Devotions

When the Spirit moves us to speak in love, we are to do so. Recently while having lunch with my wife, I felt impressed to tell one of the waiters in our area that Jesus loved him. He didn’t reply but later I saw him telling some other staff what I’d said, which elicited some curious glances our way. Then an interesting thing happened. As we were leaving, a different waiter stopped me and asked if I would pray with him!

That is an example of the difference between religion and Jesus’ love. Loving Jesus means sharing his witness even when it might make you seem a little crazy — and then seeing the power of God move.

Some think that becoming a Christian requires you to know spiritual laws or pray a certain prayer. But that’s not how Jesus explained faith to Nicodemus, a Jewish intellectual well-versed in religion. Nicodemus had a hard time understanding what Jesus meant by being “born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb?” (John 3:4).

Nicodemus was trying to grasp God’s ways through his intellect, but Jesus pointed out that God’s ways are never accomplished through our flesh: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (3:5-6).

Friend, we have been given something much better than religion. It’s time to rise up and follow Christ to higher ground. The heart of what James calls “pure religion and undefiled before God” (James 1:27, my emphasis) is to take the love we’ve known and share it freely with others. It removes any fear about what we’re to “do for the Lord,” and replaces it with a heart to receive and give his love. That is real, abundant life!

When God says, “I am going to use your life for my glory,” we often forget that a sword is not formed in a hammock, it is formed on an anvil. There is going to be heat, hammering, bending, reshaping. It is all necessary, and it is going to take time. Yet in the process, we cry out, “Lord, I thought you said you were going to use my life, but all I do is find myself going through the fire. Oh, Jesus, help me!”

The Lord replies to you, “I told you I was going to use your life for my glory! But I am not going to use you until you are ready.”

The prophet Habakkuk said, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come” (Habakkuk 2:3).

The things God has spoken to you will come to pass. If God said he is going to bring your family home, then he will bring your family home! If God said he is going to use your life, then he is going to use your life — but on his timetable, not yours.

Paul exhorted the Philippians: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).

At times God may appear to be silent, even though he has actually already sent the answer. However, it meets a form of resistance before it reaches us. This hindrance actually may be inside of us because we have listened to other voices that resist the voice of God. In today’s society, we have access to so many voices, and that can easily lead our thoughts astray. We must be very careful about who and what we are listening to.

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 at the invitation of the founding pastor, David Wilkerson, and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. 

When I speak of total trust in Christ, I mean not only in his saving power but also in his keeping power. We have to trust his Spirit to keep us and conform us to the likeness of Christ.

At one time you were alienated, cut off from God by wicked works. What good work did you do to make things right with him? None! Nobody has ever been able to make or keep himself holy. We are brought into Christ's holiness by faith alone, as we trust in what God's Word says: "If you are in Christ, you are holy as he is holy."

"You, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in his sight — if indeed you continue in the faith" (Colossians 1:21–23).

Note the phrase, "If you continue in faith." Jesus is saying, "Continue trusting in me, living by faith. I will present you as clean, faultless, holy before the Father."

Beloved, this is all the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost. As the Spirit empowers you to mortify the deeds of the flesh, he will lead you by his conviction.

There are no degrees of holiness, only degrees of maturity in Christ. You can be a new Christian and still be absolutely holy in Jesus. So do not compare! It is foolish to measure yourself against someone you picture as being "holy." We are all measured by one standard, the holiness of Christ. And if we are in him, his holiness is ours in equal measure.

Never again look at another Christian leader and say, "Oh, I wish I were as holy as he is!" You may not have that person's discipline or his prayer life and you may struggle more often than he does. But he is no more accepted by the Father than you. 

We know that God supernaturally delivered Israel. At the burning bush Moses was being prepared to trust God to bring about that glorious work. He would learn something about God's nature that would later help him trust the Lord to bring it all to pass. What was that aspect of God's nature? His holiness!

The same is true for every Christian today. We may try to accomplish in the flesh what we think God wants. But the Lord says to us as he did to Moses, "There is only one ground upon which you can approach me, and that is holy ground. You can't put any confidence in your flesh, because no flesh will stand in my presence. My purposes are never accomplished by what you can summon up in yourself."

So, why did God tell Moses to take off his shoes? (See Exodus 3:5.) The Lord was using an everyday, ordinary object to teach a spiritual truth, just as Jesus would do using coins, pearls, camels and mustard seeds. God was saying, "Moses, you have to wear protective garb to keep your feet from injury. But no amount of fleshly protection can sustain you where I am sending you. You'll need a miracle of deliverance.

"I am sending you into Egypt, to face a hardened dictator. You'll be in a situation from which only I can deliver you. So, set aside all reliance on your flesh, even your meekness and humility. Otherwise, you won't be able to do what I'm calling you to do. All your abilities will be worthless unless I sanctify them. Put your total trust in my name and power."

No one can achieve holiness in God's sight by his own strength or willpower. We can't even serve the Lord properly without taking the approach outlined to Moses. We must come to God saying, "Lord, I have nothing to give you. You have to do it all."

Moses was all alone on Mount Horeb herding his father-in-law's sheep when a strange sight grabbed his attention — a bush was on fire. As he stepped forward to get a closer look, God called to him out of the bush.

"Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush" (Exodus 3:3–4).

God was present in the bush and that’s why it was burning, yet was not consumed. It was a visual representation of God's holiness.

The Lord told Moses, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). Most of us skip over this verse without understanding its tremendous depth of meaning. And it has everything to do with how to be holy.

You see, Moses was about to be called into God's eternal purpose for his life — to deliver Israel out of bondage. But first God had to show Moses the ground upon which he, the Lord, is to be approached. It has to be holy ground. In short, Moses was being called to a face-to-face communion with a holy God, and he had to be properly prepared for it.

Moses was afraid as God spoke to him: "Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God" (Exodus 3:6). Why did he fear? Because he received a revelation of the awesome holy ground on which God must be approached!

The New Testament contains a corresponding verse: "No flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:29).

This verse from Paul isn't just a New Testament truth. It was also true in Moses' day. Moses had to know for himself that God's work isn't accomplished through human ability but by total trust and dependence on the Lord. Holiness is not something we can attain or work up. Rather, it is something we believe by faith and trust in Jesus' work.