Devotions

I wish you could experience the miracle that our family has experienced.  I wish you could feel the difference between how we live now and how we lived during the days of my youth. Today I love my brothers and sister with a passion. There’s nothing I’d rather do than to sit around and laugh and talk and cry with my family.

LITTLE NICKY, BIG NICKY

The times that I get to travel back to Puerto Rico and visit are some of my most precious memories. When I go home I’m no longer Nicky Cruz the evangelist or speaker. To my older brothers I’m “little Nicky” and to my younger ones I’m “big Nicky”—just one of the family. 

But we were not always so happy and carefree and loving. In my family we have a lot of pain in our past, yet none of us harbors feelings of resentment. When Jesus came into our lives, He brought with Him an explosion of love, mercy and forgiveness. No one holds a grudge. We hold nothing but love in our hearts among us. We don’t spend any time in regret; we just rejoice in the Jesus we know today—in the future He brings to us all.

ERASING THE PAIN

Jesus can do for the human heart what no one else can do. When He comes to live in your heart, He does more than forgive you, He leaves behind supernatural seeds of forgiveness that will not only erase the sin but erase the pain that sin has brought. Not only can these seeds heal our hearts, they can heal our relationships. They can spread through every hurt of our past and undo it.

I could never thank Jesus enough for what He has done for our family. For the forgiveness and mercy and grace that He brought, bringing us back together again.

And He can do the same for anyone. For any family. Even yours, if that’s what you need!

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. 

Peter was surely a godly man, and through him the Holy Spirit shows us exactly what God says about how to face these last days. Peter is telling us very clearly, “Here is your most important preparation: Get your heart ready. If this matter isn’t dealt with, all other preparations are in vain. Stay on your knees. And above all else, practice unceasing mercy and love toward your brothers and sisters. Forgive and cover their sins.”

COVER THE SINS OF OTHERS

We are commanded to “cover” those sins committed against us — meaning, we are not to expose the sins of others.

“Charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

Who has hurt or wounded you? Who has spread gossip about you? According to Jesus, if you do not forgive and cover that sin, you are like the man who was forgiven a great debt but later choked a man who owed him a few dollars.

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (4:10).

FILLED WITH JOY DURING TURMOIL

The truth is, Peter’s message here has everything to do with the future of the Church of Jesus Christ. You see, God is preparing His Church for a latter-day outpouring of His Spirit. According to the prophets, the Holy Spirit will come in a great wave upon the earth, filling God’s people with joy when the world is in upheaval. This won’t happen, however, where people hold grudges and wounds are left unresolved.

THE QUESTION: Do you want to be ready for what’s coming? Do you want to be fully prepared when all things are being shaken?

THE ANSWER: Then make sure you have nothing in your heart that hinders the flow of God’s Spirit.

Something wonderful is just ahead so make sure you are not left out of it!

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.