Devotions

Right now, many Christians are in panic mode. People who have testified all their lives that God is their keeper are now scrambling in fear as the storm clouds gather over us. Peter has something very simple to say to them, “Bring all your natural feelings under the control of faith.”

Next, Peter tells us to bring everything to God in prayer: “Watch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7). Only by seeking the Lord will we be able to control our anxieties about the times. According to Peter, the blacker things become the more we should walk in the peace and rest of the Holy Spirit.

AVOIDING PANIC MODE

Right now the secular world is desperate to find calm in the chaos. According to The Wall Street Journal, corporate leaders and others in high-stress jobs are turning to yoga, mantras, Chinese chants, meditation. But as Christians, our God promises to keep us in perfect peace if we will fix our minds on Christ above anything happening in the world.

Peter tells us we should be concerned with one thing above all others in these times. Let’s look at the final exhortation of this dying apostle:

“Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

REACH OUT WITH MERCY

Peter’s summation is, “If you want to know what survival is all about — how God is leading His people through these times — then show unconditional love to your brothers and sisters. That has everything to do with the future of the Church of Christ.”

According to Peter, here is our most important concern. In light of the great mercy God has shown each of us — in light of His unconditional forgiveness toward our past sins, His compassionate longsuffering toward us — we are to reach out with mercy to those who have sinned against us. And we are to forgive them as if they had never committed those sins.

As Christians, we believe God’s Word about the times to come and we receive Spirit-directed warnings from God’s holy watchmen. Indeed, we see the handwriting on the wall.

An important question arises for many Christians today: “How do we prepare for the tumultuous events to come?”

SURVIVING FRIGHTFUL TIMES

I think it is normal to want to know how we’ll survive the frightful times to come. When the storm hits, destroying all roots of recovery, what will we do about jobs, housing, food, clothing?

Believers in Peter’s day most certainly had questions, as well. In his message about the end times, he focuses not on having our needs met but on the importance of preparing our hearts.

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:11).

In the face of all that is to come, Peter zeros in on character issues!

The apostle is asking us, in essence, “What is in your heart in these last days? Who are you becoming as the end times approach? You already know God will take care of your physical needs but are you preparing yourself spiritually?”

BASIC INSTRUCTIONS

Peter echoes Jesus’ words (see Matthew 6:31-32) when he says, “The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).

In short, he is giving us basic instructions for preparing for the end times:

• Be sober-minded.
• Stay calm, no matter what happens.
• There is no need to panic.
• Take it all to prayer.

God cannot answer prayer where there is no faith. And Satan will not flee where there is fear and unbelief. The fact is, we have failed to take our God-given authority over the devil and his demonic empire.

God’s Word tells us that the enemy is not in control. We have power over him!

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Yet many have let Satan run roughshod over their faith with no resistance. If this describes you, Malachi offers you a most wonderful word: “You will go forth leaping as calves released from the stall” (see Malachi 4:2).

What an interesting and incredible word to the people of God in these last days. Malachi pictures believers as calves confined in stalls. The Hebrew root word for stall here means “tied up,” “going around in circles.”

NOISY, FRISKY CALVES

Have you ever seen spirited calves locked up in stalls? They run in circles, kicking and making lots of noise. Do you get the picture Malachi is giving us? Satan has succeeded in locking up multitudes of believers in little stalls. He has kept them shut out of Christ’s green pastures, away from His cool, refreshing waters.

Dear saint, I urge you: Do not go another day satisfied with the way things are. Your release must come by faith, and the Lord gives His Holy Spirit to those who ask. When God promises, “You will go forth leaping as calves released from the stall,” He means more than releasing from confinement. When He opens the gate of our stall, we are going to emerge from it leaping with joy. We’ll no longer have a cloud of gloom hanging over us, but will be released into a walk of hope, freedom and abundant life.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.’ So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on” (Exodus 17:5-6, NLT).

The details of this scene — and of God’s compassion for the people — are replayed through Jesus’ sacrifice. Christ is the rock that was struck for our transgressions when we were lost and wandering. And He is the living water that sustains us. Paul tells us:

“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. . . . For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1, 4).

HOLDING ON TO BITTERNESS

The scene in the wilderness demonstrates what Jesus does for grumbling people: He takes on their punishment and declares, “I’ll stand condemned for them; I’ll be scourged; I’ll take their sins upon my back; I’ll be nailed to the cross in their place — all so that they might receive abundant life.”

Some Christians forfeit this awesome gift by holding on to bitterness. Paul says, “Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened as a warning to us” (1 Corinthians 10:5-6).

GOD’S BEAUTIFUL GRACE

Our lives can wither away in bitterness, or we can be revived by the beautiful grace God offers us — it’s our choice. But His promise remains available to us either way — and He gives us newness of life.

Two thousand years ago, the disciples had Jesus as their teacher, but even they had problems understanding what He taught them. There are countless examples of Jesus saying something and the disciples completely missing the point. They just didn’t get it. In fact one of them even argued with Him, saying “No, You won’t go to the cross. I won’t let that happen.”

Jesus would teach them about trusting God, and in the next chapter, we see them not trusting God. Jesus even used Himself as an example during a lesson about humility. During the Last Supper, Jesus showed Himself as a servant of the Lord and washed the disciples’ feet. Yet during that same dinner, the disciples argued about which one of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24-27).

But Jesus promised that when He died, another teacher would come and help them to properly digest spiritual truth.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what He will make known to you” (John 16:12-14, emphasis added).

Jesus not only told them a better teacher was on the way but He also said the new teacher would convey truth that He couldn’t pass on at that time. In other words, Jesus was saying, “I have more to say, and the new teacher will be the one to teach you about it.” The Spirit “will guide you into all the truth,” which includes applying the message to the hearts of the disciples. Then the meaning of Jesus’ life and death, faith, hope, love, the power of prayer, and much more would all be made crystal clear to them.

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.