Devotions

It’s really important to understand the gospel of grace. Jesus died on the cross, and when he died on the cross, he paid the price for our salvation in full. Because of that, we don’t have anything to add to the equation.

So it’s a problem when people say, “Well, you know, Jesus did his part, and now I do my part. He started the good work, and now I have to work to finish it.” Anytime you try to add to the finished work of Jesus, it’s a simple definition of legalism. 

When people live on a treadmill of works, constantly trying to do things to please God, the only way we break free is to understand God’s grace. First and foremost, Jesus pleased God as the ultimate sacrifice at Calvary. When he gave his life, he fulfilled all of the demands of God, so God’s wrath is not against us. Now we live in the liberty and power of Christ. 

The choice is laid out for us. We can seek a relationship with God that is based on debt, or we can seek a relationship with God that is based on faith. If it’s a relationship based on debt, then you’re never quite sure if you’ve paid enough. “Did I sacrifice enough, did I fast enough, did I pray enough, did I give enough in order to get God’s favor?” 

The Apostle Paul moved from this place of being born under the law and living under the law to being free in Christ. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees, but when he came to know Christ and the power of the gospel, the Holy Spirit filled his heart, and there was a complete transformation.

Paul wrote about how glorious this freedom is! “For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace…” (Romans 4:14-16, ESV).

Now, under the promise resting on grace, we’re conformed to Christ’s image, and we live like him, and we pray like him. It’s a holy walk with God, but it’s a holiness that’s produced by God rather than by our own effort.

^{John Bailey is the Vice President of World Challenge Inc. and the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. John has been serving the Lord in pastoral ministry for 35 years, ministering the gospel in over 50 nations, particularly as a pastor and evangelist in Cork, Ireland.}

The Holy Spirit is calling the church to action, and we have to know what type of faith to employ or what action to take. If you start flailing away with a sword, stirring things up on your own and saying, “I’m going to take care of this mess”, you are going to hurt others and yourself.

Perhaps you think you should just pray over an issue, but God says, “No, this is the time for you to stand up and take action.” On the other hand, God may say, “Just trust me right now. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

People ask me all the time how they can attain discernment or how they can know what to do in a situation. They want to have the type of faith that gets action.

Well, there is not a ten-week series on what to do in every situation in your life, and you can’t call a counselor every day and say, “I have to make a decision, and I want to know what to do.” You have to know Jesus, and you will gain discernment only as you spend time in his presence.

If you’d never run before and I were to tell you today to go out and run a marathon, you would go about two miles and then drop. On the other hand, if you began to train at running one mile then two miles and then three, eventually you would be able to run that kind of race.

Likewise, we must train for righteousness. You may be feeling very stretched but begin to let yourself be trained by hearing the Word of God. If you obey in the small things, he will give you more and more wisdom and strength. Before long you will know when it’s time to say, “God, you are in control. This is out of my hands.” You will know when it’s time to pray. You will know that it’s time to stand up and do what he has called you to do.

Perhaps during times of affliction, you have almost fainted. You may have been so weak and weary that you thought you couldn’t go another step. Now from where you stand, though, you can say, “I never want to go through that again, but God brought me out. He has been faithful. Praise the Lord!”

God is not satisfied with a heartfelt “thank you” from us. Rather, he says, “Wait just a moment, my child. I did not bring you through all those troubles and afflictions just to make you a grateful overcomer. I’ve spent years training you, putting you through all these things for a purpose, and I’m not going to let you waste them now. I fully intend for my investment to pay off. I tell you that your best work is ahead of you!”

As you emerge from your college-level afflictions, God opens your eyes to your struggling friends in kindergarten. These beloved ones don’t think they can make it, so what do you do with your affliction experiences? God whispers to you, “I need seasoned, tested veterans, people who have survived deep waters and awful fires, who have been refined through suffering. I want people who will prove my faithfulness to this generation.” The psalmist writes, “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare your strength to this generation, your power to everyone who is to come” (Psalm 71:18, NKJV).

Paul sums it all up beautifully. “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). That is saying something. When Paul wrote this, he was an older man with years of experience, and he was in the midst of one of the worst trials of his life. 

He spoke to his friends from his heart. “It would be the most wonderful thing right now if I could go home and be with my Lord. That is my greatest desire, but I’m a veteran; I’ve been through afflictions and trials, and I know I’m needed here. This generation needs to see a sufferer who survives and rejoices in any affliction. The church I’m leaving behind is going to face all that I’ve faced, and they need to know that God will bring them through. So it is best that I stay and endure these deep afflictions. Look at me! Not only have I survived, but I have true hope. I’m not down or depressed. I rejoice in the Lord for all he has brought me through!” (see Philippians 1:19-30). 

Does God afflict his own children? Listen to the psalmist’s answer. “For you, O God, have tested us; you have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; you laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but you brought us out to rich fulfillment” (Psalm 66:10-12, NKJV).

The psalmist was saying, “Lord, you put me in waters so high over my head that I thought I would drown. You put me into the fire to try me as silver is tried. You brought me into a net, laid affliction on me, caused men to trounce on me!”

Why did God allow such afflictions? It was because he was bringing his beloved child into a “wealthy place.” In the original Hebrew, this phrase means “a place of abundant fruitfulness.” God is saying, “I’m taking you through all these hard places to make you fruitful for my kingdom.”

Yet not all afflictions are from the hand of God. Many troubles come from the devil himself, straight from the pits of hell. “For he [God] does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men” (Lamentations 3:33). God says, “I get no joy out of afflicting my children. That is not my purpose in allowing troubles.” No, the Lord allows our afflictions only for his eternal purposes, to bring us into a “wealthy place.”

I cringe with amazement as I remember all the sorrows, trials, deep waters, flaming fires and powerful afflictions I have seen over the years. Usually when afflictions came, they came not just one at a time but in bundles. Many times, I thought, “There is no way I can make it through this.” Even the memories of afflictions are painful, memories of slander, chastenings of the Lord, ministry trials, personal buffetings, family problems, bodily pains and aches. 

As I recall those years of suffering, I can say with assurance, “God’s Word is true. He brought me out of every affliction that came upon me, and I praise him!”

When a parent sends a child to college, it requires a great investment. Obviously, that parent hopes his child will apply herself to the rigors of her training. Why? Does he hope she will graduate, come home, hang her diploma on the wall, then sit around the house watching television? No! That parent hopes his child will make his investment pay off by starting a good career.

Likewise, when the U.S. military offers a free education to an enlisted soldier, those years of education are considered an investment. The soldier is told, “After you’re educated, your nation and government want a certain amount of your time.” That trained soldier is expected to serve in the armed forces for a number of years in order to justify the investment.

So it is with the Lord and our afflictions. Everything you go through as a Christian is a training exercise behind which God has a divine purpose. He did not save you so that you could cruise into paradise on a luxury liner; he saved you to prepare you to be of use in his kingdom. The moment you were born again, he enrolled you in his school of suffering. Every affliction and trial is another lesson in the curriculum.

Some Christians are in kindergarten. Their afflictions are not difficult to understand, and their tests are much easier to endure. Others are in grade school, and they quickly learn that their tests have become a little tougher to face and harder to understand. Others are in college, and their afflictions are much more severe and more difficult to figure out. Still others are in postgraduate school with years of hard afflictions behind them and many difficult tests looming before them. Their afflictions are the toughest of their lives, and they realize they need Holy Ghost strength to deal with them all.

My point is that God wants veterans of spiritual warfare, people who have been through many afflictions, to prove his faithfulness to the next generation. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19, NKJV). Every affliction we endure is an investment the Lord is making in us as his veterans.