alone do not understand what Jesus meant. The Lord's Supper isn’t just symbolic. It is a reminder to us that he became our source of life through death. We are to come daily to eat and drink of him.
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God” (Acts 10:44, 46 NKJV). This is speaking of the household of Cornelius.
“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:1-2 NKJV).
The life of Cornelius proves that God seeks full-hearted devotion, obedience and ceaseless prayer. Consider how this man of God saved his house and the miracles his devotion brought about.